FLORENCE β The rain came in sheets for an hour or so, leaving behind pond-sized puddles and country music fans scrambling for cover beneath rain coats β if you were luck enough β or plastic bag-like covers.
Those cost $5 from a Country Thunder vendor who wisely studied the weather reports and knew that the bright skies and sun that followed the brief rain Sunday morning was just a tease.
Noe Barja and Krystal Bell from Phoenix took the bait and bought the rain covers. The couple was determined, come knee-high rains or whipping winds, they were going to tough out the weather through Eric Church's headlining show Sunday night.Β
The rain prompted Country Thunder organizers to postpone the start of Sunday's shows. After an hour had passed, the organizers shifted the lineup, canceling Nashville newcomer Courtney Cole's 2:30 p.m. show. (She is returning to Arizona for a show May 5 at Denim and Diamonds in Mesa.) Texas singer Casey Donahew kicked things off at 4 p.m. before a crowd that grew to several hundred, many wading through puddles of mud and water to get close enough to hear Donahew and his band sing about his "Double-Wide Dream" and other red dirt country songs that have propelled him from regional Texas success to notice on a larger stage.
Thirty minutes into his show, the sun again muscled out the clouds and the audience started to shed the rain gear. It will likely prove to be Mother Nature teasing us again, but we'll take it.Β
