Mark Wills at Wolf Den Brings a Run of ’90s and Early-2000s Country Hits to Mohegan Sun
Mark Wills at Wolf Den brings one of the familiar voices of late-1990s and early-2000s country radio to Mohegan Sun on Saturday, September 19, for a free 8 p.m. concert.
For anyone who had country radio on during that period, Wills’ catalog can trigger memories remarkably quickly.
Wish You Were Here.
I Do (Cherish You).
Don’t Laugh at Me.
Jacob’s Ladder.
And especially 19 Somethin’, his rapid-fire trip through Pac-Man, Rubik’s Cubes, Farrah Fawcett, MTV, and everything else that made growing up in the 1970s and ’80s feel like growing up in the 1970s and ’80s.
Those songs produced 19 Billboard-charting singles, Gold and Platinum records, and eventually a place in the Grand Ole Opry.
Saturday puts Wills and those songs into one of Mohegan Sun’s smallest rooms.
19 Somethin’ Turned Nostalgia Into a No. 1 Country Hit
It takes only a few lines for 19 Somethin’ to establish what it’s doing.
The song runs through a childhood and adolescence measured in pop-culture landmarks, moving from Star Wars and Stretch Armstrong through Pac-Man, MTV and parachute pants before reaching adulthood.
Released in 2002, it became the biggest chart hit of Wills’ career.
19 Somethin’ spent six weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart and was later certified Gold by the RIAA.
The song arrived at an interesting moment.
Country music was moving into a new century, but one of its biggest songs was looking backward at the previous one.
More than two decades later, the nostalgia has effectively doubled.
Wills is now singing a nostalgic song that has itself become nostalgic.
Before That Came Wish You Were Here
Wills already had a substantial career before 19 Somethin’.
His first single, Jacob’s Ladder, arrived in 1996 and became the first of his eight Top 10 country hits.
Then came a particularly strong run between 1997 and 1999.
Places I’ve Never Been reached the Top 5.
So did I Do (Cherish You).
Then came Don’t Laugh at Me and Wish You Were Here.
The latter became Wills’ first No. 1 country single.
Its title initially suggests a conventional romantic song. Instead, the story takes a dramatic turn, becoming the final message from a man who dies in a plane crash.
That kind of narrative song became one of Wills’ specialties.
He had the voice for country radio, but many of the records that endured were built around stories.
Don’t Laugh at Me Became Something Larger Than a Hit Single
Few songs illustrate that better than Don’t Laugh at Me.
Released in 1998, the song addresses bullying and exclusion through characters who are mocked because they’re different.
It became a major country hit and earned significant industry recognition, including a Country Music Association nomination for Single of the Year.
But its life continued beyond country radio.
Songwriters Steve Seskin and Allen Shamblin helped turn the song’s message into an educational movement. The Don’t Laugh at Me program was subsequently used in schools and youth organizations as part of anti-bullying and social-emotional learning efforts.
Wills returned to the song in 2022, recording a new version with vocal group Home Free.
His daughter Macey Wills also appeared on the recording.
The accompanying video featured Nate Smith of 21 Pineapples and JennaLee Wasserman and earned three Gold Telly Awards.
For Wills, it is no longer simply an old hit that has to appear in the set.
It became part of his identity.
I Do (Cherish You) Had a Second Life Outside Country Music
Then there’s I Do (Cherish You).
Wills released the song in 1998, taking it into the country Top 10.
A year later, pop group 98 Degrees recorded its own version.
That recording became a major pop hit and appeared on the soundtrack to the Julia Stiles and Freddie Prinze Jr. movie 10 Things I Hate About You.
The crossover gave the song an unusual life.
Some listeners know it as a Mark Wills country ballad.
Others encountered it as a 98 Degrees love song.
Wills got there first.
His Career Started in an Atlanta Honky-Tonk
Long before the Opry, Wills was singing in clubs.
Born in Blue Ridge, Georgia, he grew up listening to artists including Conway Twitty, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Alabama and Ronnie Milsap.
He developed his voice in school choir before working his way into the Atlanta-area music scene.
Eventually, he became a regular performer at The Buckboard, a large country nightclub in Atlanta.
That proved to be his training ground.
Night after night, Wills learned how to work a room filled with people who hadn’t necessarily come specifically to hear him. He sang covers, developed his stage presence and began recording demos.
Mercury Nashville signed him in the mid-1990s.
His self-titled debut album followed in 1996.
