Rascal Flatts, Lady Antebellum, the Jonas Brothers, Brad Paisley, Toby Keith, Clay Walker, Taylor Swift, Darius Rucker, Keith Urban, Gary Allan, Brooks & Dunn and ZZ Top are just a few of the names flying around this year's RodeoHouston event as scheduled entertainers, and the 2009 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo promises much more than concert stars to make this year's rodeo more memorable than ever.

March 3-22, 2009 is a time for kicking up dust all around Houston's Reliant Stadium, as the nation's most promising rodeo cowboys and country music stars all gather in the home of the Houston Texans for a thrilling combination of rodeo competition and festival events. Anyone with Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo tickets to the 2009 event will get the chance to experience some of the nation's best down home country festival happenings, including an international wine competition, World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest, carnival rides, Parade & ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run, children's activities, several live performances from Nashville's biggest stars and, of course, action-packed rodeo events in 19 days of sheer Southern bliss.

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo took its roots from the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, which began as a series of informal rodeo competitions in the late 1800s. Rodeos of the early 20th century were down-and-dirty contests without the frill of modern day events, roping cattle and riding wild broncs while not using chutes, fenced-in areas or bullfighters. Today, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association has more than 7,000 cowboys in its ranks, and rodeos are massive and prestigious events drawing in crowds by the millions. RodeoHouston is currently the world's largest rodeo and features the best crop of talents in the country under the roof of Reliant Stadium, and prize money is almost as big as bragging rights of winning one of the rodeo's several events.

RodeoHouston was inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2008, and its winners will undoubtedly have more competition in this year's Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo championship. 2008's RodeoHouston champions include Steven Dent for bareback riding, Lindsay Sears for barrel racing, B.J. Schumacher for bull riding, Billy Etbauer for saddle bronc riding, Wade Sumpter for steer wrestling, Chad Masters and Jade Corkill for team roping and Josh Peek for tie-down roping, and all of these rodeo superstars have a shot at defending their titles in the 2009 show.

Garth Brooks recorded a song in 1991 outlining the thrill of rodeos, claiming, "It's the bulls and blood, it's dust and mud/It's the roar of the Sunday crowd/It's the white in his knuckles/The gold in the buckle he'll win in the next go 'round/It's boots and chaps, it's cowboy hats/It's spurs and latigo/It's the ropes and the reins/And the joy and the pain/And they call the thing rodeo," and even though Brooks will not be part of this year's Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo event to rile the crowd with his rodeo-ready hit song "Rodeo," other Southern cowboy hat-wearing gems like Toby Keith, Clint Back, Brad Paisley and Trace Adkins will be there to celebrate one of the world's best rodeos in style. Get tickets to the March gala online and head down to Houston's Reliant Stadium for some entertaining hoots and hollers this spring!

This article is sponsored by StubHub.com. StubHub is a leader in the business of selling Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo tickets, sports tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets and special events tickets.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 19th, 2009 at 9:39 pm and is filed under Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.