Hey ya’ll !!! I have been super busy and totally slacking on these concert reviews and getting them on YouTube and such so I am just going to just make blogs for them and maybe later on do a whole “End of Summer Shows” recap? I don’t know yet, but this review is about Country Jam at Wojcik’s Farm in Blackstone Ma.
Well, this show was something special if I do say so myself. It was our first hosting gig as the Boots & Whiskey Podcast. We were the emcee for the days events and it was an absolute honor. This was year two of this festival and I think it has great potential to continue its growth. Hopefully we can be a little more instrumental in some things for next year, but over the potential to be huge is there!
The local festival consisted of many local bar bands including: Wendy & The Cultivators; Bail Money; Trigger South; The Pub Kings; and the Goat Roper Band. All of these acts were very gracious to us and we loved working close with them. These bands are great bar bands and if you’re ever in the area and they are playing, go check them out.
The days headliners were Houston Bernard and Timmy Brown. We are honored to say that Houston played per our request and Timmy was the headliner last year and came back for year 2! I found their sets to be very interesting and very different.
We knew what to expect with the bar bands listed above, cover songs that would get the crowd to sing. They nailed it with that. But with the headliners, you would expect originals, especially when both artists have plenty to fill a set.
Houston went on before Timmy as a Co-Headliner and played all originals which was great, maybe a cover or two which was to be expected. In a setting like that, I believe that if you have originals and you have a name behind you, play your originals and get more people to know your name and your music. You don’t want to be an original artist that plays covers, at least I don’t think so, at least in a full band stand out opportunity. I thought Houston nailed this. Just the right blend of a couple covers but didn’t over run the set.
I am surprised to say that Timmy Brown did not do that. Timmy played many covers which is disappointing because his originals are just as good if not better than some of the covers he played. The album he released last year could have covered a whole set. Again, I get it as to why you would play covers. I totally 100% understand, but like I said, when you have a name and a bit of a following, play your originals. You have originals for a reason! Let the people hear them!!!
I thought all acts had great sets and really did their jobs with being entertaining and fun!
There are a few things we would like to see different for next year, but nothing major. Many of these come from audience members and performers alike.
One, definitely need a new sound company. The sound and tech portion of the show was less than stellar. We heard it from practically everyone we spoke with about the show. I don’t think it’s a negative thing, just something to improve on. Another idea is to move the food closer to the stage area, I know on a hot day, it sucks walking to get food and back to your seat, so I get that. I would even switch up the lineup. Nothing against anyone who played but the same bands or artists can’t play every year or headline every year, it just gets stale. The last thing we heard, was about the cost of getting in. A big way to offset that would be to get a C Level Act to come and play and get some local “bigger names” to help draw a crowd, etc. Now these aren’t complaints, this is a festival I am passionate about and want to see do well and succeed for many reasons. One reason Vicki is a friend and former classmate and I want to see her visions come to life and be successful. Another is that it’s in my hometown, I love seeing things do well at my hometown! I think it’s great exposure for the farm and for the area!
The whole idea has great potential and I look forward to doing more with-it next year, I hope anyway!
Till next time ya’ll Cheers!
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