Vendor Writing: Norma B

Girls Night Out

BY NORMA B., CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR

I have a very dear friend Joanne who I met just after she moved to Tennessee some 25 years ago.

Since that time we’ve been through all kinds of things together. Some good, some bad, but no matter what, she has ALWAYS been there for me.

Due to the pandemic, family responsibilities and life just getting in the way, we haven’t had an opportunity to spend any “quality time” together in the past few years.

Sure we’ve talked on the phone, and I occasionally sent her cards and copies of The Contributor, but that’s just NOT the same. A face to face visit was long overdue.

As it turns out, one of her favorite country singers Alan Jackson had a concert coming up on Sept. 9 at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky.

She’d always wanted to see his live show, but never had the opportunity until now, but she didn’t want to travel to an unfamiliar area alone. There was only one way to solve this problem — I went along for the ride, and since I still had reward points left from living in a hotel for so long, we stayed overnight for free!

We even ate for free mostly using gift cards I’d accumulated selling the paper!

We got to Lexington, checked into the hotel (which was only 10 minutes from the arena), grabbed a quick bite to eat at the Cracker Barrel across the street, and then we were off to the show.

Once we arrived at the arena, we visited the customer service desk and explained our tickets weren’t wheelchair accessible, and they kindly swapped them out. I actually felt bad about that because our original seats were near the bottom of the second level and I think ultimately a little better than where we ended up even though it was in the same section. She said she didn’t mind. She didn’t want to deal with the stairs any more than I did because they were steep and narrow.

The opening act was Corey Farley. He opened with “John Deere Green” and “Some Girls Do.” Then he performed one of his original songs “Hayloft.” Afterward he said, “he felt funny singing about making out with a girl in the hayloft with a young girl in the audience holding a sign saying it was her first concert.” He continued on with “Should’ve Been A Cowboy,” which he said was the first song he’d ever performed for a live audience doing karaoke in Mexico and he’s been doing it ever since.

He told the audience that he’d been playing on Broadway in Nashville for 11 years.

Next he sang another original song “The Chase,” which had an Alan Jackson vibe as it mentions “chasin that neon rainbow.”

He continued on with “A Little Less Talk And A Lot More Action,” “Achy Breaky Heart,” “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here And Drink,” “I Like It, I Love It,” followed by yet another original song where his Iowa farm boy roots showed through entitled, “You Can Go Farm Yourself.” He wrote it after he heard someone say, “Do they think money grows on trees?” Ultimately blaming farmers for the cost of the food on the shelf. (To me, it was one of his best songs because you could tell it was close to his heart, but I think he was pretty good at the Toby Keith stuff too.

He concluded with “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” and “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue.” Afterwards he asked everyone who was able to stand and remove their hats, as the National Anthem played instrumentally, with the crowd chanting, “USA, USA.”

After a short break, it was time for the main event, and Alan Jackson took the stage!

His part of the show opened with a video montage showing milestones throughout his career. Here are just a few:

• Over 75 million records sold (44 million in the US.)

• 35 No. 1 hits (26 of them he wrote or co-wrote)

• First country artist to appear on the cover of Entertainment Weekly

• 1990 — Alan’s first album Here In the Real World was released and produced his first No. 1 single of the same name. It’s also when he made his Grand Ole Opry debut, and embarked on his first major concert tour opening for Clint Black.

• 1991 — He became a member of The Grand Ole Opry (inducted by Roy Acuff and Randy Travis).

• 1993 — First headlining tour.

• 1995 — CMA Entertainer of the Year

• 2003 — CMA Entertainer of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Vocal Event of the Year for “It's Five O'Clock Somewhere” with Jimmy Buffet.

• 2009 — ASCAP Country Songwriter/Artist of the Year

• 2011 — Inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame by Loretta Lynn. (Concerning that event Alan said, “Loretta Lynn said I belong in here, and that was all I needed to hear.”) He even received a special gift for playing Rupp Arena 10 times in his career — a bar in a whiskey barrel!

Now I’m not much of a drinker, but it was definitely unique!

He started his set with “Gone Country,” next up was, “I Don’t Even Know Your Name” as the video featuring Jeff Foxworthy played in the background.-It was funny!

