Josh Ritter and Tift Merritt are braving the Southern summer heat with a few tour dates together, but even if it was the dead of winter, this would still be a hot ticket for fans of the smart singer-songwriters. They're both skilled at choosing exactly the right words to tell their stories, and they realize that distinct melodies are just as important as the lyrics when you're playing a crowded club.
Say you've lined up Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Zac Brown Band, Kenny Chesney and a whole onslaught of talent from all kinds of music for an outdoor festival. Sounds like a moneymaker, doesn't it? So how on earth did Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., lose $5 million in three days with HullabaLOU? I could see taking a bit of a loss, but come on. Five million? The president of Churchill Downs Entertainment said that he wanted to create the Kentucky Derby of music festivals (which is a nice goal, by the way) and noted, "When we started out with Derby, it didn't start out with 155,000 people. And it's grown for 135 years. Hopefully this thing will grow over the next five to ten years and become something that's meaningful." They had hoped to have 90,000 people but wound up with about 78,000. And the lost income from slow tickets, parking and concessions is partly what caused the big loss. They aren't giving up just yet, though. Organizers say they will try again in 2011.
Photo Credit: Erika Goldring/Getty Images
(HullabaLOU 2010)
Whenever I cover a country music festival, I'm always happy when Kenny Chesney and Keith Urban are on the bill because their music is easy to enjoy at the end of a long, hot day. They're both playing WE Fest this weekend near Detroit Lakes, Minn., along with Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Randy Houser, Montgomery Gentry, Joe Nichols, Blake Shelton and Gretchen Wilson. That's a pretty strong lineup for country fans, but as they say on Sesame Street, one of these things is not like the other. So, where are the women? Rand Levy, vice president of WE Fest, told a North Dakota news website that it's just a coincidence that female artists are scarce on the lineup this year -- and that he did try to get Miranda Lambert, but she was unavailable. But he did grab Gloriana, which has two female members. Eric Church and Gloriana's Cheyenne Kimball weigh in with their opinions about women entertainers in country music, but I'm more curious about what the fans think. Do you care if there's an equal balance of men and women on stage at country music festivals?
We had another crazy week out on the road. We kicked things off with a show in the great state of Delaware. After that we loaded back up on the bus and traveled down the highway to Evansville, Ind. There were over 6,000 people there! The crowd was amazing and helped make the show one hell of a party. Then it was off to the airport to hop a plane to Wisconsin for a show with my labelmate Jake Owen. I've known Jake for a long time now. He has become a great friend of mine and it is always a blast to get to do shows with him. I even won some money at the casino while I was there! Wisconsin must be a lucky state for me. Then we flew to Virginia Beach for our first show of the week with Rascal Flatts. It was super hot out, but other than that, the show was amazing and the crowd was great. We closed out with a show in Connecticut. The Northeast is filled with awesome crowds! Thanks so much to everyone for making each show last week so much fun for the band and I. Can't wait to see y'all again!
Until next week!
Officially, it's going to be called Kid Rock Salutes the Troops Presented by Jim Beam: Patriot Day 2010. But unofficially, it will just be a great day to see a Kid Rock concert at Hilton Field in Fort Jackson, S.C., especially for our nation's service members and their families who will get in for free. Tickets for nonmilitary folks go on sale on Wednesday (Aug. 4). This is not the first time Beam and Rock have joined forces to do good things. At Kid Rock's Chicago concert last Saturday (July 31), he joined the Jim Beam folks to donate $100,000 to Operation Homefront to give emergency assistance to U.S. troops, their families, and wounded veterans. And last year, he donated 50 cents from every ticket to select shows on his Rock ‘N Rebels tour to Operation Homefront.
I've been looking forward to this past week for a long time now. The minute I found out that I would be playing the Grammy Block Party for the L.A. Chapter, I couldn't wait for the day to arrive. But first, it was off to N.C. to do a show on the Redneck Yacht Party Boat. I played for about two hours and it was a lot of fun. I mean country music, beer, and a lake -- how could it not be? Then I was off to Rhode Island where I did another acoustic show at Six Flags. (BTW ... while I'm writing this blog entry, I'm sitting at a restaurant in L.A. by myself stuffing my face with bread and maple butter ... I can hear myself getting fatter! Just a side note.) Apparently, I rode what was voted the best roller coaster on the planet. I will say ... it was awesome! Used to be called "Superman," but now it's Bizarro. Got up the next morning at 5 a.m. to co-host a radio show ... thank you Jessica at Cat Country, which was a lot of fun btw! Love you, I mean it! ;)
"I hope you don't wake up with a case of the Mondays," teased John McCauley just after 1 a.m. Sunday night (Aug. 1). It was the end of his band Deer Tick's 90-minute set at Nashville's Exit/In, but the singer looked like he had a few more hours left in him. The performance showed the songwriter and frontman as a something of a hard-living but poetic outlaw. I found it really refreshing and it seemed like a few hundred others agreed. On their records, Deer Tick feature a smart brand of country-tinged folk rock, but live it's a different story. Phrases like "circuit-blowing" come to mind. But for all the high energy and PBR swilling, the songs are still beautifully crafted with lived-in lyrics and interesting arrangements.
I was a Black and Tan virgin yesterday (July 29). But now? After hearing Gaelic Storm sing their new "Raised on Black and Tans" last night in Chicago, I had to properly celebrate the tiny little Irish side of my heritage. So as the bartender poured me this pale ale and stout after the show, I let it sink in as I thought about what is possibly my new favorite song.
This week started with some interesting weather. Our first show was in Kirksville, Mo., and the sky went nuts. We had to end the show a little early due to a tornado warning. You know it's bad when the Weather Channel mentions the city you are in by name! Ha! The bad weather followed us to Beatrice, Neb., (thankfully no tornados this time) but it held off just long enough for our show that night. After that we picked back up on the Rascal Flatts tour and took advantage of some indoor venues, first in Wichita, Kan., and then in Tulsa, Okla. It was nice to be inside, but it did present an interesting problem for me one night due to the lack of wind.
I'm sitting in Nashville just coming off a two-week run out on the West coast. I always look forward to going out West. This was my bro's first time to a lot of the places we played, like Newport, Ore., and pretty much all of California. If one word could describe last week it would be "RITA"! Now I have spoken to Rita, who lives in Sacramento, twice over the phone. She loves "Hold That Thought" and was very excited to see me play it live. So I told her that I would make it extra special just for her. Here is the kicker ... Rita is 77 years old and a sweetheart to a T! I fell in love with her personality and she was living life with a smile.
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