Show Reviews

 

103.3 Country Pickin' Party

Ft. Russell Dickerson and Landon Parker

Wednesday May 4, 2022

@ Hop Springs in Murfreesboro, TN

(Review by: Jeffrey Kurtis)

As the weather has started to break in Middle Tennessee, or as the old saying goes “spring has sprung,” popular Nashville radio station 103.3 Country has returned to Hop Springs just outside of Music City in nearby Murfreesboro to bring fans close to the artists they love through their free “Pickin’ Parties.”

In the past, these acoustic shows have featured a virtual who’s who of today’s country music including Justin Moore, Priscilla Block, Jameson Rodgers, Jimmie Allen, Walker Hayes, Ryan Hurd, Callista Clark, and more!

This go round they welcomed Russell Dickerson and Landon Parker to the stage inside the newly revamped main building at Hop Springs.

Though the doors wouldn’t officially open until 6:30PM, the line of fans wrapped down the front of the building and out into the overflow parking area - which was starting to fill with cars – nearly an hour before.

Several of the fans in line were wearing their most recent Russell Dickerson tour t-shirts, while fathers and sons tossed a baseball back and forth, kids were skipping rocks and running around in a spirted game of tag, and families and friends gathered together to bite into a bar-be-que sandwich from that night’s food truck provided by local favorite, Slick Pig BBQ.

Families set up their lawn chairs just outside the venue’s wide open garage door styled windows and peered inside as the lights faded into a blue hue over the stage, while several of the 21 and up crowd inside Hop Springs huddled around the bar sampling what may become their new favorite libation.

Tyler Reese, the afternoon DJ from 103.3 Country, welcomed the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd to the “Pickin’ Party,” and introduced opening act Landon Parker to a good response from the enthusiastic concertgoers.

“Hey y’all…is anyone out there tonight from North Carolina?” asked Parker, an NC native who was met without much response from the crowd in a stark signal that no one was in fact from Tar Heel State. However, not missing a beat and showcasing his witty personality, Parker responded with a smile, “Well that’s good! Now I can act a fool up here and none of it will get back to my mom,” he finished as he opened his quick twenty-minute set with the toe-tapping “Good Beer Drinkin’” and quickly elicited cheers from the packed house as several glasses of beer went up into the air as they sang along with the catchy chorus.

Sticking with the new songs that he’s been preparing in the studio for a hopeful summer release, Parker drove into his set with “Love You Like” and “Back at the Bar,” a song which he pulled the crowd into when he first asked before playing it, “How many of you have ever been hungover?” before continuing with the ultra-relatable pondering, “And you looked in the mirror and said to God that you swore it was the last time… but then you find yourself right back at the bar cause you didn’t learn your lesson.”

“So, a buddy of mine sent me this idea and it had all the things in it….family, friends, losing loved ones,” Parker mused as he closed his set with the incredibly well-written lyrical masterpiece “Love Taught Me the Rest,” leading a rousing “Hey Hey” sing along with the crowd through its chorus and proving that he effectively won them over as he tipped his cowboy hat to a tremendous ovation as he stepped off stage.

FULL SET LIST

1) Good Beer Drinkin’

2) Love You Like

3) Back at the Bar

4) Love Taught Me the Rest

As the high-pitched shrieks and screams of the mostly female audience shook the rafters of the building, Russell Dickerson took the stage with his #1 smash “Every Little Thing” and immediately had the entire crowd bopping and singing along with him; a vibe which he immediately kept going when he followed with “Home Sweet” and had the crowd clapping along with the beat as they shouted back the lyrics.

Playing straight to the heart of the Mufreesboro/Middle Tennessee crowd, while also inviting us into a piece of his own life’s history, Dickerson paused the song before singing the line “prayin' we could pay rent this month.”

“I went to MTSU (the local college) for two years and I lived in the College Grove apartments here in Murfreesboro,” he said as hoots and hollers filled the air causing him to  joke with the crowd, “So, some of y’all live there! Well, I was struggling to pay the rent most of the time that I was there, so I wanted to shout out this next part to anyone living there right now and struggling to pay the rent….y’all help me sing along,” he finished as he led the crowd in a huge sing along throughout the rest of the song, oftentimes stepping back from the microphone to allow just the voices to rise.

With his glass of beer raised up high, Dickerson toasted the crowd as he asked, “Is it okay if I play a new one?” to which the crowd responded with vast amounts of cheers. “I’m on the road right now with Tim McGraw and this song literally talks about when we’d be listening to Tim when we were younger,” he explained as he played “Blame It On Being Young,” an incredibly catchy, nostalgic tilted song about all the crazy stuff done in his youth such as using fake ID’s, stealing his sisters cigarettes to try out smoking, getting brought home by the cops after tipping over trash cans, etc.

“This next song was my first at radio and my first #1 because of all y’all,” Dickerson stated before playing “Yours,” which he confessed was the song that changed his life and that he wrote it about the woman who changed his.

He kept the good mood on high and the positive vibes of the crowd invested into his set when he quickly followed with his latest single “She Likes It,” and the ultra-catchy “Honey” by fan request.

“You country music fans and the country radio stations all helped make this next song my fourth #1. And not only was it a #1 song for two weeks, but it’s the longest running Top 10 song in country radio history because of y’all,” Dickerson humbly spoke as he encouraged the crowd - not that he needed to - to sing along with him as he played “Love You Like I Used To.”

“Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!,” Dickerson gratefully said to the fans as they cheered loudly when the final notes of the smash hit were struck, causing him to soak it all in with pure gratitude in his heart, genuinely thankful for their support.

“I got one more for y’all tonight, so why don’t we take a little road trip together?” he asked as he closed his set with another #1 hit “Blue Tacoma,” leading the crowd in one last sing along  before hopping on his bus to head down to Florida and meet up with the Tim McGraw tour.

FULL SET LIST

1) Every Little Thing

2) Home Sweet

3) Blame It On Being Young

4) Yours

5) She Likes It

6) Honey

7) Love You Like I Used To

8) Blue Tacoma

 

Do you like what you're reading on Today's Country Magazine? Donate today by clicking HERE

Copyright

Copyright © 2024 Today's Country Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
Joomla! is Free Software released under the GNU General Public License.