Category Archives: Dancing

by | April 14, 2016 · 7:00 am

Stagecoach: California’s Country Music Festival

In just 18 days thousands of country music fans will head to sunny Southern California for the 10th Annual Stagecoach Country Music Festival. The festival is located at the Empire Polo Club in the dry desert of Indio, CA. This venue name may ring a bell. Coachella takes place at the same place by the same company, Goldenvoice.

Stagecoach offers a variety of music such as mainstream country, bluegrass, some rock, and also alternative country. With three stages of artists to choose from all day long, you’ll never be dissatisfied with a performance.

In 2012 Stagecoach had a record sell-out crowd at 55,000 attendees. After hearing about how great it was, my friends and I decided to finally go. The first time I attended stagecoach was my senior year of high school in April of 2013. A few friends and I skipped our senior prom to be able to attend the whole weekend and it didn’t disappoint.

The three headliners were Friday- Toby Keith, Saturday- Lady Antebellum, and Sunday- Zac Brown Band. But those weren’t the only big names to look forward to. Other artists such as Hank Williams Jr, Dierks Bentley, Tanya Tucker, and Florida Georgia Line were fan favorites as well.

The 102 degree heat was a bit discouraging but we pushed through and had a great time. The festival usually provides cooling tents and misting fans to help with that as well.

As soon as the 2014 Stagecoach tickets were released, we planned our weekend because we knew we couldn’t miss it. This time my mom and sister came along so we got “VIP” wristbands. Having this special wristband meant you got to escape the rowdy crowds and go into a separate pit up front with a private beer garden. It was awesome to see the performers up close however, as a college student a part of me wished I was back with my crazy friends so I didn’t not stay there the entire time.

Stagecoach offers on site camping. I HIGHLY recommend this option if you are looking to attend the festival. My brother and some of his friends brought an RV out for the weekend and we ended up hanging out there more than our house because it was so close to the venue. I would even argue there is just as much entertainment in the campground as there is in the festival itself. People hangout between the rows of trailers playing flip cup, beer pong, or even riding horse bicycles.

The music isn’t the only thing to look forward to inside the festival. Line dancing lessons are offered at “The Honkytonk Dance Hall.” Vendors such as Maui Jim, Toyota, and Barefoot Wine set up booths to show you their products. You can also find small carnival games and an energy playground! You may think Californians don’t barbecue like Texans, which might be partially true, but each year Stagecoach hosts an annual BBQ Cook-off at the festival where attendees can buy items for $5. The winner of this competition goes to the World Championship in Kansas City, so it’s a big deal!

Stagecoach has been such an exciting weekend for me the past four years, Unfortunately, moving to Texas last year broke my attending streak but this year I made sure I could fly home for it! The lineup is one I can’t miss!

If you have the chance and love country music, I highly recommend attending Stagecoach in the future! Stagecoach is the highest grossing festival centered on country music in the world, so clearly I am not the only one that enjoys it. Don’t believe me? Just watch this video.

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Filed under Blog Post 4, Concert, Dancing, Live Music

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by | March 3, 2016 · 7:00 am

Prom With A Country Twist?

I went to high school at The Bolles School which was a boarding/day student preparatory school in the beautiful city of Jacksonville, Florida. It was a pretty conservative school with a very ethnically diverse population. Kids from all over the world (Spain, China, Greece etc) went there as it excelled not only in sports, but also in the classroom.

Anyway, moving forward to my senior year of prom… I’m not sure what prom is like in other schools but I’m sure it’s all the same. We dressed up in fancy tuxedos, took pictures at a location, and then hopped into a limo that took us to the dance. There were poker and black jack tables, picture booths, the whole 9 yards. We had a “lock in” till 10pm for some security reasons so basically we’d dance around, eat, and have a great time. The last song was usually a slow song where you’d slow dance with your date (by slow dance I mean step back and forth while slowly turning around in a circle).

