Oklahoma’s Kyle Dillingham, Peter Markes to perform at Great American State Fair

• Oklahoma musicians Kyle Dillingham and Peter Markes will perform at the Great American State Fair in Washington, D.C.
• The event is part of Freedom 250, the White House-backed celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
• The duo, who have been making music together for over 30 years, have toured more than 40 countries as musical ambassadors.

In the three decades since they started making music together, Kyle Dillingham and Peter Markes have taken their Heartland acoustic sound from their Enid hometown and southwest Oklahoma’s Quartz Mountains to China, Kuwait and Kosovo.

“Thirty-one years and over 40 countries later, representing our state and our country, then being selected to be there in an official capacity in performing for the 250th anniversary of our country … this is perhaps the most important and special honor of our careers — and personally in our lives,” Dillingham said.

The longtime friends, bandmates and global music ambassadors have been selected as official performers for the ongoing Great American State Fair, an event continuing through July 10 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It is part of Freedom 250, the White House-backed celebration of the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

The Oklahoma City musical duo is set to perform July 2-3 on the Legacy Stage at The Great American State Fair, billed as a “world-class exposition and modern-day World’s Fair celebrating the people, traditions, innovations, and spirit that make America the greatest nation on Earth.”

“It is really special,” Markes told The Oklahoman. “As we’re representing our country in our country, I think it’s important that we represent Oklahoma and, really, the Heartland … of America.”

Who are OKC musicians Kyle Dillingham and Peter Markes?

Although they have known each other their entire lives, Dillingham and Markes — who are distantly related — didn’t really start making music together until they were both Enid High School juniors attending the Oklahoma Arts Institute at Quartz Mountain, an intensive, nationally recognized two-week residential arts academy at Quartz Mountain State Park and Lodge near Lone Wolf.

“We loaded up in my car and headed down, and those two weeks when we were down there … we just jammed every break, before and after dinner and every meal and every night,” Dillingham recalled.

“That’s really where we started playing (together) and crossing our styles, when Kyle taught me how to hold a guitar pick — at that time, I didn’t even know how to do that,” added Markes, who grew up in nearby Waukomis until moving to Enid in middle school. “He had never heard of James Taylor, and I’d never heard of Bob Wills.”

After they graduated from Enid High School in 1997, Markes and Dillingham were roommates at Oklahoma City University.

“The summer after our freshman year at OCU, we started traveling for our university as student ambassadors, and that first summer, amazing things happened, like an impromptu performance for the king … of Malaysia,” Dillingham recalled. “We were two boys who play guitar and fiddle acoustic. … So, there was a flexibility and ease of working with us, because we could fit in the back of a taxi, and as long as they kept shoveling the food in, we were happy.”

By the time they both graduated from OCU, Markes said the duo had already performed across the globe, from North Africa and Central Europe to East Asia and points across South and Central America.

A 2009 Oklahoma Governor’s Arts Award recipient, Dillingham has continued to play around the world as a full-time musician, with Markes often touring with him as part of Dillingham’s Americana band Horseshoe Road.

For 15 years, Markes also worked as orchestra director for Edmond North High School. He was named Oklahoma Teacher of the Year for 2013-2014, and he subsequently retired from full-time teaching to spend more time making music.

Oklahoma duo won’t let politics get in the way of musical ambassadorship

In 2013, Kyle Dillingham & Horseshoe Road, including Markes, were selected for the American Music Abroad program and dispatched on a 35-day world tour, traveling to South Korea, Taiwan, Myanmar and Russia.

The Oklahoma band was selected again for the U.S. Department of State-sanctioned program in 2019, performing in Kuwait and the Republic of Kosovo.

Also in 2019 — the same year Dillingham made his official Grand Ole Opry debut, seizing the historic Nashville stage on a skateboard while sawing away on his fiddle — he, Markes and Horseshoe Road bassist Brent Saulsbury took their 10-day “Silk Road and The Fiddle Sister State Tour” through China.

“They want me to bring the skateboard … to Washington, D.C.,” Dillingham said with a grin. “When I was invited to make my Grand Ole Opry debut, I was like, ‘This has been a journey, and I don’t want to do this without Peter there.’ So, we debuted at the Opry. … But this is really something, to be in the recorded history of the 250th anniversary of our country — and for our kids and our (future) grandkids to know that we officially participated.”

Last year, Dillingham was selected as a cultural performer at Expo 2025 Osaka in Japan, where he played on the USA Pavilion stage. He said that led to him being invited to apply to become a performer on The Great American State Fair’s Legacy Stage, which is presented by the Meridian Center for Culture and Sports Diplomacy in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and Leading Authorities Inc.

“I think there’s a lot of tension on the main stage and with the big-name acts and all of that. But this is a stage that’s curated by the National Endowment for the Arts, and their purpose is to really display … a sample of the culture of America and the storytelling of America,” said Dillingham, who released a patriotic solo album titled “America the Beautiful” over Memorial Day.

The duo anticipates playing Wills’ standards, bluegrass-gospel classics and patriotic songs, along with their original acoustic music. They fly out to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, July 1, which is Markes’ 47th birthday.

With their long years of experience as global music ambassadors, the pair said they don’t get distracted by politics at any event they’re invited to perform — and they won’t focus on politics this time, either.

“Our belief is that, with music, it’s a very powerful tool, and it has the power to change lives positively. Specifically, our goals with our music would be to inspire, encourage and heal,” Dillingham, 47, said.

“We have been in so many varied situations with our music around the world, and what’s important is that no matter what the situation, we have to … make the most of where we are — and where we’re going to be is right smack dab in the heart of the 250th anniversary of our country.”