Indy Live Music

The show starts out with Collin Raye, who had a number of top 10 country hits in the 90's. One of his most well known songs is a song called "I Can Still Feel You," which was actually a number one hit in the summer of 1998. He took the stage with just a guitar and was accompanied only by his guitar player and a lady playing the keyboard. One of the things that I loved about Collin Raye's music is that it was always positive and had a great message...combined with his outstanding voice, his songs still remain powerful. I always thought that Raye's voice was almost too clear for country music. The guy could be in any broadway show; it's that powerful and that dramatic, in a sense.

What I appreciated about this opening set from Raye was the fact that he is very honest about his career and how he performs his songs. He let us know at the get-go that he would be performing a lot of his hits that people know and would maybe throw in a couple of new songs that he has been working on. He made jokes about getting old and being in the business for 20 plus years. Raye played hits such as "Little Rock", a touching song about a man recovering from alcohol addiction, "That's My Story", a song Raye admits is a bit shallow, "I Want You Bad (And That Ain't Good)", "The Gift",and arguably his most popular hit, "Love, Me".Raye has always been an energetic performer and still puts forth the effort to be very entertaining. We found out just hours before the show that Raye's granddaughter had died just weeks ago, yet the guy was there performing at a benefit show. He still has the heart and energy that I remember from the 90s and I felt a sense of gratitude towards him for having the courage to perform in the midst of his own tragedy and for contributing so much to the period of country music that shaped the way I listen to music today.

Randy Travis was up next and opened the show with his hit, "Better Class Of Losers (Album Version)", a great country song about a country man who finds that his uptown living is not as great as the simple, down-home life he left behind. I probably shouldn't have been surprised that Travis has aged since 1993 when I first saw him, but for whatever reason, I was shocked to see that his hair is greying and he's not quite the "hunk" that I remember everyone made him out to be in the 90s. Travis was accompanied by an 8 piece band, many who have traveled with him for many years. Randy Travis was considered to be the leader of the movement of the "New Traditionalists" in country music when he hit the scene in the 80s. His voice isn't too far from sounding like George Jones and though he had the looks of a modern day movie star at the time, his music was not as pop sounding as other country artists were sounding in that era. He kind of brought back old school country and made it cool again. He played many of those songs I remember growing up to and loving. He made jokes about his lack of technological knowledge, though it should be noted that he has a Twitter. He joked about the difference between men and women, and cracked a couple of jokes you could find on the back of Laffy Taffy pieces. It was obvious that Travis still has a hardcore following and has opened up his demographic towards people who love inspirational/contemporary Christian music.

I found it surprising in a couple of his songs to hear him struggle with his lower register, which had always been his trademark. That low baritone is so much a part of what set Travis apart from all other country artists in the 80s. Also, in a number of songs, he pulled what I call a "Christina Aguilera:" he went from the very bottom of his range, making a winding journey all throughout his vocal ability, to finally hitting some high notes at the end, which I didn't think he pulled off extremely well. If he were a contestant on American Idol, he would have been chewed out for that. All in all, I think it's great that Travis gave his time to a cause and I think it's great that he still tours. He certainly has the audience for it. But, it's also clear that he is aging and in a small way, it seems that he will never be able to break free of the fact that people will always want to hear the hits from decades ago. It made me wonder how difficult it must be in the music business, particularly in the country genre, to break free of your shell and try to create new and relevant music when your audience only wants to hear the songs they hear on the radio every day. Regardless of all this, Travis put on a solid performance with a couple of vocal hitches here and there, but the man still draws a crowd and still seems to love what he does, and perhaps that is all that matters to him.