By Craig Horleman

For more than a decade, JJ Rupp has been a familiar face at the Delaware beaches, playing his brand of country-tinged originals and cover songs. Next weekend, he moves a bit north, playing at Houston’s June Jam.

The charity music festival, in its 44th consecutive year, also will feature Triple Rail Turn, Storm Over Seattle, Fuzzbox Piranha, the Joey Fulkerson Band and more.

Mr. Rupp is excited to make his first appearance at June Jam.

“A lot of times in Dewey Beach, you’ll notice that we have shows that are set up to be original shows down there, and then, we have shows — like at the Bottle & Cork jams on Saturdays — that are typically cover shows and things like that,” he said.

“My whole goal is to just serve the people and make the room happy, while doing it in sort of my own way. With June Jam, it’s going to be a nice blend of both covers and original music to just sort of showcase where we’re at and what we like and what we want to deliver to people.”

Mr. Rupp, 33, has been performing since he was 16, when it was required that security escort him in and out of bars. By the time he was 18, he was staging around 200 shows a year up and down the East Coast.

It all started when he was 6 and growing up in the small rural town of Halifax, Pennsylvania, about 30 minutes outside of Harrisburg.

“Basically, my dad was a musician since he was a youngster, as well. He started, I think, when he was 13. I just remember falling asleep on his lap while he was playing guitar, listening (to) Peter Frampton 45s and all that good stuff. And when I sort of got old enough and thought that my hands were big enough, I asked him to teach me, and he said yes. And then, it was all downhill from there,” he said, with a laugh.

He grew up loving the Southern rock sound and spent a few years in the Nashville, Tennessee, area in the mid-2010s, writing songs and performing every chance he could get.

“I shared a house with a bunch of writing friends there in Mount Juliet, which is about 20 minutes outside of downtown Nashville. I stayed there for a couple years, just to get my feet wet into the writing, and I still go down there a lot to write with people and to network and things like that,” he said.

“It’s just the way that it worked out for me. I had a lot of luck up here picking up shows and had the opportunity to actually make a living making music, rather than just playing for tips everywhere you go. And from there, it’s just sort of stemmed into, just stay on the grind and keep working, and it just grows. It takes years, but it grows.”

In 2018, he independently released his debut EP, “Wild Things.” It would go on to sell thousands of copies and rank on the Billboard Top 40 Hot Country chart and be No. 1 on the regional Heatseekers chart.

“I was very, very lucky. It literally had nothing to do with anything else other than luck. You’ve just got to be presented the opportunity. And luckily, I’ve been presented with a few that I’ve tried to make a solid go out of and just was lucky enough to be able to,” he said.

Tonight marks another big step in the process, as he opens for Milton native and award-winning country artist Jimmie Allen in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Mr. Rupp played on the bill at Mr. Allen’s Bettie James Fest in Milton last year and will again this August.

He originally got the Bettie James gig through Alex Pires and Vikki Walls, who run Highway One, the company that owns the Bottle & Cork and Rusty Rudder, where Mr. Rupp can be seen regularly.

It was through that relationship that Mr. Allen asked him to open tonight’s show at the Wind Creek Event Center.

“(Mr. Allen) has been more than exceptionally good to me and taking care of me and sort of giving me opportunities that are tough ones to come by sometimes without having somebody in your corner,” Mr. Rupp said.

“That’s the first one where he actually went out of his way to request that I was there for that. And that really means a lot because everybody expects, when you’re playing with bigger artists, ‘Well, why can’t he help you?’ Well, it’s not that simple. They do what they can, but you’ve still got to be putting in your time. That’s what it comes down to. And this was the first time that I sort of got the reward of those guys giving me a call and just asking me directly if I was interested in doing that. I immediately shared that with Vikki, and she was over the moon about it. So it’s just progress, little by little.”

Mr. Rupp’s long-delayed new EP, titled “Make You Mine,” will be released when he plays this year’s Bettie James Fest at Hudson Fields on Aug. 13.

