Two Step Inn 2025: Recap

Only now, in hindsight, do I remember why last year we said that we should skip this festival.  Haha!  Whatever, it was fun!  Now that the hard parts are over and I've been able to pee, all that's left are the good memories.

While the logistics of it all were still very difficult and less-pleasant, and the weather threw us a curveball, at the end of the day, we had a freaking blast.  I got to see Alan Jackson.  And yes, it was not the young, vibrant, energetic version of Alan Jackson that others got to see in the 90's, and yes, some annoying people forced the venue to stop the shop for a chunk of time to clear out of a restricted area, and yes, the show ended early.  But nonetheless, I got to see and hear "Chatahoochee" and "Chasin' That Neon Rainbow" and "Don't Rock the Jukebox" and others while singing along with good friends and my extremely patient wife.  Good stuff.

Haha, seeing that pile of t-shirts on stage just reminded me of Jackson tossing t-shirts to the crowd from the stage.  I don't think they went more than ten feet, but he was chucking them out there for the front row folks.

For Saturday, the first big issue was just getting in the dang gates.  The lines to get in were well over an hour, and the people in charge of the lines weren't helping - lots of lines that were barely moving while other lines motored along, until someone in charge yelled at everyone that it should just be one line.  But worse than that was the bathroom lines once inside.  When the urinal lines are streaming across an entire field, then something is wrong.  Some of the ladies in our group spent over an hour in that line too, and I may have used a cup for some relief at one point.  Allegedly...  Oh, and as is usual for these types of things, the cell service was borked for sure.  I was hoping that a smaller festival wouldn't have that issue, but it sucked.

BUT, the music was great.  We missed Hudson Westbrook or Noeline Hofmann while waiting at the gate (although youngest daughter was there for the gates to open so she could be front row at Hudson, she and her friends loved it).  So, first show was William Beckmann, who sounds phenomenal.  Like, if Harry Connick Jr. had gone into a country phase.  Several folks in the group really wanted Diamond Rio, so we left Beckmann early to go see that.  Probably my least favorite show of the day, in part because I don't know those songs.  And this weird old lady took an interest in us and kept singing the lyrics towards me while smoking a cigarette she bummed off a teenager.  But, not knowing lyrics didn't hold me back from really enjoying Tracy Byrd - that guy is still slinging the hits and grabbing the crowd.  I liked that show for sure.

Flatland Cavalry was excellent.  Their live show takes their tunes to another level - really seemed like a bigger band and bigger event than I was expecting.  You know who else was really fun?  Miranda Lambert was awesome.  I wasn't expecting much there, just figured I should go see someone because she is very popular, but she sounds great, engages really well with the audience, and just made the show a lot of fun.  We skipped the Diplo/Gavin Adcock hour to make sure we had a good spot for Alan, and it did not disappoint.  I do wish that he hadn't encouraged folks to enter the restricted area and then had to pause the show to get them back out, but maybe he was just tired and wanted a break!

Sunday was interesting because before coming into it, I had not realized exactly how *same* so many of the artists are.  Also, it was cold as balls.  I've never gone to a music festival in a beanie before.  It was necessary for this one, and all the girls trying to stay fashionable were freezing their butts off!  But, the logistics folks at C3 made the lines to get in and the bathroom lines a TON better, so that was a great win.

Tanner Usrey was great.  My review of him called him low-key, but he was anything but low-key on that stage.  He was a grimy rock and roll hurricane up there and it was a blast.  Next was the Panhandlers, who are also really good.  Although, it dawned on our entire group after a short while that the Clete guy from Flatland Cavalry is head-and-shoulders better than the other three singers up there.  And once you realize that, you realize that you don't want to hear those dudes warble their way through a tune.  Just stick with the really good one!  But they have some really great songs, and they definitely made me want a Chilton.  We left that early for Treaty Oak Revival, and here is where pretty much all of my friends disagreed with me.  I think those dudes are actively bad.  Like, the most generic Nickelback-ass cock rock with a smidge of country veneer.  Not my thing, and they got people to start throwing shit in the crowd, which was also not my favorite.

Sammy Kershaw was good stuff - I knew way more of his songs than I remembered - and his voice is still all there.  Shane Smith and the Saints was another hard rock assault.  I wasn't in love with it and so we left earlier to get back over for Ryan Bingham.  Hey, guess what Bingham sounds like?  Hard rock assault time all over again!  I'm sort of joking, but it absolutely felt like the trashy energy was amped up for everyone who may have normally kept it more country or acoustic.  I also think the last time I saw Bingham changed my expectations, as the last time it was just him and his guitar (and now it was a rock show).  But then, I wanted all of the trashy rock and roll energy to flow during Lynyrd Skynyrd, and they totally came through for me.  My one beef there was that we left before "Free Bird," but yelling along to "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Simple Man" and "Call Me The Breeze" and all the other classics was a blast.

