TIFTON — A “Texas Tornado” heads into town when country music star Tracy Lawrence plays the John Hunt Auditorium at The University of Georgia’s Tifton Campus Conference Center on Aug. 3.

Lawrence debuted his first album in 1991. His hits over the years include “Sticks and Stones,” “Alibis,”  “If the World Had A Front Porch,” “Texas Tornado,” “Time Marches On,” “How a Cowgirl Says Goodbye,” and “Paint Me a Birmingham.”

Lawrence will be playing a mix of those hits as well as new music from his album “Made in America,” which releases Aug. 16, at the concert.

“I’m excited about playing some new music for everyone,” said Lawrence.

Lawrence got his start in music by singing in church and school programs when he was 4 and 5 years-old.

“I started doing jamboree houses when I was around 14 years-old. [I] wound up with a band of older guys playing honky-tonks and VFWs when I was about 16,” said Lawrence.

He then sold everything he owned and moved to Nashville at 22, with “no intention of ever going back.” “Here I am, at 51, still here,” said Lawrence.

When describing “Made in America,” Lawrence said, “It’s real country. I wanted to record traditional country more like I remember things from the ‘90s being, but I didn’t wanna overlap with a lot of the same things I’ve done in the past. I wanted to be fresh and I wrote the bulk of this record, so I’m really excited about it. It’s got some good traditional country on it, some good mid-tempos. Great storylines, great imagery. I think it’s one of the best complete projects that I’ve done in a long time.”

Lawrence feels that current country music is returning to more a traditional platform. “There’s young, great talent out there that’s cutting some good country records again.” said Lawrence. “I love some of the new acts, guys like Luke Combs that are out there. He’s cut some really cool songs. They’re cutting them a little bit more on the rock side, less on the sappy pop stuff. I think we’re in a good place. I think country is gonna have kind of a traditional resurgence.”

Fans of Lawrence’s music videos may remember a storyline that dealt with time travel played out over the course of several videos, starting with “If the Good Die Young” and ending with “Life Don’t Have to Be So Hard.”

“That was my idea. We had fun with that over the years. We shot the very first one in Charlotte Motor Speedway. I was a race car driver in that and met some really cool folks.” said Lawrence. “Who knows, we may revive it through the duration of this album.”

Doors for the concert open at 6:30 p.m. and the show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $45 and can be purchased at www.ticketalternative.com/event/tracy-lawrence until 11:59 p.m. Aug. 2nd. Any remaining tickets will be sold at the door on the night of the show.  

 “Come on out. If you like country music, this will be the place to be.” said Lawrence.