Hunter Hayes Concert

If you ever get the chance to see Hunter Hayes in concert, go.

Right now.

GO RIGHT NOW.

Oh my God...last night was easily the best night ever. First of all, the opening act, Ashley Monroe, was fantastic. I love her songs, and it was so fun to watch her perform.

Now...Hunter.

OHMYGOODNESSHUNTER.

To say Hunter Hayes is cool is an understatement. He is the sweetest, most talented performer ever. I can't tell you how many times he thanked us for buying his music or spending our Friday night with him. At the end of the concert, he got down on his knees, hands clasped together, and said, "Thank you all so much! God bless you!" At that point, I was seriously considering leaping off the balcony and hugging him.

The setlist was awesome. He played EVERY song from "Encore"—in other words, HE PLAYED "CRY WITH YOU."

HOLY CRAP.

I LOVE THAT SONG.

He opened the show with "Storm Warning," and afterwards played "Can't Say Love" (which ISN'T on "Encore," but is still a fun song to hear live). I thought I was going to lose my mind when he played "Faith to Fall Back On," and "Cry With You," too?!?!

Best. Concert. Ever.

Hunter is a lot of fun to watch onstage. He's not one of those guitarists whose main goal is to hit a bunch of high notes as fast as possible, where the solo doesn't sound like it fits in the song. His playing was as fantastic as his singing, and his writing, too—in addition to his playing abilities and his voice, he is a gifted songwriter.

After he played "Where We Left Off," I swear you could feel everybody's excitement—he hesitated at the piano for a second, and then played a few notes. We all knew what he was going to play.

The first few notes of "Wanted" were enough to elicit deafening cheers from the audience. Just like all the other songs, everyone sang every single word. The chorus was really something, though.

Hunter didn't sing the chorus; we did. He kept playing, grinning at the audience as we sang every word. It was just like when the audience sang the chorus in "If I Die Young" when The Band Perry opened for the Rascal Flatts show.

The ending was just too awesome. Everyone was waiting for him to play "I Want Crazy." (This is the Let's Be Crazy Tour, after all.) He closed the show with the song, and the balcony actually shook because everybody was jumping up and down, freaking out. It was a fantastic ending.

It's hard to choose a favorite part of the show, but I absolutely love how Hunter interacts with his fans. At least three times, he reached out to touch the hands of those in the front row. He constantly said, "You're beautiful, _______!" and "You guys sound amazing! LET'S BE CRAZY!!!" The best, though, was each time he would say, "I love you more!" we would all scream louder, and then he'd yell, "I love you more!" It was so much fun.

Long story short, Hunter Hayes is a fantastic performer. He is inspiring both as a musician and as a person; he is so good to his fans and is just a really nice guy. Honestly, listening to his music is like talking to a friend. At least, that's how it has always felt for me.

Now, PICTURE TIME!!!!!

We took A LOT of pictures, but these are the best ones we took:

I think the one above was taken during "Storm Warning."

This was probably "Storm Warning," too.

 

 

We got a lot of "Storm Warning."

 

 

Not "Storm Warning." This may be "Faith to Fall Back On" or "A Thing About You."

 

This is either "Can't Say Love" or "In a Song."

 

 

Yes, that's me attempting to photobomb him. I can't remember which song it was.

 

Thank you all for reading—and thank you, Hunter, for being an awesome role model. <3

 

~Naomi

 







Update :D

Hi everybody!

It's been a while, so I just wanted to post a quick update.

School has been keeping me busy, and music is going really well! I'm taking official guitar lessons each week—and messing around with the GarageBand app. I'm definitely not used to it. XD

But it's a great app to have—with it, I can put together songs using instruments I don't own. Of course, I have no idea how to work it and accidentally recorded myself several times, but I'll figure it out at some point...

I recently wrote a second song for Hunter Hayes—and I've noticed a huge difference between my writing two years ago and now. My lyrics specifically improve with every song I write.

It's pretty late, so I have to go to sleep.

Wait—what am I doing in twelve days, you ask?

SEEING HUNTER HAYES LIVE?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!

I could write a song about how excited I am...

And now I leave you with another photo-shopped creation:

I really wish this tree existed...

Bye everybody!

~Naomi :)

AMAZING

August seventeenth, I saw Rascal Flatts in concert.

THEY WERE INCREDIBLE.

Cassadee Pope and The Band Perry opened for them.  Everybody was awesome!  I swear, country music is just the friendliest genre with such a "big giant family" vibe. :)

If Rascal Flatts are coming to your area, I highly recommend seeing them.  My only complaint is that they didn't play "My Wish"—but they have so many awesome songs that it must be difficult to figure out the set list. :)

It's late at night and I have to go to sleep, so here's a picture I photoshopped.