The Sturgill show was excellent.  He opened with the Allman Brothers, which is perfect for his current blend of country and rock and jam band freakouts.  He also played a snippet of "Bulls on Parade," which got all of us old bros pretty pumped up.  And the way that he closes the shows now with the wild party of "Call to Arms" and a bunch of jamming - super tasty.  He did that same final song at the ACL Fest show last year and it was delirious with those horns going to town.

Good times.  The wife left after Bingham on Sunday, but I wasn't going to miss Skynyrd and Sturgill!  After a little more muddy walking up to the parking lot of some gym on I-35, one more expensive ass ride back to town.  I know, right now, I'm thinking I won't do that one again.  And then, when they announce that Garth Brooks and Faith Hill are headlining and I'll be lining up for freaking tickets again...

Two Step Inn 2025: Saturday Schedule and Thoughts

It's time, y'all!  Should be a really fun opening day for the Festival.  I am hoping for better weather than last year's Saturday experience!

This format will be like I have done in the past for ACL lineups - the links will take you to my more complete review of the artist at issue, and the bit next to the link will be my short one-liner about the band or artist.  Hope it is helpful! 

Hell yeah.  Imma get a Cowboys jersey, some shredded jeans, and a straw to rock the Alan look all day.

12:00/12:15/12:30

Big River (12:30)	T-Byrd's Country Gold: classic covers time
Pony Up  (12)	Walker Montgomery: John Michael's kid crushing a classic Nashville country sound
Showdeo (12:15)	Lanie Gardner: Techno party at her top end, generic soft-pop country at the bottom

Probably would have the most fun singing along to the classics with Tracy Byrd, but Montgomery was interesting too.

1:00/1:30/1:45 (times are very spread out!)

Big River (1:45)	Kaitlin Butts: Excellent story-telling Americana
Pony Up (1:00)	Noeline Hofmann: Beautiful and basic country music with great lyrics and a Zach Bryan co-sign
Showdeo (1:30)	Hudson Westbrook: Solid young country fella, reminds me of Wyatt Flores

I think the youth vote is going to go hard for Westbrook - I keep hearing my girls talk about him - but I might do a half set from both of the ladies instead.  I saw a few Westbrook songs at ACL and was underwhelmed.

2:15/2:45/3:00

Big River (3:00)	Ernest: Buddy to Morgan Wallen making some cheesy but solid bro country
Pony Up (2:15)	William Beckmann: Honey-voiced classic country action from a newcomer
Showdeo (2:45)	Diamond Rio: 90's Nashville country, power harmonies, supreme mullets, and that "Meet in the Middle" tune

I may do the same here, since these times are so staggered, and watch half of Beckmann and then the Diamond Rio action.  If I had to actually choose, I think I'd go with Beckmann.  He's great.

3:30/4:00/4:30

Big River (4:30)	Flatland Cavalry: Lubbock's own Americana posse
Pony Up (3:30)	Eli Young Band: Cheesy, well-polished country schmaltz
Showdeo (4:00)	Tracy Byrd: High Cheese rating 90's Nashville country and a DWI PSA

Torn on this one between Flatland and Byrd.  I think I will lean towards seeing something new and good in Flatland, rather than the nostalgia points, but Byrd has at least four top tier 90's Nashville bangers that would be fun to sing along to with the crowd.

5:30

Pony Up	Priscilla Block: Country pop that veers between sad, confessional tunes and funny, self-deprecating tunes
Showdeo	Randall King:  Pure country in a classic sense but from a new guy

It feels to me like these guys got mistakenly moved up the schedule.  Are they really bigger or better than Flatland, Rio, or Byrd?  I'm going to say absolutely not from my perspective.  But I'll do King here (or more likely go find a dinner to snarf down).

6:30

Big River Stage: Miranda Lambert: One of the Queens of country music

Sort of sucks, since everyone will go to this stage as she is the only thing playing during this hour.  But at least it makes the choice of what to see really easy!  I just expect this means I will not be anywhere near the stage!

7:30

Pony Up	DIPLO: Electronic kingpin with generally uninteresting songs BUT now he is angling for that sweet country bumpkin cash as well.
Showdeo	Gavin Adcock: Raw young country guy from Georgia giving me nothing

I'm well aware of how this is going to work.  I am going to skip both of these because I dislike them both very much, and later someone is going to tell me that the Adcock set was the best thing of all time and I'll feel a tinge of FOMO.  But I'm thinking this hour sets me up to try to get closer for Alan.  I hope my wife is on board and doesn't want to stay nine miles from the stage.

