*Make sure to check out my Day 1 review of C2C here first!*
Multi-day festivals are all about running on little sleep and cramming in as much music as possible, so I was back early on Day 2 to catch the first acts of the day. I headed straight for the indigo2 to see Shy Carter’s set. 10:30am is never an easy slot to fill, but Shy did his best – looking very cool in camo pants and a Cali beanie, he swaggered on stage with two cups of Starbucks in hand. Settling down next to his guitarist, Shy launched into Hard and Good Love, showing us a very RnB side to country. I hadn’t heard these songs before, but I definitely had the next few – his song with Cole Swindell and David Lee Murphy, the fun Beer With My Friends, a beatboxed cover of Sugarland’s Stuck Like Glue, and Kane Brown’s Heaven, which Shy cowrote with Matt McGinn and Lindsay Rimes. I also enjoyed new song Cash, a song he told us was about divorce and how ‘she want the cash, I ain’t talking bout Johnny’ – a very different take on the other breakup and divorce songs found throughout the genre. Shy finished with another song he’d written for Kane Brown, Good As You, and a cover of Charlie Puth’s One Call Away. His style wouldn’t necessarily be my favourite country style, but I enjoyed his set, and in particular how he interacted with the crowd. Not a bad way to kick off an early morning start!
On a very different note, next up was Caitlyn Smith, who arrived in a patterned suit and sky high heels. Choosing to let the music do the talking, Caitlyn began with Moses and High, powerful and raw songs that let us know what we were in for throughout her set. Afterwards, she took a moment to introduce herself, explaining that she had been writing songs for others for a decade, and had finally taken the chance to write her own tracks. Amongst these tracks was a song about finding a person who can tolerate her crazy, Put Me Back Together, and one she performed with Old Dominion, I Can’t, both of which she shared with us.
Next, a real stand-out for me: This Town Is Killing Me. For anyone who appreciates the hard work that goes into making it in Nashville, this song is a must to listen to. Caitlyn explained that it had been inspired by all of the ‘no’s she’d gotten in her years as a songwriter, and how it spite of it all, she doesn’t care how hard it is because she’s chasing her dream. Take a look at some of the lyrics: ‘I pour my heart out, three minutes at a time on a J-45 and no one’s listening…I scream my lungs out, confess my secrets, own my sins, but they don’t give a damn, cause if it don’t sound like the radio, pass. Nashville, you win, your steel guitars and broken hearts have done me in. I gave you my soul, cause I wanted it so bad and now I just wanna go home.’ Heartbreakingly beautiful, and it’s these honest lyrics that make me love country music so much.
After such a tearjerker, we were much of in need of a pick me up, which Caitlyn provided with Contact High, looking effortless whilst she tackled insane notes, all whilst playing the guitar too. The talent was beyond obvious. I enjoyed her little monologue to share that she’d got two new tattoos whilst in London – a Deathly Hallows symbol and a little bird, and then warned us that she was about to play a ‘devastating’ song from her new record called Another Life. That is was. Caitlyn finishes with another song I grew to love, Tacoma – I hadn’t expected to enjoy her set that much, but it was very impressive and proved that there’s so much talent in Nashville that we just don’t get to see.
The BBC Introducing stage has always been my favourite – it shows off artists who are just making themselves known in country music, not yet big enough to play the main stage, but the types who you might have heard one or two songs from and want to know more. Such was the case with Alex Hall, whose name had appeared once or twice on my Spotify playlists, but with many songs under his belt that I hadn’t yet heard. Immediately, Alex reminded me of Morgan Evans – that same kind of tonality, and fun upbeat songs that you want to hear on the radio. He kicked off with I Know A Guy, before revealing that this was his first time ever leaving the States, making his next song, Never Seen The World, a very relevant one.
