Country Singer Jo Dee Messina To Perform One Show At
The Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall In Sarasota, FL On
Sunday September 17, 2006 Tickets Go On Sale Saturday
June 17, 2006

Sarasota, FL - Jo Dee Messina will perform on Sunday, September 17, 2006, 7 PM. Tickets are $60 and $50. Tickets for Jo Dee Messina go on sale on Saturday, June 17, 2006 at 9:00 AM at the Van Wezel Box Office and on-line at vanwezel.org.

Three albums. Her first headlining tour. The prestigious CMA Horizon Award. ACM's Top New Female Vocalist. Boston Music Awards Artist of the Year. Too many nominations to count. Two top 10 crossover smashes. Critical acclaim. Airplay records set and shattered. National television performances. Acting roles. Eight number one singles, one on its way and three that were close. And now a greatest hits album. How tempting it is to define Jo Dee Messina with the facts?what can be seen,
touched and reasoned. While there is more than enough evidence to do so, the mind must eventually yield to the subtle
yet persistent pull of the heart. Jo Dee Messina's career as a
recording artist is not captured in numbers, accomplishments
or accolades, it is found in her music. With each album and
each song she has laid bare her soul with unflinching honesty.
In revealing herself she reflects that which is at the very foundation of human experience, thus creating a body of work bound by invisible human connections and raw emotion. Everything else is beside the point.

Messina's gift can perhaps be traced to New England self-reliance, or maybe the work ethic of her blue-collar hometown. She was raised by a single mother in Holliston, Massachusetts, a work-a-day Boston suburb with little time or patience for
putting on airs. Direct almost to a fault, Messina brought that attitude with her to Nashville after an informal musical apprenticeship playing small Northeastern clubs. The story,
now taking on almost mythic proportions, has Messina striding up to a Curb Records executive backstage at Fan Fair to proclaim, "What you really need over there is a redhead."
The tale, of course, is completely true. Messina did get signed
to Curb Records, with a little help from friend and label mate
Tim McGraw, who co-produced her first album with Byron Gallimore. Jo Dee Messina propelled its namesake into
country music's mainstream with the exuberance that has become her trademark.

Now Messina's career to date is encapsulated in a greatest hits package that includes the single "Was That My Life," yet another extension of Messina's life-affirming attitude. Also included are three other previously unreleased tracks. Most importantly, however, Greatest Hits is a revealing look at Messina's ongoing artistic legacy. And it's a legacy spoken from the heart and measured in emotion. Success is just the by-product.

Tickets for Sunday, September 17, 2006 at 7 PM go on sale at
the Van Wezel Box Office on Saturday, June 17, 2006 at 9 AM located at 777 North Tamiami Trail, through the Charge-It Line; (941) 953-3368; Toll Free at (800) 826-9303; or on-line at vanwezel.org.