HEADLINER (8:30):

Big River Stage: Alan Jackson: One of the greatest country artists ever.

I am excited for this show.  I hope he's still got his fastball, but either way, I bet the crowd is going to give him a heavy assist with the lyrics!

Two Step Inn 2025: Sunday Schedule and Thoughts

Well, this really ought to be a good time.  I am really looking forward to Alan Jackson, I am just so very hopeful that he is able to really do a show and isn't going to struggle!  This format will be like I have done in the past for ACL lineups - the links will take you to my more complete review of the artist at issue, and the bit next to the link will be my short one-liner about the band or artist.  Hope it is helpful! 

12:00/12:15

Big River	Maggie Antone: Varied selection of cover tunes turned into a nice little country set
Pony Up	The Droptines: Alt-country and good lyrics are still alive and well
Showdeo	Waylon Wyatt: Acoustic and a holler from an Arkansas kid who looks up to Zach Bryan

I generally liked all three of these, but I think if forced to choose, I'd go see the pride of the Frio River valley and check out The Droptines.

1:00/1:30/1:40

Big River (1:30)	Tanner Usrey: Really great, low-key Americana guy in the vein of Zach Bryan
Pony Up (1:00)	Vincent Mason: Another newcomer making country with rock edges
Showdeo (1:40)	Willow Avalon: Cutesy country with too much tremolo affectation for my tastes

Usrey is my choice in this slot for sure.  

2:15/2:45/3:00

Big River (3:00)	Treaty Oak Revival: Way more Walmart rock than country
Pony Up (2:15)	The Panhandlers: A mediangroup making seriously great Texas-centric country tunes
Showdeo (2:45)	Aaron Tippin: Jingoistic 90's country classics

Actually a tough hour.  All three of these have things about them that I like and would enjoy seeing.  I guess I'd angle to The Panhandlers, but could see choosing either of the other two as well.  I guess really, with their staggered times, I could see two of them...

4:00/4:30

Big River (4:30)	Nelly: THE St. Louis Rapper, as far as I'm concerned, with loads of hits you know (and a new country angle that is depressing)
Pony Up (4:00)	Stephen Wilson Jr.: Eclectic country/rock sound that grew on me
Showdeo (4:00)	Sammy Kershaw: "She Don't Know She's Beautiful" plus some other classics from the 90's

Kershaw all the way for me.  If you could guarantee me that Nelly was only going to play the best hits and not veer into his new trash?  Maybe.  But I feel like I am at this festival to see the cheese from the 90's back on stage.  Although, now that I think about this day, there are really only two classic country artists on this whole day.  That is sort of a bummer - maybe they used them all up in the last two years!

5:30

Pony Up	Braxton Keith: Young guy doing classic-sounding Nashville country
Showdeo	Shane Smith & The Saints: Damn fine Texas-centric country

Yeah, I think I'll see Shane Smith here.  Keith has some good tunes, but I'd lean towards a Texas-centric show any day over Nashville sound.

6:30

Big River Stage: Ryan Bingham and the Texas Gentlemen.  Rough-edged voice in between Steve Earle and Paul Westerberg making great rock-tinged Americana

I guess after they shafted the entire world last year by cancelling his show entirely during the rainstorm, they decided to make it especially difficult to see him this year since everyone will go to this stage as he is the only thing playing during this hour.  Cool Cool Cool.

7:30

Pony Up	Ole 60: Unpolished southern rock with a country tilt
Showdeo	Lynyrd Skynyrd: Southern rock kings (or at least their name)

Sorry, Ole 60.  You drew the short straw here for sure, as I plan to yell along with all of the best hits from Skynyrd.

HEADLINER (8:30):

Big River Stage: Sturgill Simpson (as Johnny Blue Skies).

Stephen Wilson Jr.

One Liner:  Eclectic country/rock sound that grew on me

Wikipedia Genre:  Country

Home: Nashville (via Seymour, Indiana)

Sunday at 4pm on the Pony Up Stage.

Thoughts:  His Wikipedia entry is laughably sparse, but it does contain some interesting little nuggets.  He competed in boxing as a youth.  He considers Nirvana to be his chief musical influence.  He has described his own music as "Death Cab for Country."  His album was inspired by the death of his father.  There is a lot to unpack there, but I am going to just unequivocally state right now that this is nothing like Nirvana.  Don't get your hopes up.

His website claims he is influences by The National, Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, and Nirvana.  I have never been able to jibe with The National.  Just can't get my head around the depressing vibe that runs through every song.  Two of my most-respected music guy friends think they are awesome, I just can't get there.