“I had a record that was just about completed and ready to go when COVID hit (in 2020), but it seemed sort of futile to take it out and release it into the world and not be able to go support it by playing shows and getting it in people’s hands because I’m still a substantially small artist per se. So without the live-performance aspect, it’s very, very hard to get people to notice it without them hearing it,” he said.

“It used to be, you went out, and you made a record, and then, you toured with the record, and that got it done. Now, you just go out and tour, so you can afford to make a record.”

For this EP, Mr. Rupp signed a partnership and distribution deal with Rahhh Records and Average Joes Entertainment.

“Fingers crossed, it makes a dent in some of my future goals. You never know. You can write songs that you think are great, and they never go anywhere, and you can write songs that you think are average, and they’re the ones that do (it) for you. It’s very unpredictable,” he said.

Taking place June 11 at G&R Campground on Rod & Gun Club Road in Houston, June Jam’s advance $31 tickets will be sold until Tuesday and can be obtained at Music & Arts, 3443 S. DuPont Highway, Camden; Puffster, 115 W. Loockerman St., Dover; or junejam.com.

Tickets will be sold at the gate for $45 for adults and $5 for children younger than 12. Camping opportunities are sold out.

The day will also include raffles, 50/50s and vendors. Gates open between 10:30 and 11 a.m. with the music starting at noon.

For information, visit the website or call 302-284-JUNE.

First Saturday

Downtown Dover will celebrate this weekend with various free events, merchant promotions and more.

Along with the Delaware Pride Festival — starting at 9 a.m. with a parade and then continuing at Legislative Mall — the second annual Victorian Picnic will take place on The Green from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and offer an opportunity to experience the capital city’s oldest park the way it was first enjoyed.

There will also be free admission at the Biggs Museum of American Art, with the opening of the “Award Winners” exhibit and a Victorian-themed craft. In addition, the Old State House will have hourly tours.

First Saturdays take place monthly to encourage residents to visit downtown’s parks, museums, library and hometown merchants.

“First Saturdays are not a new event in downtown, but community partners believe there exists good capacity to grow the event over time,” said Diane Laird, executive director of the Downtown Dover Partnership.

DDP has completed its tenure of overseeing First Fridays, Ms. Laird said.

“We held a series of meetings through March with agencies and organizations that regularly have events in downtown to determine if one of them had the desire and capacity to take on the programming and logistics of First Friday, and while most were interested in seeing a monthly event continue, none were able to accept the responsibility of taking the lead to coordinate the monthly event.”

DDP also conducted a community-wide survey, and responses strongly indicated that people were as interested in coming downtown for activities on Saturday afternoons as they were on First Fridays.

Since the museum, parks and library were already planning activities on First Saturdays, DDP is now supporting the marketing efforts, as well as inviting merchants to host promotions and programs on those days, which DDP will also advertise.

Each month, the activities can easily be found on DDP’s website.

Further, shoppers are encouraged to sign up for the Capital Key Program to unlock value at downtown shops and eateries. To learn more about those stores, visit the Merchant Showcase on downtowndover.com, where information can also be found about the Capital Key.

‘Little Shop of Horrors’

The cast and crew of the newly established Dover Art League Community Theatre will present their first musical production, “Little Shop of Horrors,” starting tonight.

The meek floral assistant Seymour Krelborn stumbles across a new breed of plant he names “Audrey II” — after his co-worker and crush. The foulmouthed, R&B-singing carnivore promises unending fame and fortune to the down-and-out Seymour, as long as he keeps feeding it blood. Over time, though, Seymour discovers Audrey II’s origins and intent toward global domination.

Directed by Ally Deihl and Caitlyn Kuhn and choreographed by Rose Spickes, the musical includes Colby Crawford and Andy Tallman, who share the role of Seymour, plus Kennedy Oaks as Audrey.

The show starts at 7 tonight and continues Saturday at 2 and 7 p.m., as well as June 11 at 7 p.m. and June 12 at 2 and 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 and can be obtained here.

The website is also how you can learn more about becoming involved in the Dover Art League, including volunteering, becoming a member, submitting art for the member gallery, proposing a class and becoming a board member.

The league is at 21 W. Loockerman St.

Now Showing

New this weekend in theaters is the thriller, “Watcher.”