Jason Aldean with Luke Bryan and Lauren Alaina in Fayetteville, NC

Saturday January 21st, Crown Center, Fayetteville, NC

On Saturday night my husband and I drove an hour and a half through the rain to see Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan in Fayetteville. I realize this sounds a bit crazy since we get so many concerts in Raleigh, but I think it's worth driving to Fayetteville and we're going to do so more often. The Crown Center is a smaller indoor coliseum. One can see the performer without having to rely on video screens from any seat 100 level level of bleachers. Everything is also cheaper there than in Raleigh. Parking is free, a 24 oz beer is $8, a draft beer is only $6, and most of the food is under $5.  Tickets for better seats also tend to be less expensive than in Raleigh. The fact that it required us to pay an additional $20 for a babysitter's time is rather besides the point. I'd rather help out a college student than spend the same money on parking, overpriced domestic light beer, and nachos.


Waiting for Aldean to come on stage from the back of Crown Coliseum.
This was taken with an iphone. Objects are closer than they appear.



We arrived in time to hear Lauren Alaina's very short but energetic set. Even though it's a cheesy song, I teared up a bit during "Like My Mother Does".  The woman in front of me was bawling and my tear ducts involuntarily leaked sympathetically. Alaina did a cover of U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" that she mashed-up to one of her songs but it wasn't memorable enough for me to even remember what song she sang. Her notable contribution to the tour is that she joins Aldean on stage and sings Kelly Clarkson's part in "Don't You Wanna Stay". After having seen a handful of concerts where the headliner sings with a projection of some sort, this is a welcome duet solution. Alaina has a strong enough voice to stand in Clarkson's shoes for a live performance of the duet. I doubt anyone in the audience was disappointed that Clarkson's digital image was left on the truck.

Luke Bryan opened with what my husband thinks is the stupidest song in country music, "Rain is a Good Thing". I'll argue that "Country Girl Shake it for Me" makes "Rain is a Good Thing" sound like an excerpt from Talmud. Luke Bryan really does have some idiotic lyrics. "Sittin' here, waitin' on a deer, drinkin' beer, and wasting bullets." "Girl, you make my Speakers go Boom Boom".  I happen to like "Do I", "All My Friends Say" and his new song "I Don't Want the Night to End", not that any of the lyrics to these songs are any better.  There is a grand canyon between what I think of Luke Byran's music, and my appreciation of him as a performer. The three times I've seen him live, he's been thoroughly entertaining. He's sexy. He wiggles his hips around, and all the ladies holler and giggle. He runs and skips all over the stage but also banters at the audience of 10,000 like it's an amusing intimate conversation. He's the perfect contrast to Aldean.  Jason Aldean is a serious guy. He's in the business of country rock, and he delivers his services with little fanfare. Aldean rarely talks and he never dances. The fact that they're such good friends and enjoy touring together benefits both of them.

Jason Aldean played radio hit after radio hit and the audience was on their feet, bouncing around, waving their hands in the air, and singing for the entire performance. He opened with "Johnny Cash" and closed with "Dirt Road Anthem" and "Hicktown".  The one song that many in the audience didn't yet know is "Fly Over States", the last single he'll release from the My Kinda Party album. I am so glad that he's chosen to release "Fly Over States" as it's one of my two favorite songs from the album. Sadly, the song I think is the most interesting on My Kinda Party, "Church Pew or Bar Stool" will probably slip into obscurity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6OEPp3PSPA (click to hear "Fly Over States")


About halfway through Aldean's set, Bryan reappeared and the two of them did three or four acoustic songs on a platform in the back of the auditorium. It's not unusual for an artist to move onto a platform in the center of a performance space for a quiet breather. Both Brad Paisley and Tailor Swift do this at every concert. What I thought was special, if I dare use that word to describe part of a big commercial concert, was the combination of Aldean and Bryan, doing something very different than what we're used to seeing them do, an informal acoustic set. I'm sure it was mostly scripted, but the two musicians obviously trust one another enough to allow for moments of improvisation and their friendship is palpable.



Another bad iphone photo, this one of Bryan and Aldean during their acoustic set.
They were perhaps 40 feet in front of us.