He really did give boxing a go as well, starting from age seven and going as far as being an Indiana state Golden Gloves finalist.  Certainly sounds impressive to someone who knows nothing at all about boxing other than I want to avoid being involved in it.  He left rural Indiana to attend Middle Tennessee State University in Nashville, where he also started an indie rock band called AutoVaughn.  According to his own bio, he spent "five years touring the world as lead guitarists with AutoVaughn" before turning to focus on his songwriting (and working as a research and development scientist at Mars (!?!?).  Do we have him to blame for all the weird ass M&M flavors now?  AutoVaughn has one EP available on Spotify, and it's not terrible.  Sorta Vertical Horizon-meets-Temper Trap?

Now, he's his own guy with one album, 2023's s∅n of dad.  It is outrageously long at an hour and a half and 22 songs.  Just Drake-levels of ridiculousness here.  Cut this thing in half, Stevie.  But, I kind of like the vibe of it anyway.  His voice, at times, reminds me of the current sound of Bruce Springsteen's voice.  Especially when he holds a note, it sounds like that slight age-spot warble that has crept in on Bruce's vocals.  But other moments make him sound like he is channeling his inner Sturgill Simpson, like on "Cuckoo."  His top track though it a little nostalgia nugget called "Year to Be Young 1994," with 10 million streams.

Sounds like Eric Church's "Springsteen" in the first piece when he is listing things from the past.  Heartfelt and genuine, I like it.  And maybe more so because 1994 was a pretty formative year in my past as well.  While writing songs, before he figured it out on his own, he got a few big stars to perform his tunes, with Tim McGraw recording one, and The Brothers Osborne doing another.  It is funny to read other biographical descriptions of this music because they are really taking the grunge thing seriously, calling "Mighty Beast" "a blast of skronky noise inspired by Wilson's love of Soundgarden."  Maybe, if you really squint your ears at that song, but this is like how Buc-ee's Classic Cane Cola sorta tastes like Coke.

But, honestly, as I bop along through this gargantuan album, it is good.  The duet with Hailey Whitters sounds great.  "For What It's Worth" is a catchy, harmonic little rock country tune.  "Father's S∅n" is a sad but lovely little tribute (and this is one of those that really brings Bruce to mind for me).  The line that "every bone's tethered" sticks in my brain. Same with "grief is only love that's got no place to go," that is a good line too. "Hometown" is classic sounding as well. He has a cover of "Stand By Me" in here that is pretty solid as well.  We'll do that one here as well.  3.3 million streams.

Sounds like Trigger there at the start!  Dude has a look for sure.  What up with those locks of hair in his face?  Also, what up with the feed corn salesman sitting in the high-backed armchair next to him looking on in rapturous silence?  What is going on here?  Is that a wax model?  Oh, no, he nodded a little bit.  I gotta say, he crushed the living crap out of that cover.  Freaking good.

I wanted to tear him apart because of his claimed influences, but honestly I have really enjoyed this album.  If he could have released it as two separate 11 song albums, I would have appreciated that restraint and consideration.  I can see him being very entertainingly earnest on stage.  Maybe worth it.

Maggie Antone

One Liner: Varied selection of cover tunes turned into a nice little country set

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but I'd call this Country

Home: Richmond, VA

Sunday at 12:15 on the Big River Stage.

Thoughts:  Well, I already like her name because Antone's is a dope old club.  And I've already heard her voice, even if I didn't realize it, because she is featured on a song by 49 Winchester, who was here last year, and Willow Avalon, who is here this year.  She has a distinctive voice for sure.

Her bio that is repeated in multiple places says that she won her parents over from a young age by singing along to the radio from her carseat, enough that they supported her through voice lessons, musical theater, and National Anthem gigs around their hometown of Richmond, VA.  She put out a cover of a Tyler Childers song that went viral, and after an album of covers, she fired out a real album of her own tunes, with a bunch of top tier collaborators in the writing room.

2022's Interpretations features two Childers tracks ("Lady May" and "Feathered Indians"), Dolly's "Jolene," Prine's "Spanish Pipe Dream," Blink 182's "Adam's Song," and then two I had to look up - Beyonce with "Daddy Lessons" and David Gray with "This Year's Love."  That is an extremely varied little jukebox!  The two Childers tunes are the top streamers, this is "Lady May" with 2.4 million.

The album version she did for that 2022 thing is better - cleaner, with better vocals for sure.  One album, other than the covers disc, 2024's Rhinestoned.  It has two songs that seem to have clicked, some are as low as 72k streams, but the top one is "Johnny Moonshine" with 5.7 million streamarooos.

MAGOOOOGGIE is for lovers?  Mmmmkay.  Catchy for sure, and her voice has a classic lilt to it that is really nice.  The lyrics to "suburban outlaw" are even better, with her taking down some dickhead guy.  None of this is going to change my life, but it's nice, legitimate country music.

