Katie’s Country Music Reflection

For my project the four things that I focused on was going to Billy Bob’s and attending a concert, going to Nutty Brown and attending a concert, taking a picture at the Willie Nelson statue, and then watching some of the American Country Music Awards. It was great getting to explore some of the most iconic country music places in Texas, while being able to keep up with country music on a more national level. Through this project I was able to explore new places, listen to great music, learn about country music history, and watch artists make history.

Billy Bob’s and the whole Fort Worth experience

https://storify.com/Katieoneil/cowtown

https://storify.com/Katieoneil/exploring-a-new-city-while-exploring-new-things

https://storify.com/Katieoneil/sara-evans

https://storify.com/Katieoneil/doing-austin-y-things

https://storify.com/Katieoneil/willie-nelson-live-on-jimmy-kimmel

https://storify.com/Katieoneil/nutty-brown-and-josh-abbott

https://storify.com/Katieoneil/check-out-this-live-preformance-from-nutty-brown

https://storify.com/Katieoneil/prediction-of-acm-s

https://storify.com/Katieoneil/winners

https://storify.com/Katieoneil/recap-just-in-case-you-missed-out

https://storify.com/Katieoneil/worst-and-best

Nutty Brown is a local Austin treasure. On top of it being a famous venue, I also got to see one of Texas Country’s most famous bands. At Nutty Brown, I got to see the Josh Abbott Band perform. This was probably one of the most fun concerts I have been too. The venue creates this wonderful atmosphere that just makes you want to dance. It is an out door venue where people can stand close to the stage or sit back and relax at some picnic tables. In addition to the venue, the band was fantastic. They played all of my favorite songs and they put on an amazing live show. Another iconic Texas place that I went to was Billy Bob’s. This was quite the experience for me. Not being from Texas I had not clue that dance halls like Billy Bob’s existed. The place was huge and had everything, even containing a bull-riding arena. The performer that night was Sara Evans. She was fantastic and the place was packed for her. I wrote about my experience going to Billy Bob’s for one of my blog posts. In addition, one of my favorite things about going to both these concerts was being able to see a band that embodies Texas Country while the other one has made her success in Nashville. I was able to experience two country concerts through this project that have two totally different backgrounds. Moving on, I went and took a picture with the Willie Nelson Statue. I never realized how famous this statue was until this class. I went this past weekend to take a picture and had to wait in a line, granted it wasn’t a long line, but still there were other people wanting to get their picture with Willie. It is very neat to see how the Austin community honors Willie, with not only the statue but also naming a street after him and building the new Willie Nelson exhibit in football stadium. Since I stayed mostly local doing this project I decided to watch the ACMs. I had already written a blog post about the major performances that would be happening so I wanted to watch the show to see how those turned out. My favorite part of award shows is watching the performances anyways so it was a win win for me. According the article written by Billboard the two worst performances of the night were the cross genre duets. This is surprising and funny because this was the main focus of my blog article due to the amount of hype that was being created for these performances. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this project because I don’t believe I would have actually experienced these things, which would have been a shame.

3 Comments

Filed under Austin, Awards, Class work, Country Symbols, Dancing, Live Music, Movies and TV, Music Videos, Reflection, Reviews, Storify, Texas, USA

3 Responses to Katie’s Country Music Reflection

  1. Erin McAtee

    I’m so excited that you got the chance to see Josh Abbott Band at Nutty Brown! Being from the Hill Country, Nutty Brown was THE place to go to see live music. Before I got into country music, I went to see Aaron Watson there and thought the venue was great; intimate with the artist while having the fun of being on the floor of a venue. While it is a bit of a drive from
    campus, it feels like a completely different world from Downtown Austin. Nutty Brown does a great job of making the concert seem like it’s not right off the highway.

  2. Reid Thompson

    I really enjoyed reading about your country music experiences this past semester. I think you did a great job of getting a wide variety of country music. I have always wanted to see a concert at the Nutty Brown Cafe and your stories about the Josh Abbott Band only make me want to see a show there even more. I can understand the overwhelming experience of walking into Billy Bob’s for the first time. Even being from the area and knowing somewhat what to expect, I was blown away at the sheer size of the venue. Your last two experiences also show a great variety between national country music and more local heroes and stories.

  3. Thanks, Katie, for this post. I agree with the other two commenters that you took advantage of a great variety of experiences! You’re smart to comment on the difference between seeing the JBA at the Nutty Brown and Sara Evans at Billy Bob’s in Dallas. Do you agree with Billboard’s assessment of the ACM duets? I was definitely thinking about your blog post about them when I read all the stuff people were writing about the ACMs the morning after.

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