Chancie Neal & Tera Lynne Fister

Friday February 18, 2022

@ Scoreboard Bar & Grill in Nashville, TN

(Review by: Jeffrey Kurtis)

Nashville’s talent pool runs very deep, but most of the time if you catch an act playing while you’re in town, the truest talent will arrive to you through an unassuming timeslot at a venue that’s off the beaten path from the Lower Broadway tourist area.

That was the case with Chancie Neal and Tera Lynne Fister.

Chancie Neal - a Louisiana native who now calls Nashville home – has a resume full of country music cred that includes being a platinum-selling songwriter, a backing vocal credit on Luke Bryan’s Born Here Live Here Die Here, and appearances opening for (amongst others) Jake Owen and Florida Georgia Line. This, while her own original songs - such as “Rodeo Money” and “Hell Mary”- have propelled her career and placed her in front of several renowned music circles in town.

Tera Lynne Fister, just as with Neal, has a resume chalk full of credibility. Known for her brightly colored hair and gritty vocals, she’s appeared as a background vocalist on the USA network’s singing competition Real Country, has earned high praise from the media for her fiery live performances, and has achieved that ever sought-after connection with music lover’s hearts through her original song releases such as “Scars,” “Home,” and “Hell Raiser.”

But on this day, both very well-accomplished singer/songwriters slid into that unassuming position for a Friday afternoon performance at Scoreboard Bar & Grill in the Music Valley area of town; delivering a 2 ½ hour, back and forth set.

“We’ve got the early partiers today,” Fister joked with the crowd who met her with a cheer of approval as Neal finished tuning her guitar and kicked things off with her version of Jake Owen’s “Anywhere With You,” before bouncing it back over to Fister who delivered Chris Stapleton’s “You Should Probably Leave.”

During the first third of the set, Tera Lynne Fister carried what I can best dub as an “East Nashville” vibed sound by performing a cover selection that included a spattering of the left of the mainstream dial acts such as Tyler Childers and more from Chris Stapleton. Whereas during that same timeframe, Chancie Neal stayed more on the Top 40 side of country, defining herself with selections from the 80’s and 90’s era with songs such as Patty Loveless’ “Blame It on Your Heart” and Randy Travis’ “Diggin’ Up Bones.”

However, both of their unique styles were able to play very well off one another while cementing each performer’s individually, which would eventually collide perfectly in the middle of the set on song selections from artists such as Julie Roberts and Trisha Yearwood.

Requests from the crowd began to pour in, and both singer/songwriters were happy to deliver; whether it was Chancie Neal tackling the John Prine classic “Angel From Montgomery” and George Strait later in the set with “You Look So Good In Love,” or Tera Lynne Fister taking on the Faith Hill version of “Piece of My Heart” and Ashley McBryde’s “A Little Dive Bar in Dahlonega.”

These types of marathon performances leave the artists having to satisfy several different types of audience requests, but there’s always something so special that I love about when a female performer flips the perspective on a song that we’re accustomed to hearing performed by a male artist to give it an entirely different flavor; Fister and Neal did this several times throughout the day by tackling songs by Kenny Chesney, Waylon Jennings, Randy Rogers Band, and Willie Nelson.

There’s also something to be said about swerving away from the same old cover selections you hear all the time from any given artist in Nashville. Whereas most artists will satisfy a Johnny Cash request with “Folsom Prison Blues,” Fister opted for the lesser performed “Cocaine Blues,” and Neal sidestepped the often performed “Kerosene” to deliver Miranda Lambert’s “Mama’s Broken Heart.”

But keeping the audience in their seats for over 2 hours isn’t always about the music, but it’s also about an endearing personality; one that usually includes conversations with the crowd and a bit of witty sarcasm to keep them enthralled. This is as aspect that Neal and Fister were both able to more than deliver on as well.

“You know how you can know if someone’s from Texas?” asked Neal, geared in the direction of a group sitting at the bar that made mention that they were from Texas. “You’ll know if they are because they’ll tell you!” she concluded gaining a rousing cheer from the Texans in the crowd.

Likewise, before playing Waylon Jennings’ “Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line” Fister turned up her wit; “If you don’t like Waylon Jennings, then just wait about 3 minutes and we’ll be finished with this next song by then.”