This was when “Wagon Wheel” by The Old Crow Medicine Show came on, and I must admit, was probably the first country song I actually fancied and took the effort to find out the name of it. Which brings me to share a little cool things about the song. When I first googled the song, the Darius Rucker version, which was released in 2013 popped up. In my humble opinion, I thought this version was a rip off. For starters, Rucker’s music video gets kinda weird half way through. He’s basically playing the guitar on a railroad (which makes sense), but then switches to him literally “thumbing” a ride to a bar in Tennessee to play in. In the bar, the bouncer tries to stop him from going in. From what I’ve gathered, the bouncer either stops him because he’s looking at this pretty white girl, or because he’s black. Either way, I find that part a little odd.

I find the original version and music video a lot more relatable and traditional. The music video portrays a more traditional and conservative setting, which helps bring out the “country” in it. The twang in Ketch Secor’s voice helps bring this song about a hitchhiker traveling from New England through Virginia trying to get to his lover in Raleigh, North Carolina to life whereas Rucker’s version lacks the persona and character needed.

While this song has reached platinum and gold certification in the U.S. and Canada respectively, it has been scrutinized by some. The song was written by Bob Dylan and later modified by Ketch Secor. In an article by the Nashville Scene, it claims Wagon Wheel was a by product of Dylan’s “Rock Me Mamma”- which was scrapped in the 70s. Secor picked up the song and tweaked the verses around the song’s chorus to make it a hit.

hqdefaultIn all honesty, I think Secor and his band should be praised for turning a scrap, kept alive only by bootleggers, into a one of the best country songs out there. This song also happened to be the band’s ticket into the Grand Ole Opry. So props to Secor and his band members for turning a broken record into a magical piece that will always hit home in my eyes.

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Filed under Blog Post 3, Dancing, Hall of Fame

by | January 27, 2016 · 7:00 am

A Walk Down Memory Lane

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To me, a community is made up of two main components. First, the place you feel the most at home. That place for me is my hometown, Friendswood, TX, where everyone knows everyone and I know I can completely be myself there. Second, a community consists of the people that make you feel the most at home even if you are not there. The adorably cliché quote, “home is wherever I’m with you” is pretty much on point when it comes to describing who those people are. “My people,” are the group of girl friends that I started elementary school with, experienced the most awkward of life phases with, and celebrated with after walking across the stage on graduation day in a tragic royal blue cap and gown. Fast forward almost 4 whole years and I would still say that even after distance separated our friendships, my “Friendswood friends” will always be my most important community.

With a group of friends that are as close knit as mine are, we all obviously have a lot of characteristics in common, but we are all very different and quirky in our own ways. We tend to have our own styles, have different hobbies, definitely different tastes in guys, and an extremely broad range of “favorite” genres. From jamming The Red Hot Chili Peppers to Queen Beyoncé, we would all overwhelmingly agree that country music brings out this uniting factor among us that other music just can’t do.

I can’t really come up with one aspect of country music that connected us, but man did we make a ton of memories through loving the country genre (or love daydreaming about George Strait). Maybe it was the cowboy boots, cutoff blue jean shorts (that wereprobably extremely inappropriate looking back on it), or the “red-dirt” Texas country concerts we couldn’t miss on the weekends. Whatever it was that made country music consume our lives created an extremely vivid timeline of events that never fails to keep my people literally stuck like glue– thanks Sugarland.

34265_401679317899_5778759_nIt seems generic to say that a song can bring back 1000 memories almost instantly, but that’s exactly what happens when I shuffle through an old playlist and come across songs that just hit home and bring a flood of emotions pouring over me. Growing up two-stepping at Garner State Park is such a great example of how country music kept us together as a group of close friends. We always went on trips to the Frio River to obviously have a blast floating, but we mostly went to enjoy a great Gary Allan album as we were floating and to go dancing with ‘randoms’ at Garner. That tradition still continues today (maybe without the random guys) and the memories of everyone singing “I’ve got lightening in my veins and thunder in my chest” while floating down the river won’t ever be erased!

