CRAIG CAMPBELL

Tuesday July 27, 2021

@ The Nashville Palace in Nashville, TN

TCM Single Review: "Never Mine" 

Music Video: "Good Things Come To Those Who Drink" 

www.craigcampbell.tv 

There are certain events that take place in Nashville that truly define why it’s called Music City. These “only in Nashville” moments will often feature artists playing free shows who you could never imagine seeing play for free at this point in their careers.

One such event is “Nashville’s Most Wanted,” a weekly Tuesday night gathering that’s hosted by Cody Purvis and has featured a truly amazing lineup over the past few months that has included Jesse Keith Whitley, Trey Lewis, Josh Gallagher, Lewis Brice, Audra McLaughlin, and more!

This night, the show moved from its normal location of the Scoreboard Bar & Grill, to across the parking lot to the legendary Nashville Palace, and it was no exception to including more incredible talent: Jacob Bryant, Hasting and Co., Jared Hovis, and in a rare, free, full-band Nashville show, Craig Campbell.

Clad in blue jeans, his signature black cowboy hat, and a t-shirt that read “Raised on 90’s Country and Jesus,” Craig Campbell leaned into his honky-tonk style and ignited the late-night Tuesday crowd the moment that he hit the stage with “All My Friends Drink Beer,” transitioned it into a clip of Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive,” and drove it straight into “My Little Cowboy.”

By the time he slid into the opening notes of “Outta My Head,” the crowd had already hit the dance floor and begun to instantly sway along while they screamed back the familiar lyrics at him.

“What is happening everybody?” Campbell excitedly asked, taking a breath for the first time since hitting the stage. “So that last song I played was one of the songs that spent some time on the radio, and this next one is the song that is currently at radio right now,” Campbell said as introduced his current single “Never Mine.”

“I don’t really get to tell this story too often since it’s rare that we play in Nashville, but Joel Shewmake is in the house tonight. He and I got together to write one day, and he told me about this idea he had for a song called “Family Man,” Campbell told as the crowd gave him an ovation at the mention of the song.

“That idea sounded great to me because earlier that day I found out that I was going to be a daddy for the first time, and this is the song that ended up being the first of mine that we took to radio,” Campbell finished as he played the uber-popular “Family Man.”

As the song wrapped, Campbell moved out of his sentimental side and slid right back into his role as the leader of the party when he asked, “Where my tequila drinkers at?” as he launched into “Mas Tequila” and “Good Things Come To Those Who Drink,” a song which he confessed, “The only reason I wrote this next song is because I thought it would make a good t-shirt…and it did!”

As the rowdiness of the crowd re-calmed some, Craig slid behind the piano as his band exited the stage and welcomed the crowd to the “piano bar.”

“I’m gonna play a few songs on the piano if y’all don’t mind,” he said. “Many of you may not know this but I used to play piano for Tracy Byrd…and I also used to play piano for a fellow Georgia boy. I said to that kid that if he kept his nose to the grind, he would go somewhere. You may have heard of him; he’s doing pretty good at making a name for himself these days. His name is Luke Bryan,” he finished as he pulled the audience through Garth Brooks’ “The Dance,” “Let It Go” from Frozen, and a cover of the Sons of the Desert’s “Leaving October.”

After a raising a toast to country music, Campbell introduced “What A Girl Will Make You Do.”

“I wrote this song a little while back and released it back in January or February. I live in a house full of girls. I have 2 daughters, a wife, my dog’s a girl…they make me do all sorts of crazy things that I would never do and that’s where this song kind of comes from.”

While Craig still sat perched behind the piano, the band rejoined him on stage for a rousing cover of “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here And Drink,” a song in which he introduced by saying, “You just can’t play a show in Nashville and not play at least one Merle Haggard song.” 

Sticking with the songs that inspired him, Campbell came out from behind the piano to rejoin his band as he drove us through a medley of songs: “Two Dozen Roses,” Killin’ Time,” “Brand New Man,” and “Here’s A Quarter (Call Somebody Who Cares),” which he expertly blended into “Outskirts of Heaven,” before getting the crowd back to their feet with the jumpy “Keep Them Kisses Coming” and riling them up one last time as he rounded out his set with “Fish.”

As the show drove deeper into the late-night hours, the crowd seemed to come alive that much more – much of that was in part to the great songs, but a lot of it could be contributed to the magnetic talent that Craig Campbell offered with this performance which contained all the proper amounts of on-stage energy and excitement to keep the crowd fueled up.

For an hour and fifteen minutes, Craig Campbell left it all on the stage and gave the fans a very well-balanced set that covered his biggest hits, a couple newer songs, and some of the songs that shaped him – all of this came together to allow the audience to be drawn further into knowing another layer of who the man is behind the guitar.

FULL SET LIST

1. All My Friends Drink Beer

2. My Little Cowboy

3. Outta My Head

4. Never Mine

5. Family Man

6. Mas Tequila

7. Good Things Come To Those Who Drink

8. The Dance (Garth Brooks cover)

9. Let It Go (From Frozen)

10. Leaving October (Sons of the Desert cover)

11. What A Girl Will Make You Do

12. I Think I’ll Just Stay Here And Drink

13. Two Dozen Roses/Killin' Time/Brand New Man/Here’s A Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)

14. Outskirts of Heaven

15. Keep Them Kisses Coming

16. Fish

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