On July 24th, 2014 Chase Rice played a free show sponsored by 106.7 KJUG in Exeter, CA. I joined friends Tiffany and Lizzi in the trip down which was about a three and a half hour drive from San Jose. The concert was setup in the city park and Chase played acoustically with his lead guitarist Brandon.
Chase played for about an hour and included mostly songs from his upcoming CD called "Ignite The Night" which you can now preorder on iTunes.
Here are some videos I got:
"I Like Drinkin' (cause it's fun)"
One of my favorites from his EP called "How She Rolls"
Chase of course played his biggest hit as a songwriter that everyone knew the words to called "Cruise".
He ended his set with his current radio single called "Ready Set Roll"
We had a great time seeing Chase perform despite the crowd shoving at the end when he was signing autographs from the stage since he did no meet and greet! We found Chase's guitar player Brandon and said hi and took pictures though. That was pretty cool!
Seeing Chase again next week opening for Dierks Bentley in Mountain View, CA!
On July 18th, 2014 KRTY hosted another songwriter's series at the Clos La Chance winery in San Martin, CA. This was a beautiful night for some amazing country music featuring artists Will Hoge, Mallary Hope, Katie Arminger and Doug Johnson. These are personally my favorite kind of shows because not only do you get to hear the songs but you get to hear the stories behind them.
Will Hoge started off the first round of songs for the group and I don't believe I've ever seen him in concert before!
Will sang a really funny song about married life called "No Man's Land" which I thought was hysterical!
It was a real treat to be able to see the same song performed twice in one week. Will Hoge penned "Even If It Breaks Your Heart" that was recorded by the Eli Young Band. I saw the Eli Young Band sing this earlier this week and was so happy to hear it again via the songwriter himself!
Mallary Hope was second in the round of performers and as usual she was cracking jokes about her songs along with her friend right next to her Katie Arminger. Mallary is one of my favorite songwriters and in my opinion has one of the best voices out of Nashville.
Mallary recently put a bunch of new songs on her Soundcloud page and it was great to hear a live performance of one of them called "Closure"
Katie Arminger and Mallary joked most of the night about having mostly songs about their "douchebag" ex-boyfriends. They came to agreement that the only song that they could sing together (that wasn't about douchebags) was Katie's latest radio single called "Safe"
Katie Arminger
I was blown away with the major hits that Doug Johnson had written! He co-penned 'Three Wooden Crosses" by Randy Travis, "Sarabeth" by Rascal Flatts and "Love Like Crazy" by Lee Brice! He was definitely one of those artists that I went "Holy crap he wrote that?!?!".
In the last round of the evening, Mallary Hope and Katie Arminger performed an amazing cover of "Does He Love You" that was originally sung by Reba and Linda Davis. I can't get over how amazing they sound together!
What a spectacular songwriter's show and hope I can make it to the next one!
On July 13th, 2014, my parents and I headed down to Chicago for the last day of the Windy City Smokeout to see the Eli Young Band, Chase Rice and Blackjack Billy. I was so happy that rain was not in the forecast and it turned out to be a beautiful summer day in Chicago!
First up was one of my favorite newer bands, Blackjack Billy! It seemed like they played a longer set than what they did when I saw them at the Rodeo Club out here in California and they seemed to get the audience going pretty well.
Blackjack Billy played a lot of their own songs along with some covers since they are still a newer band! Love that they covered "Dust On The Bottle" by David Lee Murphy!
My dad also took a few videos from this show and I got permission to share them from him. Here's Blackjack Billy singing "Blood, Sweat and Beer"!
Here's another video I took of them singing their song "Drinkalong", love this one!
Next up was Chase Rice! I have to say that I was not very impressed with him when I saw him at the Rodeo Club earlier this year BUT he redeemed himself in my opinion at this show. With a full band he is more energetic than he was acoustically which is probably why I wasn't very impressed.
He sang a lot of songs off his debut album that I'm still not very familiar with but I may have to go buy it now as a result of this show. He got the crowd singing along many times to his songs and even some covers that he did. There was a cover medley that he did that I got video of, not sure what the first song is but I recognize it. Then he breaks out into an old school Nelly song!
