Attitude of Gratitude V3#7 - Live Music

Saturday I attended a very special event. It was called "Stories & Songs" and it was hosted by the local radio station. It was a fundraiser for a local women's shelter and it was tied in with a songwriting conference. The whole event was organized by Canadian singer/songwriter Jamie Warren (in the white shirt) and it featured Deric Ruttan (plaid shirt), Victoria Banks, Duane Steel and Jamie. I debated going until about an hour before the show, which meant I ended up going alone because I hadn't arranged to go with anyone, but that was fine. It was a really cool event. The premise of the evening was that each artist in turn performed either a song that has been a hit for them or for someone else. Before they sang they gave either a bit of background on the song, a story about writing it, or some other tidbit. It was fascinating!

I've seen Deric quite a few times and he does an acoustic bit in his shows so I'd heard at least one of the stories before. He had a bunch of others to add though. He is by far one of my favourite songwriters and the people he collaborates with (Dierks Bentley, Doc Walker, etc) are my all time favourite acts.

I saw Duane live about eight years ago and he put on a great show. This was obviously very different but it was fun to see him talk about the songs. He`s just released a new album so he played a lot of new material. There are some great songs there!

This was my first time seeing Victoria or Jamie live and again, I have only good things to say. Victoria is the reigning Canadian Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the year and, even in an acoustic show, it is a title she really deserves! She has an INCREDIBLE voice! She is an extremely accomplished songwriter as well with cuts by Sara Evans, Jessica Simpson and Johnny Reid among others.


The show was in a smallish venue so I didn't have to wait long afterwards to meet them. They were all awesome and very sweet. I'm glad I convinced myself to go! I am thankful for live music, in whatever form!

Acoustic Concert Series: Shane Yellowbird

Wednesday, August 29th The second of the Acoustic Concert Series. I've really been looking forward to this concert. The headliner was Shane Yellowbird from Alberta and local artist Damian Marshall opened for him. I saw Damian last summer when he opened for Leann Rimes. That was another show that I won tickets to from the radio station!

It was nice to see him again in a smaller setting. He is an awesome song writer and has some great songs.


Meredith came with me. She's not a country music fan but she does love live music so we had fun.

Shane was awesome. The funny thing was he opened for Emerson Drive last fall. If i had taken a road trip to see them I would have seen him as well. Instead I waited and got to see them both within three days!

Shane only has one cd (which is awesome). He sang a lot of songs off of it including his debut single "Beautiful Concept" which he called his "baby" :), "They're All About You", the song that really caught my attention and first made me google him, his new single "I Remember the Music" which I am loving, and of course, his mega (Canadian) hit, "Pickup Truck". Kristal's actually in the video for Pickup truck too.

He also did *fantastic* covers of "Texas in 1880" and Garth Brooks' "Rodeo". Shane grew up doing the rodeo circut with family and if he wasn't persuing a music career, he'd still be out there riding. Because of that, to me, he could sing those songs and really mean them.

Shane and his guitarist Troy shared a few stories of performing and being on the road and had us all in stitches. That's the benefit of an acoustic concert. The artists can slow down and chat a little bit so it's more personable. I did get to meet him afterwards and got a photo and autograph. He's really sweet and down to earth. I wish him a long and happy career because I love his music! LOL

The Acoustic Concert Series

I get so caught up in trying to finish my recap of Texas that I'm slipping on all the new stuff that his happening. Then when I want to refer to something, I can't because I haven't posted it in the first place! Okay, enough rambling. What am I talking about? I am talking about live music. One of the things I picked up from being in Texas was the importance and the fun of live music. I've always enjoyed festivals and concerts but there is a grey area between free festivals and high profile concerts that I haven't really explored yet. My first opportunity to do so since coming back was the Acoustic Concert Series put on by my radio station. It's a "win to get in" set up. Only 107 people are let in. I actually debated wether I should enter the draw or not but I knew that if I didn't, I'd regret not trying. Luckily my name was selected.

The concert was on Wednesday, May 16th and featured Canadian band The Wilkinsons with local band The Higgins opening for them. The Wilkinson's lead singer is Amanda (she is joined by her brother Tyler and dad Steve). Amanda is six months younger then me and has been performing with her family since she was eight. Their first single "26 Cents" went number one in 1998 which was right when I was first getting into Country music. In fact I remember copying down the words to the course because I liked it so much. Anyways, I've watched Amanda grow up and I can't help but feel a bit of an affinity to her because we are so close in age so it was nice to finally see them live. Frankly she always kind of annoyed me but after seeing her live I know that she has a ton of talent and is actually really sweet. It definitely changed my opinion for the better.

The Higgins totally surprised me. I wasn't sure what to expect and they blew me away. They have fantastic harmonies and are really fun on stage. More about them in a future post ;) The lighting in this picture is really bad. I was a little far from the stage and on an angle so they're hard to see.
This shot of the Wilkinsons is better. I got out of my seat and went around in front of them to take it. I was able to use flash then too. Oh, I almost forgot to mention. Jenna came to the concert with me! It was her first one since Grant was born. It was nice to have her "back out" with me ;) (and Grant and Daddy Will did fine without her :))
There was a girl sitting in front of us and I told Jenna that I recognized her but I couldn't remember where from. After the concert Jenna left right away but I stuck around to get an autograph. The girl (I later found out her name was Lori) said hi but confessed that she didn't remember my name. I told it to her and then told her that I couldn't remember where we had met. She reminded me that we had shared a "moment" at the Dierks concert in Vancouver! (I swear this is my MOST referenced blog post). If you remember she and I stood in line together waiting to go down to the Meet & Greet but lamenting the fact that while we wanted to meet Dierks and spend time with him, we *really* wanted to see Doc Walker's set as well. Then after the M&G it was Lori that I RAN back to the concert with. Very fun. Anyways, we had fun chatting and talking about the concerts we have coming up for the summer.

I just got autographs and a picture from Amanda, Tyler and Steve and then headed out. I'm glad I was able to go though. It was a fun time. I can't wait until the next "Acoustic Concert" is announced.

Speaking of, I really liked the intimate acoustic format. There was a few times that it would have been nice to get up and dance but it was nice to just sit back, relax and really enjoy the MUSIC. Neither of the bands had any back up musicians due to space constraints so it was just them and the guitars. It was really nice. I think I appreciated them more because of it.

~Heidi