by Julian Spivey

Miranda Lambert gave it all she had on Saturday, May 24 at AutoZone Park, home of the Memphis Redbirds minor league baseball team, in Memphis, Tenn. after being “sick as shit” all week and wanting to show up for fans who’d already had the show rescheduled once due to weather last fall.

​You could tell throughout the evening that Lambert wasn’t at her best, with moments of coughing fits that led to the packed crowd having to sing portions of songs and her veteran backup singer, Gwen Sebastian, taking over at times. But for the most part, Lambert sounded pretty damn good for being under the weather and certainly didn’t let her fans down.

Lambert’s set began, right at 9 p.m., with “Fastest Girl in Town,” off her 2011 album Four the Record, followed by a raucous performance of “Kerosene,” off her 2005 debut album of the same name that immediately showed Lambert would be a force to be reckoned with in the future of country music.

What followed for the remainder of the night was a showcase of some of her biggest hits over a career that has already seen her become one of the most-awarded artists in country music history at only age 41.

Each of her nine solo studio albums would have at least one song featured throughout the evening, with 2009’s Revolution and 2011’s Four the Record having the most representation with three songs.

Revolution, which may very well be her greatest career achievement, saw performances of “Heart Like Mine,” “The House That Built Me” and “White Liar,” with “White Liar” being one of the biggest standouts of the entire show. For my money, “The House That Built Me” is the most outstanding recording of Lambert’s career (and one of the all-time great country music songs), but it was in the middle of this performance Lambert had one of her coughing fits and had to let the audience perform half the song on their own.

Four the Record saw performances of “All Kinds of Kinds,” which she remarked the world needed, and everybody should be exactly who they are, the previously mentioned “Fastest Girl in Town,” and a terrific, rip-roaring performance of “Mama’s Broken Heart,” another highlight of her set.

Some of Lambert’s ballad performances during the evening were among my favorites (and my favorite songs of hers, in general). This included “Vice,” the only cut on the evening from The Weight of These Wings, and “In His Arms,” one of two cuts (the other being “If I Was a Cowboy”) from Palomino.

The biggest shock of the night was that her latest album, last year’s Postcards From Texas, which was released around the time this show was initially scheduled, only featured two performances: “Run” and “Dammit Randy.” I would’ve thought there would be more performed from the new album, but honestly, it wasn’t a big deal for me, as I didn’t know it was her best work, though I wouldn’t have minded hearing the song “Wranglers.”

Lambert doesn’t do encores but had quite a wallop of a finish to her Memphis show playing: “Mama’s Broken Heart,” “Gunpowder & Lead,” “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)” and “Little Red Wagon” in a row to finish out the night. Those last two aren’t among my favorite Lambert tunes, but it was a crowd-pleasing effort.

Lambert managed to pack 19 songs in just under 75 minutes, which is kind of crazy. On one hand, you’d expect for a headliner to perform a longer show, but around 20 songs is pretty much a typical headlining set. 
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Marty Stuart & his Fabulous Superlatives put on a fantastic opening set, though I wonder if it played well to the audience of younger listeners. I couldn’t tell, as most of the crowd was behind me this time. There were folks surrounding me incredibly pumped to hear Stuart classics like “The Whisky Ain’t Workin’ Anymore” and “Hillbilly Rock,” I can say that with certainty.
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Stuart and his band’s rockabilly flavor made for the perfect atmosphere for a Memphis show, as Memphis is the home of rockabilly and Sun Studios. At one point, the band was almost upstaged by 11-year-old Ben Scruggs, the son of bassist Chris Scruggs, who came onstage to perform the rockabilly “My Gal is Red Hot,” to uproarious applause from the crowd. That kid, who felt like he was plucked right out of the ‘50s, is going places – but when you’re part of one of the dynasties of country and bluegrass music, you ought to be.

Stuart’s bandmates always get their time to shine on vocals and did so with aplomb on Saturday night. Guitarist “Cousin” Kenny Vaughan performed his usual “Country Music  Got a Hold On Me,” while “Professor” Chris Scruggs and drummer “Handsome” Harry Stinson performed songs that were new to me but fit the vibe of the setting.  

My favorite performance of Stuart’s set was “Tempted,” his top-five country hit from 1991. Its smooth sound made it sound like a Roy Orbison classic. The band also put on one helluva performance with their finale of “Time Don’t Wait,” off 2017’s Way Out West.  

Alison Krauss & Union Station feat. Jerry Douglas brought their incredible musicianship to the First Security Amphitheater in downtown Little Rock, Ark., on Monday, May 12.

The group, which has seen some change since I last saw them in 2014 in Rogers, Ark., seems rejuvenated with their latest album, Arcadia, released in late March. It’s the first Alison Krauss & Union Station album since 2010’s Paper Airplane.

