Bartlett Performing Arts and Conference Center will open its 2007-2008 season with eclectic country singer Marty Stuart on August 16.

Ron Jewell, BPACC director, said the show is about 60 percent sold out, but tickets, which cost $35, are still available for the four-time Grammy winner.

"It's been nonstop," Jewell said of sales this week. "He was on CMT where they pair up with somebody, Travis Tritt I think it was last weekend, and it got us all excited seeing him up there."

As a country singer, Stuart is something of an anomaly for a BPACC first act of the season, but it fits with the plan, Jewell said.

"We've not kicked off with someone in the past who was truly a country act, so every year when we look for who to start a season with, we try to come up with something a little bit different than we've done before," Jewell said.

The ninth performance season of BPACC runs August through June.

The popularity of BPACC's offerings over the years has not gone unnoticed outside of Bartlett.

Jewell said a recent marketing survey indicates that BPACC performances draw people from far beyond the suburb's borders.

"We've got a very strong draw from outside the parkway, but we've really got a strong draw right down through the Poplar corridor through Highland and into Midtown," Jewell said.

"We've got a lot of folks in the outlying areas, even in Fayette County, Olive Branch and Tipton County. So we do have about I'd say a 50-mile radius of influence," he added.

By Richard Kelley