An artist must usually be very wise when dropping in their selections of original music during sets like these, but this afternoon’s performance included something that I personally have never seen happen from a crowd before; and I reckon neither did the artists. All their original songs came by audience request! A surefire sign that speaks to the impact they’ve made with their original material.

“This was written after having a little bit too much fun one night and getting caught,” Fister confessed before satisfying a request for “Hell Raiser,” while taking on another original request midway through the set with her very powerful “Scars.”

Neal talked about the Budweiser sponsorship at a writer’s retreat she was on influencing “Drink Responsibly,” mentioned her championship barrel racing past before playing “Rodeo Money,” and hit the crowd with the tongue and cheek “Hell Mary” late in the set, which she pulled into the chorus of the Steve Miller Band’s “The Joker.”

Afternoon performances like this one are a little more laid back, are designed to satisfy the revolving door of the bar hopping crowd, and usually contain all the right cover songs as the performers act as a live jukebox.

However, Chancie Neal and Tera Lynne Fister put on a clinic that any aspiring Nashville performer should’ve been taking notes on.

Though they certainly engaged the crowd and satisfied all the requests from them, they skillfully avoided blending in with every other act in town by playing different, more obscure covers than the norm.

They also selected just the right songs that would allow each of them to masterfully showcase their individuality and signature aspects; such as Neal putting the power of her voice on display with “Blame It on Your Heart,” and Fister delivering the gravel tilt to hers with “Unlove Me.”

But overall, this afternoon was truly highlighted when they spliced in their very strong original music. Although always by request, by doing this at all the right moments after they had already hooked the crowd with familiarity, Chancie Neal and Tera Lynne Fister were very effective at getting the crowd to immediately look them up on social media to start listening to their material once the show had ended; the perfect blueprint to building a fan base long after the final notes were strummed. 

FULL SET LIST

1) Anywhere With You (Jake Owen cover) – performed by Chancie Neal

2) You Should Probably Leave (Chris Stapleton cover) – performed by Tera Lynne Fister

3) Blame It on Your Heart (Patty Loveless cover) – performed by Chancie Neal

4) Lady May (Tyler Childers cover) – performed by Tera Lynne Fister

5) Diggin’ Up Bones (Randy Travis cover) – performed by Chancie Neal

6) Better Class of Losers (Randy Travis cover) – performed by Tera Lynne Fister

7) Tennessee Whiskey (Chris Stapleton version) – performed by Chancie Neal

8) Hell Raiser – performed by Tera Lynne Fister

9) Drink Responsibly – performed by Chancie Neal

10) Listen to the Music (Doobie Brothers cover) – performed by Tera Lynne Fister

11) Break Down Here (Julie Roberts cover) – performed by Chancie Neal

12) Unlove Me (Julie Roberts cover) – performed by Tera Lynne Fister

13) Angel From Montgomery (John Prine cover) – performed by Chancie Neal

14) Piece of My Heart (Faith Hill version) – performed by Tera Lynne Fister

15) Delta Dawn (Tanya Tucker cover) – performed by Chancie Neal

16) Scars – performed by Tera Lynne Fister

17) Don’t Happen Twice (Kenny Chesney cover) – performed by Chancie Neal

18) XXX’s and OOO’s (Trisha Yearwood cover) – performed by Tera Lynne Fister

19) Rodeo Money – performed by Chancie Neal

20) Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line (Waylon Jennings cover) – performed by Tera Lynne Fister

21) You Look So Good in Love (George Strait cover) – performed by Chancie Neal

22) She’ll Leave You with a Smile (George Strait cover) – performed by Tera Lynne Fister

23) Kiss Me in The Dark (Randy Rogers Band cover) – performed by Chancie Neal

24) Cocaine Blues (Johnny Cash cover) – performed by Tera Lynne Fister

25) Mama’s Broken Heart (Miranda Lambert cover) – performed by Chancie Neal

26) A Little Dive Bar in Dahlonega (Ashley McBryde cover) – performed by Tera Lynne Fister

27) Fancy (Reba cover) – performed by Chancie Neal

28) Wasted (Carrie Underwood cover) – performed by Tera Lynne Fister

29) All of Me (Willie Nelson cover) – performed by Tera Lynne Fister

30) Hell Mary – performed by Chancie Neal

31) You’ve Got a Friend in Me (Randy Newman cover) – performed by Tera Lynne Fister

32) Bye Bye (Jo Dee Messina cover) – performed by Chancie Neal

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