Lynyrd Skynyrd

One Liner:  Southern rock kings (or at least their name)

Wikipedia Genre:  Southern rock, blues rock, country rock, hard rock

Home: Jacksonville, FL

Sunday at 7:30pm on the Showdeo Stage.

Thoughts:  Yes, I had to double-check the spelling of the band name.  I unapologetically love me some Skynyrd.  I know that is not a hot take - they are a pillar of the classic rock radio rotation for a reason, but I really dig it.  Like everyone else in the world, I had Skynyrd's Innyrds, the 1989 greatest hits compilation that went five times Platinum in the U.S.  And I know every song on there back and forth.  I was trying to think of what my actual favorite song is as well.  For a long time, it was "Simple Man," which is not even on that compilation that I owned.  That song still rules.  But, I think if I am being perfectly honest and not trying to bring it down a peg for being so popular and a punchline, "Free Bird" is still the best one.  But they have a murderer's row of classics - "Call Me the Breeze" jams.  "Tuesday's Gone" is in every seventies-centered movie ever.  Obviously, "Sweet Home Alabama."  

Let's back up, because one of the reasons this show will be interesting to me is that there are ZERO original members still in the band.  How weird is that?  So, some background.  The band formed, as My Backyard, in 1964 in Jacksonville, FL.  They were later called Conquer the Worm, The Noble Five, and The One Percent, before settling on the current iconic name.  The band name, as has been long mythologized, is after a gym teacher at their high school named Leonard Skinner, who was notorious for hassling the boys about long hair.  They became synonymous with Southern Rock by the mid-70's, but the whole shebang came to a quick end when their chartered airplane crashed in 1977, killing Ronnie Van Zant (vocals), Steve Gaines (drums), and a backup singer, and seriously injuring the remaining members.  They reunited for a reunion tour with Ronnie's brother on vocals in 1987, but by 2023, every founding member of the band was dead.  

So, now we have some other sort of thing coming to Austin - their photo on Spotify shows nine people who have an average age of about 97.  Wikipedia claims "There had previously been agreements about how many pre-crash members had to be in the band in order for it to be active and "legal", but this appears to be no longer applicable since Rossington's [the guitarist] death."  The lead singer is still Ronnie Van Zandt's little brother.  I wonder if he has the same pipes?  Of note, at least to me, is that their other brother Donnie was the founder of .38 Special.  That's a talented damn family!

Let's do a couple tunes.  They have a big pile of albums, but the real deal stuff is on the first four.  The first album is actually super impressive - 1973's (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd) - boasts five of their biggest hits with only 8 songs on the whole album.  I'm going to give you three of those (as if you need to hear these songs when they are still on the radio and in movies all the time.

"Free Bird," their second-biggest streamer with 736.7 million.

Hell yeah.  Perfect rock and roll song.

"Tuesday's Gone," 147 million streams, and a slow burn that reminds me of Dazed and Confused.

Great groove - and super long.  Both of those songs are insanely long by normal rock and roll standards.

"Simple Man," with 536.3 million, was always my choice for favorite Skynyrd tune.  So good to belt out in the car.

Another slow burner.  That is interesting, I never really realized how all of their big songs come on with a gentle lull before kicking in.

Kind of funny to me, this is sort of a jam band!  I never thought of that before, but now that my wife has become staunchly anti-jam, I have a stronger radar for such things.  And these guys absolutely fire off into extended jams where they feature their different instruments for long periods of time.  That is funny!

I found a live version from 2015, just to see what we can expect in 2025.  Pretty damn good, even if the voice isn't quite right.

The next album, 1974's Second Helping, has the true juggernaut of their catalog, which likely gets played at every Bama sorority house as the morning wakeup song.  "Sweet Home Alabama" has 1.4 billion streams.

Gotta say it always felt good to trash Neil Young in this song as I sang along about ten billion times.  And I like Neil Young, it just feels good to be a southern man who doesn't need his ass around!  Also, I watched the Auburn Alabama basketball game last weekend, and they played a snippet of this song every time they went to commercial.  C'mon TV programmer person.  That's all you have?

I think that is probably enough of the songs, honestly.  You know this stuff.  "Gimme Three Steps" is another classic - "you could hear me screamin' a mile away, as I was headin' out towards the door."  Even if it is not the original band members making up the current iteration, I won't be able to resist the chance to sing along to these classics.

Treaty Oak Revival

One Liner:  Way more Walmart rock than country

Wikipedia Genre:  Country rock, Punk rock (!?!), Southern rock

Home: Odessa, TX

Sunday at 3pm on the Big River Stage.

Thoughts:  As their biggest track kicks off, my immediate reaction (having never heard this before right now) is that the rock and roll tinge is legit in here, and that their lead vocalist has an odd vibrato and nasal pitch that reminds me of the singer from BR5-49.  

