Listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd, Sweet Home Alabama ... She: "Mom, you're so lucky you were around in the seventies ..."
Listening to Pink Floyd, Time ... Me: "You do understand that's our music ... right?"
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| Blair Garner of 94.7's morning show. |
But this year, the country drought is over with the arrival of NASH FM, 94.7 (and, incidentally, sister station of my pop station, WPLJ). I'd heard a rumor that country was coming back to our airwaves the day before they went live. One of our bus drivers came into the school office on that day and said he was so happy to be listening to the new country station. Suddenly I felt compelled to run an errand and hear it for myself. There was car dancing all the way to the store and back. There has been a lot of car dancing.
This weekend NASH FM sponsored a concert at Six Flags Great Adventure. One of the opening acts was a new singer I've been listening to, Jaida Dreyer, and the headline group was Love and Theft. I'd wanted to take the whole day off and hang out in the park before the concert but there is far too much to do at this time of year so I drove down after work in typical Friday Jersey traffic and arrived in just enough time for bad park food and a spot close to the front of the line.
Apparently, the collective memory of New Jerseyans has not remembered country music yet--or hadn't recovered from last weekend's Kenny Chesney extravaganza at the Meadowlands. The crowd was sparse for the space and I felt so bad for all four acts and the radio station (it was fun to see Blair Garner from the station's morning show in person). I was sort of in the front row and was shocked the couple of times I turned around and saw no where near the number of people I thought would come out.
Jaida Dreyer was wonderful. She's a really good songwriter and has a lovely voice. She reminds me of young Loretta Lynn crossed with Reba. Pure country updated. Did I mention she was born in Canada? That, of course, always gets my attention. The band that supported her as well as the other two opening acts was tremendously talented. There was serious playing and really good backup vocals happening up on stage. I wished that she had played longer and that she had played my favorite song off her current EP, Half Broke Horses.
I'd never heard of the other two opening acts and was so pleasantly surprised by both of them. Austin Webb was very good, entertaining although somewhat in need of variety in his moving around on stage (he paced). Dakota Bradley, at age 18, is very talented and probably will be around for a while, having captured the attention of Tim McGraw who's produced his album.
Love and Theft, the enormously talented pair of artists comprised of Stephen Barker Liles and Eric Gunderson, both of whom play guitar and share the vocals, is one of my very favorite duos ever. They performed a lot of their hits like Angel Eyes and If You Ever Get Lonely and even covered some Johnny Cash. Country heaven for this one who's missed it for such a long time. Their voices blend perfectly and their band is amazingly talented. The bass player is from New Jersey. Their energy was totally infectious and the audience was treated to a wonderful show. Their interactions with the crowd and bits of stories that Stephen wove between the songs were wonderful. I love knowing the stories behind the songs and how the artists feel about them. It brings me that much closer to the music. (I know another musician who's also very good at that ...)
It was a beautiful summer night, worth the drive from North Jersey. I'm looking forward more live music sponsored by NASH FM. I hope they know how happy thousands of us are that they are here in the Tri-State making up for lost time and giving us back our real, emotional, boot-stomping, loving-through good-times-and-bad-times music. And they have to promise to stick around for a long time!
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Enjoy some Jaida Dreyer courtesy of @HomeSweetCountry here. (And to the voice in the background that asked: Jaida. Dreyer. Don't forget.)
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