REVIEW: 2011 Suwannee River Jam

Thursday Night was the official kick off of the 20th anniversary of Suwannee River Jam.  The event takes place at the beautiful Spirit of The Suwannee Music Park.  Thursday night’s lineup was originally scheduled for the side stage, which was much smaller, but after seeing the crowd the event organizers quickly re-arranged the stage schedule.  Even though the rain kept falling throughout the night Tyler Farr got the party started.  His song “Camouflage” was a hit among the crowd.  Tyler did a great job getting the crowd ready for Lee Brice.

Lee Brice came on stage to a rain soaked crowd, but he was ready to party – red Dixie cup in hand.  Lee opened the show with his current single “Beautiful Everytime.”  Lee sang “She Ain’t Right” and thanked the crowd for making it his first self performed single on country radio.  He also performed his rockin’ hometown song “Sumter County Friday Night.”  Lee then sang his rendition of “More Than A Memory” the song he co-wrote with Kyle Jacobs (Kellie Pickler‘s husband) that was recorded by Garth Brooks.  Lee closed the show with his smash hit “Love Like Crazy,” and the crowd sang every word back at him.  Once Lee left the stage it was time for Jerrod Niemann.

 

Jerrod Niemann came out on stage and kept the party going.  Jerrod opened the show with his version of Alabama‘s “Mountain Music.”  He played “One More Drinkin’ Song,” which will be his next single, and even did his John Michael Montgomery impression after his song “Thirsty This Mornin.”  The crowd went crazy when Jerrod began his story about his current single “What Do You Want.”  I have to say one thing for sure, the crowd at Suwannee River Jam knows their country music, because they were singing the songs right back at Jerrod too!  Once Jerrod left the stage it was time for Luke Bryan.

 

Luke took the stage as the rain was threatening to come pouring down again, so unfortunately we did not get to see him perform.  Although when asking fans how they felt about Luke’s performance, the consensus was the same “He Rocked!” While I don’t have a review of Luke’s performance at Suwannee, we do have review of his performance two nights later in West Palm Beach with Tim McGraw.

Friday:

Friday night’s line up started the night with Suwannee favorites the LoCash Cowboys.  Chris & Preston from LoCash took to the stage with their rockin’ song “C-O-U-N-T-R-Y.”  They kept things going with one song after another.  They also performed what is slated to be their next single “Trucks.”  While Chris & Preston were on stage they were told they would be preforming at the Grand Ole Opry the following week, they were ecstatic to say the least.  The boys from LoCash also found out their current single “Keep In Mind” had officially made Top 40.  When I asked the boys how Top 40 felt Preston said “Better than I ever imagined” and Chris said “It’s awesome, just amazing!”  The boys from LoCash have been performing at Suwannee River Jam for 6 years, and they were completely honored to have finally made it to the Main Stage and a Friday night spot.  The boys were so happy to be back at Suwannee they even brought back the Camouflage Grand Piano for the show.  As Preston sat down at the piano, they started to play “Keep In Mind” and the crowd went crazy!

 

Then it was time for Kellie Pickler.  Kellie took the stage with “Best Days of Your Life” the song she co-wrote with Taylor Swift.  Kellie continued to belt out hit after hit including “Red High Heels,” “Things That Never Cross a Man’s Mind” and “Didn’t You Know How Much I Loved You.” Kellie even performed a beautiful version of Tammy Wynette‘s “Stand By Your Man!”  She then caught the crowd off-guard with her song “Rocks Instead of Rice,” a song she says is written to an ex.  Kellie performed “I Wonder” the heartfelt ballad written to her Mother, and you could feel the emotion in her voice.

 

Friday night ended with Gary Allan taking the stage.  The mysterious Country Rocker came out on stage in a black leather blazer, but quickly realized it was too hot for it.  Gary started the night with “Right Where I Need to Be” and kept cranking out the hits from there.  The crowd went crazy when he performed “Watchin Airplanes” and “Life Ain’t Always Beautiful.”  I would like to apologize for the quality of the Gary Allan photos, but since I was not allowed Photographer Pit access for Gary the shots are not as good as they could’ve been. =(

Saturday:

Joe Diffie kicked off the final day of Suwannee River Jam.  He opened the show with his song “Third Rock From The Sun” and then kept cranking out the hits from there.  Joe sang almost all of his hits including “Pick-Up Man” and “John Deere Green.”

 

Darryl Worrley came on stage and immediately began to tell the crowd about his recent trip overseas.  Darryl sang his hits such as “I just Came Back From a War” and “Have You Forgotten.” Darryl also got the opportunity to sing “Keep The Change,” and as he began the song, he explained that it was not meant to be controversial, nor was it meant to be disrespectful towards our President, it was just a song to go along with a bumper sticker he had seen while driving around one day.  At one point during his performance, Darryl even came off the stage to oblige a few fans some photos.

 

Phil Vassar took the stage as the sun was setting.  Unlike most country music stars Phil doesn’t play guitar, he plays a custom painted baby grand piano.  Phil played all of his hits including “American Child” as well as “Carlene.”  Phil even sang his own renditions of the songs he’d written for other stars including songs he’d written for JoDee Messina and Tim McGraw.  I personally have to say that the fans seemed to be most excited when Phil began to play his own version of “Piano Man!”

 

Ronnie Dunn made his first public solo performance at Suwannee River Jam.  All I can truly say is he was AWESOME!  Ronnie came on stage and sang a few songs off his new solo album, but then as the lights went out he sang the hook to “Nothin’ About You.”  The crowd went nuts, Ronnie then mixed in some of his solo music with the Brooks & Dunn songs that we’ve all been accustomed to Ronnie singing.  I have to say that Ronnie not only looked content on stage, but he also seemed to be having fun, enjoying the solo limelight.  Of course, I did have my favorite performances from this event, and Ronnie was definitely one of them!