LITTLE VALLEY — A familiar name to country music fans for over three decades performed one of the hottest shows in town this summer when Tracy Byrd played to an enthusiastic crowd Tuesday night at the Cattaraugus County Fair.

Some long-time Byrd fans know his breakout single “Holdin’ Heaven” while many in the crowd, both young and young at heart, may know him from his later hit tracks “Watermelon Crawl,” “I’m From the Country” and “Ten Rounds with Jose Cuervo.”

Either way, plenty in attendance knew enough of the 58-year-old Texas native’s tunes to sing along in a show that stayed hot long after the sun went down.

“Are you from the country?” Byrd asked the crowd after performing the 1998 hit single, receiving a roar from the grandstand crowd. After noticing a sign with the song’s chorus on it, Byrd told the sign holder, “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

Through the years, Byrd became a promoter favorite on the road, performing over 4,000 shows across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Australia from 1992 until 2009. He then said he needed a break to take care of himself and his most precious thing — his family, wife Michelle, daughter Evee and sons Logan and Jared, who had taken a backseat to his career for years. Not performing from 2010–13, Byrd got back to music in 2014 with a new band, a new-found sobriety and love of the thing he enjoys so much.

Tracy Byrd points to a cheering fan during his grandstand concert Tuesday night at the Cattaraugus County Fair.

Singing with plenty of enthusiasm and playfulness, Byrd warmed up the evening’s setlist with fan favorites before some banter with the enthusiastic crowd.

“It’s good to be here in Little Valley, New York,” he said. “How about my buddy Alex Miller?”

Up-and-coming artist Alex Miller opened the show for Byrd, warming up the grandstand crowd for the main event. Miller may look familiar from his days on “American Idol” in 2021, but he’s quickly forging a path in the country music world. The 6-foot-6 singer/songwriter from rural Kentucky is a natural fan favorite whose career has moved at warp speed.

“There’s a good group of young country singers out there,” Byrd said.

Byrd also expressed his enthusiasm at seeing a lot of younger fans in the audience. After a regular string of singles and albums coming out between 1993 and 2006, the country music star’s focus on family has resulted in only one new album over the past two decades — 2012’s “All American Texas.”

“When I see a lot of young kids — and for me, that means folks in their twenties and thirties — I ask ‘em how they know me,” he told the fair crowd. “And they tell me, ‘My parents raised me on ’90s country.’”

Tonight’s grandstand entertainment will be Flatland Cavalry, the country and Americana band from Lubbock, Texas. The show opens with special guest John Hollier, the Louisiana-born and Nashville-based singer, songwriter and guitarist.

Tracy Byrd (left) performs Tuesday night at the Cattaraugus County Fair.