Blog Update

Well everyone, I’m finally back in blog action! It’s been a rough and crazy couple of months both personally and professionally, so my blog got put on the back burner for a while. I have many stories to work on and catch up on.

I have just posted three new entries, one is a very belated recap of the 2008 ACM Awards held back in May. I also have two concert reviews from seeing Wynonna in May and Carrie Underwood in June. Sorry for the lengthy delay, but enjoy the stories and feel free to leave comments.

I think things are back on track and I plan to resume this blog and keep it up more regularly. My next entry will be a recap of the entire sixth season of Nashville Star. Let’s just say it was not my favorite season, to put it mildly. However, I will say I am soo happy Melissa Lawson won! America actually got it right this time! She just seems like a perfect blend of my two all-time favorite artists, Trisha Yearwood and Wynonna. She has a long road ahead of her starting her career with a large family of five young children, so I hope things go well and work out for her. Much more in the blog coming soon. Until then, congrats Melissa!!

Carrie Rocks the Cajundome

Having seen Carrie Underwood win over the crowd as Brad Paisley’s opening act at the Cajundome in November 2006, I knew I would be in for a good show when she returned to the venue as a headliner. There is no doubt the girl can sing, and sing she did. I was originally not going to attend the show because it was on a Wednesday night, but at the very last minute, literally the Monday before the show, I ordered tickets and my husband and I went. Granted, our seats were five rows from the highest row in the building, but the view point was great. And besides, what arena tour these days does not have the big screens on the sides of the stage so those up in the nosebleed seats can enjoy the action and actually watch the artist do their thing.

Opening act Jason Michael Carroll performed a solid half-hour set including his three breakout hits, “Livin’ Our Love Song,” “I Can Sleep When I’m Dead,” and “Alyssa Lies.” The crowd response to his performance was wild - especially from the young ladies in the audience. No surprises there. The young and hot newcomer also previewed a few new tracks from his upcoming sophomore release. He worked the stage and the crowd like a pro and earned many new fans that night who may have only been familiar with his few hits. I predict, if he keeps on this current path, he will be huge within the next few years, even though the male market in country music is somewhat oversaturated these days to say the least. He’s got the sexy baritone voice going on, and he’s not hard on the eyes, girls. Plus, he knows how to rock.

On to headliner Carrie. She opened the show with the rockin’ “Flat on the Floor” from her current release, Carnival Ride. She ran through a medley of songs from her uber successful debut cd, but she focused more on material from the new cd. Of course, the set list included the big hits, such as “Last Name,” “All American Girl,” and of course, “Jesus Take the Wheel.”

The show was well put together, and the staging and lighting were well choreographed. Her crew did a great job putting this tour together. Also, Carrie had several costume changes (I lost count.) She donned her rocker chick attire for the up tempo numbers, and at one point in the show, she changed into a beautiful deep blue gown to perform “Jesus Take the Wheel,” “So Small,” “Just a Dream,” and “I Know You Won’t.” The latter two were definitely the highlights of the night for me. She nailed the emotion of these two strong power ballads, and I was in tears.

At one point in the show, she shared her memories of the night she was asked to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry by legend Randy Travis before belting out her cover of his early hit “I Told You So.,” to the wild approval of the crowd.

Carrie was fairly chatty with the audience and even commented on the sad state of her love life making the tabloid rounds of late and told the guys, “Don’t think I’m not scoping you out.” After the guys roared at that comment, Carrie talked about her “baby,” dog Ace, and sang “The More Boys I Meet,” with the hook line, “the more I love my dog.”

Towards the end of the show, she came back out after another quick costume change to finish out the set with her two most recent chart-busting smashes, “All American Girl” and “Last Name,” much to the squealing delight of all the teeny bopper Carrie fans in the crowd, including a loud and loyal group right next to me.

After she left the stage, she returned for an encore several minutes later. I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard the opening notes of “Paradise City” by Guns and Roses. Back in the day, I loved GnR, and at the previous show, Carrie sang the heck out of their “Sweet Child of Mine,” so I was stoked to hear her take on this serious rocker. And she nailed it - Axl Rose moves and all! You go Carrie! The next day, I was surfing You Tube and saw that she also performs GnR’s “November Rain” as an encore. I would have loved to see her do that one at the ‘dome. Carrie must be a serious Guns fan to rotate three of the biggest Guns and Roses hits as her encores for each show.

Before Carrie left Lafayette, however, there was one more song the fans were dying to hear from the petite blonde Oklahoma native, and as the strains of “Before He Cheats” kicked in, the crowd roared its approval and sang along to every word. I am so glad I ended up going to this show. Even my hubby, who is not a huge concert goer like myself, enjoyed the show and is a big Carrie convert. I will definitely see her again if she returns to the area in the future.

