Show Reviews

 

JAMES CAROTHERS

Monday August 2, 2021

@ Scoreboard Bar & Grill in Nashville, TN

www.jamescarothers.com

 

Tucked away in the Opryland area of Nashville, just 15 minutes outside the neon lights of downtown, sits the Music Valley area; a spot which was built up by Nashville visionary John A. Hobbs in the 1970’s and has since become a hot spot for great food, incredible music, and good times!

Scoreboard, known famously around town as “the Green Bay Packers bar,” has become one of those Music Valley hotspots in recent years and has hosted many great acts on their stage including Jesse Keith Whitley, Lewis Brice, the weekly “Nashville’s Most Wanted” series hosted by Cody Purvis, and many more! 

Nashville’s honky-tonk crooner James Carothers is also no stranger to their stage, and on this night his classic country style seemed to be just what the crowd ordered as he blended together a healthy offering of cover songs with a few well-placed originals to ignite the Monday nighters who were looking for a good time backed by a soundtrack of some good ol’ country music.

“We’re gonna have a good time on a Monday night playing some good ol’ country music,” exclaimed Carothers very early in his set, and then proceeded to do just that as he wound the crowd through the great American country music songbook for the next two and a half hours.

He had people jumping to their feet and rushing the stage where they took to two-stepping during songs such as Waylon and Willie’s “Good Hearted Woman,” slow dancing and holding each other close to celebrate an anniversary during Steve Holy’s “Good Morning Beautiful” (by request), or just allowing us to sit back and soak in the songs that we know and love as he played us through classics from George Jones, George Strait, Roger Miller, and Charlie Daniels – the latter which featured rip roarin’ fiddle being played during “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.”

The audience was high energy throughout the entire night, singing and clapping along with Don Williams/Alan Jackson’s “Livin’ On Love,” and shouting back the lyrics to Toby Keith’s “Should’ve Been A Cowboy,” which had Carothers smiling as he said, “It sounds to me like we’ve got a bunch of old school country music fans in here tonight!”

The truth about Nashville is that there’s artists playing cover sets all over town – that’s just a simple fact. However, when someone comes along and injects their heart and soul into the songs that they choose to play while also giving the audience covers that aren’t often heard around town, that’s when the show becomes a party and that’s exactly what James Carothers brought to Scoreboard.

Where many will give you Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues,” Carothers instead gave us “A Boy Named Sue” and “Orange Blossom Special.”

Alabama’s hits are usually pretty easy to find in any bar being played by any given band, but Carothers opted for “Carolina Mountain Dewe” – an album track from their 1984 album Roll On.

Other lesser played covers in the set included David Allan Coe’s “You Never Even Called Me By My Name,” Johnny Horton’s “Battle of New Orleans,” and John Anderson’s “Seminole Wind.”

But Carothers didn’t stop with only giving the crowd the classic country songs that they know and love. He also cleverly slid in some of his own original tunes as well, which he fit perfectly alongside the traditional influences that he was showing through the covers.

He gave the audience a smattering that showcased parts of his entire career by dipping back to his 2014 Honky Tonk Land album to grab “New Country Singers,” bringing us up to 2019’s Songs & Stories with “I Know Too Many Women At This Bar,” and offering “Back To Hank,” which he exclaimed before playing it, “We got to play this one on the Opry back in 2020.” 

It’s never a bad idea to make the time to dig into the traditional roots of country music to reconnect with where the music you love today truly comes from, and James Carothers did just that for me. He spent the better part of two and a half hours making me feel like a youngin’ that was sitting on the living room floor at my grandparents’ house in front of the hi-fi while getting my country music education!

FULL SET LIST

1. All My Ex’s Live In Texas (George Strait cover)

2. Good Hearted Woman (Willie Nelson/Waylon Jennings cover)

3. Once You’ve Had The Best (George Jones cover)

4. I’m A Ramblin’ Man (Waylon Jennings cover)

5. I Can Still Make Cheyenne (George Strait cover)

6. A Boy Named Sue (Johnny Cash cover)

7. Two Of A Kind, Workin’ On A Full House (Garth Brooks cover)

8. Good Hearted Woman (Willie Nelson/Waylon Jennings cover)

9. Fool Hearted Memory (George Strait cover)

10. Friends In Low Places (Garth Brooks cover)

11. Should’ve Been A Cowboy (Toby Keith cover)

12. If You’re Gonna Play In Texas (Alabama cover)

13. Right or Wrong (George Strait cover)

14. Good Morning Beautiful (Steve Holy cover)

15. King of the Road (Roger Miller cover)

16. You Can’t Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd (Roger Miller cover)

17. Seminole Wind (John Anderson cover)

18. The Devil Went Down to Georgia (Charlie Daniels Band cover)

19. Back to Hank

20. Carolina Mountain Dewe (Alabama cover)

21. Give It Away (George Strait cover)

22. I Know Too Many Women At This Bar

23. New Country Singers

24. Livin’ On Love (Don Williams/Alan Jackson cover)

25. The Fireman (George Strait cover)

26. Good Directions (Billy Currington cover)

27. Set ‘Em Up Joe (Vern Gosdin cover)

28. You Never Even Called Me By My Name (David Allan Coe cover)

29. Guitars, Cadillacs… (Dwight Yoakam cover)

30. Pancho and Lefty (Willie Nelson cover)

31. Battle of New Orleans (Johnny Horton cover)

32. Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes (George Jones cover)

33. Orange Blossom Special (Johnny Cash cover)

34. Mama Tried (Merle Haggard cover)

 

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