Country acts and rodeo clowns will kick it into high gear beginning Thursday at the 2010 Dixie National Rodeo and Livestock Show.

The 45th annual event began Jan. 22 and will wrap up Feb. 21, but Thursday will mark the beginning of the musical and rodeo action for which the Dixie National is known. Horse and livestock shows are also on the schedule.

Rodeo professionals will compete in evening and afternoon events, with entertainment by Jake Owen, Joe Nichols, Chris Young, Randy Houser, Darryl Worley, Tanya Tucker and Lady Antebellum.

Owen’s performance Thursday night will begin the lineup. His hits include “Yee Haw,” “Startin’ with Me” and “Something About a Woman.” His second album, “Easy Does It,” was released last year and features “Don’t Think I Can’t Love You” and “Eight Second Ride.”

Nichols’ tunes include “Brokenheartsville” and “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off.” Young, who was the 2006 winner of the reality show “Nashville Star,” is known for “Gettin’ You Home (The Black Dress Song).”

Worley gained notoriety with “Have You Forgotten?,” produced after the 9/11 attacks. His newest song is “Sounds Like Life.”

Houser is a Lake, Miss., native, whose hits include “Boots On.” He co-wrote “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” for fellow country artist Trace Adkins.

Tucker is a veteran country music star who first hit the music scene in 1972 with “Delta Dawn.” In addition to her award-winning musical career, she and her family starred in a reality TV series, “Tuckerville,” on TLC.

Lady Antebellum will wrap up the entertainment Feb. 17. The group won a Grammy this year for the hit “I Run to You.”

Other Dixie National events include a dance at 10 p.m. Friday and next Saturday, Feb. 13, at the Mississippi Trade Mart building. Tickets are $10 per person. A rodeo parade will roll along Jefferson, Greymont and Mississippi streets at 9 a.m. next Saturday, Feb. 13.

Contact Manivanh Chanprasith at mchan@vicksburgpost.com