He next played a song he wished he’d written, Kris Kristofferson’s Help Me Make It Through The Night, before his favourite that he has written, one called Her To Here. I really enjoyed this one – all about losing someone and losing yourself along the way, and wondering how you got from ‘her to here’. I mentioned that Alex had made his way onto my Spotify playlists a time or two, including with a song called Heart Shut. I really like that song, particularly because of its featured artist, who I was really hoping Alex would invite on stage. Lo and behold, he did! Enter Tenille Townes, whose unique vocals juxtaposed nicely with Alex’s classic country pop tones. The next song he played, The Other End Of The Phone, was also a duet, but sadly his duet partner, Old Dominion’s Brad Tursi, was unable to make the trip. Nonetheless, a super fun, groovy track which has since made its way onto my playlists. Alex finished with his ‘goodbye to being single’ song (‘in a good way’, he promised) and favourite song to play live, Last One To Leave, switching off his mic and guitar for the last part so we could hear just him and nothing else. Another enjoyable and unexpected set.
I love a good surprise, and sometimes they just walk onto the indigo2 stage and leave you speechless. Enter Callista Clark. Young but confident, she walked on stage and launched into a sassy song entitled Change My Mind, immediately showing off her great guitar skills and strong voice. We got a taste of new song Brave Girl, as she sung about self-confidence in a way I certainly wouldn't have been able to at that age, and a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's Have You Ever Seen The Rain? before another new song - Worst Guy Ever, in which Callista explained she would be the worst guy ever, unable to break hearts the way many seem capable of doing. I really enjoyed this track and look forward to hearing the official version soon.
The early Taylor Swift vibes were evident as she sang Heartbreak Song, moving seamlessly into a guitar-slapping version of Aretha Franklin's Chain Of Fools - not an easy song to cover by any means, but one that Callista made look effortless. I was continually impressed by the talent and emotion way beyond her years that she expressed - just take a look at the lyrics in Real To Me: 'Too old to cry and too young to drive, smart enough to know better, too dumb not to try... They say go be free but I'm too caged to fly, they say spread your wings but the wings don't fit right.' Such was also the case in another new song, and my favourite of her entire set (and the bar was very high!), Gave It Back Broken, about giving someone your heart and wondering if they care that they gave it back broken. Phenomenal. We finished with Callista's biggest hit to date, It's Cause I Am, and I'm certain I'm not the only one who was left wanting more. A real superstar in the making, and my stand-out highlight of Day 2.
If the theme of the day was confident newcomers, then next act Breland certainly fit the bill too. At just 26 years old, Breland has already made a name for himself as the king of collabs, but I don't think any of us anticipated just how funny he is too. Chatty and affable, Breland interspersed his performance with humorous musings on differences between the UK and the US, including our use of the term 'innit', walking on the same side we drive, and his newfound love of the Tube.
Of course we got plenty of those collabs too, including new song Praise The Lord (with Thomas Rhett), RnB style In The Woulds (with Chase Rice and Lauren Alaina), Beers On Me (with Dierks Bentley and HARDY), and Throw It Back (with Keith Urban). Maybe the lyrics weren't as hard hitting as I like in my country songs - take his duet with Nelly High Horse and it's thought-provoking lyrics 'get up off of that high horse and drop that thing for me', but if you're looking for fun, then Breland's your guy. I did enjoy getting a bit of substance in song Cross Country, aka Breland's life story. If he keeps making songs like that, I'll keep listening.
From simple acoustic sets to quiet the opposite, Matt Stell's performance on the BBC Radio 2 stage began with a bang - a VO introducing us to 'ex-boyfriend country' followed by his full band coming on stage, and boy, were they loud! I'm not sure that the indigo2 stage is quite suited for rock shows like this, as it was hard to hear Matt as he performed Better Than That, Boyfriend Season, and Everywhere But On. Regardless, he looked very cool when doing it in snakeskin boots and a black leather jacket. We got a cover of Travis Tritt's It's A Great Day To Be Alive (which seemed to be the cover song of the festival) before new song Shut The Truck Up (haven't we had enough country songs about trucks?) Matt's songs live seemed even rockier than they do on his records, but I enjoyed it most when he took it down a notch to show his softer side on That Ain't Me No More and Prayed For You. Finishing with If I Was A Bar, Matt worked the stage and proved himself to be a real showman.
The bar had been set performance-wise, and if there was one person who could keep up the energy Matt had provided, it was Robyn Ottolini. With the opening bars of The Lion King's Circle Of Life blaring through the speakers, her band came on and shook the walls. Dressed in kneehigh snakeskin cowboy boots and an oversized Britney Spears shirt, Robyn launched into Tell You Everything, full of power and with great stage presence, moving around and completely commanding the stage. Robyn showed off her sassy side during Hold Me Back and the ridiculously fun Him Problem: 'We all know one day he's gonna hit rock bottom and realise what he had, and I'll be long gone, moving on, with someone and all but forgot him. He'll be drunk at the bar with the boys and a girl that don't want him. Yup, that sounds like a him problem.'
