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Rattlesnake Ridge, a band comprised of Worland residents, will provide the opening entertainment Saturday night at the Washakie County Fair ahead of an incredible special guest from Nashville, Tennessee: country singer/songwriter Deana Carter.

Carter on behalf of her and her team said, “We’re so excited to see you guys, we’re gonna have a big time in a beautiful place. Come ready to have fun and sing your heart out.”

Over the course of her music career, she’s grown accustomed to playing for stadiums and arenas – a far cry from the Grass Stage of the Washakie County Fairgrounds — but Carter said that no venue is too small for her. She said, “For us it’s just about being able to be with the fans, no matter how big or small the venue is. First and foremost, as a singer/songwriter, that’s where I cut my teeth on everything in this industry, in more intimate and personal settings; just sitting with my guitar and being able to tell my story.”

Carter shared some of that story, beginning with her upbringing in Nashville. She said that her situation was a peculiar one, because, “most people come to Nashville to pursue their dreams in music; I started there.”

Carter said her parents were both involved in the music industry. Her father, Fred Carter Jr., was also an artist who wrote and performed country music as well as produced and composed in the 1950s and ‘60s. With this unique childhood, Carter said that she grew up in a music studio, and that setting has become her “most comfortable place in the whole world.”

Despite growing up with the influence of the music industry, Carter did not find immediate success. She said, “Even growing up in the business, it always seemed so daunting getting into it, and I was concerned that it might not happen so I had a Plan B.”

‘Plan B’ for Carter was to attend college at the University of Tennessee, where she studied to “work with stroke and head injury patients.” She wanted to be able to have a good career to fall back on “just in case.”

Something that people might not know about Carter is that around this time, when she was 19, she had a Coast Guard license. She said this came about because, “I worked at a camp on the East Coast, and I had to take care of inboard and outboard boats and stuff. It was difficult but I did get my Coast Guard license; I was the only girl in the class.”

Having a backup plan probably left Carter’s mind about the time that she saw the success of her first record, ‘Did I Shave My Legs for This?’ which contained the single “Strawberry Wine.” She knew music was going to be something she pursued long term after she performed songs from the album in concert. She said, “When you see people singing your lyrics back to you, that is a very big ‘aha’ moment of like, ‘wow, this is a connection.’”

Carter said of “Strawberry Wine,” “It was just such a blessing; the timing of it, how everything worked out. The timelessness of it, like the staying power that it’s had. It’s a generational experience; kids grow up with their parents playing it. And to me, it was such a part of my life story, I was committed to the song before anyone had ever heard it. I had to sing it because I lived it, and that’s the honesty behind it that everyone is connecting to. I will never, ever get tired of sharing that with people.”

She reminisced on the effect that she has seen her music have on those that hear it live, saying, “The people that come to my concerts were mostly in middle school when that song came out, and now they’re all parents and professionals and whatnot; And you see them going back to being like 14 years old again when that song comes on. It becomes more than a song; it becomes an experience.”

Recently, Carter said that she has mostly kept busy by travelling and performing her music to audiences across the country and continuing to write music when she can. She said she isn’t writing as much as she has in the past, instead spending much of her time trying to curate both her and her fathers’ catalogues of unpublished music.

Carter added that she herself has hundreds of songs that she keeps in mind. She said, “So when I hear that someone is doing a movie and they need a song for it, I go, ‘oh, well there’s this one I wrote in 2012 at so-and-so’s house that’s perfect for that!’”

She was excited that a song she wrote a decade ago with Paul Doucette of Matchbox Twenty called “No Other Love” had come out in May of this year, performed by the band, and featuring singer Amanda Shires. She said, “It seems like just about every decade, God will give me a little encouragement to keep going.”

Coming up, Carter said that she looks forward to going to Hawaii to record with Jake Shimabukuro, a ukulele artist. “Then, we’ll just continue to work and do what we can,” she said.

Look forward to seeing Rattlesnake Ridge play at 7 p.m. on Saturday, opening for Deana Carter at 9 p.m. Tickets are on sale online or will be available at the gate.