On October 9th Scotty McCreery turned 21 years old. Most of you may know him from American Idol where he won the tenth season. He was only seventeen years old then! That makes him the second youngest contestant to win American Idol. Now at twenty-one years of age he is currently on his See You Tonight Tour. On his actual birthday he was performing his show at the KMPS Presents: The Sunset Chevrolet 12-Man Jam in Seattle. 
During his performance Scotty was surprised with a cake on stage with candles and all. Joe Tafoya and Norm Johnson, two retired Seattle Seahawks players were the ones who took it out on stage for Scotty to blow out all of his candles.
What did he wish for you might ask? As a National Goodwill Ambassador for the 12.14 Foundation, Scotty asked fans to help him celebrate his 21st birthday by making a donation to the 12.14 Foundation. (You too can fulfill Scotty’s wish by making a donation like I did by clicking on the link in the previous sentence. Every dollar counts!) The non-profit organization plans to build a multipurpose performing arts and education center for the residents of Newtown, Connecticut, site of the tragic 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. What a selfless individual.
This must have been an amazing experience for the fans to witness this as well as be a part of the celebration for another monumental year in the life of a young country music star. This really builds a strong relationship with fans by sharing intimate moments like a birthday. The fans feel connected to Scotty on a personal level which just makes them even more loyal, supportive, and influential when it comes to supporting his 12.14 Foundation as well as his career.
McCreery will also hold a benefit concert for the organization on Thursday, December 4 at the Toyota Oakdale in Wallingford, Conn. Danielle Bradbery will be joining him as well for the special performance. I don’t know about you, but every time I hear about celebrities really making a positive impact it warms to hear to know they are using there influence and status to better the world instead of take advantage of it.
This is not seen too often unfortunately. Who knows, maybe it’s just the good ole country spirit that working in Scotty. The country boy spent his birthday with family and friends back home in North Carolina. He will then be returning to the See You Tonight Tour in Fayetteville, N.C., on Oct. 17.
On September 4th, I visited Brad Paisley for the second time, this performance was at the Austin 360 Amphitheater. The first time I saw him perform was in 2011 at the Houston rodeo. Although I was not within spitting distance of him in 2011, I was still very impressed with his performance. That was my first time seeing him live and really listening to his music. Quickly after the performance I was downloading all of his songs and had them on repeat. Along with having a great voice, Paisley is just a very entertaining performer. He is always moving around the stage and keeps the audience engaged. At one of Paisley’s concerts you will be sure to hear most of his classics which include: “Camouflage,” “Then,” “Ticks,” “Mud on the Tires,” and then to end the concert of course he sings “Alcohol”. Along with many more of his greatest hits, these were probably his most popular songs and really got the crowd involved.
One interesting thing I learned at this concert was how much Paisley uses the violin in his songs. Besides Paisley strumming the guitar most of the time, I would say the violin was the second most used instrument in the band. The violinist also received the most solos, behind Paisley of course, and was very impressive during this performance. Overall, Brad Paisley always puts on a great show. You will never die of boredom or stop tapping your foot along with the rhythmic melody is his songs. I would strongly encourage anyone to get see a concert of his if the opportunity is available, you will not be disappointed.
It was a great show, from beginning to end. I camped out at the stage for an hour with six of my friends and it was well worth it because we were about 20 feet from the stage and right smack dab in middle. I swear I made eye contact with Evan, the lead singer, multiple times. He even looked right at my camera at one point. I had so much fun singing along to the songs, but I could tell the band had even more fun.
The summer going into my senior year in high school my dad surprised me with Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw concert tickets that he had gotten through his work. They were playing at Angel’s baseball stadium and our tickets were sitting right on the field in front of the stage. They weren’t exactly seats, they were just a general area that you could stand it right in front of the stage so it was a little weird being in the mosh pit with a bunch of intoxicated young people while I was with my dad, but it was worth it for how close we were. We only caught the last few songs of Jake Owen (who was the opening act), which I was a little bummed about because I love a few of his songs. But then after that, Tim McGraw came on who is my favorite country music artist by far. He played a perfect mixture between his old and new songs, which was great because I knew pretty much all of them but my dad only knew the older ones so he got to hear the new songs he’s come out with. He was really interactive with the audience, which I thought was exciting and towards the end of his performance the sun was setting over the stage so it was a picture perfect moment for me.
As I am now looking back into my photo albums from the concert I realized that every single picture I took was of Tim, and I didn’t have a single picture from when Kenny Chesney performed. I think that was partially because it was dark by the time Kenny came on, and also maybe a little bit because I am a bigger fan of Tim McGraw. Kenny was an amazing performer however; he entered the stage on a blue chair while singing “Old Blue Chair” that was lowered from above the stage. Kenny explained to the crowd that his favorite thing in the world to do is travel to different beaches around the world, which explains why a majority of his music videos take place on the beach. His whole performance revolved around the paradise that he finds when he goes to exotic beaches so there were videos of gorgeous sunsets and waves constantly playing while he sang.