Whereas Friday at Country Thunder had been overcast and uncharacteristically cool, on Saturday the skies were clear and the day bright and sunny. Almost TOO bright and sunny! That Arizona sunshine really beats down on you (especially on us fair-skinned Northerners) and the temperatures hit the nineties pretty quickly. I felt bad for the performers scheduled during the early afternoon - relatively few of the seats were filled in the glaring sun - must be kind of discouraging.
First up was a young singer I was unfamiliar with (Jason Jones). He got my stamp of approval early on when he did a nice job on "Walk in the Country". He is cute and has a nice voice but the bright sun really washed out my attempts to catch him on video.
Gloriana had apparently canceled their scheduled appearance and Chris Young agreed to fill in. I like Gloriana but was happy for the opportunity to see Chris live. I enjoyed his set very much - was a sexy deep voice, what seemed to be a sincere and modest personality and a great smile. I caught a bit of When You Say Nothing at All, Rainy Night in Georgia, and his current hit Getting You Home.
Well, if the concert day began with country music's 'youngsters', the evening brought one of its 'oldsters' = Willie Nelson. I have been a fan of Willie's for over a quarter century! Unlike Keith and so many of today's artists, Willie stayed with the same old worn guitar for his entire, lengthy set. And what s wonderful sound he pulled out of that instrument - so rich and evocative. He managed to squeeze in many of my favorites from over the years. He did an extended medley of Time Just Slips Away, Crazy, and Nightlife.
My daughters and I decided to forego the last act of the festival - Kid Rock. Although we wouldn't have minded seeing him perform, we had decided to pull our RV out of the very congested campgrounds early. We had heard that Sunday morning there would be a huge traffic jam caused by a caravan of RVs and late Saturday night many intoxicated partiers would be wandering the grounds. We had to make it back to Phoenix for early flights so chose to slip out during the last act. We had to call upon one of our nice neighboring campers to help us maneuver out of our campsite onto the narrow campground lanes. Nice folks there at Country Thunder!
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