Thursday night felt like a bit of a homecoming for country star Gwen Sebastian.

The North Dakota native, now based in Nashville, Tennessee, was pleased to be back in the Midwest to play the grandstand at the Mower County fair.

“Some of you know that I’m a farm girl from North Dakota and I love writing songs,” she said after her opening songs.

Sebastian is no stranger to the fair, where she performed at the beer garden in 2011. She returned this year to headline the second of two nights of music in the grandstand.

“It has been far, far too long,” she told the crowd. “Far too long [since] I’ve been here. It’s been almost four years.”

Fair leaders put a bigger emphasis on music this year in the grandstand to meet the requests of fairgoers. Along with Sebastian’s show, Brad Boice brought his Las Vegas-based 10-piece Elvis and the Big Band show to the stage Wednesday.

Fairgoers and fans seemed to enjoy the musical offerings.

“It’s great to get some new entertainment in here to utilize the new grandstands,” said Kelly Thimmesch, who took Samantha Thimmesch, 10, and Jadyn Beland, 10, to the show.

Before Sebastian took the stage, she spent about a half-hour snapping photos and chatting with fans during a meet and greet. Killy, Samantha and Jadyn enjoyed their VIP passes and met Sebastian before the show for autographs and a few questions. Samantha asked Sebastian if she still gets nervous for concerts and said the country artist told her she still gets butterflies before some shows.

A lot has happened in the four years since Sebastion last played in Austin. The fair’s old grandstand was razed in 2013 and replaced with a 1,500-seat, $700,000 metal grandstand.

Sebastian has been busy too. She performed on the second season of NBC’s “The Voice,” which propelled her career by connecting her with “The Voice” judge and country star Blake Shelton. The duo recorded the hit song “My Eyes,” and she’s since toured with Shelton as an opening act and backup singer.

“‘The Voice’ was a huge platform for me,” she said. “As an artist, you want to take every opportunity possible to do what you can to spread the music.”

Sebastian has also connected with and toured with fellow country star Miranda Lambert.

Along with touring with Shelton and Lambert, Sebastian has performed at large festivals like CMA Fest, and she fulfilled her dream of performing at the Grand Ole Opry.

But she still enjoys playing county fairs like she is this summer.

“I love playing county fairs because that’s how I grew up,” she said. “I was in 4-H, so it feels like home and Minnesota essentially is home.”

Despite all that’s happened in her career, Sebastian admitted it’s business as usual in a way, as she’s been touring with her band for more than a decade.

“Nothing’s really different,” she said. “I love music and doing music is one of those things I’m not always going to do no matter what happens.”

After finishing a string of county fair shows, Sebastian will stay on the road to backup Lambert on her fall tour. She then plans to continue writing songs to eventually record a new album.