“My music covers faith, family, and the Flag.”

Those were the words Grammy Award-winning artist Billy Dean used to describe the music he enjoys writing and performing.

Dean will be bringing his blend of music to Elizabethton on Saturday evening as he headlines the concert series for the final night of the annual Covered Bridge Celebration.

“We’re getting ready for a busy few days,” Dean told the Elizabethton Star on Wednesday. Before making the trek to the Covered Bridge Festival, Dean was performing this week in Nashville.

Dean said he is looking forward to performing in Elizabethton this weekend.

“I’m excited because I’m bringing some very talented musicians with me,” Dean said. “I have some wonderful friends, Robert Wells and his wife Maria Wells, coming all the way from Stockholm, Sweden, to perform with me.”

Robert Wells is an exceptional pianist, Dean said, while his wife Maria is also a talented singer, author, and musician.

“I’m showing them the country,” Dean said of his friends the Wells. “I can’t think of a better place than Elizabethton to introduce them to Northeast Tennessee.”

While some musicians enjoy the thrill of large audiences in spacious auditoriums and arenas, Dean said he prefers playing smaller venues.

“I think it’s more intimate and personable,” Dean said. “The smaller venues are where people can really hear the music. I think you can hear the stories better that way.”

“I love it when people are able to hear the words and see the mechanics of the music, to see what it is to play a guitar,” he added.

Dean is well known for his fingerstyle guitar music as well as his storytelling with the lyrics of his songs. While he is perhaps best known in the Country Music genre for his 11 Top 10 singles, five number one hits, and more than 4 million albums sold, his musical roots and influences include folk, southern rock, bluegrass, and classic country.

“I was a fan of that outlaw movement — Waylon, Willie, Cash, and Kristofferson,” Dean said.

Fans of country music may remember Dean for some of his hits songs such as “Somewhere In My Broken Heart,” “Only Here For A Little While,” “If There Hadn’t Been You,” “Let Them Be Little,” and “Billy The Kid.”

Dean said he still enjoys performing those songs. “I’ve played them for 25 years or so,” he added. “I have some album cuts that didn’t make the radio for whatever reason that I also really enjoy playing.”

On the songwriting side, Dean said one of his favorite songs he has written is actually one another performer recorded, “Real Things” which was picked up by Joe Nichols.

“If I could sing one song that describes me, a lot of people would say ‘Billy The Kid,’ and that does describe me, but for the things that are important and mean a lot to me, I have to say it would be ‘Real Things,’” Dean said. “A song I would like for people to rediscover, especially with the Me Too movement, is a song I wrote called Real Man. There is a line in the song that says ‘A real man knows the value of a woman.’”

Billy Dean will close out the entertainment for this year’s Covered Bridge Celebration on Saturday evening as he performs with Robert Wells and Maria Wells in the park.

Saturday’s entertainment in the park will kick off at 3:30 p.m. with a performance by the Watts Dance Studio Showcase Dancers.

Local musicians The Bullseye Band will perform from 5-6 p.m.

At 6:30 p.m. Raybon & Grindstaff — featuring Tim Raybon and Daniel Grindstaff — will take the stage.

Grammy Award-winning country music artist Billy Dean will close out the festival with his performance beginning at 8 p.m.

Shortly after the conclusion of Dean’s performance, a fireworks display by Dynamic Effects and sponsored by SnapOn Tools will bring the festival to an end.