Longtime Union Station member Dan Tyminski recently left the group to focus on his solo career. He has been admirably replaced by Russell Moore, known primarily as the leader of the bluegrass band Russell Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out. The outstanding multi-instrumentalist Stuart Duncan also joined the band this year, showcasing his work on fiddle, mandolin, guitar and banjo.

Longtime members Barry Bales (bass), Ron Block (guitar/banjo) and Jerry Douglas (dobro) are still with the band.

Arcadia was heavily featured on Monday night, and the stage was adorned with a ticket booth underneath a faux marquee that bore its name. Krauss opened the evening with the beautiful “Looks Like the End of the Road,” though she and the boys seem far from calling it quits. Then Moore took the lead on a traditional folk-sounding song, “Granite Mills,” which feels like the “Final Destination” of songs as it tells the horrifying tale of a mill disaster. Also featured from Arcadia during the evening were Krauss’s lead “One Ray of Shine” and the Moore-led “The Hangman” and “North Side Gal.”

The band showcased their immense talent during a few instrumentals throughout the show, which I believe included traditional favorites such as “Choctaw Hayride” and “Cluck Old Hen,” although I don’t have the complete setlist on hand to confirm. There’s nothing like good old-fashioned bluegrass music performed live on a nicely temperate Spring evening, especially right after rain.

It's the Krauss-led songs that you’re likely most familiar with if you’re a fan of the group, based on radio play. These songs, such as “The Lucky One,” “Let Me Touch You for a While,” and “Restless,” were among my favorites of the night. Krauss and Union Station’s output of singles from 2001 to 2004, which included these three and “New Favorite,” a favorite of mine that didn’t make the set on Monday, are my favorite stretch of Krauss/Union Station songs.

Robert Lee Castleman wrote “The Lucky One,” “Let Me Touch You for a While” and “Restless” and should be in a songwriter’s hall of fame for those alone. He won a Grammy for Best Country Song for penning “The Lucky One.”

My only complaint is that the performance of “The Lucky One” was abridged and came during a medley that featured a couple of other songs I would have preferred to hear complete versions of, such as “Ghost in This House” and “Baby, Now That I’ve Found You.” This issue would recur during the evening’s encore.

Among the other standout performances of the evening were “Every Time You Say Goodbye,” “Paper Airplane,” Krauss’ cover of the Willie Nelson classic “Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground,” and some songs I wasn’t all that familiar with like “Gravity,” off 2004’s Lonely Runs Both Ways, and “Forget About It,” off Krauss’ 1999 self-titled solo album. Both of those were also written by Castleman, by the way.

Krauss was joined by Moore and Block, initially for a stripped-down encore, which began with an abridged version of what is likely her biggest hit, “When You Say Nothing at All,” which happens to be “our song” for my wife and me. It would’ve been lovely to hear the complete version. They also did an abridged version of “Whiskey Lullaby,” the 2003 hit she did with Brad Paisley. Bales, Douglas, and Duncan would rejoin the others on stage to finish the show with a four-song gospel medley that included “Down in the River to Pray” and “There Is a Reason.”

It was truly a magical night of music by the river in Little Rock.

Folk singer Willie Watson began the evening with terrific selections from his 2024 self-titled album, which marked his first release of original music, despite having been around the block for quite a while, including as a founding member of the excellent Old Crow Medicine Show. Among the best selections from his opening set were “Sad Song,” “Already Gone” and “Play It One More Time.” My absolute favorite performance from Watson was his finale of “Real Love,” a beautiful song he wrote for his wife Mindy, which was among my favorite songs of last year and ranked No. 20 on this website’s list of the best Americana/country songs of the year.  

Bonnie Raitt brought her terrific voice and exceptional guitar playing to the Robinson Center in Little Rock, Ark., on Wednesday, May 7, for a wonderful evening of music.

Raitt told the sold-out audience that she had been performing on the road for 54 years, which is remarkable, as she hasn’t lost a step. She sounds just as amazing live in person at 75 years old as she does on her records.

Raitt’s body of work holds a little bit of everything – blues, rock, folk, Americana and even a pop crossover or two – and she proved as much on Wednesday night.

Raitt began her 16-song set with the rocking “I Sho Do,” which she recorded on her 1994 album Longing In Their Hearts.

Throughout the evening, she would perform her most legendary hits, along with some deep cuts – some of which she told the audience she rarely played, like Paul Brady’s “Steal Your Heart Away,” which she told the crowd she wanted to practice on us with because she’d be playing it in front of Brady when she tours in his home country of Ireland next month.

