The young musicians of Uptown Music Collective are preparing for their next big show on the Community Arts Center stage — “Friends in Low Places: The Music of Garth Brooks & the Women of ’90s Country.

The show, slated for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, at the CAC, 220 W. Fourth St., will include music from Shania Twain, Dolly Parton, The Chicks, Faith Hill and, of course, Garth Brooks, the collective announced via press release.

“This is our ‘people’s choice’ performance, which has become an annual fundraising event for the collective,” said Jared Mondell, assistant executive director of the Uptown Music Collective. “This year, a country/Garth Brooks tribute was the community’s top choice after several rounds of voting in the collective’s 2022 People’s Choice online voting event, winning out by a narrow margin over a virtual who’s who list of modern and classic rock or pop performers. Our students are extremely excited to bring this music to life on the CAC stage while raising money for the school’s scholarship and financial aid funds.”

A new country sound emerged in the 1990s on FM Radio that brought country music back to the mainstream, mixing elements of contemporary pop music with the familiar country twang, the release said. Artists like Garth Brooks were scoring hit songs one after another, filling stadiums and putting on shows that rivaled the production of large rock concerts, it said.

In Friends in Low Places, the collective’s students will pay tribute to these artists and the music that made them famous. Attendees will enjoy Garth Brooks songs like “Rodeo,” “American Honky-Tonk Bar Association,” “Ain’t Going Down (‘Til the Sun Comes Up),” “The Dance” and more, alongside hits like “You’re Still the One,” “Fancy,” “This Kiss” and “Strawberry Wine” by female country artists from the same time period, according to the press release.

“This is a concert that is way overdue, and the students and I plan to make up for it by making this the best country music performance we’ve brought to the stage yet,” said Dave Brumbaugh, executive director and founder of the Uptown Music Collective. “The students have been tuning up their telecasters, pulling out the pedal steel guitar, putting on their boots and hats, and getting excited to bring this great music to the stage for everyone.”

Friends in Low Places will feature collective students who have been preparing for this event for more than three months, the press release said. Along with the music, there will be a professional-grade light, sound and video show, organized by the students, themselves, who will work alongside the professionals at the CAC.

As with all Uptown Music Collective performances, the students are not only the performers, but also the directors of the show. A group of younger students will serve as stage technicians and spotlight operators. The cast for the show is drawn from the Uptown Music Collective’s much-heralded “Special Performance Group 1,” according to the release.

The show is directed by Uptown Music Collective senior students Leah Batman (Laurel Springs School), Calistra Mahoney (Pennsylvania College of Technology) and Issac Fluery (Canton High School). The show’s leadership committee consists of UMC students Matthew Bellino (Danville Area High School), Izzy Butters (Loyalsock Township High School), Abby Colone (Loyalsock Township High School), Chase Cowden (Loyalsock Township High School), Connor Evans (Williamsport Area High School), Ben Feuerstein (Lewisburg Area High School), Gabreon Godin (Williamsport Area High School), Grace Godin (Williamsport Area Middle School), Brendan Kuriga (South Williamsport Area High School), Duncan Larson (Loyalsock Township High School), Jossian Lilley (Loyalsock Township High School), Cassidy Lutz (Loyalsock Township High School), Stephanie Nappi (PA Cyber) and Luke O’Brien (Loyalsock Township High School).

“Country had never been a genre that grabbed my attention in any way,” Lutz said. “I could only name a handful of songs and they were never anything I was a huge fan of. Now that we have been rehearsing the Garth songs and the ’90s female country hits, I have gained a new appreciation for the music I never had. All of the songs seem simple but have their own unique intricacies that make them all lovable. This show will be a blast and a great experience to be had for country fans and newcomers to the genre, like myself. I hope to see a full house for this epic, one-night performance.”

Tickets for the performance, which are $20 in advance and $25 at the door (plus fees), are available through the Community Arts Center box office, 220 West Fourth St., and website, www.caclive.com. In addition to this show, tickets for the remainder of the Collective’s performance season are on sale now at the CAC, as well. Upcoming shows include Free Bird: A Tribute to Southern Rock on March 10 and 11, and The Show Must Go On: The Music of Queen on April 28 and 29.

For more details, visit uptownmusic.org/country or call 570-329-0888.