Kathy Mattea

Kathy Mattea has played bluegrass country and western since 1976, when she joined her first band in college. She started recording in 1983 and has recorded 17 albums, with thirty singles claiming a spot in the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts, with twelve in the top ten and her hits "Goin' Gone" (1987), "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses" (1988), "Come From the Heart" (1989) and "Burnin' Old Memories" (1989) reaching the number one spot.

She’s won three Academy of Country Music awards, four Country Music Association awards and Grammys in 1991 for Best Female Country Vocal Performer with the single “Where You’ve Been”, and in 1994 for Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album with her 1993 effort, Good News.

She also has a genuine philanthropic streak, being an outspoken supporter of HIV/AIDs charities during the 1990s epidemic in the somewhat conservative context of country music. She was given two awards for her efforts the Minnie Pearl Humanitarian Award and the Harvard AIDS Institute Leadership Award.

She’s a well-accomplished old dame and, at 55, she’s as young and sprightly as in her late 1980s heyday. It’s truly an honor to watch such an established country star perform and it’s a night we’ll all remember as being great.

It’s refreshing to see a lead singer as a bass player, and Collin Raye walked on stage at his show, holding his bass, and sat himself down at the stool centre stage. Raye is an incredible singer/songwriter, and brings country music to life in a time when there is such an abundance of the genre, and he breathes a breath of fresh air into its sails.
He opened the show with Love Me, singing the first few lines just accompanying himself on the bass, before his stellar country band kicked in behind him. They had everyone hand clapping and foot stamping from start to finish, and Raye encouraged everyone by putting his hands in the air and signalling for the crowd to join in. With a back catalogue of so many hits and awesome albums, I wasn’t sure what Raye was going to pick, or indeed how he was going to chose a set list. He chose to play a selection of his older hits, as well as his lesser known but newer tracks. It was all great and of a very high standard.
Raye’s vocals are incredible, and you would only know in the experience that he has been playing for over 20 years, he is strong as ever. His dedication to the performance was contagious, and he had the audience on his side from the start. It was a brilliant show, with such a showcase of talent as well as great songs.

From the moment that Pam Tillis walked out on stage, it was evident that she was totally at home in front of the huge crowd, and her guitar was simply an extension of herself through which she was expressing her music. Although she’s been performing since the 80s, she hasn’t lost her magic at all, and her incredible talent both on the guitar and vocally, really shone through and reminded everyone in the crowd why she’s achieved so much success. Her country music set journeyed through up beat tracks, as well as the slower ballads, to which she had everyone singing along.

Throughout the show, I think Tillis succeeded in having the crowd on their feet pretty much from start to finish, swaying and dancing along when appropriate. The way that she has so much control over her vocals is amazing, and the trills and improvisations that don’t appear on her recordings were simply magical to hear live. She played a great set, and played all of her hits from over the years, and even let the audience shout out requests for her. Towards the end of the show, she focused on Dos Divas, her newest album, and even revealed that she’s working on new material, which was met with huge applause from the crowd. She’s incredibly talented, and hopefully she’ll keep writing and performing for many years to come.