He almost tossed in his cowboy hat.
But out of nowhere – at least it felt that way – Chris Dutton looked a second time at the list of available country artists, and there was a name that glowed at him.
Neal. McCoy.
And just like that, Dutton Ranch Night 2026 was scheduled for June 6 at the Dutton Cattle Company in Flushing, Ohio.
“He wasn’t there at the end of the year, but when I looked at the new list, I saw ‘Neal McCoy’ was there. So yeah, he wasn’t available, and then he was,” Dutton explained. “He may have blocked that weekend for whatever reason, but then opened it back up. I don’t know, really, but I do know I’m happy he was on it this time.
“And then he accepted the offer, and here we are with a concert coming up in June,” he said. “We threw a Hail Mary, and we scored.”
And, for the first time in Dutton’s “big party” career, his event will reach a third consecutive year.
“I know when we had the first Ranch Night, I thought it would be one year and done. We had Sammy Kershaw and Bryan Martin signed for Blame My Roots, so I decided to have a big party with those guys performing,” Dutton said. “After that, I was burned out after trying to make Blame My Roots work the way I thought it could. It was successful, but I thought it would have been more.
“But Ranch Night was a lot of fun that first year, and I thought it was something that could be more successful as a one-day event,” he said. “But you have to have the music and it’s hard to book the event. Tracy Byrd was great last year, but for a while I didn’t know if I was going to find someone for this year.”
McCoy performed to a packed house at Wheeling’s Capitol Theatre on October 11th, and he attracted a large crowd five years ago at Dutton’s Blame My Roots weekend. The country music star was also very popular during his run at the annual Jamboree in the Hills show, often climbing to the red barn’s roof or up the concert’s speaker towers as a part of his performances.
“We had Neal five years ago at Blame My Roots in front of 5,000 people, and it was a hell of a party, so once he was confirmed for this year, I sent a text to his agent telling him that we’re excited to have them back,” Dutton said. “It’s those kinds of moments that make it so fun for me.
“And I really love that we get to bring so many people out to the farm. I love that whole piece of it,” he said. “I loved Blame My Roots, and I do wish it had become what I thought it could have, but Ranch Night is on our farm. You see our cows, and that’s why the event really is a farm-to-table concert.
“It’s our barbecue. It’s our burgers. It’s everything, right there. It’s not in a parking lot. It’s not an arena. It is a farm, and we’re throwing a country music show, and that’s pretty cool.”
Farm to Table to ‘YUM!’
The entertainment industry has evolved quite a bit since the weekly Jamboree U.S.A. shows spilled over to the rolling hills of East Ohio in 1977, and Dutton learned once he and his sister, Nina, created the Blame My Roots Fest in 2019 that the market for performers was clogged by high demand and unaffordable costs.
When it comes to booking headlining entertainment for the annual Dutton Ranch Night concert, Dutton has discovered a new set of challenges.
“It’s tough to book a performer that I know will work for Ranch Night because it’s an individual event, and a couple of times, our offers were turned down by the performers I believed would do well,” Dutton explained. “Eventually, I came to a point where I just thought we would try again next year. It was really, really frustrating.
“But then I knew we were coming up on the deadline because you have to have a pretty good runway to do it the right why. Right now, we’re only 90 days out, and thankfully, we’ll be able to get tickets on sale this Friday,” he explained. “I really was determined to make something happen, and I didn’t want to take a year off. So, that’s when I asked my agent to take another look at what was available.”
While Neal McCoy is the headlining on-stage attraction, the food, beverages, and cattle ranch atmosphere are a few of the others. Tickets will go on sale this Friday at 10 a.m. at www.duttonranchnight.com.
“We have an offer out to a fella for the direct support act. They’re a Nashville act that’s on tour in Europe right now,” Dutton said. “And we’ll have an acoustic act that will get everything started.
“We’ll have all of our food – the brisket, the burned ends, and our smash burgers – again and all of it originates from the Pike 40. We’ll be serving it as long as people are eating,” he said. “And we are going to have limited camping, and those spots will go on sale on Friday along with the tickets for the concert.
“And, of course, we’ll have the fireworks at the very end of the show because that’s the perfect way to end a great day on the farm. I can’t wait.”
