Jason Michael Carroll, James Otto, Clay Walker, Rodney Atkins
Date: November 18, 2010
Venue: Durham Performing Arts Center, Durham, NC
Photos:http://imgur.com/a/fMUoA
Curtis Media Group held their ninth annual N.C. Children’s Promise Radiothon/Telethon on November 18, 2010 with proceeds benefiting the North Carolina Children’s Hospital. This year, they decided to add a benefit concert featuring some of country music's hottest names - hometown favorite, Jason Michael Carroll, Nashville singer/songwriter, James Otto, country heartthrob Clay Walker and the country superstar who married the farmer's daughter, Rodney Atkins.
The concert was the spectacular ending to a day full of love, support, donations and miracles that were broadcast live on around 20 Curtis Media Group radio stations and Time Warner Cable's News 14 Carolina. The N.C. Children’s Promise Radiothon/Telethon is UNC Health Care’s largest fundraising event each year. The show took place at one of the Triangle area's newest venues, the DPAC (Durham Performing Arts Center) with all $25.00 ticket sales going directly to the NC Children's Promise. All artists came with one focus in mind, to make these children smile and to do what they can to help. All artists played for free. This is what I love about country music, the artists and the industry in general are kind, warm-hearted, generous and always willing to reach out and extend a hand to those in need.
Jason Michael Carroll took the stage to a huge round of thunderous applause and of course, being a local favorite, cat calls and wolf whistles from the females. He changed the show from the normal upbeat, rowdy, anything goes performance his fans are used to in order to match the tone of the atmosphere, casual, sensitive and modest. Having seen Jason perform on several occasions, I knew we were in for a good show, but this blew "good" out of the water, it was outstanding. He kicked off the show with a toned down version of his hit song, "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" and got the crowd jumping. Having separated from his record label, Jason is now doing his own thing and one of those things is a new song called "Meet Me in the Barn". This was the first time he'd played it for an audience and I personally loved it, I think he's gonna show the country music industry that you don't need to be signed to a major label to make good music and to produce a hit. He also sang an outstanding acoustic version of "Hurry Home" and his signature song and the one that made him a household name, "Alyssa Lies" and I can promise you, there was not a dry eye in the house. Speaking of the days events, he paid tribute to his good friend, Brittany Coppedge, who passed away a couple of years ago at the young age of 19 from lung cancer. He started "Brittany's Battle", a foundation providing support to familes fighting the battle with cancer. It is a nonprofit organization and operates 100% by donations and volunteers. He wrapped up his short set with his new Christmas tune, "Christmas on the Farm", which can be found on his new Christmas release by the same name, available on iTunes now.
Next up, James Otto, the larger than life singer/songwriter from Nashville who is taking country music by storm. James stayed true to his usual style of performance by bringing 3 stools on stage for himself and two other musicians. I knew this was gonna be good. I've been a fan of Otto's for the past 4 years, before most of country music knew his name as anything other than a songwriter, when he was playing bars and was part of the "Muzik Mafia" which was a group of friends brought together by John Rich and "Big Kenny" with the simple, yet powerful idea of bringing a group of artists together, regardless of race, religion, background or musical genre, to just make music. James picks up his guitar and that's when the magic starts. He started his show with his summer hit, "Groovy Little Summer Song" and had the audience ready to go, following it up by daring everyone to get up out of their seats and to "Shake What God Gave Ya" mixed with snippets of songs like "Hot in Herre" by Nelly and "Can't Always Get What You Want" by the Rolling Stones. There were shaking hips everywhere and more smiles on faces than I've seen in a long time. Just when the energy level was at it's peak, he decided to bring it down to a serious tone and sang a very emotional version of a hit song he wrote with Jamey Johnson, "In Color". To hear 1,800 people singing along to that song in a small venue is something you just don't forget. A huge supporter of our military troops, he gave them praise and sang his newest song, "Soldiers and Jesus". He closed out his set with the song that earned the title of "Most Played Country Song of 2009", "Just Got Started Loving You". I honestly hated to see him leave the stage. I went right to Walmart after the show and bought his new cd, "Shake What God Gave Ya" and it is fantastic.
Next on the schedule, the guy with quite possibly the best smile and the hottest butt in a pair of Wranglers, Clay Walker. I saw him for the first time at CMA Fest 2009 and loved him. I loved him back in the 90's when he was making it really big on the music scene. I'm glad to see he's back! He apparently has a HUGE following here in the Raleigh/Durham, NC area. It got LOUD when he took the stage, people were up and clapping and shouting his name. He told everyone that he had a "man crush" on Ellen DeGeneres and asked if that made him gay. He asked everyone to let Ellen know that his only real wish is to dance on her show. It's like an obsession. You know I tweeted her, but I guess because he's not a 16 year old with a girl's voice, she won't ever book him. Then he broke out a joke about the Pope driving his new "Pope" car, was hysterical. He sang favorites that put him on the country map like "What's It To You", "Then What?", "If I Could Make a Living", and "Rumor Has It" . He also sang "Lose Some Sleep Tonight", "Fall", "She Won't Be Lonely Long" and one sexy version of "I Can't Sleep". I think I might have blushed during that one. LOL.
Finally, it was time for Rodney Atkins to hit the stage and when he did, you knew it even if you were in the bathroom on the ground level! That place got LOUD! I love Rodney. I've met him twice and he's always so humble, down to earth and friendly. He never puts on airs and never wants you to think he's anything but himself. In today's world of "pop goes the country", that's such a refreshing change to see. Rodney took the stage, talked about his family, his life growing up. If you don't know Rodney's story, he was put up for adoption shortly after his birth. He was so sick as a child that two adoptive families returned him to the orphanage. He wasn't touched without rubber gloves for the first six months of his life. Finally, a third family took him in with lots of love and took the gloves off. This is why this benefit was so important to him to take part in. I think next show I go to of his, I'm gonna need waterproof mascara. He came out with "It's America" and got the crowd ready to party. played songs we all love like "What I Love About the South" and "Cleaning this Gun". He started talking about his son, Elijah (aka "Lil Bear") and told a story about how he had recently gone deer hunting and made deer jerky. Elijah hadn't had deer jerky before so when he tasted it, he asked Rodney "What's this made of? Cow? Pig?" Rodney answered, "No, but I'll give you a hint. It's something your mom calls me sometimes". Elijah spit it out and said "butthole?". The entire auditorium erupted into laughter. It was so great to see him as just Rodney. He broke out into "Watching You" and then performed his recent hit, "Farmer's Daughter". When he neared the end of the song, he stopped singing and let us sing. When it was over, he said that he'd been asked to record a live version of "Farmer's Daughter" and was so overwhelmed with the way we had just sung it back to him that he wanted us to do it again and this time it would be recorded for that version. It was a wonderful to hear the entire audience singing this song and knowing he appreciated it so much. He wrapped the night up by singing "If You're Going Through Hell" and it was an appropriate song for the cause. He pulled a little boy on stage to sing the chorus with him and then tossed the microphone into the audience and whoever caught it had to sing the chorus too. Then, in a totally spontaneous moment, he jumped off stage and into the crowd and came back to the section for those in wheelchairs and picked out one girl and sang to her and let her sing back. Again, the tears flowed.
WQDR 94.7 FM put on an amazing show and one that I will never forget. I am so glad I was able to be a part of this unforgettable night and I'd personally like to thank them for everything they do for this area and send a thank you to the artists for what they did for the NC Children's Hospital and it's patients.
MAKE A DONATION TO "BRITTANY'S BATTLE": ASSIST THOSE BATTLING CANCER
MAKE A DONATION TO THE NC CHILDREN'S PROMISE
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