Other songs featured in the show were: “Blues Man” (I must admit, I usually prefer the original version of songs, but this one was equally good.); “Livin’ on Love” (He said he and his wife Denise lived the lyrics of this song, and that it was dedicated to young love.); “Summertime Blues;” “Country Boy;” “Drive” (a song he wrote to honor his daddy, Gene.); “Good Time;” “Who’s Cheatin’ Who;” and “Here In The Real World.” This was actually the second release off his debut album. He said the first one, “Blue Blooded Woman” tanked although after watching the video after the show, I’m not sure why. He said he was glad his label gave him a second chance.

As “Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow” played a picture flashed up on the screen of him donating the radio his dad had won (mentioned in the song, and the first one they’d had in their home), to the Country Music Hall of Fame where it remains to this day.

He played “Big City (Turn Me Loose and Set Me Free)” for his nephew who was in the audience.

Next he performed “The Older I Get” from his latest album. Then it was time for one of my personal favorites “Little Bitty” (a lot of friends say this song reminds them of me — I can’t imagine why.)

Next up was the iconic “Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning,” a song that was never meant to be released, yet it helped the nation heal after the tragedy of 9/11. The crowd was on their feet and the arena lit up, many chanting “USA.”(This was Joanne’s favorite song of the night.)

The show wasn’t over just yet though. It continued with still more crowd favorites including: “Don’t Rock The Jukebox,” and “Remember When.” As the audience sang along to the song he got emotional and confessed was particularly close to his heart because it’s about “real life.“

When he sang, “It's Five O'Clock Somewhere” he changed the words of the song from, “Jamaican vacation” to “Kentucky vacation” and the crowd went wild! “Chattahoochee” was another fan favorite, and the video playing in the background made it pretty cool too.

As he played “Where I Come From” he showed A LOT of UK shots and the crowd went nuts AGAIN!

He spent time signing memorabilia for the audience. One notable example was showing a picture of him signing a poster for a young girl 30 years ago attending her first concert, as he signed her poster for the 6th time that night, he said, “She’s aged a lot better than I have.”

The final song of the night was “Mercury Blues.”

It was interesting watching Joanne’s reaction to the show. Initially she was full of wonder and excitement FINAL- LY seeing him in concert, but that slowly turned to concern fearing he was in pain during his performance. Why?

Not long ago he announced he’d been diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT). He smiled and said it’s not “Country Music Television” though he said he’d probably made more videos for them than anybody 10 years ago. CMT is a neurological disease, a sub-type of muscular dystrophy. In a recent interview he said the symptoms were becoming more evident, which is why he let his fans know.

Now I’m not as familiar with Alan Jackson’s performing style as I am some other artists, but to me, the show reflected his laid back, easy-going, pure, “real country” style that he is known for.

One sign that he might have been having a hard time was the opening act seemed longer than normal to me, but it was entertaining.

There were several instrumental breaks during the show like where you’d introduce band members, and a few songs were cut from the original set list, but that’s an artists prerogative, and should be expected to some degree, and members of his entourage were throwing mementos into the audience rather than the star himself.

All in all, Alan Jackson put on a good show, and judging from the reaction of the crowd, it’s safe to say, a “Good Time” was had by all in attendance.

You’d think that would be the end of the story, but no.

As we headed for home, we stopped for gas and I went in to use the restroom. On the way out I spotted a cowboy hat with purple and silver trim. When I got back to the car I apologized for taking so long, and told Joanne what I found. She said, “That would match your outfit! How much was it?” I said, “I don’t know. I haven’t been working, so I didn’t ask.”

Of course she ran back in the store and bought it.

If I had $1 for every person who stopped to take a picture, or who asked for a song, I probably wouldn’t have had to work for the rest of the week! (A few were in town for The Opry, but someone did ask for “Purple Rain,” — it seemed appropriate and hey, you gotta love Prince, right?)

Some actually bought papers and had me sign them. I kept telling them, “You know, I’m NOT famous, right?” but they seemed to get some sort of satisfaction out of it, and I have to admit, it was FUN! I just didn’t get much work done.