The band is originally from Odessa, formed in 2018 as a cover band who got their own chops writing things and released their own debut album in 2021.  Their Wikipedia entry is pretty well nonexistent.  I now know the names of the band members, the names of their albums, and that they opened for Koe Wetzel in 2024.  I had never heard that name before, until recently someone at work was trying to sell four tickets to the San Antonio Rodeo to see Koe (don't know if you say that as David Alan Coe, or like Chloe but without the l?) for $350 a piece.  And they weren't like, on stage and didn't appear to come with a new car.  WTF man.  $1400 to see Not-David-Allan-Koe?  Anyway, I like the band name, even if it has nothing to do with the Treaty Oak here in Austin that some asshole tried to poison a few years back.

I searched for the band to see what else I could find out, and the top suggested "People also ask" thing from Google was "What is the controversy with Treaty Oak Revival?"  Apparently, some people got uptight about the lyrics of a song that says “He takes off his wedding ring, As she’s taking off her top.”  People got mad about whether this was about infidelity or the life of a prostitute.  Which, uh, why do you care?  Why are people so damn weird now?  But also, the damn song is EXTREMELY about a prostitute!  "tryna make a little bit of cash and she'll be your honey in a room, for the money, she's just tryna make it fast."  The last three lines are "you can find her on the corner"!!!  So freaking stupid as hell!  Anyway, the lead singer apparently told a crowd at a live show that the song is about a "hooker wanting a better fuckin' life."  So there you have it - both about infidelity and prostitution.  Hope the dipshits on TikTok are pleased now?  I'm not, I am just angry at how dumb people are.

Two albums - 2021's No Vacancy and 2023's Have a Nice Day.  Their top songs are from the first album, but I don't personally hear a massive difference between the two.  Maybe a little harder edge to the newer album, with a touch more country in the old disc, but they both skew rock.  Top track is "Missed Call," their only track with over 100 million at 110.1 million streams.

After a little while, the rock in this has started to feel a little treacly, just because of how same-ish it is. Making me think of Nickelback with these bitchin' drum fills just pounding it out as they transition from verse to chorus and sing about a slut in a red and black tube top.  That top track from the new album is called "In Between," check out those modern rock drum beatings!  76.8 million streams.

I feel like this is too far into the rock side of things, and its the bad rock that belongs in the sale rack at Walmart.  That being said, I am sitting here bobbing my head with this - I can't deny that it is catchy and pounding in a way that catches me up for a minute.  But if you told me this was a new single from Puddle of Mudd trying to make a comeback, I would not doubt you for a minute,

I'll also note that the articles and notes about them routinely call them "from West Texas."  I just looked at a map to make sure that I would agree with that characterization, and in this instance, I am on board.  I get tired of people claiming West when they're not, but my personal opinion radar will allow Midland/Odessa the West Texas status marker. 

I should love it - I definitely like rock and roll more than country - but this isn't doing it for me.  Like a watered-down level of rock with this fella spitting bile in a southern twang over the top.  I'll probably end up watching it and loving it!

Lanie Gardner

One Liner:  Techno party at her top end, generic soft-pop country at the bottom

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but country

Home: Nashville

Saturday at 12:15 on the Showdeo Stage.

Thoughts:  That is an odd little juxtaposition.  Her top song on Spotify is a David Guetta EDM remake of Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" with 71 million streams.  Which is entirely out of character for the rest of her catalog, which is starts off with a vaguely rockin' generic pop tune from the Twisters soundtrack.  That is her only song without David Guetta that breaks a million streams.  Before I start research, I'm calling it that she was on some sort of singing competition show.  That Twisters song is her top streamer with 1.9 million.

I know that there is banjo involved in that song, but I just don't hear country at all.  Straight soft-rock pop to my ears.  Generic and unmemorable.  

I was trying to get some work done and just let this play, but it sort of sucks so I need to dig in and write it up so that I can move on.  Way too poppy for what I want to hear.  Apparently, she covered "Dreams" and uploaded it, it went viral, and so she was invited to do the Guetta remix as well.  All of the bios that I read feel like they were poorly written by AI with too many superlatives.  "A true embodiment of passion and perseverance, Gardner is not just a singer; she’s an inspiration, breaking barriers and pushing boundaries in the music industry."  Blech.  I have literally read four things about her and know next to nothing about her background other than the fact that her grandfather wanted to go to Nashville and be famous.  She's with the Jonas Brothers' label too.  Great.

In one of her videos, she sort of looks like Pete Davidson because of the darker eye sockets.  That is likely not a nice thing to say.  Sorry.  One album - 2024's A Songwriter's Diary.  Top song is "Mountains and Miller" with 294k streams.

