BELMONT — The Blame My Roots Festival has snagged a big name act to headline its summer 2021 event — country music star Miranda Lambert.

The festival made the announcement Thursday, noting that other musicians slated to appear during the July 16-17 event include 2020 CMA award winner Lee Brice, Neal McCoy, Jo Dee Messina, Tenille Townes, Niko Moon, Allie Colleen, Adam Doleac and Walker Montgomery.

Chris Dutton, who co-created the festival with his sister Nina Dutton, said he was thrilled to get Lambert for the festival, which will again be held at the Valley View Campgrounds, 43263 National Road, Belmont.

“We targeted Miranda Lambert because the chances of seeing her are limited for this part of the country. For 2021, you’d have to drive five hours from the valley to see her perform. We think this will help draw a great crowd! We just got lucky with her having so many (seven) CMA nominations this year,” he said.

Some of Lambert’s hits include “Kerosene,” “Gunpowder and Lead,” “The House That Built Me,” and “Mama’s Broken Heart.” One of her latest singles, “Bluebird,” on Nov. 11 was named CMA’s 2020 Music Video of the Year. She will perform on Saturday during the festival.

There are some changes to the event for 2021. This time around ticket holders will not be permitted to bring their own beer and coolers inside the venue.

“The concert itself is no longer (bring your own beer), but the campgrounds and parking lots are still BYOB just as they always have been. We’ve lowered the price of the concert tickets and camping considerably. Friday Single Day is $30 lower and Saturday is $20 lower than last year,” Dutton said. “We’ve also stated a price range for beer as well, and it is far lower than typical concert or sporting event prices. Also, the opening act for each day starts later in the day at 5:30 p.m., with the headliner starting at 10 p.m. This isn’t a situation where you’ll spend all day inside the concert venue.”

Dutton noted financial constraints, insurance costs and patron safety were chief factors behind the changes.

“Our original vision was obviously a BYOB festival. But, our 2019 and 2020 ticket sales prove that BYOB didn’t draw as much of a crowd as we would have hoped. Big headliners help create the ancillary revenue necessary to pay for the festival,” he said.

Another change is that the event is advertised as two days long instead of three days like in 2019.

“We have not yet booked our Thursday kickoff show, but it will be campers only with a regional headliner just like 2019 and 2020. We hope to have this booked in the next few months,” he said.

The festival was all set to go in 2020 but was canceled due to COVID-19 orders handed down by the state. If the 2021 show is canceled again because of COVID, Dutton said ticket holders will be issued refunds.

“If the concert is canceled due to COVID, there will be a refund. This is expected industrywide. But, the show is still a typical ‘no refunds, rain or shine’ show like any outdoor music festival,” he added.

Blame My Roots came about after Live Nation announced in November 2018 that it was planning to put Jamboree In The Hills on hiatus and decide what to do with its concert venue located near Valley View Campgrounds. It never returned.

To help keep their family’s campgrounds afloat and to provide a country music festival for longtime JITH fans, the Duttons decided to launch Blame My Roots Festival in 2019.

“We’re excited to offer such amazing talent, and we’re proud to have Belmont County represented that weekend to so many big names in the music industry,” Dutton said. “One of the most memorable comments I’ve heard so far came from a talent agent in early October that said, ‘Our industry was devastated when Jamboree went away because we built so many tours around that festival. I’m happy that you guys (BMRF) are doing something about that.’ We’re pretty happy, too.”

Dutton said tickets are on sale now at blamemyrootsfestival.com.