Friday, April 25, 2008

Deric Ruttan & Kristal Barret

I finally got some pictures uploaded so I`m re-posting this with more detail.

Wonderfully intimate. That's how I'd describe the concert on Friday night. It was a small crowd in a smallish venue but those of us who made the effort to come out on a cold windy, wet night were rewarded with a first rate show.

The lovely and talented Kristal Barett opened the show. It’s been so fun watching Kristal grow and mature as an artist. She did a fantastic job even though her set was too short.
I attended this concert alone because I couldn't be bothered to try and find someone to go with. I was really tired Friday night but I went anyways and I'm glad I did. I ran into Edie again and we hung out together in the line.
In the auditorium I sat beside a really great English couple and the guy told me all about the awesome rock concerts he's attended (everyone from the Beatles before anyone knew who they were to Queen).

Kristal was so cute on stage. The lights were bright but she kept recognizing voices from the audience and wanted to see who had come to hear her perform!
After Kristal was a group called the “Little Brother Band”. I’m not familiar with their music and while it wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t my style so I was really glad when Deric took the stage. I had positioned myself in the front row so I had an unobstructed view of the performance. It was a great show. Deric is really funny and very laid back. He has a small band. The lead guitarist, a bass player, fiddle/mandolin player and a drummer.

The drummer, Chris Sutherland was a drummer for Doc Walker! (among other people) I recognized him just a few songs into the set.

It was a 90 minute set so Deric was able to sing most of his songs. He opened with `When You Come Around` and, in no particular order, sang:
Take The Wheel
  • I Saved Everything
  • Unbeatable
  • Invisible
  • Shine
  • First Time in a Long Time (the current single)
  • Good Time (the duet with Dierks Bentley)
  • Atlanta
  • California Plates (my personal favourite)
  • Almost Beautiful
  • and the new single, Lovin`You is Killing Me.


    About midway through the show the band left the stage and he did an acoustic set which included Maggie and On the Inside.

    Deric also did covers of Dierks' "Lot of Leavin' Left to Do" and "What Was I Thinking", the CCMA Song of the Year, Aaron Pritchett's "Hold My Beer", and Eric Church's "Guys Like Me" all of which he is a co-writer on. For more details on Deric's Songwriting credits, click here. It was really neat to hear his versions of these familiar songs.

    He also did...a smokin' version of Steve Earle's "Copperhead Road" and, for an encore, came back and did Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues". In between songs he shared little stories of being on the road with Dierks, Doc Walker and Eric Church last winter, living in Nashville (as compared to Ontario) writing with Chris & Dave from Doc Walker and the time Jimmy Rankin called him up and invited him to "Pen a tune" (said with a thick Cape Breton accent).

    After the concert he signed autographs and posed for pictures with everyone. I only had a minute or so to talk to him but I got to tell him "thanks for not being an idiot", "good job on the songs and on writing with such awesome people" and about how I blogged about him the day he was journalling for the cd.

    This was a special concert for me because a lot of the names and stuff associated with it has a lot of meaning to me. It may not for anyone else but I thought it was pretty cool.
  • 1 comment:

    Martha said...

    Sounds like a concert I'd have enjoyed...I'm not much into the mega-style concerts and thus have really grown away from attending any sort of live performance because out here, that's all there seems to be is is performers in the huge venues.

    Keep on bloggin...