 There was a big contrast between this Aldean/Bryan concert and the one I saw two years ago at the same venue. Two years ago the audience sat through most of the songs, waiting for the few familiar hits. The family sitting next to me had clearly attended the show just to hear "Big Green Tractor", as did my then six year old daughter. Both musicians have enjoyed a huge amount of success in the last two years. They've gone from being relatively new stars to enormous established stars. I'll be interested to see if they continue to tour together every few years, or if they will decide they need to separate their tours to keep audience interest. My opinion is if they both continue to record well received new music, and they both significantly change up their setlists and shtick from year to year, they could continue to reap the benefits of their terrific chemistry indefinately.



Hubby wore a smile and a plaid shirt as per my request. There was a whole lot of plaid at this concert.



It's Been My Jason Aldean Kinda Day

A nightmare about pulling an enormous tick our of my daughter's hair woke me up at 5 am today.  This is what happens when you have a pack of nine deer living in your backyard. So I got an early start on Jason Aldean's new album.  I really like him and have been looking forward to this for a while. The title track, My Kinda Party, released a while back, didn't make it to my ipod on its own. I knew that there was going to be better material in the album so I waited, and there definitely is.

I've listened to the album at least five times already today and I'm not sick of it. There's the duet with Kelly Clarkson, which I'm guessing will be a hit, but I don't think there is a really rocking song like Crazytown that is going to get a crowd of 10,000 beating their fists in the air, bang, bang, bang, but My Kinda Party is coming close. It's growing on me. There isn't a shake your tush song like "She's Country" or anything quite as sweet as "Big Green Tractor", but it's a great album

What is there, for the most part, are a number of very poetic and poignant songs about life and love. Aldean doesn't seem to write his songs, but he sings them like he does. There is something so personal and conversational in his voice that it's very easy to believe that he is singing about himself and to make an emotional connection.

I do already have a favorite. I knew that I was going to like "Church Pew or Bar Stool" (written by Josh Thompson) from title alone. Shul pew or bar stool? It's a song about getting out of a suffocating small town, or, if you translate it into my world, suffocating small community.  "When you don't seem to run on either side of the fence, people act like you don't make sense." Wow, can I ever relate to that line.  "Well it's crystal clear that I, just need to find, a place where there is no lines, and nothing like it is around here." I've wanted to get the heck out of Dodge my entire life. The catch is that "Dodge" follows you wherever you go. The only place with no lines is the place in life where you can finally step to your own beat and not care what others think. I think that place is the age of 40. Maybe Mr. Aldean will find a song that touches on that a few albums from now.

The other song that immediately spoke to me is "Fly Over States". I've always found Aldean's voice to be interesting, rather than beautiful, but it's beautiful in this song.  Being one of the majority of Americans that have never driven from coast to coast, the song makes me want to jump into my car and head west. "On the plains of Oklahoma, with a windshield sunset in your eyes, Like a watercolored painted sky, you'll think heavens doors have opened, you'll understand why God made those flyover states."

Then there are the lost love songs. Aldean can make the feeling of longing palpable,  like he's crying inside, but is too much of man to let on. He did that in Truth, he does that in "See You When I See You", "If You Can See Me Know" and "Heartache that Don't Stop". 
I'd love to hear what my readers think.  If you've heard the album or any of the songs.  Please comment.

This post was revised extensively on Nov. 3rd because it was too long and I changed my mind about a couple of things.

Oy, They Got Me. Facebook has Changed My Consumer Behavior.

Lately my Facebook page has more posts from bands, musicians, and radio stations than friends.  A friend from my high school class, Seth Goldstein, is an expert and entrepreneur in the area of social media.  He is definitely on the leading edge while I am following far in the rear. He sometimes posts his thoughts on social networking and advertising. Seeing these posts made me realize that people are thinking long and deep about something most of us just consider a nuisance. I say to myself, "He isn't talking about me. I'm never clicking on any of those FB ads. Those advertisers think they've got my number, but they consistently miss the mark." I even had confirmation. A while back, probably because I googled horseback riding lessons, all of the ads on my FB page became horse related.  I'm not a horsey kind of gal. I'm actually a little afraid of horses. These horse related ads persist, months later.

Then, the other day, an ad for Sean Patrick McGraw popped up. I was skeptical but I couldn't resist. I clicked. I listened to the one song I could listen to on his website, "My So Called Life", and the next thing I knew I was spending 99 cents.  I am a very impulsive and loose music purchaser, so let's not overthink this purchase, but I am going to concede that they got me. I even "liked" him. Now today, I see his status is "My So Called Life" hits country radio TODAY. Call your local stations!!" I don't call radio stations to make requests but, dang, I have been sucked right into his little marketing ploy.

