Concert Review: CMA SONGWRITERS SERIES 2019 (Cam, Jimmie Allen, Travis Denning, Laura Veltz, Ross Copperman), Indigo at the O2, London

*Scroll down for a photo gallery of the event!*

The evening started with a promise by Burning House legend Cam that this would be the best night of C2C. High expectations, but I was willing to believe it. As host, she was joined on stage by country songwriters and performers Jimmie Allen, Travis Denning, Laura Veltz and Ross Copperman.

Looking flawless in a silver sequined dress and rainbow shirt, Cam kicked things off with Diane. She began by explaining that this was song she had written in response to one of her friends being cheated on. As her friend never got an apology from the ‘other woman’, Cam wrote herself into the woman’s shoes to become Diane as she sings “I promise I didn’t know he was your man / I would have noticed a gold wedding band / I’d rather you hate me than not understand.” Her killer vocals had already got us all hooked.

Cam introduced Laura amidst a shower of well-deserved compliments about Laura’s ability to write hit songs, to which she responded that she was thrilled to have had the chance to do press today (that’s me! Interview coming soon!) which made her feel like a real star. Her story began that she had scheduled a writing session with Josh Osborne, and upon walking in, revealed that she’d “got a little drunk last night.” Any guesses as to what the outcome was? Eli Young Band’s Drunk Last Night, of course! It felt amazing to hear these songs as they were no doubt originally sung when the ideas were being tossed around by the songwriters.

Travis received the simple introduction of “Y’all, this is Travis,” to which he jumped in to explain that his first song was about a guy and a girl, jokingly adding how proud he was to be bringing that concept to country music. This song was After A Few, which he began singing with his fabulous Southern Drawl. Halfway through, he stopped after a bum note to apologise for his sinus infection impacting his vocal chords. Such an intimate setting was important for things like this, as no doubt at any other concert the crowd would’ve just thought he couldn’t sing. Travis proved us wrong!

Cam moved on to introduce Jimmie as someone who “always has a smile on his face and love to give” – what a nice introduction! I’ll need help explaining his story as he started by saying he was a huge Disney fan and loved Peter Pan, and then jumped into a song called American Heartbreaker. I wasn’t quite sure of the link, but maybe you can help? Regardless, it was clear that a lot of people in the audience loved him, so he was a great addition to the bill.

Ross was next, this being his first time back in the UK for 10 years, who played for us Kenny Chesney’s Setting The World On Fire, again lovely to hear the song as it would have originally been played.

We were then back to Cam and a song she wrote with Sam Smith called Palace, about how you create a house, a life, a palace, for yourself and the person you’re with, which can sometimes end in ruins no matter how hard you try. The song was filled with super high notes that only Cam and Sam Smith could reach – funny how you could tell the song was written by and for particular artists.

Laura followed up by showering Cam with compliments, explaining that if anyone sang Palace on The Voice, they’d just have to win. She told us her next song was a goofy one, and one they’d tried to stick as many swear words into as possible. The result was Maren Morris’ Rich, which if you listen closely, you’ll hear Laura as the ‘kaching kaching’s on the track!

Travis moved on to one of his favourite songs, Michael Ray’s Her World Or Mine, which was almost moving me to tears with its sensitive lyrics and beautiful guitar.

Jimmie told us that he’d met someone outside who had requested he play a particular song, and launched into Shallow from A Star Is Born, only to stop after few lines, much to the chagrin of the audience who would have loved to have heard it! But alas, this was the Songwriters Series and was supposed to be about songs written by themselves, so instead Jimmie sang Make Me Want To, about catching feelings for someone too fast and wanting to tell them you love them. With its lyrics about long legs and cut-off jeans, the type of which I think ought to be phased out of the genre, this was a bit too much bro-country for me.

For some reason, Ross decided to start his next section by making some political comments about the US and the UK – perhaps not his best decision, and so he swiftly moved on to sing Keith Urban’s John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16, getting back in favour with the crowd by substituting the John’s for John Lennon, John Cleese and Elton John.

We had a surprise in store for us next as Cam invited UK country act Ward Thomas onto the stage to accept the John Walker Award for exceptional acts outside the US. They were then convinced to sing Cartwheels, which I think they did very well given no prior warning. Cam followed on with My Mistake, explaining that she had grown up in the era of Sex & The City where if women wanted to succeed, they basically had to act like men, down to how they managed their relationships. Thus lyrics like “He’ll be gone before the morning light / But he’s my mistake to make, all night” were born.