Another thing about country music that makes it so important to my friends is the way a single song takes you back in time for 3 short minutes and remember exactly what we were going through, what party we were at, or what stage of life we were in when the song was a hit. To this day, when I hear Check Yes or No I think of my junior high boyfriend and how ridiculously “in love” I was at the age of 14. If I come across Red Light by David Nail I remember my best friend asking me to replay it over and over again because she was obsessed. When I shuffle through old playlists and come across songs that I would listen to on blast in the car, sun roof open, windows down, screaming at the top of our lungs, I am so thankful to have fallen in love with country music. No other genre kept my friends together over the years like country music did and those memories are irreplaceable.

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Filed under Blog Post 1, Country Symbols, Dancing, Texas, Women

by | December 4, 2015 · 7:00 am

Two-Steppin’, Turn Tablin’, & Line Walkin’

This post is kind of long, and for that I apologize, but I had a lot to say.

Walking into this class, I thought I knew everything there was to know about country music, basically just from listening to it on the radio growing up. However as the semester draws to a close, I know far more about the genre than I could’ve ever imagined. I can write 2,000 word essays on country artists I didn’t even know the name of, I can recognize landmarks and important relevant places that I previously would’ve walked right past without a second thought. I’ve come to appreciate different sub-genres of country that I’d never listened to before and I have a new-found understanding of how difficult it was to branch out in country music and its sound.

de686788-7402-4c3f-ba5c-c9bfc0bf41e1At the start of the semester I somehow got roped in to going two-stepping at that new dance hall that replaced Midnight Rodeo, Dance Across Texas. Dancing is NOT my forte, and country clubs are not my favorite place to venture, but it was Ladies’ Night so it was free which meant I wasn’t completely opposed to the idea- couldn’t be too bad right? Wrong. My toes got stepped on way more often than I stepped on anybody else’s toes, and it was impossible to find a dance partner that didn’t call me darlin’ or sweetie or something of the like. Maybe I’m just not as into the cowboy southern charm as I’d like to think I am, but it was real difficult to find anybody worth a second dance. I was also one of very few ‘ladies’ sporting blue jeans and not a sundress or cutoffs. The music selection wasn’t really up to par either, they mostly played Country Top 40 and “DJ Wade” (who I’m convinced was just a dude they found that pays for Spotify) played around 6 Luke Bryan songs in under two hours. Maybe I went on an off night- if you’ve had a great time at DAT then I’d love to hear about it, but I can’t say I was impressed. As for those boys in the photo, they turned out to be high schoolers, so yeah, all in all a pretty rough night.

ricky2Ricky Skaggs is one of those names I would have scrolled right past on my newsfeed before taking this course, so when I saw an album of his at Half Price Books I decided to check him out; although I’ll admit Reba McEntire and Kenny Rogers made it a tough choice to make, let me tell ya. The album I listened to was “Waitin’ for the Sun to Shine” at a friend’s who begrudgingly let me use their record player; I guess she’s not a Skaggs fan. Overall I thought it was decent (hold your fire), but I think we listened to more interesting songs of his as a class. A few of the songs stood out for me, namely the two where he plays the mandolin: “Don’t Get Above Your Raising” and “So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed” which it actually turns out is originally a Merle Haggard song and the statements he uses to describe the woman were all advertising slogans from the time. These were definitely the two most enjoyable songs to listen to on the album, along with “You May See Me Walkin'”, and “Lost to a Stranger” for their angsty heartbreak themes. Everything else seemed to have a kinda particular sound, and I wasn’t really into it, if you wanna check out Ricky Skaggs I recommend selecting a different album but it’s pretty popular so a lot of people probably disagree with me- I probably should’ve went with the Kenny Rogers record in hindsight.

