Here's the thing about a daylong music festival hosted by a radio station: It's essentially a showcase for new and up-and-coming artists, which means they get to play their few radio hits, perform a couple covers, and 30 to 45 minutes later, depending on when they pop into the lineup, they're gone.
And here's the cruel rub for fans: Sometimes you find yourself really wishing that 45 minutes was actually 55 because something about the artist just made you want to see more of them.
That can pretty much be said about everyone on the lineup at the country day of the two-day Oro Valley Music Festival at the Golf Club at Vistoso on Saturday. From the opener, Tucson's own very talented Kaylor Cox, to headliner Billy Currington, we wished they had played longer. Cox, sadly, got the shortest end of the deal. She was scheduled to play 25 minutes, but thanks to some technical difficulties with the sound, she went on 15 minutes late and was relegated to about 15 minutes.
Cox didn't squander a moment. She opened with an impressive cover of Carrie Underwood's rocking revenge ode "Church Bells," then reimagined Dierks Bentley's "Somewhere On A Beach" from a woman's viewpoint. Instead of a man sipping something strong on a beach, it's a woman who's in the embrace of man who's got a body and is naughty.
The highlight of her time was her inspiring ballad "Stand Tall," a song that encourages love over hate.
"We need to hear more church bells ringing than sirens," she said, sort of as a way to bring her short set full circle.
Cox warmed up the stage for Brett Young, who made his national debut in April with the Top 20 single "Sleep Without You." Young, a former college pitcher who has to be at least 6-foot-6, wasn't letting his relative unknown slow him down. He soared through his months-old eponymous EP including his wedding song "In Case You Didn't Know" and previewed a song, the party-rocker "Making Me Say Uh-Huh," off his next EP, due out in February.
Cassadee Pope easily kept up the momentum, playing a handful of her songs including "Piano," "Wasting All Those Tears" and her latest, "Kisses At Airports," then launched into an extended medley of pop dance covers that included Bruno Mars's "Treasure," Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop the Feeling" and Jason Derulo's "Want to Want Me." Cassadee, who's up for a Country Music Association Award for her Chris Young duet "Think Of You," sang the song with her guitar player subbing in for Young. (If only the festival were next weekend Young could have conceivably joined her on stage. He's set to play a show at the AVA at Casino del Sol on Sunday, Oct. 9.)
Dan + Shay turned up the volume with a rocking set that blew away any notion you had from just listening to them on the radio that they were a quiet pop-country duo. Those two were off the charts, from Shay Mooney's funky mohawk and leather jacket in 90-degree weather to a non-stop rocking set that had the audience hopping in place with fists pumping high. Mooney and Dan Smyers previewed their next single, "How Not To" off their months-old sophomore album, and performed their wedding song "From the Ground Up" off that same album. Their energy was unrivaled from the earlier acts on "Stop, Drop + Roll" and their debut single "19 You + Me." It was impossible not to dance in place and sing along, even if you didn't know the words.
And then came Chris Janson and all bets were off for the two acts — David Nail and headliner Billy Currington — who followed him. Janson set the bar so high with his Mick Jagger swagger and energy to match that there was no way for Nail and Currington to match his energy and outsized stage charisma. Not that they didn't try; their shows were terrific in their own rights. But when you follow a guy who's all wiggly with energy when he wishes aloud that he had money to buy the boat and the truck to haul it, it can be a daunting task.
Janson introduced himself to many of the more than 4,000 packed into the Oro Valley golf club at Country Thunder last April. And like that show, Janson didn't slow down, even when he slowed down. You could see the momentum bubbling just below the surface when Janson sang the ballad, "Holdin' Her," a moving love song to his wife. Once the applause died down, Janson was back on the energy trail, tearing into "I Love This Life," the No. 1 song he wrote with LoCash members Chris Lucas and Preston Brust.
He also performed his self-penned "Truck Yeah," which was a hit for Tim McGraw, his No. 1 smash hit "Buy Me A Truck," his new song "Redneck Revival," "Save A Little Sugar" and "White Trash."
"You can believe it if it comes out of my mouth. I know it, I saw it or I probably live it," he said introducing "White Trash," which he interlaced with snippets of Johnny Cash's "I Walk the Line."
The Oro Valley Music Festival shifts gears to pop music today, with headliner Daughtry and supporting acts that include Phillip Phillips and Simple Plan. Cox will get a second shot as the first artist on the lineup. Hopefully the stage will be all set when she walks on.
