The onsite camping is pretty much sold out, which should come as no surprise. Every year, Country Thunder's festival camping grounds in Florence fill up weeks ahead of time.
Fans pull in their fifth-wheel campers and RVs early on opening day and stay well after the last act has taken the final bows at the festival's end.
Some folks plan vacations around the four-day festival, which runs April 7 to 10 at Canyon Moon Ranch, a sprawling alfalfa-gnarled patch of land sunk into a valley circled by soft hilltops.
If you're a fan of country music, there is no better staycation really - four days of top-flight Nashville country acts playing in what is arguably the best weather you can expect in Arizona: about 80 degrees and sunny if the forecast holds.
And even if you're just planning to hit the festival for a day, the lineup alone is worth the drive through bucolic Pinal County and past its half-dozen public and private prisons. (Talk about your perfect setting for a country-music festival.)
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Toby Keith, the poster boy for barroom rowdy, honky-tonk country, leads a lineup that includes rising star Jason Aldean and the venerable leading lady Martina McBride.
In between, there are more than a dozen stars of varying glitter - newcomers like the JaneDear Girls and Eden's Edge; up-and-comers Gloriana, Little Big Town and Eric Church; and old friends Sara Evans, Neal McCoy, Clay Walker and Tucson's own Troy Olsen.
Tickets are $35 for Thursday's opening day, and $80 for single days Friday through Sunday. A four-day festival pass is $160. Children 12 and younger are free with a paid adult.
If you go
• What: Country Thunder USA
• When: April 7 to 10.
• Where: Canyon Moon Ranch, 20585 E. Price Station Road, Florence.
Next week in Caliente
Interviews with some of the stars of Country Thunder.
Country Thunder USA 2011 schedule
• April 7 - Starts at 5 p.m. with Craig Campbell, Jason Jones, Steel Magnolia and Sawyer Brown.
• April 8 - First act goes on stage at 2:30 p.m.: The JaneDear Girls, Brantley Gilbert, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Eric Church and Jason Aldean.
• April 9 - First act goes on at 1 p.m.: Rio Grand, Neal McCoy, The Bellamy Brothers, Rodney Atkins, Little Big Town and Martina McBride.
• April 10 - First act goes on at 1 p.m.: Eden's Edge, Troy Olsen, Gloriana, Sara Evans, Clay Walker and Toby Keith.
