Lainey Wilson showcased her progress as one of country music's top entertainers during the opening night of her Country's Cool Again headlining tour on Friday night (May 31) at Nashville's Ascend Amphitheater (the first of two nights at space). Wilson, the reigning Entertainer of the Year at both the ACM and CMA Awards, and one of country music's hardest-working artists, proved exactly why she deserves these honors during her first show.
He also made the tour's eponymous statement, welcoming two openers whose sets were drenched in twang, fiddle and steel guitar. Zach Top sailed through a solid lineup of 90s country-influenced songs, including “I Never Lie,” “There's the Sun” and his album's title track, “Cold Beer and Country Music.” Like country monks Alan Jackson and George Strait, Top remained close to the center stage microphone for most of the show, acoustic guitar in hand and letting the music flow through the open night. Ian Munsick brought “the West to the rest” with his high-energy set that extolled the imagery of his Wyoming roots, interspersed with lyrics of trash, cattle, and open spaces. His opening music was “Cattle Call” by Eddie Arnold.
“It's official — country is cool again,” he told the Nashville crowd, as he ran through “I See Country Everywhere,” “More Than Me” and the Cody Johnson collaboration “Long Live Cowgirls” (minus the Texan hitmaker ). He highlighted his Rocky Mountain Fever Band, decked out in turquoise shirts and bolo ties, as they tore it up playing songs like Ricky Skaggs' “Country Boy” and offering a searing fiddle to a version of Alabama's “Fiddle in the Band” . ” He offered up a new song, “Heartbreak King,” before playing the fan favorite, “Cows–t,” as well as the namesake from a recent album, “White Buffalo,” and “Horses are Faster.”
When Wilson took the stage a few minutes after 9 p.m., it was clear she was intent on showing exactly why she's been lauded with entertainer-level accolades lately, combining high-quality production, country songs with heart and edge, and a high-energy personality that is still grounded.
The show's production used two of her truck-themed hits, “Heart Like a Truck” and the HARDY collaboration “Wait in the Truck,” featuring a red, spinning, retro truck center stage throughout the show.
Dressed in her signature bell bottoms, Wilson made her first appearance on top of the truck as she belted out “Straight Up Sideways” and “Smell Like Smoke.” She sang “Heart Like a Truck” while the screens focused on Wilson as she sang through the retro automatic, while she performed “Watermelon Moonshine” sitting on the back door of the truck.
Throughout the evening, he came across not only as an entertainer whose songs tell stories of love, ambition and faith in the home — but as a mentor, an aspirational role model and the best friend who can be both supportive and a motivation behind part when required. It's clear the audience responded – the crowd filled with crowd members paying homage to Wilson's signature style by wearing hats, sparkly bell bottoms and jeans.
“I'm not going to lie, life has been a whirlwind lately,” he told the crowd. “That's the world I use all the time, the word that keeps coming into my head, out of my mouth, trying to keep one foot on the ground. We've literally been everywhere…with all the craziness, I will say, I've struggled like hell to keep one foot on the ground and that's been hard at times. I know many of you have been here since the beginning and I have many people in my life who remind me of who I am and where I come from and I know wherever I go, whatever I do, wherever this job takes me, I will always be me, I'll always know who I am in here. I'll always find my way back home,” he said, launching into “Good Horses Come Home.”
During the sassy “Bell Bottoms Up,” she nodded to her growing empire as an entertainer — her new bar Lainey Wilson's Bell Bottoms Up in Nashville, which opened the same day.
While Wilson's openers for the night were two traditional male country-oriented artists, Wilson's guests in her headlining set were two '90s hitmakers who Wilson called mentors and friends during her set — Terri Clark and Wynonna Judd. Judd teamed up with Wilson to perform a cover of Tom Petty's “Refugee,” from the upcoming Petty Country tribute album. Wilson's piercing soprano matched Wynonna's bluesy growl beautifully, creating a unique moment of clear friendship and respect between the two performers.
“I can't believe I'm on stage with Wynonna,” Wilson told the crowd, while Wy responded, “I'd open for you any day.”
Meanwhile, Clark teamed up with Wilson to perform her 1996 hit “Poor, Poor Pitiful Me” from her new album Take Two, with Wilson playing the cowbell.
Wilson often spoke of her Louisiana roots, and her intro music included Creedence Clearwater Revival's “Born on the Bayou.” “My heart is full of gratitude,” she told fans at one point, adding, “Tonight let's be proud of where we're from and excited about where we're going!”
Wilson's set mixed music, theatrics, home-making stories and almost spiritual words of encouragement throughout the evening, as she regularly connected with and uplifted her “Wildhorses,” as she fondly calls her fans. At one point, she crowned a concert Cowgirl of the Night, but not before leading her — and the rest of the crowd — to their feet with affirmations like “I'm smart. I am talented. I'm beautiful.”
Wilson also offered a medley of cover songs — but keeping with the tour's name, instead of a lineup of rock covers, she paid homage to her inspirations with a medley of country classics, including Hank Williams' “Hey, Good Lookin'.” “You Ain't Woman Enough” by Loretta Lynn, “Take This Job and Shove It” by Johnny Paycheck, “Forever and Ever, Amen” by Randy Travis, “The Night the Lights Went in Georgia” by Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert's “Kerosene,” Alan Jackson's “Gone Country” and her own “Country's Cool Again.”
Although none of Jelly Roll's hit collaborators HARDY or Cole Swindell were surprise guests, Wilson did the songs justice, sitting on the back door of the truck and offering acoustic versions of “Never Say Never,” “Wait in the Truck' and 'Save Me', with the latter song in particular turning into a soul-cleansing redemptive crowd.
From there, Wilson performed a song, “4x4xYou,” from August's upcoming album Whirlwind, a song she noted was inspired by her lover Devlin Hodges.
The show closed with “Wildflowers and Wild Horses,” as rainy hurricane-themed images swirled on the screens behind Wilson as she stood atop the truck, belting out the empowering song that touched on her family legacy of “five generations blazin' a trail .” In the final moments of the performance, she stood up, lowered her cowboy hat and raised one arm in the air. It's a confident power stance used by so many top male country entertainers – but one that Artist of the Year winner Wilson is now claiming as her own.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/country/lainey-wilson-countrys-cool-again-tour-nashville-concert-review-1235698619/