tumblr_m92mzuD3WH1qbabvao2_500Last night, when I realized I had to finish this blog post, I sifted through my parent’s shelf of ancient DVDs and with no luck, decided on “Walk The Line” to rent on Amazon, and let me just say, Reese Witherspoon displayed a refreshing amount of acting capability considering the last thing I saw her in was Hot Pursuit (blegh). I honestly enjoyed both the Pheonix and Witherspoon renditions of the Carter/Cash songs throughout the movie, even if it sounds a little more Sinatra than it does Cash country- I wouldn’t have expected Reese to have anywhere close to the vocal presence that she shows in the film. The movie seemed very one-sided, and I would’ve liked to see things from an alternative lens than the constant “Johnny and June” angle we are fed, but it’s an intriguing movie and didn’t seem to drag too much. My favorite part was definitely the onstage proposal, I really thought Carter was going to say no, but he manages to convince her (and me) that he’s worth a shot. There are so many cute moments between them throughout the film and I’m really glad I saw it.

At the start of the semester, I didn’t know that country music even had a hall of fame, I had no idea that it extended past the borders of Toby Keith’s “Boomtown” and Martina McBride’s holiday album. This class totally changed my perspective and I appreciate so much more about both the history of the genre and the lives of people involved, the music itself is not the only thing I pay attention to anymore. At my family’s thanksgiving Chris Stapleton came up, and for the first time I think ever I knew more stuff about a country artist than the rest of my relateds. I hope you had as much fun reading about my experience as I did writing about it.

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Filed under Blog Post 5, Dancing, Reflection

by | November 30, 2015 · 7:00 pm

How Austin Changed My Perspective of Country Music

Coming from a small town in southern California, I never really understood the impact that country music has had on numerous people and places all across the U.S. Since coming to Texas, I almost had no choice but to integrate myself within the country culture that this state is so proud of sharing. I was hesitant at first to give up my California roots, but after experiencing country music’s influence in Austin by participating in two-step dancing, attending a country concert, and watching the a country music award show, it has really furthered my appreciation and knowledge of this genre, and ultimately changed my perception of country music overall.

IMG_0841First off, I have been a dancer my entire life, but two-stepping was something I never knew how to do. When I went to Broken Spoke here in Austin for a chapter wide mixer, it was my first time really learning this style of dance. I remember not knowing any of the songs that I was dancing to that night, unlike everyone else. But since dancing and listening to the variety of country songs that played that night, it really increased my interest, and intrigued me to learn more about this genre. With that said, this night definitely marks the foundation of where my appreciation for country music all began.

Also, about a month later, my friends convinced me to go to the Josh Abbot Band concert with them. It wouldn’t have been my first choice to go see them in concert, but since tickets were cheap and I was beginning to like country music I decided why not! I never realized how big of fans my friends were of the Josh Abbot band until I heard them belting at the top of their lungs to “She Likes Texas.” Unfortunately, I didn’t join in, as I was unfamiliar with the song after only being minimally exposed to country music thus far. But, after seeing the whole crowd sing along to several of the band’s songs, it really showed me what I am missing out on when it comes to this genre of music. Since this concert, I have taken a greater interest in the genre by familiarizing myself with other popular country artists, and expanding my music library to create a more diverse array of songs.

Lastly, after experiencing both these events, as well as taking this class, I was inspired to watch the 2015 Country Music Awards. It was amazing for me to see just how many country artists I recognized that performed, were nominated, or won awards, such as Kenny Chesney, Luke Bryan, Hank Williams Jr., and Chris Stapleton. Because I am now familiar with country artists and have an appreciation for the history of the genre, watching this show was a much more enjoyable experience for me. Since watching this show, it really made me realize just how much my knowledge of this genre has progressed since being first exposed to country music.

Overall, my perception of country music has tremendously evolved over the course of this class. I originally came with stereotypical thoughts regarding this genre, and since have really come to appreciate what this genre has to offer. Not only was I able to learn about the history and techniques behind country music by taking this class, but I was also able to experience this genre first hand through interactive events that have ultimately expanded my knowledge of the genre, and influenced me to take an active role in furthering my appreciation for country music.

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Filed under Austin, Blog Post 5, Concert, Dancing, Movies and TV, Reflection