I think of the time I bought a t-shirt and koozie from Joe Nichols. He posted something about his website's merchandise sale, like he's doing his fans a favor.   I wanted a t-shirt but he didn't have my size at his concert. I went to his website, found my size, added the koozie (which I do love) and typed in my credit card number. I don't regret that purchase, but I wouldn't have made it if it hadn't been for that post.

Other examples are Toby Keith's "Bullets in the Gun" and Kenny Chesney's "Hemingway's Whiskey", two new albums being released within a few days of each other. I see both artists' posts, or rather, posts by their people. They are promoting their albums ad nauseum and I bought both albums within a week of their releases.  This is very uncharacteristic behavior. Usually I download albums in pieces.

Now, to my surprise, I find myself occasionally voting in a peoples' choice award called The ACAs (American Country Awards).  A few of the nominated artists encourage their fans via FB posts to vote for them at least once every day. I rarely do things like vote in online contests. It requires registering initially, signing in each time, and voting over several pages.  I have always assumed that there is some very obsessive group of fans to whom such tasks were automatically delegated. That was not my job.

I've had enough. I'm about to hide the posts of all of the artists I've "liked" on FB, apart from the ones who do the posting themselves and occasionally say something mildly interesting (and I'm using the word "interesting" loosely).  Dierks Bentley, Jaron, Jason Michael Carroll, Jace Everett and Joe Nichols will make the cut .  The first one to be blocked is Jason Aldean.  "Vote for this. Download this. Buy this. Request this." That's enough, Mr. Aldean. Sing a good song, and I'll listen.

I've successfully avoided the distractions of Twitter but am considering giving it another shot.  I've heard a number of artists talk about how they like communicating with their fans via Twitter and am a little curious. Am I just asking for it?

It's Oct. 29th. The post's title has been changed to reflect that FB is the social networking website I use. So far I've hidden Trace Adkins, Toby Keith, Kenney Chesney, and Jason Aldean.  Now that I'm paying attention, I will applaud Dierks Bentley, The Band Perry and Lady Antebellum for making and effort on Facebook to connect with their fans in addition to their fan's wallets.

Rabbinical Scholars Forgive Me

So I'm sitting at the JCC pool talking to one of my husband's good friends, who doesn't mince words.  "How do you listen to that music? You're not Christian." he asks.

The majority of country music songs are love songs and don't touch on religion at all, but our friend at the pool is also correct.  One of every few songs played on country radio, will have a reference to church, preachers, Jesus, or praying on one's knees. If I'm really bored one day I'll figure out the ratio, but hopefully I will never have that kind of time on my hands.

There are very few songs that I just won't listen to but there are some. Carrie Underwood's "Jesus take the Wheel" and "Temporary Home" are two examples.  Objectively they are both beautiful songs but religiously they are completely foreign to my world view and the religious content is the song.

But sometimes the religious message translates to the Jewish experience.  "God I'm down here on my knees cuz it's the last place left to fall. Beggin' for another chance if there's any chance at all, That you might still be listening, loving and forgiving guys like me." (lyrics) is from Chris Young's recent hit "The Man I Want to Be", (video) asking God's help to change so he can win back a woman he loves. I'm not saying that it's a Jewish song, but this song reminds me of Yom Kippur. It may not be a neat analogy, but rabbinical scholars forgive me, I'm going to give it a whirl.

The man in the song has acknowledged his aveirot (sins). It's implied by this being the last place for him to fall, that he has already asked the woman for forgiveness, and having been rebuffed, is additionally asking forgiveness from God. This is standard Jewish procedure at High Holiday time. He is asking God to change him, which is strangely passive.  Only we can change ourselves.  We would say that in this moment of repentence the man has already changed. In addition are the two lines "God I wanna be your man, I wanna be her man." which brings to mind that concept that we need to repair our relationships with one another in order to repair our relationship with God.

The High Holidays is the only time that Jews get down on their knees and then even go farther to prostrate themselves (during the Aleinu). Very few people apart from the Rabbis and Cantors in progressive synagogues do this, but it is the tradition. It is the time of year that we, as it says in the song, are "beggin' for another chance, if there's any chance at all."

On a more superficial note, sometimes I just change the words of the song if it's one I really like and I want to sing along.  Much to the amusement of my seven year old, Jason Aldean's song "Don't Give Up on Me" now starts "I don't go to shul enough. I curse outloud, I drink too much. I'm more than a sinner than a tzaddik.  I've got a dusty Tanach on my shelf...."