When Mankato turns into Dallas for a night

A friend of mine and I took a little road trip to attend the Cody Johnson and Friends tour in Mankato at the Mankato Event Center. Corey Kent, a “new artist” opened the show. He sang his set list with great confidence and stage presence. I have that in quotes because he isn’t new by music standards, he is new to much of the public. He was a contestant on The Voice in 2016 and did well on the show. He has had a few album releases, one in 2020, and another in 2021 and a number of singles have released, with a lot of attention on Wild as Her with over 41 million spins on Spotify and two and a half million monthly listeners, he’s getting some recognition. I hope we see and hear more of him. It’s exciting to see him on a big tour lineup.

This was the third time I have seen Randy Houser in a concert. His vocals are almost ridiculous, such amazing talent. He has a fabulous range, never mind the power of his voice, the tone and song lyrics. If you haven’t seen him live, go. Without a doubt, you’ll be blown away at his vocal abilities and crowd interaction. His voice echoed flawlessly through this event center. He sang all his hits and of course his newest single release Note to Self. Every song is so well known, the crowd was well engaged, singing every word. Background stories to the songs always intrigue me and Randy shared a few stories including the background of Like a Cowboy which he wrote after visiting troops overseas.

Now we must talk about Cody Johnson. He is another powerhouse singer, seriously, wow! I have been listening to Cody for a long time, his music catalogs started in 2009 with Six String One Dream. He has been in the Texas country music scene for what seems like forever. He is well dressed on stage in his button-down dress shirt and cowboy hat, boots, and starched blue jeans. His passion for music is a shining light for the stage. He talked about his previous rodeo experiences and noted a documentary that I have in my queue to watch. His energy was amazing, his values and patriotism is bold and unapologetic. He is passionate about his faith in God and his family is the center of much of his lyrics. It was refreshing to hear the amount of people in the crowd replying to his stories and singing back his lyrics. I felt like I was in Texas for the night with these 3 men singing on the stage for those 3 hours. It was a beautiful night. Cody’s song ‘Til You Can’t is a chart topper with over a hundred million spins on Spotify alone. Human the double album is a fabulous collection of songs for every mood, but his vocals will be what will keep you coming back.

All in all was a well worth it vacation day and little road trip.

my review, in a country minute.

Rose

Better Off with Love and Theft

I recently saw Love and Theft in East Grand Forks at Happy Harry’s Rockin’ Up North Fest where they opened for Michael Ray on the second day of the festival. I have been a fan of Love and Theft since their first album released in 2009, World Wide Open. Their self-titled second album produced the hit song Angel Eyes and Running out of Air. Following a split from their music label, Love and Theft released their 3rd album, Whiskey on my Breath in 2015 as independent artists. While waiting to release another entire larger project, they had a few singles which have often been in their set lists including Candyland, Love Wins, Gimme Tonight, You Didn’t Want Me, and Need to Breathe. You can imagine the excitement fans are feeling that after 7 years, there’s a collection released. The 6 song EP titled Better Off was released on July 22, 2022. There is a vibrant charm to this collection of music that carries through the entire EP. The title track is a favorite so far, the semantic variation of ‘better off’ is fun to follow throughout the song. You may notice Stephen Barker Liles is sporting a Cashville Hooligans shirt in the video. Accidently on Purpose is a song about the sorrow of an unexpected relationship ending. The remaining song titles are Mirror Mirror, Anyway, Downhill, and Tell Me what it Feels Like. The EP has a good variety of storylines in different formats, contexts, and tones that flow well together for this project. It was refreshing to hear the new songs on stage and hear fans singing the lyrics back to them.

I first met Stephen Barker Liles and Eric Gunderson (Love and Theft) at the ACM Party for a Cause in 2015. We were the checker pieces of a game on a giant board in a celebrity charity game for veterans charities. It was made up of artists and fan players. (I hope that wasn’t my 15 minutes of fame) Storme Warren from Sirius XM The Highway was the emcee with Thomas Rhett and Kelly Pickler as team captains. The celebrity players left an impression on me and that sparked an interest in me to get involved in promoting music. I was reintroduced to Love and Theft following their Minneapolis show later that summer. Since then, I have attended almost every show Love and Theft have had in the area, and of course, if life allows, I travel to see them in neighboring states.

They are two of my favorite people and it has been a pleasure to get to know them in the last few years.

Congratulations to you guys on the release of Better Off!

Congratulations to Eric for 7.5 years of sobriety!

Rose

In a Country Minute

Love and Theft at Rockin Up North Fest '22

Love and Theft

Better Off

Charity Event Captures the Heart of Alannah McCready

I think most people have a charity they connect to in some fashion. Recently I was chatting with independent Nashville artist Alannah McCready and we talked about a charity performance she will be taking part in that is close to her heart. Alannah will be performing at the Willow Tree Winery in Ham Lake, Minnesota, at Summer Sounds Charity Music Fest on Saturday, Aug 27th. This event is for the Brown Boys Benefit which supports the funding for the families of NICU babies at Children’s Hospitals in Minneapolis and St Paul. Alannah's nephew was born premature and spent the beginning of his life in the NICU. He is now 11 months old and her brother and sister-in-law have him facetime with his auntie every day.

Alannah is originally from a suburb on the north side of Minneapolis, where she successfully balanced singing and playing hockey. She spent her high school years singing in the choir and bouncing between goalie training and team practices. Alannah earned a full athletic scholarship and attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison, completing her years there with 2 NCAA Women’s National Championships as a hockey goaltender.

Alannah moved to New York to pursue a career in public relations for a sports management company, where she managed the daily lives of about 20 NFL players. Her love of music came calling and she packed up and moved to Atlanta, traveling back and forth to Nashville to pursue music full time before taking up her residence in Nashville. Alannah has released 2 prior projects, Love Hangover in 2015 and Ricochet Heart in 2018. She has been able to use her communications education and experience to do much of her own promoting. She has since partnered with a publicity team at Aristomedia and plays on stages for writer's rounds in Nashville and regularly at the Tin Roof locations.

The pursuit of sports and music seem different in so many ways, but some things bridge the two fields, like building character and wisdom. Having learned to function in such a structured schedule, and being self-motivated are both assets to have in any career. Sports teaches so many aspects of teamwork and how to maneuver through different personality traits and opinions. It also teaches decisiveness and self-confidence and those are all fabulous qualities to have in the music industry.

Alannah McCready is a powerful singer with a fantastic smoothness to her vocals. She writes relatable music, pouring her experiences into songs. You'll hear an influence of the 90’s country style with a mix of soul and pop country to please anyone's taste in music. The 5 song EP Back to Me has a mix of these song styles starting with duet partner Will Gittens in Can I Call, explaining the sorrow of change in a relationship. A self-confidence charmer in the title track Back to Me that would make Martina McBride and Trisha Yearwood proud. The remaining 3 tracks have equally powerful lyrics. Something Like That, Take it Slow, and On my Own complete this EP perfectly.

It was a pleasure to chat with you Alannah and I hope to catch up with you again to celebrate your success with these recent releases.

there you have it, In a Country Minute

Rose

Photos by Alex Berger

Weird Candy Creative Group