Toadies With Sherman-Tied Bassist Headline Hot Summer Nights

By GvilleTX Newsroom

The Toadies were listed as the main act for the July 9 Hot Summer Nights concert at Kidd-Key Park in Sherman, with the local connection coming through bassist Donivan Blair, whose band biography identifies Sherman as his hometown. For Gainesville readers, the distinction is local: Gainesville’s comparable free summer concert series is Summer Sounds, while Hot Summer Nights is Sherman’s program.

The Sherman Department of Tourism’s 2026 Hot Summer Nights schedule placed The Toadies at the top of the July 9 bill and listed Matt Hilyer as the supporting act. The same schedule described the 2026 run as Season 32, with free Thursday concerts from May 28 through July 16.

Blair’s Sherman connection comes from the Toadies’ own website. The band’s biography page for the bassist says Donivan Blair and his brother Zach had Sherman, Texas, as their hometown, and that Donivan Blair joined Toadies in 2008 after playing with other bands.

Hot Summer Nights is scheduled as a Sherman public entertainment series, and city records show the event has previously been treated as tourism spending. Sherman City Council budget minutes from June 21, 2016, said Hotel/Motel Occupancy Tax fund balance had been used for Hot Summer Nights and Lights on the Lake. The same budget discussion said staff warned the proposed use of fund balance was not sustainable without later budget decisions.

That 2016 record is historical context. It does not state how Sherman funded the 2026 season.

This year’s Hot Summer Nights calendar also separated the July 2 Lights on the Lake event from the regular Kidd-Key Park dates. The Sherman schedule placed that concert at Pecan Grove Park and listed Collective Soul for the holiday-week show.

Gainesville’s city calendar listed the May 29, 2026 Summer Sounds kickoff at the Gainesville Farmers Market, 200 N. Chestnut St. The calendar named The Wilder Blue as the featured act and Cameron Hobbs as the special guest for that event.

Denison also runs a free summer concert series under a different name. The City of Denison’s Music on Main page says the downtown series runs Friday nights in June and July, with vendors beginning at 6 p.m. and music at 7:30 p.m.