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| Sugarland, Fogerty rock day two of Country Thunder | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| By Chris Hansen Orf, Get Out | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| April 19, 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Exclusive: Blogging the 2008 Country Thunder Since their Top 5, platinum-selling debut disc, “Twice the Speed of Life,” was released in 2004, Sugarland, a pop country duo consisting of singer Jennifer Nettles and guitarist Kristian Bush, have released 2006's also-platinum “Enjoy the Ride," and the two albums have produced a whopping eight singles that have landed in the country Top 10. The duo played a host of those hits Friday night, including their breakthrough smash “Baby Girl,” and other Top 10 hits such as “Want To,” “Everyday America,” “Something More” and “Settlin'” — as well as the title track from “Twice the Speed of Life” and a new song, “It Happens,” from a disc Nettles told the crowd the duo is working on right now. Nettles is a fine country singer, her Georgia twang coloring her distinct phrasing, and Bush is an energetic performer, running around the stage with his guitar and mandolin. Sugarland, who ended Brooks & Dunn’s long run as the CMA duo of the year last year, proved that they could be the duo to be this year too. Fogerty, whose Creedence Clearwater Revival work stands as some of the finest rock music produced in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, has always been a little bit country too, and with contemporary country moving in a more pop/rock direction in the last decade, the 62-year-old Fogerty fit right in on the Country Thunder USA main stage. Opening with the swampy Creedence classic “Born on the Bayou,” Fogerty played one hit after another from his Creedence days and from his lengthy solo career, with older fans and teenagers singing along to the songs that have been a part of the pop culture fabric for over 40 years. In a addition to singing the Hank Williams classic “Jambalaya” and “Don’t You Wish it Was True” from his latest CD “Revival” (2007), Fogerty whipped through several of Creedence’s best know hits such as “Bad Moon Risin’ (during which Fogerty hilariously pointed to the side of the stage and sang “There’s a bathroom on the right,” a common misheard lyric in the song), “Green River, “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” “Lookin’ Out My Back Door, “Down on the Corner” and the set-closer “Proud Mary.” He covered the bases of his solo career, playing the title track from his 1985 album “Centerfield” and “Old Man Down the Road” from the same record. A great country rock guitarist, Fogerty played all of the classic Creedence solos note for note and was in fine voice throughout — his familiar rasp instantly recognizable from the moment he belted “When I was just a little boy” from the opening “Born on the Bayou.” Texan Pat Green, a hero in his home state, played a tight set as the sun was setting on Canyon Moon Ranch in Florence, singing hits such Top 40 hits as “Baby Doll,” “Feels Just Like” it should, the gorgeous “Dixie Lullabye,” the rocking “Carry On” and No. 3 smash from 2003, “Wave on Wave.” A former Texas Tech student who got his start in the clubs around Lubbock, TX, Green is known to his legion of Lone Star State fans as “Pat (Expletive) Green,” and the familiar chant could be heard after several of the singer’s tunes. Saturday night, hometown boy Dierks Bentley will headline the main stage along with former “American Idol” contestant Kellie Pickler, whose country career is on the rise, and Billy Ray Cyrus, he of the 1992 smash “Achy Breaky Heart” and father of Hannah Montana’s Miley Cyrus. Will Miley be at Country Thunder to perform their hit duet, “Ready, Set, Don’t Go?” We’ll see...   Contact Chris Hansen Orf by email, or phone (480) 898-5684 |
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