Hunter Haye
s may win over seventeen-year-old girls with his undersized shirts and oversized concert experience, but not me. Over the weekend, I headed south on I-35 to the San Antonio Rodeo. Friday night, the PRCA Rodeo was followed by a performance from Hunter Hayes. I knew I was going to write about this experience for my post, I just didn’t know exactly how. Would I compare his performing style to that of Elvis? Would I try to explain why his songs do not strike me as country? Thankfully, I found my answer hours before Hunter Hayes even took the stage in the form of the John Christopher Way Band.
Before the doors to the AT&T Center opened for the main event, I was walking through the fair grounds taking in the atmosphere of fried foods and carnival rides. No offense to anyone from the San Antonio area, but as a Dallas native, I was naturally comparing the scene to the State Fair of Texas in my hometown, and I was somewhat disappointed by the undersized rides and pop-up carnival feel. As I walked past a covered tent, however, the sound of live music in the form of Randy Rogers Bands’ “In My Arms Instead” filled the air and piqued my interest.
Even though I knew Randy Rogers Band was too big of a name to be playing on a small stage under a tent in the fair grounds, the sound was still plenty good enough for me to want to check it out. As I sat at the picnic tables right in front of the stage, I quickly learned that I was listening to a small band named the John Christopher Way Band. While their sound was not the best, as they transitioned from cover songs to their own originals, their performance was as authentic as the couples two-stepping in front of the stage. The traditional steel guitar was accompanied by lyrics that sang of mud, second chances, and a girl that got away.
After listening for about an hour, it was time to head into the arena for the main event. The actual rodeo was great entertainment full of bucking broncos and comical rodeo clowns, but once Hunter Hayes took the stage, things went downhill. As much as I tried to listen to the actual lyrical performance, the over-powering band and deafening screams of high school girls made the experience far from enjoyable. While sitting there surrounded by my 10,000 closest friends, I found a new clarity for why I love “Texas Country.”
The entire time Hunter Hayes was on stage, I couldn’t help but wish I were back in that carnival tent listening to The John Christopher Way Band or any other authentic country group. I realized that it wasn’t the incredible vocal skills, the breath taking performance, or the bright lights that attracted me to a performance. While all of these are great, I decided that the authenticity of the artists, lyrics, and venue were what drew me in. Hunter Hayes might sound great on the radio, but for me, I would choose watching couples two-step to the sound of a small country band over watching a big name artist jump on stage from afar to the screams of thousands of people. I used to think it was the sappy lyrics, Hollywood looks, and pop sound of the new country sub-genre that drove me away, and while I still think these are factors, the John Christopher Way Band/Hunter Hayes experience proved to me that it is about the authentic live experience as much as any of these.
Being from a suburb of Atlanta country music is popular but Honky Tonk is not a thing. Two stepping is something that is well known from the rap song “2 Step” by DJ UNK. So this last weekend I ventured up to Dallas/Fort Worth and got to experience the world’s largest Honky Tonk, Billy Bob’s Texas. It was nothing like I could have ever imagined. The place was huge and full of people. When we first got there we went right into the bull-riding arena. The arena was just buzzing with excitement. Only two of the riders made it to the full eight seconds, however it was so thrilling to watch. The atmosphere that the arena brought was crazy. When the bull-riding was finished we moved to the dance floor to people watch. And let me just say Billy Bob’s attracts all different types of people. From old people to young people, all different types of ethnic groups, couples to just groups of friends, it was a very good people-watching scene. Some couples were such good dancers my friends and me were in awe of them, while others were just awkward and uncomfortable to watch. The good ones would work the whole floor doing dips and spins. Although at one point things got really weird, when a hired dance company called The House of Horrors, came on stage to perform a zombie version of a “Fifty Shade of Grey” dance. They were clearly promoting the release of the new movie this weekend but the dance was awful, uncomfortable to watch, and felt very out of place.
We did not stay for her whole performance because we also wanted to walk around the stockyards. It was so different from what I had expected, because we had been in downtown Fort Worth for dinner so when we arrived in the stockyards it was nothing I could have imagined. I felt like I had stepped into a small old country town and was not still in one of the biggest cities in Texas. Obviously, it was late at night at this point so we window shopped at the closed stores and peeked into the other bars to get a feel for what they were like. They all seemed very similar with people dressed to the nines in their boots, belt buckles, and cowboy hats. It was so interesting because even though everyone was dressed similarly there still were a wide variety of people everywhere. We left the stockyards and went to explore West 7th Street in downtown which is suppose to be the college area, and it was a drastic change as to where we had just been.