Within a few years, the nightclub singer had become a national country artist.
Country Music Recognized Him Early
Wills’ success wasn’t limited to the charts.
The Academy of Country Music named him Top New Male Vocalist following his early run of hits.
His albums went Gold and Platinum.
He became a regular on country radio and built a touring career around songs that balanced polished Nashville production with his rich baritone voice.
Then, as country music changed through the 2000s, Wills continued touring rather than disappearing with the radio format that had made him famous.
That longevity ultimately led him somewhere particularly important.
The Grand Ole Opry.
Vince Gill Surprised Him With the Invitation
Wills made his Grand Ole Opry debut in 1997.
More than two decades later, on December 21, 2018, he was performing at the Opry with Vince Gill when Gill interrupted the evening with a question Wills wasn’t expecting.
Would he like to become the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry?
Wills dropped to his knees.
The invitation carried particular weight for an artist whose career had been built around traditional country institutions even as Nashville changed around him.
On January 11, 2019, Mark Wills was formally inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry.
He’s still there.
In fact, Saturday’s Connecticut performance lands directly between Opry appearances. Wills is scheduled to return to the Grand Ole Opry House on September 25 and 26.
He’s Also Spent Years Performing for American Troops
Another part of Wills’ career happened far from Nashville stages.
He has made more than a dozen trips overseas to perform for U.S. military personnel, traveling to locations including Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Korea and Italy.
Those trips weren’t merely a publicity stop attached to one album cycle.
They became a recurring part of his work.
That experience also fits naturally with the storytelling side of his catalog, particularly songs centered on ordinary lives rather than celebrity.
There’s New Music Coming Too
Saturday’s concert doesn’t arrive solely as a nostalgia show.
Wills is preparing another project.
A new 12-song album, Grand Ole Revival, is currently scheduled for release November 6, 2026.
Among the music already associated with the project is his recording of the gospel standard I’ll Fly Away featuring Ricky Skaggs and Rhonda Vincent.
That puts the forthcoming record firmly within a traditional country, bluegrass and gospel lineage.
For an artist who first hit country radio 30 years ago, it’s a logical place to be.
Wills isn’t attempting to pretend that 1998 never ended.
He’s carrying those songs with him while making music at a different point in his life.
The Wolf Den Puts a National Country Artist in a 350-Capacity Room
The setting is one of the things that makes Saturday particularly appealing.
The Wolf Den holds roughly 350 people.
There are no tickets.
There is no admission charge.
And the stage sits in the middle of Mohegan Sun’s Casino of the Earth.
For an artist whose career includes No. 1 records and Grand Ole Opry membership, that’s an unusually intimate setup.
It also means there is a catch.
Getting into the casino doesn’t guarantee getting into the show.
Wolf Den seating is limited and first come, first served.
Guests may begin lining up no earlier than three hours before showtime, meaning the line for Saturday’s 8 p.m. concert can begin at 5 p.m.
One person may hold up to four places in line, but everyone has to be physically present when seating takes place.
The venue is also restricted to guests 21 and older.
Three Decades of Country Radio in One Small Room
Wills released Jacob’s Ladder in 1996.
Thirty years later, he’s still traveling with the songs that followed it.
Some have aged as straightforward country hits.
Others have accumulated second lives.
I Do (Cherish You) crossed into pop music.
Don’t Laugh at Me became associated with anti-bullying education.
19 Somethin’ turned nostalgia into a No. 1 hit and then survived long enough to become nostalgic itself.
And Wish You Were Here remains one of those country story songs where knowing the ending doesn’t necessarily make the ending hit any less.
Saturday night puts all of that history within a few rows of the audience.
Just don’t wait until 7:55 to get there.
Details
Event: Mark Wills at Wolf Den
Date: Saturday, September 19, 2026
Time: 8 p.m.
Venue: Wolf Den at Mohegan Sun
Location: Casino of the Earth
Address: 1 Mohegan Sun Boulevard, Uncasville, CT 06382
Artist: Mark Wills
Music: Country
Admission: Free
Age: 21+
Seating: Limited and first come, first served
Line: Guests may line up no earlier than 5 p.m., three hours before showtime
Holding Places: One person may hold up to four places; everyone must be present when seating occurs
Smoking: The Wolf Den is a non-smoking entertainment venue
Phone: 1-888-226-7711
Schedule: Times and performers are subject to change
More information is available at the Event Website link below.
Featured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people, location, or activities shown.