From fun to heartbreaking, Robyn moved to the piano to tell us that the next song was inspired by those people who say things they don't quite mean - the ones whose 'I love you's' mean more of an 'I want you' instead. Enter Trust Issues, a deeply emotional song that is definitely one of her finest. To keep us from bursting into tears, Robyn next decided to share a medley of the songs that had raised her. We went from a dark version of Shania Twain's Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under to Best Of Both Worlds from Hannah Montana, Smashmouth's Allstar from Shrek, Eminen, and finally, the return of Travis Tritt's It's A Good Day To Be Alive. What a ride! We finished with a true story of growing up in a small town and feeling some type of way every time you see a car that looks like his - F150. A really great set from someone I'm keen to see more of.
I managed to catch both Matt and Robyn after their sets before heading into the Arena for night two's festivities. Like a number of the artists performing at C2C, Tenille Townes was an artist I'd known a bit about before, but completely fallen in love with during the pandemic. It's easy to say that she didn't disappoint - bursting right in with White Horse and Where You Are, Tenille definitely proved herself to be a little rockstar. However, this wasn't the only side to her, and we also got heartwrenchingly emotional versions of Jersey On The Wall and Etta James' At Last, which I absolutely loved.
Tenille writes songs with meaning, as shown in Last One Standing, about watching everyone falling in love around you and wondering when it's going to happen to you, I Kept The Roses, about letting the rest of someone go but keeping that one important thing, Girl Who Didn't Care, about not letting your dreams die, and Holding Out For The One, about waiting for the right person to come along. She has the kind of indie vocals quite unlike anyone else in the genre, and you could really tell that performing means everything to her. She suitably finished her rocky set with a cover of Joan Jett’s I Hate Myself For Loving You and her own song about paying more attention to those around us who struggle, Somebody’s Daughter.
Pretty much Tenille’s polar opposite was up next on the Spotlight stage. Trading rock tracks in favour of cutesy love songs, Callie Twisselman appeared in a flurry of sparkles to perform Two Hands (‘I can be hard to handle, yeah I might be a handful, that’s why you got two hands’), Closure, (‘I could use a little closure, come over, let’s drink you down, baby til the love runs out’) and Cowboy (‘He’s a C-O-W-B-O-Y, gonna love him til the day I die, he’s a C-O-W-B-O-Y, he’s hot, and he’s mine’). A bit too saccharine for my taste, but I can see how this kind of country would appeal to some.
Out of all of the C2C main stage artists so far, excluding the Introducing Nashville trio, there had yet to be anyone I hadn’t yet seen live, so having Scotty McCreery on Saturday night’s bill was a major pull for me. I’d known of him since his American Idol days, but never gone out and searched for Scotty songs myself, meaning I was really surprised by how many of his songs I knew, and really enjoyed! Rivalling Josh Turner for ‘country music’s deepest voice’, Scotty sounded great on Same Truck (I still think there are way too many country songs about trucks), Wherever You Are, and In Between.
I enjoyed the song inspired by George Strait, Damn Strait, full of clever allusions to the country great and his songs, but my favourite songs were definitely those Scotty had written for his wife. I hadn’t considered how many fantastic love songs Scotty had under his belt, but hearing Why You Gotta Be Like That, It Matters to Her (a song every man should listen to), and the song he wrote specifically for their engagement that audiences were never meant to hear, This Is It, really highlighted that. They showed the immense amount of love Scotty must have for his wife, whom he’s known since they were five years old – adorable. Of course we also got to see Scotty’s fun side too, with Feelin It, which received a huge cheer from the very first bar, See You Tonight, and You Time, plus covers of Brooks & Dunn’s She’s Not The Cheatin’ Kind and John Michael Montgomery’s Be My Baby Tonight. A lot of fun all around.
Matt Stell returned for a stint on the Spotlight stage, and I much preferred this performance – stripped by, he sounded much better (plus I could actually hear him this time) as he performed That Ain’t Me No More, a snippet of Everywhere But On (cut for time, perhaps?) and Prayed For You. Acoustic sets only, please!
