COTTAGEVILLE - Jason Michael Carroll comes to the Jackson County Junior Fair tonight ready to show West Virginia fans why he's becoming one of country music's top poster boys.

Armed with sex appeal, a smooth baritone voice and several top-10 charted songs, some he wrote and co-wrote, Carroll is also an all around American nice guy and dad aspiring to help bring unity to the world through music.

The 8 p.m. show on stage at the fair near Cottageville is just the kind of event Carroll loves to play, he said in a telephone interview last week from his bus while at Jamboree in the Hills near Wheeling.

"I absolutely love coming to West Virginia and enjoy the fans coming out and having a good time," he said. "I want my fans to walk away feeling they had a great time and got their money's worth. I've always seen that when we come to this area."

Carroll, the father of four, believes in family and the basics in life. He had his wife and children on the bus with him in Wheeling for a family vacation. If he can't get home, home comes with him from time to time. It's his family background he most often writes and sings about.

"My mom sang in church and dad, a preacher, taught himself how to play guitar in church," he said. "I was raised on gospel music and my interests grew from that."

Carroll describes his writing material as dark. He writes about issues some people would not want to talk about, he said.

"Alyssa Lies," a song about child abuse which put Carroll on the top-five list and helped launch his career, is one such dark issue, he said.

"I'm really not much of a talker and many of the things I need to discuss come out in my writing," he said. "I'm not one for therapy so writing becomes my release."