That one is less poppy than some of her other tunes, nice little slice of nostalgia folk.  Weird thing - YouTube has multiple clickbait farm videos with titles like "Shocking Update - What Happened to Lanie Gardner After American Idol!"  I tried watching one, and it super did not tell me that information.  Zero mention of American Idol in the video.  Just the same crap that she grew up with musical family and blew up after a cover of "Dreams."  Annoying.

I'm good without seeing this one.

Alan Jackson

One Liner: One of the greatest country artists ever

Wikipedia Genre: Neotraditional country, bluegrass, gospel
Home: Nashville (via Newnan, GA)

Saturday at 8:30pm

Thoughts:  This feels like a big bite to chew.  But I guess I wrote about George Strait before, so I can get through it on Alan too.  I have written before about how country music was not my first love, and how it took me a while to come around to it.  I was bitchin' and loved rock and roll, man.  So, when other kids in high school were loving Garth and Alan and Clint and Shania, I was looking down on them for their terrible and simple tastes.  But as high school wore on and I figured out a lot more about who I was and what this music was really about, I came around.  And so, my first recollection of really giving in to Alan Jackson was after buying his greatest hits CD - 1995's The Greatest Hits Collection - and adding that to the rotation in my CD changer in my car.  I don't know why I have this particular specific memory, but I recall being on South Lamar, right next to where that old movie theater became a Strait Music (and is now abandoned, I think), driving north towards my mom's new house, and listening to that disc.  It's still a damn solid collection of tunes.

His albums start with 1990's Here in the Real World.  If I am being honest, I figured he would have been around in the 80's as well, not just kicking off in 1990.  The biggest track off of that first disc is "Chasin' That Neon Rainbow."  80.5 million streams.

That video whips ass.  "Audition time!"  "Wanted" is a good one too - this feels like before those sorts of songs sounded super cheesy, although I know it is cheesy, at least it felt like the original cheesy tune and not some Music Row automaton today trying to emulate that prior schtick.

Next was 1991's Don't Rock the Jukebox.  That title track was freaking great too.  The abrupt change in tone between the chorus (which starts the song) and the piano-driven verse is perfection.  That is the top song on this album by a long ways.  95.6 million streams.

The spoken interview at the start of that video is fantastic.  His moustache is an extra character in that play.  Excellent video.  Everybody wants to hear that George Jones.  The Panhandlers just dropped his name too.  But also, I just think this is a great song - well written with the double-entendre of him feeling sad and not wanting someone to play rock and roll on the juke.  This album boasted four number one songs - the title track, "Dallas," "Someday," and "Love's Got a Hold on You."  "Midnight in Montgomery," which has always sounded like Garth Brooks to me, only made it up to #3 on the charts, but I think it is great.

So, Jackson is originally from Newnan, Georgia, which is about 40 miles southwest of Atlanta.  Born in 1958, so he is 66 now.  Like he says in his songs, he had four older sisters and then little Alan.  His parents went by "Daddy Gene" and "Mama Ruth," and also like in "Home," they really did live in a small home built around Alan's granddad's toolshed.  That is wild.  After graduating high school, he started singing with a band called Dixie Steel, while working construction and playing small clubs around Georgia.  When he was 27, he and his wife Denise moved to Nashville to give music a real shot.  His wife was a flight attendant, and apparently she met Glen Campbell on a flight and asked his advice on Alan's career.  Glen hooked Alan up with his manager and the rest is history.

By now, he is one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, with over 75 million albums sold worldwide.  35 number one songs (which is freaking nuts), 9 multi-platinum albums.  Two Grammys and a pile of other awards.  Country Music Hall of Fame.  Grand Ole Opry.  Georgia Music Hall of Fame.  Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.  Probably 38 other halls of fame as well.

His next album, and the biggest of all, was 1992's A Lot About Livin' (And A Little 'Bout Love), which features his biggest tune by a ton - "Chattahoochee."  303.3 million streams.

I loved that video a million years ago.  I absolutely remember those shots of him water skiing in his hat and ripped jeans.  Perfection.  The lyrics are perfection too - capturing the aimless confusion and hopefulness of that stage of a teenager's life.  Also has "She's Got the Rhythm (And I Got the Blues)," "(Who Says) You Can't Have It All," two other songs using parentheticals in the titles, and the very fun "Mercery Blues."  This one was a massive album, got him a few CMA Awards for song of the year and other things, went six times platinum, and reached #13 on the regular Billboard charts.  One crazy thing, in this day of over bloated albums from hell, is that this is just a tight little thirty-minute album.  I've listened to it several times this morning and it keeps being over so quickly!  Drake could never!

