Artist · chart history
Fair to Midland
Band Sulphur Springs United States Active 1998–2012
Fair to Midland formed in 1998 in Sulphur Springs, United States and was active until 2012. Fair to Midland has 3 chart appearances on 2 radio countdowns from 2 stations on RockLists, spanning 2007–2011. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Dance of the Manatee”, which appears on 1 list with a best position of #28. The station that charted Fair to Midland most often is WCCC The Rock (Hartford, CT), with 2 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 2007.
Fair to Midland came out of Sulphur Springs, Texas, in 1998, fronted by Darroh Sudderth, a singer who can croon like a lounge singer one bar and shred his throat the next. They made alternative metal with a progressive streak and a taste for the theatrical, songs that lurch from delicate to deafening without warning, and they put out two albums on their own before any label came calling. Inter.Funda.Stifle, from 2004, gave the world the gloriously named "Dance of the Manatee".
That kind of oddball ambition caught the ear of Serj Tankian, who signed them to Serjical Strike Records, his own imprint at Universal Republic. Fables From a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times Is True arrived in 2007, their only major-label album, and it broke into the Billboard 200. "Tall Tales Taste Like Sour Grapes" shows why, a twisting, fairy-tale-weird rocker that refuses to settle into any one shape.
The partnership with Serjical Strike didn't last. They went their own way and put out Arrows and Anchors, their fourth album, in July 2011, and talk of a fifth never came to anything.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Fair to Midland on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dance of the Manatee | 1 | #28 | – | 2007 | |
| 2 | Tall Tales Taste Like Sour Grapes | 1 | #88 | – | 2007 | |
| 3 | Musical Chairs | 1 | #78 | – | 2011 |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Year-end chart timeline
Combined year-end countdown points per year. Taller bars mean more songs placing higher across more stations.
Every countdown appearance
| Year | # | Song | Countdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 78 | Musical Chairs | Rock 93.5 WARQ Top 93 of 2011 |
| 2007 | 28 | Dance of the Manatee | WCCC Top 106 Songs of 2007 |
| 2007 | 88 | Tall Tales Taste Like Sour Grapes | WCCC Top 106 Songs of 2007 |
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