One of the night’s best performances was when Raitt showed off her songwriting with “Just Like That,” the surprising Grammy Awards Song of the Year winner off her latest album, Just Like That… (2022). Raitt admitted she hasn’t done a whole lot of songwriting throughout her career, but was inspired by the incredible story songs of her good friend John Prine. It’s amazing that one of the times she writes her own stuff, it was not only this beautiful, tear-jerking song, but good enough to win the Grammy for overall Song of the Year. As a huge fan of Prine, one of the night’s highlights was her performance of his “Angel From Montgomery.” Her recording of it on 1974’s Streetlights helped bring both it and Prine to the forefront of some music lovers, who hadn’t been hip to Prine’s fantastic self-titled 1971 debut.  

Among the best blues output from Raitt’s set on Wednesday were her cover of Mabel John’s “Your Good Thing (Is About to End),” which she dedicated to the blues/R&B singer who died in 2022, and Sippie Wallace’s “Women Be Wise.” Raitt has done a lot to keep some of the lesser-known names of women blues singers alive throughout the years.

It was Raitt’s most well-known works that I found myself gravitating toward throughout the evening, as a fan of hers who isn’t all that familiar with her deeper cuts. This means performances like her John Hiatt cover, “Thing Called Love,” “Nick of Time,” and “Something to Talk About,” which nearly brought the house down, were among my favorites of the evening.

Perhaps the best performance of the entire night was her encore opener of “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” which is probably the song she’s most known for throughout her Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and award-winning career. The fact that she sounds just as good now as she did on her 1991 album Luck of the Draw was jaw-dropping. It’s one of those live concert moments that anyone who witnessed won’t forget anytime soon.

Raitt finished the show with performances of Michael McDonald’s “Matters of the Heart” and “Love Sneakin’ Up on You,” incorporating a bit of Chaka Khan’s “You Got the Love” into the mix.

Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentleman opened the evening with their fascinating mixture of New Orleans funk and R&B, mostly performing tracks off their latest album, The Bywater Sessions, which dropped April 25. Among the fun performances from that album were “Zulu Coconuts,” “Boneyard,” “Fessa Longhair Boogaloo” and “Just Kissed My Baby.”

Singer-songwriter Parker Millsap wrapped his month-long tour at the White Water Tavern in Little Rock, Ark., on Sunday, May 4. He fit about 18 songs into a brief, less than 90-minute set, showcasing his powerful vocals and excellent guitar playing.

I first saw Parker Millsap live at the Outland Ballroom in Springfield, Mo., in the summer of 2017. At the time, he had only two solo albums under his belt, and his most recent album, The Very Last Day, from the year before, had been one of my favorites.

In his early 20s, Millsap put forth one of the most energetic, foot-stomping shows I’d ever seen, completely drenched in sweat by the show’s end. His first two albums were the kind of gospel-tinged, alt-country-folk Americana that led to both performer and crowd constantly moving in unison to the raucous performances.

After that, Millsap’s music began to change. It became a little more bluesy, rock-ish and even poppier. On his latest album, 2023’s Wilderness Within You, his music changed again to a more stripped down folksy vibe. He’s a chameleon who loves different sounds and writes and records in these various sounds. I haven’t liked his three most recent albums nearly as much as I did The Very Last Day, but they’re still worthwhile, and Millsap showed on Sunday night in person that these sounds all mesh together fairly well in a live setting, even if they didn’t always catch my ear on the recordings.

On Sunday night, he performed three songs from The Very Last Day at the White Water Tavern: the title track, “Hades Pleads” and, my ultimate favorite, “Heaven Sent.” They were my favorite performances of the evening, but I could’ve told you going in that would likely be the case. It’s probably just my affection for these songs that makes me feel this way, but they, along with the similar fire-and-brimstone-sounding “Truckstop Gospel” from 2014’s self-titled album, seem to be Millsap at his best.

“Heaven Sent,” the story of the gay son of a preacher who struggles with his dad's inability to understand him, has been one of my favorite songs since I first heard it in 2016. On this website, I ranked it the best Americana/Country song of 2016 and the No. 8 best song of the decade (2010-2019) in 2019.

The bluesy tracks from Millsap’s three most recent albums, such as “The Real Thing " from 2021’s Be Here Instead and “Your Water” from 2018’s Other Arrangements, were the ones I liked the most from his post-The Very Last Day output.

Other highlights included “Front Porchin’” and “So Far Apart,” with which he opened the show, from Wilderness Within You.   

Millsap had a fantastic group of musicians playing with him on Sunday night: Michael Zimmerman on bass, Hayden Cotcher on drums and the fantastic Bobby Steinfeld on keys.

Millsap wrapped up the night with a solo performance of a beautiful new song called “Before the Curtain Closes,” which was a fitting way to end the evening. The song is a part of a four-song EP he’s recorded with the musical ensemble Lockeland Strings, which drops this upcoming Friday (May 9).