MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Three Middle Tennessee State University alumni will return to campus to headline this season’s three final performances for Party in the Grove, the official pregame tailgate of Blue Raider Football.

Bluegrass artist Jaelee Roberts will be in the spotlight before the 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15, game against Kennesaw State University; hip-hop artist Tyrone Stroble, better known as Tyke T, will take the stage before the noon Saturday, Nov. 9, game with Liberty University; and country-folk artist Chloe Kimes will be in the grove before the 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23, contest against New Mexico State University.

The Party in the Grove activities begin three hours before kickoff in Walnut Grove, the traditional campus gathering point in an open field between Peck Hall and the Cope Administration Building. In addition to the performance stage, the grove will also feature Raider Walk by the football team, two food trucks and several sponsor tents and activities.

The tailgate winds down 45 minutes before kickoff with a “Follow Me to Floyd” parade, led by Student Government Association President Michai Mosby and Blue Zoo President Bretlyn Warner, who will also be the emcees. 

“I am so pleased we will finish the inaugural set of Party in the Grove with three headliners with ties to our campus,” said MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee. “This has been a great addition to our pregame experience, all shows featuring alumni.”

Roberts, who was recently named the International Bluegrass Music Association Awards Female Vocalist of the Year, is a 2023 graduate in commercial songwriting. She had her Grand Ole Opry solo debut last year and has garnered attention after the recent release of“No Fear,” the album from Sister Sadie that features a half-dozen of her lead vocals. She released in 2022 her debut full-length album, “Something You Didn’t Count On,” which debuted in the Top 10 on the Billboard Bluegrass Album chart and peaking at No. 2 on the Bluegrass Unlimited album chart.

Tyke T, set for the Nov. 9 show, is a Billboard-charting hip-hop artist based in Memphis. A 2009 graduate in marketing and a 2011 graduate of MTSU’s Master of Business Administration program, his music has been featured in several television shows. He was featured during a show by Forbes magazine held at the legendary Orpheum Theater in Memphis, during which he was awarded an honorary professorship in MTSU’s Department of Recording Industry.

As a nod to the game’s Salute to Veterans and Armed Services, the 129th Army Band will open for Tyke T in the grove. Tracing its lineage back to 1780, the 129th has represented the state of Tennessee and the Tennessee Army National Guard at events ranging from two World’s Fairs to marching in a presidential inaugural parade, as well as numerous VIP performances. It was one of two reserve bands called to active duty in support of Operation Desert Storm.

Kimes, a 2019 graduate of the commercial songwriting program, went viral with a live performance on a Knoxville radio station, which attracted over 4 million views across her social media platforms. Since then, the record, “Coors Light,” has also been awarded Listener’s Choice Album of the Year by Michigan’s WYCE Radio Jammie Awards. She released her debut album in 2022, a live self-titled effort that landed her a spot on NPR Music’s Top 10 Nashville Artists on the Rise list in 2022.

Carly Rose Ratcliffe, currently a commercial songwriting student at MTSU, is set to open for Kimes in the grove on Nov. 23. She performs both covers and originals in her shows and cites as influencers artists such as Dolly Parton, Tyler Childers, Miranda Lambert and Sara Evans.  

Party in the Grove is produced through a partnership with the MTSU Division of Student Affairs, the College of Media and Entertainment and Blue Raider Athletics.

— Andrew Oppmann (Andrew.Oppmann@mtsu.edu)