RISON - One of Cleveland County's own will be making the leap from attendee to performer at this year's Rison in the Fall Festival, set for Saturday, Oct. 18 in Downtown Rison.
Laura Caroline was born in Rison, but grew up in Kingsland attending elementary school, before her family relocated to Northern Arkansas.
Despite the move, Laura never lost her Cleveland County roots where she learned to sing in church at Kingsland Assembly og God. Now she will be taking the Rise Up Rison Stage at the festival, kicking things off at 1 p.m.
Her full-band set - a first for the rising singer - will be followed by performances from Copper Flats, Ernie Halter, Thom and Coley, and acclaimed country artist Sunny Sweeney.
Laura joins Festival Director Douglas Boultinghouse and Free Range Conversations Podcast hosts Britt Talent and Roy Phillips to talk about her plans for the festival, music and more.
The full episode is streaming now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and ClevelandCountyHerald.com Laura is no stranger to performing in Cleveland County recently. Boultinghouse said the singer reached out to him inquiring about performing at the festival in 2024 after taking an extended hiatus from performing.
"At that point the lineup was already full," he said. "So we started holding a place for her for this year, but found other events for her to perform." Laura has returned to Rison and Kingsland to perform at Food Truck Friday, the Johnny Cash Post Office dedication ceremony, the Cruisin' Cleveland County Bike Ride aftershow and more.
"Over the past year, y'all have supported me more than anything," she said. "Altogether I have had more shows in Cleveland County than I have anywhere else." In addition to playing shows across the state, Laura has been writing original music with her friends and mentors, Arkansas-based duo Cliff and Susan.
Laura said she will be debuting the song live during her set at Rison in the Fall. She shared that the song has already been recorded and will be released sometime in October as well.
"I think Cleveland County will really resonate with the song," she said, mentioning the song being rooted around her happy childhood growing up here.
For the rest of her set, fans can expect some country and gospel songs they know and love from artists like Christian and country singer Anne Wilson, and 90s country icons like Jo Dee Messina and Trisha Yearwood.
Looking ahead to the festival, Laura said she is anxious to meet the other artists and study what they do.
"I know they're all successful," she said. "And I'm ready to take notes." During the podcast, she also shares what she learned from last year's festival headliner Charles Esten about making a connection with every single person in the audience, and her big dream to play on the Grand Ole Opry one day.
Laura also invites anyone to follow her on social media platforms Instagram, Facebook and TikTok @LauraCarolineMusic where she goes live weekly to perform.
Every Sunday evening, she performs hymns, gospel, praise and worship songs live for people to sing along with her.
She also goes live during her shows on the road, so those in attendance at the fall festival may just appear in one of her videos.
Boultinghouse noted that this episode with Laura is just the first of a series of podcasts with the artists slated for this year's Rison in the Fall Festival.
"We hope to be talking with each artist as we get closer to the event in October," he said.