Get it?  "Special K?" Keith Urban?  Get it?! :D

Yeah...that's true procrastination right there. XD

Thanks for reading!  I can't believe September's tomorrow...it's just like last year—I feel like summer's ending too soon, like I've finally gotten into the summer mood and now it's over. :P

~Naomi

2013 CMA Music Fest! :D

NOTE: Blogger was having problems at the time I was making this post, so it may have been uploaded a day to a week later.  I wrote it on Monday, August 12th.  I hate you, computer. (Computer: I hate you, too!  Trollolololol!)

Who watched the three hour long CMA Music Fest on ABC tonight? :)

It was so awesome!  I still think Hunter ought to release "Cry With You" or "Love Makes Me" as singles...they'd both do really well.  And congratulations to him for "I Want Crazy" hitting number one!  I can't wait to see him in October.  He was fantastic tonight. :) ("Everybody's Got Somebody But Me" is stuck in my head...XD)

Actually, everybody was fantastic tonight.  It never fails to amaze my mom and me how good country singers sound live...I practically died when Eric Church started playing "Keep On."

People complain about how today's country isn't true country and Taylor Swift is pop and what the heck is Jason Aldean doing rapping and blah blah blah.

I'll admit—country is branching out quite a bit.  "Red" is a lot different from Taylor's debut.  And I was kind of confused by Jason rapping in "Dirt Road Anthem" and "1994," too.

For the most part, I still call today's country country.  It's not, of course, traditional country, but I'm not calling it traditional country.  I'm calling it country—as in, one of the branches of country. 

While I defend Taylor in saying she may be pop now, but she should still be considered a country artist in that she started out country and will still play country songs, I'll admit that I have a bit of trouble calling someone like Kelly Clarkson country.  Taylor started out in Nashville—Kelly didn't.  Don't get me wrong, I think Kelly's a fantastic singer, but I'm always going to associate her with pop. 

As for Darius Rucker, I think of him as a country artist immediately because, well, I never heard any songs from Hootie and the Blowfish.  My mom, on the other hand, always exclaims, "Hootie!" whenever he's on the radio, haha. :)

I think bands like Florida Georgia Line are really interesting.  They have a little bit of everything (Keith Urban reference ;)) in that they're on country radio, pop radio, and who knows what other genres are on their album.  They're a ton of fun to listen to, and that's pretty impressive when an artist's first single hits number one.  The same happened for Taylor, and that's not something that happens very often.  I think "Storm Warning" was only in the top twenty (it should have gotten to number one, though...:P). 

For those who believe today's country isn't country, well, fine, no one's forcing you to believe anything.  But just remember this—artists today like Florida Georgia Line and Taylor Swift were influenced by artists like Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton.  You may not hear traditional country in their music, but believe me, it's there in their hearts. (Wow.  That was super cheesy.)

And you know, it's fun to switch things up a bit every now and then.  My first time listening to Pip was really funny—I wasn't used to pop.  The closest I came to pop before then was "Forever & Always" by Taylor Swift. (Since it was before "I Knew You Were Trouble" and "22" came out.)  The same goes for Nathan Parrett—although I've only heard one original from him...I'm so writing a song for him. XD

And then there are some artists that are keeping the traditional sound—like Justin Moore and Ashley Monroe.  Their music is really awesome and inspiring, too. 

So the summary of this post?  I'll listen to anything country.  It's all at least a little country to me, and although the rap thing is odd for me, I can get used to it—as long as there's not too much of it.  I really like Jason Aldean, but even two songs is pushing it for me, and that's not counting the kind of rap verses in "The Only Way I Know."

Thank you for reading!  Things are going really well with my own songwriting.  I wrote a song I plan on sending to Justin Moore, and I'm going to see Rascal Flatts and The Band Perry this Saturday!  I'm unbelievably excited. :)

Have a great day/night/whenever, everybody! :)

~Naomi

Brass Buckle Band

Hey there!

I just heard this really awesome band at a country festival (I can't believe they had a Country Day here!!! :D) in my area.  They're called the Brass Buckle Band, and they're made up of extremely talented musicians who play anything from Johnny Cash to Florida Georgia Line.  I heard them play Luke Bryan's "Country Girl," Keith Urban's "You Look Good In My Shirt," several Toby Keith songs, and other awesome country music.  I look forward to listening to their future music. :)

Here's their website:

http://www.brassbuckleband.com/

You guys rock! :)

I don't really have an update for my own music—although I've written a song I think I'm going to send to Nathan Parrett...did I mention that already?  I forgot. XD

Have a great day, everybody! :)

~Naomi

Happy 237th birthday, America!

(I snuck in Mom's knitting, heh heh. :D)

OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD

OHMYGOD
OHMYGOD
OHMYGOD
OHMYGOOOOOD

That's it.  We're writing a song together one day.