Laura exemplified what we were all thinking as she said she was such a fan of Cam (aren’t we all?) before moving on to a song that had been moved around from the likes of Carrie Underwood before ending up with Kane Brown called Live Forever, again full of lovely lyrics. Jimmie said that it was his 4 year olds favourite song, and I can see why.

Travis moved on to his version of a love song that he’d written with Devin Dawson, who had come to him with the title Snakes and Needles. How does one work with a title like that? Well, you’ll just have to ask Travis because they created an actually brilliant song about not being afraid of the likes of snakes and needles, only afraid of losing ‘you’. Songwriting at it’s finest, really.

The inspiration kept on flowing as Jimmie introduced Warrior, written about his mother and his grandmother, whose scarf he keeps in his back pocket. It was such an emotional song that the woman next to me was brought to tears, and Laura aptly followed up by saying that when she had started writing back in 2008, had she presented such an emotional song to any male artist it would have been turned down, so she was proud that Jimmie was leading the charge of male artists performing vulnerable songs.

Ross took a moment to speak about a question he was asked in press today, about one question he never gets asked (I asked it!) – and his answer was his wife, who inspires much of his music, including the Dierks Bentley recorded Woman, Amen. There’s something about being mentioned on stage that makes your heart happy, so thank you Ross for sharing that with the audience!

We got another surprise with new Cam music, this time a song written with Lori McKenna about thinking you’re over someone, but thoughts of them creep back into your mind, just as smoke does sometimes in a non-smoking hotel room. This song is Forgetting You When I’m Alone, a beautiful, beautiful track that quite frankly I think could rival Burning House. You heard it here first!

I found Laura to be quite amusing, and she showed this again as she introduced her ‘job security song’, explaining that even if she never wrote another good song, this could pay her bills for the rest of her life. She’s not wrong, as she launched into Dan & Shay’s Speechless, aka everyone’s new favourite wedding song. I was well impressed that she was reaching those high notes only Shay Mooney can hit, so props to you Laura!

Travis’ next story was an interesting one, about how a friend of his had picked up an ID he found on the floor in a bar which looked a little like Travis. Somehow this turned into a great song, David Ashley Parker From Powder Springs, the namesake of which actually appeared in Travis’ music video for the song. Plot twist though – the man’s real name was Ashley David Parker, but Travis liked the way it sounded the other way round. The more you know! I couldn’t help but think that Travis sounded a lot like Jason Aldean, so if he follows Aldean’s trajectory, who knows how far he’ll go!

Jimmie began his final song by explaining that he’d previously worked as the likes of a trash collector and janitor until he made it in the music business, and that that should be reason enough for anyone to pursue their dreams, particularly given how popular Jimmie has since become since he released Best Shot, which he played for us now. He stopped after the first chorus to run upstairs and play for all those in the balcony, a nice touch (even if he was a little breathless!)

Ross told us that he had wanted to write a song that made an impact, and so working with Josh Osborne and Shane McAnally, ended up with Kenny Chesney’s Get Along, a true anthem about learning to live with each other.

And before we knew it, we’d made it to the end of the night with just one song left. No guessing which one it might be, but you might not know the full story being Cam’s Burning House. In a very vulnerable moment, she shared that the song had actually been inspired by a time that she’d broken up with someone in the worst way possible – over email, and not only that, but the very day before he was due to visit her in Nepal. Naturally, she knew that it had been a very hurtful thing to do, so found herself wanting to offer him a real apology the next time she saw him. In the days before this happened, she found herself dreaming about him trapped in a burning house, and how in the dream, she went inside and laid down beside him. Years later, she found someone else who had had the same dream, explaining that it relates to some things that you just can’t fix. So there you have it, the true story behind one of the most beautiful songs ever created. I will never listen to Burning House and not be moved, and hearing it live in that still room was a truly special moment.

Well, the rest of C2C is still ahead of me, but as of now, I will agree with Cam that the CMA Songwriters Series will be a night that will be hard to beat. If you ever have the chance to listen to songwriters perform live, please, please do, as they are some of the most fascinating and kind people in the world. I look forward to hearing much more from them in the future!

I hope you enjoyed today's review! Interviews with Travis, Ross and Laura, plus full day-by-day reviews of C2C Country 2 Country will be posted soon, so make sure to stay tuned to the blog and my Twitter @CiarasCountry for all of that. Thanks for reading!

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