Wy Wows 'Em in Marksville

After raving about attending my first Wynonna show back in August of last year, I was excited to learn she would be returning for another show near me less than one year later. Of course, I went to the May 9, show at Paragon Casino Resort in Marksville and drug a friend along for her first “Hurricane Wy” experience. (Which, I might add, she thoroughly enjoyed.)

Miss Wy once again opened the show with “Heaven Help My Heart,” one of my absolute all-time favorites of hers. From that opening number, I knew this would be one magical show. Don’t get me wrong, she was fantastic the first time, but at some points during the show, I could tell she was not quite herself with everything going on in her personal at that time. This time, however, she was definitely in a better place and ready to rock and have fun. She had a great time chatting up the lively crowd and enlisting them to sing for her on the Judds classics “Mama He’s Crazy” and “Grandpa.”

Wy/Judds music has always moved me and inspired me, and I often find myself singing along with the fun, up tempo songs, and being reduced to tears with the heartbreaking ballads. And watching Wy perform those songs live with that amazing voice of hers only intensified those emotions. I was totally moved and just let the emotion and sheer power of her voice and the music wash over me to soak up every minute of the experience. I was on my feet cheering and singing along during rockers like “Rock Bottom,” “Tell Me Why,” and “What it Takes.” And at the other end of the spectrum, I became a complete puddle when she belted out the big, heartfelt ballads.

One of the highlights of the night for me, as it was last time, was when Wy sang “I Can Only Imagine.” I don’t what it is, but there is just something so intense and uplifting about Wy’s emotional delivery of this contemporary Christian anthem, which holds such strong personal meaning for her. My friend and I literally got chills during that one.

When she introduced another all-time personal favorite Judds tearjerker, “River of Time,” I was a total goner. As soon as I heard the opening notes, I looked over at my friend and told her to get ready because I was going to lose it during that one. That song has always been a personal favorite of mine and has helped me through many tough times in my life. I was crying the entire time while watching Wy’s expressions as she sang this powerful song written by her mother, Naomi Judd. When she nailed the “money note” at the end of the bridge, there are simply no words to describe it. The crowd blew the roof off the place and I totally had goose bumps. Unbelievable! Definitely the biggest chill bump raising moment of the show.

To close out the show, Wy performed “Love Can Build a Bridge” and “At Last,” a cover of the Etta James classic, which is slated to be included on her upcoming release this fall. (I cannot wait for this cd!)

For the encore, fans gathered at the front of the stage for a raucous sing-along of her biggest solo hit “No One Else on Earth.” The crowd sang every word along with Wy, and she handed the microphone down to a cute little girl who couldn’t have been more than four or five. This little girl, to Wy’s amazement, sang every single word of the chorus without missing a beat, and the crowd roared its approval. Very cool moment!

Miss Wy may not make the award show circuit anymore or have the radio success and award nominations of the next generation coming up, but she’s still got it and can definitely teach the newcomers a thing or two. Keep on rockin’ Hurricane Wy!

ACM 2008 Recap

The 43rd Annual ACM Awards held May 18, in Las Vegas was another night for country music and its artists to shine on national television. Despite the usual sound issues that tend to accompany most televised music award shows, many rockin’ performances wowed the crowd that night. Queen Reba did a fabulous job as hostess with the mostess for this year’s ACM party in Vegas. Letting the oneliners fly fast and furious. her opening monologue was downright hysterical. My personal favorites were when she called Taylor Swift on giving her a funny look when she announced the first time she hosted the ACMs was back in 1986 (before Taylor was born!) Reba slyly said, “Ok, Taylor Swift just looked at me like I announced I flew with the Wright Brothers, which of course I did not!”

After throwing out some more good natured ribbing at a few more of her fellow artists, she saved the best zingers for the entertainer nominees. She made reference to Kenny Chesney’s recent onstage injury by joking the name of the song should be changed to “She thinks my fractures sexy.” About Brad Paisley, she said, “Brad is so much cooler on line, but no girls, just because you vote for him, he won’t check you for ticks.” She said Rascal Flatts has made over $34 million on their last tour, but noted that,“Of course, these days that just about buys gas for the trucks and buses. And finally, she reserved her best line of the night for Keith Urban, proclaiming, “Of course we all know by now that Keith is going to be a dad. I don’t want to go into all of the details of how that all happened, but Nicole Kidman is definitely calling him ‘entertainer of the year.’” Let’s just say I couldn’t stop laughing at that one, and I swear, I never saw Keith and Nicole’s faces so red. Their reaction, and that of the crowd, was absolutely priceless.

The following is my recap of the show and my thoughts on the winners and some of the performances.. Performances:Carrie Underwood kicked off the show with a rockin’ performance of “Last Name,” an appropriate choice, seeing as the song is about the end result of a one-night fling in Vegas. What’s that old saying, “What happens…”

Blake Shelton introduced his girlfriend by saying, “God help me if I screw up the introduction of this next artist. The last thing I need in my life is a “crazy ex-girlfriend.’” With that, female vocalist nominee Miranda Lambert gave a kick ass performance of her current single “Gunpowder and Lead.”