Another artist I was keen to see on the main stage was Brett Young. In spite of being one of the headliners of the festival, I still think Brett is fairly underrated – nobody ever seems to answer ‘Who’s your favourite country artist?’ with ‘Brett Young’, and why not? He has great songs, and great warm vocals, so I found it a real pleasure to watch him perform. Brett started off with the fun Catch, 1,2,3 Mississippi, before making us all a little sad with Like I Loved You. He greeted the crowd with ‘Is it safe to say you guys are feeling good tonight?’ (Cue crowd roar in agreement) ‘Well, here’s a sad song to ruin that.’ Funny guy. He mixed sad and happy with You Ain’t Here To Kiss Me, In Case You Didn’t Know, a cover of John Hiatt’s Have A Little Faith In Me, the extra sad Mercy, which received rapturous applause, and my personal favourite, Not Yet.
I appreciate an artist who’s versatile enough not just to stay within one style of song – we had songs about reminiscing (Used to Missin’ You), definitely not reminiscing (Leave Me Alone), family (Weekends Look A Little Different These Days and Lady), love (Here Tonight and Sleep Without You) and not being loved enough (You Didn’t). I found myself losing track of time during Brett’s set, and those are the best kind of sets, don’t you think?
I would’ve happily watched Callista Clark perform on the main stage, but she came back for three songs on the Spotlight stage – Brave Girl, It’s Cause I Am and Gave It Back Broken. I was really glad she chose to perform the latter, as I think it’s her best song yet (and that’s saying a lot!) It was incredible to watch her captivate the audience with insane range, vocal control, and guitar skills, and without any backing musicians to support her. What a star.
All of the main stage acts had proven themselves to be very fun performers, so who better to top off the night than Darius Rucker? I’ve had the privilege of interviewing Darius in the past and know him to be an absolute top-dollar guy, so I was excited to see how that would translate across in his headlining set. It did from the minute he stepped on stage with a ‘how y’all doing, London?’ and fun song Homegrown Honey. It was clear we were all going to have a good time. Indeed, Darius’ songs are all about enjoying the simple things in life, whether that be the songs on the Radio or those nice folks with their Southern State of Mind. Darius did what I like to call his ‘classic dad wiggle’ dancing during Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It and When Was The Last Song, before he shared a sneak peek into his upcoming record with a song written with Old Dominion’s Brad Tursi called Same Beer, Different Problems. With super fun lyrics talking about finding the answer to all of life’s problems at the bottom of a beer bottle, this definitely fit the bill of a joyous Darius song.
In spite of not having any Darius Rucker songs saved to my playlist, I’m always surprised by how many of his I know – he moved on to new track My Masterpiece and oldie but a goodie Come Back Song, before a real throwback in the first country song he ever wrote Let Her Cry. Now aren’t we glad he decided to make the move from rock to country? Beers and Sunshine should be on everyone’s summer playlist, although I will disagree with his lyrics ‘the only BS I need is beers and sunshine’ – what about BS Blake Shelton? The ballad If I Told You turned into a cover of Hank Williams Jr’s Family Traditions with Darius’ ‘golfing buddy and neighbour’ Brett and Scotty. Then it was treat after treat – his old band Hootie & the Blowfish’s Hold My Hand, All I Want, Only Wanna Be With You, This, and an encore of Amy Winehouse’s Valerie, Hands On Me and, of course, Wagon Wheel, with homegrown artist Lucy Blu joining him on stage. I just love Darius Rucker. You can’t not!
And there we go, Day 2 done. As for my top 3 acts of Day 2, in no particular order: Caitlyn Smith, Callista Clark, and Scotty McCreery. One more day to go!
I hope you enjoyed my Day 2 C2C Country 2 Country! If you did,
do drop me a message in the comments below or on Twitter @CiarasCountry,
letting me know which artist you were most excited to see/read about, and who
you’d like to see at C2C 2023. Don’t forget you can tune in to my radio show ‘Ciara’s
Country’ every Friday from 5-8pm UK on www.ukcountryradio.com,
and I’ll be posting some C2C artist interviews very soon – thanks so much for
reading!
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