BayFest 2012 adds dash of country with Luke Bryan

BayFest 2012 adds dash of country with Luke Bryan, Chris Cagle, Jerrod Niemann

Bryan will top the day’s lineup on the AT&T/Southern Ford Dealers Stage. The Georgia native’s stardom is relatively fresh: He scored his first No. 1 country hit in 2010, with “Someone Else Calling You Baby,” and his most recent with “Drunk on You” which is currently still at No. 5. “Drunk on You” also has been as high as No. 17 on Billboard’s overall pop singles chart, Bryan’s best crossover showing so far.
His biggest hits also include “I Don’t Want This Night to End,” “Rain is a Good Thing” and “Do I.”
Two other newly announced country acts also will perform on Oct. 7: Chris Cagle, whose top singles include “I Breathe In, I Breathe Out” and “Chicks Dig It,” and Jerrod Neimann, who topped the country chart in 2010 with “Lover, Lover.”
The Sunday lineup on the AT&T/Southern Ford Dealers Stage will start with Mobile-area songwriter and vocalist Elley Duhe. Duhe, 20, was born in Mobile and grew up in Vancleave, Mississippi, and has performed regularly along the Gulf Coast since her mid-teens. In February, she appeared on national TV in an audition round of the NBC show “The Voice.”
BayFest takes place Oct. 5-7 in downtown Mobile. Other acts announced so far include headliners Journey, Al Green, Bush and Pretty Lights, plus Pat Benatar, Loverboy, Buckcherry, My Darkest Days, The Campaign 1984, Mimosa and Rose Royce.
Weekend passes are $45 and are on sale with no service charge at www.bayfest.com. A group rate is available for groups of 20 or more people. Children 12 and under are admitted free with an adult ticketholder. For updates and other festival information, visit www.bayfest.com or www.facebook.com/BayFestMusicFestival.

 

Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan

Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan, contrasting styles at Merriweather Post

If Luke Bryan is the guy at the party running around persuading everyone to take another shot, then Jason Aldean is the quiet, brooding cowboy in the corner ready to jump onstage and wow everyone with an unexpected rap. Both country singers delivered deafeningly entertaining shows to thousands at a sold-out concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion on Sunday. But the question remained: What would have happened if they combined their strengths?
We may never know. Bryan kicked off the night, basking in the glow of his two ultra-cheesy recent hit singles, the hip-shaking “Country Girl (Shake It for Me)” and the earnest “Drunk on You,” in which he croons “Girl, you make my speakers go ‘boom boom.’  ”
Bryan, who turns 36 on Tuesday, has embraced this goofy persona — he shed his guitar almost instantly during the first song, preferring a microphone so he could groove around the stage. There were hip swivels, pelvic thrusts, air kicks, muscle flexes. Soaked with sweat dripping off him, Bryan shook it no matter what the theme of the song — loving, cheating, happy to be alive and drinking — such as “Rain Is a Good Thing,” “Someone Else Calling You Baby” and “All My Friends Say.”
Sitting down at a piano, Bryan teased the first few lines of Justin Bieber’s song “Boyfriend” — but proved that even he had his limits. “No Bieber tonight,” he told the crowd.
But what Bryan lacked in deep concert “moments” with his dance party, Aldean, 35, easily made up for with intensity onstage. He started off with electric guitar-heavy, explosive “Johnny Cash,” only to immediately segue into four slowed-down songs. From “Big Green Tractor” to super-depressing break-up song “The Truth,” Aldean still managed to keep the energy level buzzing. Cowboy hat slung low over his eyes, he mainly stayed anchored to the mike.
For a show that seemed methodical, he never lost the audience, many of whom had been drenched in a rainstorm before the show. Aldean ran through his most high-energy tunes, including the rocking “Crazy Town” and “My Kinda Party,” and small-town-loving “Flyover States” and “Tattoos on This Town.” He cracked more than a few smiles when the audience roared along with his smash country rap “Dirt Road Anthem.”
As for the potential Bryan-Aldean super group, disappointingly, the singers didn’t make a joint appearance. The only duet came when former “American Idol” winner Kelly Clarkson appeared via giant video screen to accompany Aldean on their 2010 single, “Don’t You Wanna Stay.”

Luke Bryan Performs, Talks National Anthem Controversy

Luke Bryan Performs, Talks National Anthem Controversy on ‘Good Morning America’

Country music reigned supreme and staged a full-scale takeover of NYC on the morning of Friday, July 13. While Zac Brown Band performed on the ‘TODAY‘ show in midtown Manhattan, Luke Bryan commandeered the stage in Central Park for the ‘Good Morning America’ summer concert series. He performed a set consisting of ‘Country Girl (Shake It for Me),’ ‘Drunk on You’ and ‘Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye.’ The gregarious singer did not shy away from talking about the National Anthem controversy at the MLB All-Star Game earlier in the week, either. He wrote words on his hands to ensure that he wouldn’t flub his performance like so many musicians before him have. He was subsequently beaten up a bit for doing so.
First things first. ‘GMA’ host Robin Roberts sat down to chat with Bryan onstage and an appearance on a major breakfast TV program could not have been better timed, since Bryan’s anthem gaffe was a hot topic all week. Rather than shrug it off, he was forthright, saying, “That stage, being in that moment, was one of the biggest moments of my life. I’ve done the Anthem many times and I’ve done it at little league baseball parks. Going out there for that moment, it meant so much to me… to have a few notes, to get it right.” He pointed out how people stress out from the pressure of singing the song, saying, “You see it done wrong, and… you almost don’t want to do it.”
It’s clear that Bryan was trying to be overly respectful by writing words on his hand to prevent a mess up.
Bryan also claimed that since he can’t serve in the military, he can show his love for his country by singing the song. He apologized if anyone was offended by the fact that he wrote notes on his hand, which was met with a chorus of cheers from the crowd. That’s when Roberts called him a “true Southern gentleman.” If we didn’t know any better, we might think she was smitten with the always smiling Bryan!
Then again, how could she not be? His cheery disposition is infectious. He even said, “This whole ride for me, every day, I wake up with a big smile. Every day I feel so blessed. That is what is so rewarding about this business, to get up every day and enjoy it and to smile, play music and have the time of your life.”
There’s no mistaking Bryan’s sincerity about the Anthem. All is forgiven.
When performing ‘Country Girl,’ he was flirting with the crowd in his adorable Luke Bryan way.