First-time male vocalist nominee Rodney Atkins performed a medley of all four of his number one singles from this past year. With Atkins enjoying four back-to-back number one singles off of one album, he earned the right to perform that medley, as that kind of success is rarely seen in this day and age of the music business, in any genre.

Sugarland got the crowd ready for summer with a performance of their catchy new single “All I Wanna Do.” Known for their unique performances, this one was no exception. To end the performance, the duo fell back into the stage only to pop back up laughing a few seconds later. This duo definitely knows how to have fun on stage and work the crowd.

Despite the sound issues during this performance, George Strait and Kenny Chesney each performed their current hits before joining forces on their smash duet “Shiftwork.”

Taylor Swift also proved her mettle with a bold performance of “Should’ve Said No,” complete with onstage costume change and getting doused with “rain” mid-performance. She is another artist who likes to shake things up and do something fun and unique on stage.

There were many other great performances, but the two that really stood out the most to me personally are the tribute to late country legend Eddy Arnold by Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley, who offered a simple and moving rendition of Eddy’s classic hit “Make the World Go Away;” and Garth Brooks, who performed a medley of his hits before receiving the Crystal Milestone Award. Of course, Mrs. Brooks joined him mid-medley on their duet “In Another’s Eyes.” Let’s just say my jaw dropped when I saw the blue dress Trisha Yearwood was wearing for the performance. To borrow a quote from the CMT live blog, “Good God almighty, Trisha’s showing off the girls and that’s all I’ve got to say about that!” My sentiments exactly! No wonder Garth called Reba “Miss Yearwood” during his acceptance speech - I’m thinking he was just still flustered from singing with his wife and seeing her in that dress a few minutes earlier. Anyway, moving on…

As I suspected, there were not too many surprises when the awards were handed out. Here is a recap of the winners at the 43rd Annual ACM Awards:

Entertainer of the Year:

Kenny Chesney - With his fourth ACM entertainer nod in a row, Kenny has now tied Garth Brooks for the most entertainer nods in a row by a solo artist. However, this category become embroiled in a minor controversy backstage when Kenny let the press know that, while he was very happy to win the award and tie Garth’s record, he felt strongly about the fact the entertainer category was fan-voted this year. He told the press, "I've got to choose my words wisely here. I think it's important to know that I do think the fans should be a part of this awards show. I really do. But I'm probably one of the guys in the audience that didn't think it should be for entertainer of the year. The entertainer of the year trophy is supposed to represent heart and passion and an amazing amount of sacrifice, commitment and focus. That's the way Garth [Brooks] won it four times. That's the way I won it. That's the way [George] Strait won it ... and Reba [McEntire] and Alabama all those years."

Kenny continued, “I don't think it's right that they picked the one award that means the most, that all the artists sacrifice the most for. I think it's a complete disrespect of the artist -- what they've lowered us to, to get entertainer of the year. ... Because of that, it really diminishes the integrity of the music that we're making and how much work goes into it. That's what really matters. That's what entertainer of the year really is. It's not about flying somebody to some shows and giving free songs away -- and giving this and that -- and seeing how hard you can push people's buttons on the Internet. As much as I love the ACMs and what they've done for my life, that's how I really feel about it.. And I can say that because I won tonight." He admitted, "I'm honored to be up here for four years in a row to tie Garth's record, believe me. I may not ever win it again, but I know I've achieved this. I just think we all need to be careful how we give this award away in the future. ... If somebody stands up here in the future, they should do it because they sacrificed a tremendous amount."On the other hand, Kenny also proclaimed, "I think the fans should be a part of it. It could be video of the year or duo of the year -- or both. I think the fans should be a part of it, but not the one award that every artist sacrifices the most to achieve."

Male Vocalist:

Brad Paisley - There is no doubt Brad is on a roll these days, and as the reigning CMA and ACM male vocalist, he continues to sell out tour dates across the country with his mixture of serious ballads like “Letter to Me” and tongue-planted-firmly-in-cheek numbers like “I’m Still a Guy.” Next stop - Entertainer of the Year. I predict his turn to win the “big one” will come within the next couple of years.

Female Vocalist:

Carrie Underwood - No surprise win in this category. Riding high with the success of her current smash hit, “Last Name,” Carrie remains the female vocalist to beat, and as the newest Opry member, I predict her reign will continue for a long time.

Vocal Group:

Rascal Flatts - Anyone surprised by this win? I thought not. Rascal Flatts have become the Brooks and Dunn of the vocal group categories of late, and with their rabid and still-growing fan base, I don’t see their stronghold on this category ending any time soon.

