True to its name, Country Night Lights took place in a field at The Venue of Athens. Girls clad in cowboy boots and dresses and boys in flannels and jeans gathered to tailgate and listen to Brothers Osborne, Jake Owen and more on Friday night.
Julia Neville, a Logan, Ohio native, kicked off the night of country music. Next up was Matthew Pinkham whose love of country music began in his preschool days when he was diagnosed with Legg-Calve-Perthes.
“While other kids my age were outside playing, I had to stay inside…off my feet. It was then when I fell in love with country music and my guitar!” he said on his Facebook page.
Clare Dunn, known mostly for her song Tuxedo, followed.
(Matthew Pinkham)
Not many concert-goers gathered around the stage until Brothers Osborne took the stage. The crowd roared when T.J. Osborne sung the opening verse for the song “Greener Pastures.” They also sang “21 Summer” as well as many other songs from their album Pawn Shop. By the time they sung “Stay A Little Longer,” I was wishing that they would do all country fans a favor and stay on stage a little longer.
The night ended with crowd favorite Jake Owen. He was met with a few boos when he told the crowd that he was offered an athletic scholarship from Ohio University but declined it to attend Florida State University, but he said that if he didn’t attend Florida State he never would have injured his shoulder and wouldn’t have traded in his golf clubs for a guitar.
(Jake Owen)
The video montage of Jake Owen on tour which played on the stage hyped the crowd up. He sung fan favorites such as “Real Life,” “American Country Love Song” and “Anywhere with You.”
He took his song “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” literally as he moved around the stage without shoes. At one point he stepped on a nail which he claimed “took him to another place” and he came back on stage to wow the crowd with Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “That Smell.” Along with Lynyrd Skynryd, he sung other iconic songs like “Ring of Fire.” By the time he left stage, the crowd was chanting for him to sing one more song, so he ran back on stage to end the night and sung “Beachin.”
The night as a whole was one that every country lover will remember. Many were excited to return on Saturday to see Frankie Ballard and Brett Eldridge.
(All photos courtesy of Allie Haddad)