Stand-up comedian Dusty Slay and country music artist Hailey Whitters will headline entertainment for this year’s Toad Suck Daze festival in downtown Conway in May.
For the first time, Toad Suck Daze will feature a night of stand-up comedy. Nashville-based comedian, Dusty Slay, will headline the comedy lineup.
At 36, Slay has become the youngest comedian to ever perform on the legendary Grand Ole Opry stage in his adopted hometown of Nashville. To date he’s logged a dozen in front of “his people” on the historic stage in the last couple years and has been asked by the CMA to host their festival’s Forever Country Stage to keep fans laughing between appearances by the biggest stars in country music.
The breakout comedian has appeared on Comedy Central’s Stand-Up Featuring and is set for a third appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon this fall. In 2019 he joined Comedy Central’s Clusterfest in 2019 and has previously performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Last Comic Standing, and Laughs on Fox in addition to regular stints on “The Bob & Tom Radio Show” and a host of live appearances across the country. Most recently, Dusty was featured on season 3 of Netflix’s The Stand Ups, which highlights new comedians at the top of their game.
On Saturday, music returns as Grammy-nominated country singer-songwriter Hailey Whitters takes the stage.
The Iowa-born, Nashville-based rising Country star scored her breakthrough moment in 2020 with the release of her self-funded debut album THE DREAM, which was praised as “the year’s deepest country album” (The Washington Post) and went on to appear on more than 15 year-end best of lists including #1 on both Stereogum’s “10 Best Country Albums of 2020” and Garden & Gun’s “Best Southern Albums of 2020” list.
In 2021 alone, Whitters toured with Luke Combs and Midland, was named the inaugural Opry NextStage Artist of the year, scored her first CMT Music Award nomination for “Breakthrough Video of the Year” (“Fillin’ My Cup” feat. Little Big Town) and received her first GRAMMY nomination as a co-writer for Song of the Year for “A Beautiful Noise.” Her current single “Everything She Ain’t” is currently climbing the country charts. Opening for Whitters will be Australian country duo Seaforth. The duo has racked up more than 350 million streams and been featured on singles with Jordan Davis and Mitchell Tenpenny.
Australian country duo Seaforth will be Whitters’ opening act. The duo is known for its infectious melodies, breezy lyrics and bangers with slick vocal harmonies that top party playlists. Through their new EPWhat I GetFor Loving You, Seaforth’s Tom Jordan and Mitch Thompson–childhood friends who take theirname from the Sydneysuburb where they grew up–want to expand popular perception to includearticulate, authentic songwriting that does a deeper dive into the human experience.
More entertainment news will be shared in the coming weeks.
All festival entertainment is presented by Cherokee Casino & Hotel Roland. The Conway Convention & Visitors Bureau is this year’s main stage sponsor.
