Chancey Williams, the headliner for the Park County Fair concert Thursday, strives to make “Wyoming country music.” 

But that doesn’t mean he sticks to an old-fashioned formula. 

Williams, who played the Park County Fair in 2019 with the Younger Brothers band, is gradually releasing singles from an upcoming seventh album. Songs such as “On the Tear Tonight” push the boundaries for what would normally be expected from a Wyoming-born country singer. 

The song, released on St. Patrick’s Day, marries Irish music and country guitar in what quickly became a hit.

“I was in Nashville writing with my producer Trent. The idea was we wanted to write kind of a fun Irish fiddling song for Brooke (Latka), she’s such a good fiddle player,” Williams said. 

After writing the song Williams and the band tossed around whether or not to release it until Latka realized its potential as a festive song for the upcoming holiday. Williams quickly flew to Nashville and the song was ready in time for St. Patrick’s Day. 

Since March 2022, “On the Tear Tonight” has earned a spot on the 10 most played Williams songs on Spotify.

Williams’ “Wyoming country” aims to capture western lifestyle but still have a “radio sound.” Williams says his music is not quite “red dirt” (Texas style country music) or Nashville style music but somewhere right in between. 

“Up here, growing up playing music there wasn’t a big music scene so we didn’t really have anyone to compare ourselves to,” Williams said.

Williams of course mentioned Chris LeDoux but said that while they both sing about western life he doesn’t want to copy LeDoux’s sound.

Williams encourages anybody not familiar with his music to listen on Spotify, iTunes and Pandora. 

It’s hard for him to pick a favorite song. He says it’s like “picking your favorite kid,” but adds “Rodeo Cold Beer” and “The World Needs More Cowboys” are favorites of his.

Fans new and old should come to the concert ready for an experience, because Chancey’s goal is to give concert goers a party.

“What we try to do is throw a party and have people leaving remembering they were there,” Williams said. 

This energy has been with Chancey, a former wrestling champion and professional rodeo athlete, his entire life. 

Chancey says that his background in wrestling and rodeo has helped him to achieve success as a musician by teaching him about hard work and learning from losses. 

“The harder you work at something the luckier you get,” Williams said. 

Williams so far is one of two musicians who has had the honor of competing in the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo and later playing on its main stage.

Williams looks forward to adding another Park County Fair appearance to his resumé and jumped at the chance to book the event when it came across his desk.

“Obviously, when I saw it come through I wanted to do it again, we love playing there and that area of Wyoming. We love playing Wyoming fairs,” Williams said. 

Williams will have another single from his new album released ahead of the fair titled “Hide Away,” another unexpected style which he likens to a “Kenny Chesney beach song.”

Williams and Trent wrote the song during the COVID-19 pandemic when people were looking for a relaxing place to hide away. The song’s release will coincide with the release of a music video shot in the Ozarks.

Ahead of the concert, Williams says he’s “just excited to see everyone at the show” and asks that fans listen to the music as much as possible ahead of the event because “it’s good to have our [Spotify] numbers up there too.”

People interested in joining the party Williams will be throwing can purchase tickets at the Park County Fair box office or through parkcountyeventsandfair.com. Grandstand tickets are $15, box seats are $20 and tickets for the general admission standing section directly in front of the stage are $30.