Vocal Duo:

Brooks and Dunn - I have to say I was kind of surprised with this one. After Sugarland won this category at the CMAs last year, I was positive they also would take home the ACM hat trophy. And Kix and Ronnie, thinking the same thing, were stunned to say the least when their name was called. An in shock Kix joked, “We’re glad Dr. Phil was here because we’re going to need therapy for this one.”

Top New Male Vocalist:

Jack Ingram - In perhaps one of the toughest categories of the night to call, Jack Ingram was announced as the ACM’s new male vocalist. After nearly 15 years since his first album was recorded and many more years on the Texas music scene, he is finally enjoying success on a national level. In accepting this award, he acknowledged, “It’s been a long road to stand here in front of you as the New Male Vocalist of the ACM. For anybody that ever came to see me play, for anybody that ever played my songs on the radio, for anybody that’s ever taken something from the words of one of my songs; to anybody who dared to dream big dreams and high hopes with me, know this: Live it! Own it! Dreams come true, man. Never give up.”

Top New Female Vocalist:

Taylor Swift - Again, big shocker here - NOT! The always sweet and humble Taylor gave the most memorable acceptance speech of the night when she dedicated her win to her mother by saying, “There are so many people who deserve to be thanked for this, but I’m just going to thank one person. And that’s a person who used to love to go to lunch with her friends and cook dinner for her family and sleep in her bed every night. She gave that all away and left it all behind to go on the road with her 16-year-old daughter; and then she was sleeping in rental cars and in airplanes with her mouth wide open because she was so tired. So, Mom, thank you so much. I love you. This is for you.”

Top New Vocal Group or Duo:

Lady Antebellum - Despite not even having a record released when the nominations were announced, Lady Antebellum was nominated for this award. What a difference a few months makes! Since garnering their first industry nomination, the group has seen their career skyrocket with a wildly successful debut single currently riding high in the top 10 on the charts, along with strong album sales, both physical and digital. Industry voters must have picked up on their infectious melodies and wonderful harmonies, as well as their wacky personalities, just like the legions of loyal fans the young trio has attracted in such a short time. That’s a huge deal for a trio that got together only two short years ago. I predict “Lady A” will continue to grow and become huge over the next few years. Watch out Rascal Flatts!

Album of the Year: (Award goes to artist and producer)

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Artist: Miranda Lambert

Producers: Frank Liddell and Mike Wrucke

Label: Columbia

Definitely the surprise of the evening, albeit a welcome one! Industry voters went with the well-written and critically acclaimed album over the multi-platinum blockbuster albums also nominated in this important category. To say Miranda was surprised is a total understatement. Her reaction to her name being called was priceless, and the crowd roared its approval as she accepted the hat trophy. She simply said, “I don’t know what to say. I was not expecting this at all. I was sitting right behind Kenny Chesney and I just don’t feel right taking this. But thank you so much to my fans and to the industry for accepting me so much, being a little left of center. I’m a songwriter. I poured my heart and soul into this album. It’s a part of who I am. Thank you for appreciating it.” Way to go Miranda!

Single of the Year: (Award goes to artist and producer)

“Stay”
Artist: Sugarland

Producers: Kristian Bush, Byron Gallimore and Jennifer Nettles
Label: Mercury Nashville

When “Stay” was named Single of the Year, Kristian Bush spoke on behalf of himself and his partner, an emotional Jennifer Nettles, and told the approving crowd, “Thanks everybody for believing in a song that’s almost a five-minute acoustic song and making that a hit on the radio. That’s something that wouldn’t have happened without everybody here.”

Song of the Year: (Award goes to songwriter and publisher)

“Stay”
Artist: Sugarland

Songwriter: Jennifer Nettles

Publishers: Jennifer Nettles Publishing (ASCAP)

This song was a huge hit for Sugarland, and its success was no doubt enhanced by the bare bones, rip your heart out, stripped down video performance by Jennifer Nettles. A stunned Jennifer told the Vegas crowd, “It means so much to me that you really relate to this song and that you accept it. Thank you so much to my partner Kristian Bush and to Gail Gelman [manager] for believing in this song before anybody did. Thank you to Luke Lewis and your whole staff at Mercury to have big ones enough that when we came to you and said, ’hey, let’s put a song without drums on the radio,’ you said ‘sure.’”

Vocal Event of the Year:

“Find Out Who Your Friends Are”

Artists: Tracy Lawrence featuring Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney

Label: Rocky Comfort Records/CO5Music

Video of the Year: (Award goes to artist and director)

“Online”

Artist: Brad Paisley

Director: Jason Alexander

As with my CMA picks, I only missed three categories for this year’s ACMs. I missed the New Male Vocalist, Duo and Male Vocalist categories. We’ll see how I well I do with the next round of country music award shows, starting with the 2008 CMA Awards coming up later in the year.