For the Reporter

For King & Country, an Australian-American Christian pop duo, and Matt Maher, a Dove Awards winner and two-time Grammy Awards nominee, performs Sept. 12 at the Washington State Fair, part of the Columbia Bank Concert Series.

Tickets for the concert go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday. Tickets are $46 for Golden Circle, $36 and $26, and include fair gate admission.

Tickets will be available on the fair website, or by phone at 888-559-FAIR (3247) daily, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Tickets can also be purchased in person at the fair’s box office, 9th Avenue Southwest and Meridian Street on Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Online and phone purchases are subject to standard processing fees. Tickets purchased on site will be charged a $2 per ticket service fee.

for King & Country

Named after a British battle cry, for King & Country has been called “Australia’s answer to Coldplay” by American Songwriter. Joel and Luke Smallbone were born in Sydney, and moved to Nashville in 1991.

Their father was a music promoter, and took his children to work with him as they grew up. It is no wonder that they caught the music bug. Their sister, Christian recording artist and speaker Rebecca St. James, also followed suit.

Shortly after Luke graduated from high school, the duo explored forming a band. In 2007 it was called Joel & Luke, and later changed to Austoville, before settling on their current name. In 2009 they signed with Warner Music Group. Their EP song, “Busted Heart (Hold On To Me)” released in 2011, and peaked at No.3 on Billboard’s Christian Songs chart.

Their debut album, Crave was released in 2012, and hit No. 2 on the iTunes top Christian and Gospel albums on its release date, and #42 on the overall chart. It peaked at #4 on Billboard’s Christian Albums chart. “Busted Heart, the single, was the fastest rising single of 2011 in the Christian charts. Their sophomore album, Run Wild. Live Free. Love Strong was released in 2014, with hits “Run Wild” and “Fix My Eyes.”

The Christian duo toured on the 2012 Winter Jam Tour Spectacular, and in 2015 in the central and eastern parts of the US. They will again be part of the tour in 2016 in the central and eastern parts. In 2012, Billboard named them as one of the “New Artists To Watch.”

For more information, visit www.ForKingAndCountry.com.

Matt Maher

Maher has had a love for music since he was young. He was born and raised in Newfoundland, Canada, and at college age moved to Arizona when his parents divorced. He started with piano lessons, and moved on to play in school concerts and jazz ensembles, singing in the choir, and even taking a step to play in a garage rock band.

It was when Maher was in Arizona that he found a new and exciting world at his church’s youth group. He soon was serving God through his music. At this time he received a scholarship from Arizona State University to study jazz piano. Upon graduation he moved to Mesa, Ariz., and met a range of talented Christian artists. He took a full-time position at St. Timothy Catholic Community and started writing songs.

Maher soon released three independent albums through spiritandsong.com. He signed a publishing deal in 2005 with EMI Publishing, and started traveling the world performing. It was then that he discovered his singing and worship leading talents were as strong as his songwriting talents. In 2007 he signed with Essential Records, and his major album, Empty & Beautiful was released in 2008.

In April 2008 Matt was asked to lead worship for the Rally for Youth and Seminarians crowds at Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the U.S. He sang “Litany of the Saints” for Pope John Paul II and 700,000 youth at 2002 World Youth Day. That same year, he received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album of the Year, singing with Kathy Troccoli in “Just Like You” and “Love Has Come.” His song, “Your Grace is Enough” has been sung in roughly 150,000 CCLI licensed churches in the US, reaching five million people.

He has produced 12 albums, with the most recently released in 2015, Saints & Sinners. For further information, visit www.MattMaherMusic.com.

The fair

The Washington State Fair is one of the biggest fairs in the world, and the largest in the Pacific Northwest. It started in 1900 in Puyallup, and welcomes more than one million guests to the single largest attended event in the state.

Star-studded entertainment, the PRCA Rodeo, rides, exhibits, food, flowers and animals are mainstays of the 21-day event that kicks off the Friday of Labor Day weekend.

For more info about the Sept. 2-25 fair (closed Tuesdays), visit www.thefair.com.

DATE, PERFORMANCE, TIME, PRICES (including fair gate)

Sept. 12 – for King & Country and Matt Maher (Christian), 7:30 p.m., $46 Golden Circle, $36, $26

Sept. 22 – Dierks Bentley (country), 7:30 p.m., $100 Golden Circle, $80, $65, pre-show dinner $38