FLORENCE — Country newcomer Brandon Ray stood on the sprawling Country Thunder stage just after 3:30 Thursday afternoon looking out into a sparse early crowd of a couple hundred.
That's to be expected; it's a workday. More than likely the majority of the folks expected to pack the Country Thunder festival grounds here by the time headliner Chris Young takes the stage at 10 p.m. were just sneaking off work.
And the early afternoon acts, newbies whose shows are heavy on covers, short on originals — Ray played a killer cover of Foo Fighters' "Tell Me Why" in his hourlong show — usually find themselves staring down at empty seats.
But Graham Klisares was in the same front row spot he's occupied the last 10 festivals. He escapes cold country in Showlow every April for a chance to grab a stranger from the crowd and dance. This year's pick was Tucsonan Nicki Chasteen, who was catching her first festival in a decade.
Back in the festival grounds, Tom Montoya had already smoked a couple dozen turkey legs at The Pit, where he anticipated he would go through 3,000 pounds before the festival ends on Sunday, April 9. Just a few feet away from the smoke from his giant smoker, a crowd of folks waited in line to fill out a Chevy questionnaire in exchange for a T-shirt. Many admitted they were giving the wrong name or phone number, which surely the Chevy folks anticipated when they set up a half-dozen colorful 2017 models in the grass to entice would-be buyers.
As Jackson Michelson was coming on stage, Californians Paola Ramos and Kaycee Fontes were settling into their inflatables that looked like canoes. The sun that was bearing down just a half-hour earlier was starting to settle over the south end of the stage.
Michelson, who's about as new as Ray to the national stage, has been pounding the stage for years in his native Oregon. It took him just a couple songs before the country music fans hanging out in the lawn made their way to the empty reserved seats. Security is pretty accommodating early on so no one stopped you if you weren't wearing a reserved seat wristband.
Next up: Veteran Terri Clark, one of only three female artists on the 2017 Country Thunder lineup.
