JENNA PAULETTE

Opry Plaza Summer Concert Series Powered by Whiskey Jam

Friday Septmeber 1, 2023

@ Grand Ole Opry House Plaza in Nashville, TN

(Review by: Jeffrey Kurtis)

After a streak of several days that topped the 100-degree mark, Nashville was finally blessed with perfect weather as Labor Day weekend arrived; coinciding with the final shows of the season for the Opry Plaza Summer Concert series powered by Whiskey Jam.

Since Memorial Day weekend, the partnership between the most iconic name in country music and the blueprint of its future have combined efforts to satisfy early arriving Opry goers with a helping of generation next, igniting rousing performances on the free plaza stage from Emily Ann Roberts, Brit Taylor, Haley Mae Campbell, Lauren Watkins, July Moon, John Morgan, Landon Parker, and more!

As the hallowed circle at center stage inside the Grand Ole Opry House was set to feature the likes of Craig Campbell, John Conlee, Jake Hoot, Mike Snider, Jeannie Seely, and more, the plaza party was in full swing as the continually gathering crowd was treated to a stellar performance by Jenna Paulette.

Paulette, an artist who we’re personally excited to have had as part of our TCM Class of 2022, has had quite the breakthrough year in 2023. The true to life cowgirl released her debut album The Girl I Was, made her Grand Ole Opry debut, traded vocals with Texas icon Aaron Watson on his “Seven Year Ache,” and joined him in the direct support role on his very high-profile tour.

With a heavy dose of selections from her debut album combining with a nod to her strongest influences, her Texas infused flavoring and neo-traditional sound tightly gripped the country loving crowd, expertly heightening their excitement for things still to come later that night on the Grand Ole Opry stage while earning herself new fans on the plaza one note at a time.

Instantly grabbing hold of the spirit of the Opry, and mimicking the way her album opens, an old timey version of “Home on the Range” scratched and popped like vinyl as it played over the PA system to entice the gathering crowd and turn their heads toward the plaza stage as Paulette bounced into the rowdy “Fiddle and a Violin,” instantly showcasing her down-home fuel while the lively crowd got up and grooved along.

“Y’all can’t have a Texan out here on stage and not play a little George Strait,” she emphasized with an exclamation point to her smile as she had everyone quickly singing and dancing along with her as she blasted through a spot-on cover of King George’s 1993 #1, “Heartland.”

“I got to play my first time on the Opry just a few weeks ago, and I gotta tell ya…it’s nothing short of magic,” Paulette gushed she softened the pace with “Anywhere The Wind Blows,” wrapping the charm of her girl next door vocal around an irresistible fiddle and slow two-stepping melody of the as long as we’re together love swoon lyric.

“I grew up in a ranching family on the Oklahoma-Texas line and fell in love with everything cowboy in that place. I wrote this song for the girl that I was back then, listening to country music – Don Williams – while in the truck with my grandpa checking cows,” she said before opening her diary on the stunning, “The Girl I Was,” singing a poignant lyric of rediscovering who she is, while pulling the crowd into their own reminiscing as was clearly evident by the smiles on their faces as they swayed along.

Bringing couples closer into one another with “You Ain’t No Cowboy,” Paulette ran through an incredibly well-written lyric that described the attributes of what makes up a true cowboy – loyal, honest, etc. – to juxtaposition those ideas against her broken heart that came from the one she fell for who dressed the part but simply moved on down the road without carrying any of those core values.

“This song is about my grandparents and the love they had for one another, and what I knew would happen when one of them had to go,” she told before encouraging the crowd to hold on through whatever challenges they are facing, allowing the stripped down, traditional vibe enhanced by steel and mandolin to accompany the emotional waver of her voice on “Sun Keeps Coming Back Up” as she pulled through the tug at your heart lyric of hanging in and hanging on.

Sliding flawlessly out of the softer pace of her previous few songs, and driving right back into her Texas dancehall flare, Paulette honky-tonked through “One Two Step Away,” encouraging the crowd to use the space directly in front of the stage as the plaza version of a sawdust covered hardwood floor as hips popped in rhythm with the boot covered toes slapping the beat across the entire plaza.

“So, I grew up on the back of a really hot four wheeler singing a lot of Dixie Chicks songs and I figured I’d play one that y’all will know,” she told, inviting the crowd deeper into her diary with an amazing cover of “Wide Open Spaces” that kept everyone across the plaza swaying along as they screamed back the words of the chorus to her, many while lifting their phones in the air to capture the keepsake moment turned Nashville memory.

“I’m gonna play y’all a song that I hadn’t played for anybody yet, but I thought it’d be fun to play for people who love the Opry,” she introduced as the crowd showered her with applause while “Darling” fused her modern kissed sound with an insatiable amount of traditional flare over a lyric that struck heart chords as she sang of falling deeper and deeper.

“Country In The Girl,” one of her earlier releases ahead of the album, allowed her irresistible 90’s inspiration to fly over the plaza as she delivered the tempo driven hip popper with a natural tone of sass, singing straight at the ex whose trying to now replace her with an “imposter” country girl, who much like the cowboy mentioned earlier in “You Ain’t No Cowboy,” certainly is dressing the part but is anything but country.

The driving groove of “Truck Boy” pulled the crowd in, while “Bless Her Heart” induced a call back moment in the chorus between her and the crowd as she stayed firmly planted on her 90’s blasted influences to keep everyone bopping along with the tempo kick, punching a sly bit of sass into the “you can have him and his cheating ways” lyric that saw her watching knowingly from the sidelines of the next girl in line to get her heart broken by him.

Hitting back into a two-stepping flare, the dance party that spread throughout every pocket of the crowd was matched only by the amounts of fists popping along with the beat during “We Know How To Friday Night,” raising up the anthem of the night to energize the excited crowd as the countdown to the Opry’s doors opening was drawing closer.

Sticking with that unexplainable Opry energy, a rousing rendition of Garth Brooks’ “Callin’ Baton Rouge” kept everyone clapping and jumping along as everyone’s voices popped the chorus alongside Paulette’s vocal and the sawing on the fiddle….”Operator won’t you put me on through…”

“I hope that y’all have the best time at the Opry tonight,” Jenna said as she grabbed hold of the spirit of the show that made country music famous with set closer “Slow Drawl” just as the doors to the Opry House opened, leaving a long lasting impression on the crowd with a flawless performance that can best be described as pure perfection, giving her diehard fans a set that they could sing along every word while offering a perfect introduction to newcomers into who she is as a truly gifted artist and songwriter in a spotlighting display that showcased exactly why she is country music’s next big thing!

FULL SET LIST
1) Fiddle and a Violin
2) Heartland (George Strait cover)
3) Anywhere the Wind Blows
4) The Girl I Was
5) You Ain't No Cowboy
6) Sun Keeps Coming Back Up
7) One Two Step Away
8) Wide Open Spaces (The Chicks cover)
9) Darling
10) Country In The Girl
11) Truck Boy
12) Bless Her Heart
13) We Know How To Friday Night
14) Callin’ Baton Rouge (Garth Brooks cover)
15) Slow Drawl

• Prev
• Next