HEADHUNTERS TV PRESENTS: THE GOBBLER GET DOWN

Ft. Teddy Robb, Mae Estes, Sweet Tea Trio, and more!

Friday February 17, 2023

@ Nashville Palace in Nashville, TN

(Review by: Jeffrey Kurtis)

When the Wild Tukey Federation takes over the Music Valley area of Nashville with their annual conference - which this year celebrates its milestone 50^th anniversary - the legendary Nashville Palace becomes the go-to place for all the after-hour parties.

Headhunters TV presented “The Gobbler Get Down” in front of an enthusiastic Friday night crowd, bringing together a slew of rising country music stars with today’s hit songwriters for a memorable event that kept people talking long after the final chords were strummed.

To say the Palace was hopping would be quite the understatement! The place was absolutely lit long before the doors officially opened for the “big” show in their spacious back room.

You could already feel the excitement brewing within the crowd as they waited in line and began to sing along with James Carothers who was onstage in the front room as he ignited them with “The Theme From The Dukes of Hazzard” and let the fire of the fiddle saw through “If You’re Gonna Play In Texas.”

However, once the back room opened and the wall-to-wall crowd packed in, the barnburner atmosphere cranked up a notch as the line dancing hit the hardwood with a boot heel clicking rhythm in time with a two-steppin’ melody across the largest dance floor in Nashville.

Just prior to the opening round of the songwriter styled showcase played its first notes, Nate Hosie raised his cap in support of the military, thanking them for their courageous bravery while earning a deafening ovation from the patriotic crowd.

Continuing to raise his cap, this time to the small-town country folk who live out on the farm lanes and never forget where they come from, Hosie opened the round of music with the athematic toe-tapping “Here’s To You,” immediately getting the crowd bopping along with him as they hooted and hollered at the mentions of home sweet home dirt roads, knee-high cornfields, and Realtree.

Embracing the traditional country atmosphere, Dallas Rodgers gave us a great rendition of Randy Houser’s “Anything Goes” and Mason Waddell delivered Waylon Jennings “Good Hearted Woman” and Keith Whitley’s “Miami, My Amy,” both perfectly setting the classic tone for one of the hottest rising stars on the circuit today, Mae Estes; the lone female representative of the opening round.

“This one is out everywhere on my new EP that just came out yesterday,” Mae excitedly shared as she punched into “I Quit Smokin’,” earning screams from the ladies in the crowd as she dedicated the song to them before playing it, while simultaneously getting toes tapping and heads bobbing in rhythm with the ultra-catchy melody as hands clapped into a rousing sing along through the up and down choppiness of the final chorus.

“I’m inspired by Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Keith Whitley…” told Estes as she gratefully continued, “This was my first song at CMT and it’s about to hit a million streams now. It’s a great two-step,” she nodded in reference to the large dance floor, striking into the conversational styled traditional drip of “Thinkin’ About Cheatin’,” a song which carried a feel that ripped straight out the 1970’s era of country as she dropped her unmistakable drawl into the lyrics to surround them with all the proper amounts of unbridled emotion.

In juxtaposition to the more traditional styles, Garrett Biggs delivered a purely modern branded style with the bop along rhythm of “Send Me A Letter” and the ultra-catchy, blue-collared anthem “Hey Monday,” which earned applause at the namecheck of Haggard.

In a showing of complete solidarity between the crowd and the 5 acts on stage, they corner stoned their hour-long time slot by bringing together their voices to lift “Family Tradition,” pulling the revved up crowd into the Hank Jr. classic as everyone in the venue quickly became one big country music family as beer bottles clanked in toast with one another and the atmosphere embodied the everybody knows every one notion of a stranger just being someone you hadn’t met yet.

Whereas the opening road of music set a more traditional based vibe that encompassed the aura of the Nashville Palace, the second round featured two of country music’s rising sensations and one of the genres hottest songwriters.

With his down-home songwriter style, Teddy Robb engulfed the crowd with his breakthrough hit, “Heaven on Dirt,” enticing them with his naturally gifted rasp and small-town charm as he gripped their attention, connecting with them through lyrics that saw him reminiscing on his upbringing and the moments that shaped his life.

However, as modern infused as his style is, Robb also didn’t shy away from allowing the traditional vibes to shine through his song “Cigarettes’ll Kill Ya” as he dripped in a stone country style, which he would push into another exuberant sing along when he played a very well-received cover of Charlie Daniels’ “Long Haired Country Boy.”

Sticking squarely with the modern infused style of down-home country, songwriter Styles Haury put on an absolute display of who he is as he not only delivered a song that Craig Morgan recorded with “Sounds Like Home,” but amped the crowd when he performed his first #1 song as a writer with Luke Bryan’s “Country On,” during which he had the entire place singing along, but he also paused to salute the armed forces to another massive ovation just before singing:

“Hey soldier, wherever you might bе

Hats off to keepin' us free

All our thoughts and prayers 'til you get back home

Country on.”

Sprucing their set with a helping of songs not often played during nights like this, Charity Bowden of Sweet Tea Trio punched into the leads on “Whatcha Gonna Do,” immediately perking the crowd’s ears with their fresh take on a 90’s country style as Kate Falcon and Victoria Camp joined voices with Bowden in the chorus to slap home their signature harmonies as they let them soar.

Showcasing a quick bit of her witty personality, Falcon made reference to how incredible the dancers were while poking fun at herself as being only able to do the chicken dance, before Camp then injected “Wearing Out My Angels” with a honky-tonk growl that kept those boot heels clicking while the trio continued to solidify their top-notch harmonies and brand their style on the crowd.

But it’s when they took their normal opener and flipped it into their closing number that the Trio momentarily quieted the otherwise noisy crowd with rich harmonies through the opening lines of “Seven Bridges Road,” before whistles and hollers of approval rained down on them as they left a stark traditional impression on the crowd when they slid into the Don Williams classic, “Tulsa Time,” putting a bold exclamation point on a great night of music.

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