Finally, the last mega-album in his catalog was 1994's Who I Am, which went four times platinum and features four #1's - "Summertime Blues," "Livin' on Love," "Gone Country," and "I Don't Even Know Your Name."  "Gone Country" is the one of those that has stood up to the test of time, with 122.3 million streams today.

Again, the intro to that video sort of rules.  Excellent song, which expertly foretold the current climate where, yet again, everyone is going country.  2024 - Post Malone and Beyonce, two of the biggest pop stars around, putting out a country album, 30 years after Alan told us this was coming.  He knew the landscape of the world even back then.  After the blockbuster Greatest Hits album, his next two were less large - 1996's Everything I Love and 1998's High Mileage have some smaller hits and the dopey ass "Little Bitty," which boasts 170 million streams.

Cajun style, baby!  After those two, he took a detour by releasing an album called Under the Influence, which is entirely made up of classic covers.  Like the exceedingly great "It Must Be Love" or "Kiss an Angel Good Morning'."  That was the first album since the early ones that didn't hit #1 on the country charts.

Right as the millennium was rolling over to 2000, he and George Strait made an angry old man tune to decry the state of country music as it angled towards pop and away from their neotraditional sound.  "Murder on Music Row" was not on an album - it appears to be on Strait's 2000 greatest hits package called latest greatest straitest hits.  It's not a great song, but I'm sure having two of the all time greats scold you for putting money over artistry can't feel great.  Then, in 2001, Jackson fired out a 9/11 tribute song called "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" that is a little more soft rock schmaltz than country, but it ended up on his 2001 album Drive.  There is a tune on that disc that has a ton of streams though, the most of any song after his early hits days, that I couldn't recall at all when I saw it sitting there - "Drive (for Daddy Gene)" has 149.1 million streams.

When the chorus kicked in, that sounded familiar.  Definitely not a song I was familiar with though.  Cheesy as all hell, and yet I find myself getting a little misty-eyed anyway thinking about those times driving with my own dad and then my own kids.  Alan (or his Music Row writers more likely) knew what he was doing with this one.  Dammit, I'm giving the youngest some driving lessons this weekend.

Speaking of family, he married his high school sweetheart, Denise, the same one who got him his big break with Glen Campbell.  They've been together for 40+ years, and had three daughters together (who very well may be the stars of that video above).  Denise wrote a New York Times bestseller called It's All About Him: Finding the Love of My Life.  He really was close with George Jones too, singing "He Stopped Loving Her Today" at Jones' funeral.

2004's What I Do has no songs with more than 3 million streams.  2006's Precious Memories was apparently a gospel album he did for his mother, and it has some bigger streams counts for those traditionals.  2006's Like Red on a Rose was apparently panned by his fans because he let Allison Kraus produce and it became a softer, bluegrass-y album that his fans thought was wrong.  One song barely breaks 4 million, most are under 500k.  2008's Good Time gets him back in the saddle of the classic stuff - both the title track and "Country Boy" have over 100 million streams.  "Country Boy" doesn't ring a bell at all, this is definitely after I stopped with this sort of Nashville country.  Here is "Good Time," with 120 million streams.

That one sounds familiar.  Not a very good song, but if his critics had hated his last one and he wanted to get back to his roots, this one is definitely there.  Sounds like a drum machine in there for a bit too, which is unfortunate.  2010's Freight Train has another song with a lot of streams but that landed outside of my brain space.  The title track has 79.2 million streams.

He didn't even make a video for it!  That is disappointing.  At least I get to watch the mullet flow while jamming the song up above.  A little too repetitive for me to really get behind it.  The music underneath the lyrics sounds great, but I'm not catching the feeling from his sentiment.  2012's Thirty Miles West didn't get much traction.  Same with 2013's Precious Memories Vol II and 2013's The Bluegrass Album.  I actually enjoyed that last one, but I just dig bluegrass music.  "Blue Ridge Mountain Song" made me happy and sad at the same time.  2015's Angels and Alcohol didn't spawn anything big, and nor did 2021's Where Have You Gone.  I will say that his voice is just as golden as ever on that 2021 album - only a touch of that husky deepening that strikes so many of the old guard as they age.  Some of it very much sounds like George Strait to me.  Nothing new since then, and in fact Wikipedia says that he told the world that his 2022 tour would be his last.

Apparently in 2021, he told the Today Show that he had been diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.  CMT is a form of muscular dystrophy that can affect balance, but is a hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy of the peripheral nervous system characterized by progressive loss of muscle tissue and touch sensation across various parts of the body.  When he disclosed the diagnosis, he mentioned that he has become uncomfortable performing because he has trouble balancing and stumbling.  Which is sincerely awful.  I am truly excited to get to see him play, but I sure hope that he is able to find some comfort off of the stage soon.

All in!