Concert Review: Little Big Town at the South Shore Music Circus

They may be from the Boondocks, But Little Big Town have sailed their Pontoon into a rock and roll Tornado.

If their recent show at the South Shore Music Circus proves anything, it’s that the quartet known for simple backwoods arrangements complimenting their airtight harmonies have morphed into a band solely focused on succeeding in the current “country music” landscape.

They made their way to the rounded stage like rock stars filing into a stadium, Kimberly Schlapman’s head of tight blond curls visible a mile away. Karen Fairchild, modeling denim short-shorts, knee high leather boots, and a gold sparkle jacket launched into pulsating set opener “Leave The Light On,” a track from the band’s upcoming Pain Killer due Oct 21. The band and crowd embraced a little “Day Drinking” shortly thereafter, which worked in the environment despite missing the snare drums utilized in award show performances of the track.

Concert Review: Jennifer Nettles & Brandy Clark at The South Shore Music Circus

The gentle plucking of an acoustic guitar and rolling percussion fill the tent. Most turn a deaf ear to the customary sounds of house music as a concert commences. The lights were low and the stage empty, instruments waiting to be played, microphones eager to be sung into. A baby-voiced vocal adds character to the instrumentation, a singer with a distinctive bite. It’s a forty-one year old classic recording, a composition we’ve all dug into time and again. When the two-and-a-half minute ballad draws to a close, the audience erupts. The band files in and begins.

More light procession fills the tent. The sounds are different this time, subtly so, modernized with handclaps. The singer, with her sandy blonde hair back in a ponytail adorning dark jeans and a white Keith Richards tank under a white vest is handed a guitar. She makes her way to the microphone for a seemingly endless parade of “ohohohohohs” before launching into, “a friend gave me your number…”

The delicate connection between the two songs is missed, if you weren’t aware Jennifer Nettles and Butch Walker wrote “That Girl” as an answer song to Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” which filled the air before the band took the stage. Little connections like that were the benchmark of the evening, as Nettles gifted the crowed a lengthy set that had the audience in the palm of her hand.

EP Review: Shooter Jennings – ‘Don’t Wait Up (For George)’

Shooter Jennings

Don’t Wait Up (For George)

* * 1/2

Not even a month after Sammy Kershaw released a full-length George Jones tribute comes an EP from Shooter Jennings celebrating The Possum. At just under twenty minutes long it’s a brisk collection and a thoroughly modern one at that.

Don’t Wait Up (For George) finds Jennings completely reimagining four of Jones’ classic hits in his own style, instead of just reciting them as they were written. The results are progressive modern rock, which isn’t surprising given Jennings’ catalog to date, but does little to honor Jones and his traditionalist leaning ways.

The project kicks off with the only original number, a song Jennings had written for Jones, who was going to include it on the forthcoming album he never got to record. “Don’t Wait Up (I’m Playing Possum)” is a wonderful lyric with a biting intensity that would’ve given Jones the space to turn in a killer vocal. The production here is crowded, but nicely restrained.

Jennings’ take on “She Thinks I Still Care” follows the pattern of the title cut, and pares progression with a tender country vocal. There’s a haunting vibe to the proceedings, too, accentuated by the steel guitar heard just underneath Jennings’ vocal. He’s purer on “If Drinkin’ Don’t Kill Me” and acoustic on “Living In A Minor Key,” the best moments on the EP. When Jennings forgoes the overtly rock overtones, he allows the songs to shine.

The only obvious misstep comes with “The Door.” While Jones brought his usual pure country tendencies to the mournful ballad, Jennings lathers it in grotesque rock production that drowns the pain conveyed in the lyric. He could’ve done much better if he’d let the lyric shine through a bit more and kept the clutter to a minimum.

While not what I would expect from a tribute to Jones, Jennings does a good job of making these songs (minus “The Door”) his own without doing disservice to The Possum and his memory.