It seems that Chase Rice is not only influenced a lot by country music but by rock and rap music as well. He was quite the gentleman too when it came for him to sing some swear words he told the younger ladies standing next to us in the audience to put on their earmuffs! I also could not get over how much he kind of looked like Dierks Bentley with the hat and the sunglasses......(call me crazy).
That being said, can't wait to see him again at the end of the month opening for Dierks Bentley!
Time for the Eli Young Band!!
I never get tired of seeing these guys and was very excited to see them again in Chicago. Many years ago I saw them at Joe's Bar and was hooked!
Eli Young Band singing "Dust"
Love the drummer's faces too!
Here is another video that my father took of them singing a song off their newer album "10,000 Towns" called "Prayer For The Road". This song is probably one of my favorites from that album!
I can't even begin to pick a favorite Eli Young Band song but one of my favorites will always be "Even If It Breaks Your Heart".
At the end of the show for the encore, Blackjack Billy came back out to help them out singing "Gimme Three Steps".
Piggyback rides? LOL
I was also lucky enough to catch a set list in the front row! :)
I had such a great time in the Chicago area visiting my family and friends and these concerts were the icing on the cake! Even though these three days in a row of standing room only concerts was comparable to CMA Fest exhaustion, I would happily do it again!
On July 12th, 2014 Jerrod Niemman was set to play the Stephenson county fair in Freeport, IL. Unfortunately a heavy line of thunderstorms moved into the area preventing him from playing his set that night. However, we did see the opener Chris Cavanaugh and he put on a fantastic show for an opening act! We've seen him quite a few times at the Rodeo Club in San Jose, CA and it was great to see him in another part of the country!
"Hillbilly Deluxe" Cover
"Underneath The Southern Stars"
"Friends in Low Places" Cover
We've always seen Chris acoustically so it was nice to finally see him backed up with drums and a bass player. It added more sound to his show and amped up the audience even more! He played a good mix of his own songs mixed with some covers. I really enjoyed seeing him again and really hope to see more of him in the future!
This next series of concerts I went to were back home where I grew up in Illinois. My parents and I went to the Windy City Smokeout two days and attempted to see Jerrod Niemman at the Stephenson county fair in Freeport, IL. Due to the elements that show got cancelled but we were fortunate enough to still see the opener Chris Cavanaugh.
On July 11th, 2014 my mom and I went to the opening day of the Windy City Smokeout to see Brett Eldredge, Josh Thompson and Shawn Lacy. Shawn Lacy opened this festival and I was very impressed with him. His music was pretty soulful and reminded me of the style of the Zac Brown Band.
The skies opened up during Shawn Lacy's set and in continued to rain until just about the time that Josh Thompson took the stage.
I haven't seen Josh Thompson in a very long time and he played a lot of music from his new album that just came out. He was pretty entertaining but my mom and I were laughing the entire time because his bass player looked like he was on something if you know what I mean.....
(<-----crazy bass player)
Josh Thompson singing "Way Out Here"
Josh Thompson singing his latest single "Wanted Me Gone"
It was a true home state moment for Brett Eldredge when he took the stage Friday night in Chicago. Brett was probably the most energetic than I've ever seen him! You can tell that he loves playing in Chicago and that the Chicago crowd loved him. I was so happy to see him play in my home state as well as his!
"Put your hand on my hip 'cause you'll know that I'll lose it"
Brett also taught me that night what the Chicago flag looked like....I was wondering why he changed his shirt and what the significance of it was. My mother told me later that it was the Chicago flag! More than twenty years living in Illinois and I didn't know that? I still feel like a moron.
"Just A Taste" is a newer song that he's been playing in his shows and I finally got a video of it!
There was also another new song he sang called "Illinois" about his home state. He closed the show by singing his hit "Don't Ya" then came back for an encore that included "Sweet Home Chicago". He completed the night by bouncing around singing the Blackhawks goal song!
