For the Love of Music!

Thought I would start Valentine's week off with something that I love very much.....live music!  Of course, I'm mostly referring to country as I rarely listen to anything else.  I just can't think of too many things I'd rather do than listen to someone sing...especially if the singer is male.  I have attended a lot of live music events and my favorites are definitely the up-close-and-personal type.  Large arena concerts are okay, but not usually worth the money.  Some of my favorites have been at restaurants. 

Last year at the Iowa State Fair, my husband and I were waiting for the Florida-Georgia Line concert to start when we stumbled across Iowa native Brad Morgan singing at Jalepeno Petes.  He was so good and the small crowd watching him was having so much fun that we actually considered just watching him all night instead of attending the concert we paid money for.

I also really enjoyed Frankie Ballard on Main Street in Ames last summer....can't beat outdoor summer concerts!  It was a small event and he came out in the crowd to sing.

By far my most favorite live event took place in Savannah, Georgia a few years ago.  We were visiting my brother and his family when they lived there and he and my sister-in-law offered to watch Rylee while we went out.  We headed down to River Street and were trying to decide which restaurant to eat supper at when we heard this amazing voice.  We both looked at each other and declared, "wherever that is coming from, let's go there!!"  We were seated right up front near the singer and were just in awe of his talent.  Not only could the man sing, he is one of those crazy people that can sing and play any song on the guitar!  He was looking for someone to stump him and it happened to be the day that Whitney Houston died and someone in the audience asked him to sing one of her songs.  He sat there like he had just been stumped.  You could see how hard he was thinking about it and then all of a sudden he belted out "I Will Always Love You".  It was awesome and people walking below the restaurant started clapping! 

We had already finished our dinner, but were definitely not ready to leave (could have listened to him sing for 24 hours straight!), so we just kept ordering something so we wouldn't be asked to give up our table.  I started to notice that the lady sitting next to us seemed to know the singer.  I told my husband, "I think that might be his mom".  So, loving to meet new people, I asked her if she knew him.  She so proudly said, "I gave birth to him."  She told us his name was Jared Wade.  We talked to her the rest of the night and she asked to see pictures of our baby and wanted to know all about us.  At the end of the night we weren't sure who we liked more...Jared or his sweet southern bell mama!  Jared Wade was named Georgia's Male Country singer of the year in 2013!  He has toured with Tracy Lawrence and I am confident we will hear him on the radio someday soon.  Look him up on Facebook and enjoy his beautiful voice on Mondays when he posts videos of him singing!! 

At the top of my bucket list is to spend 4-5 nights in Nashville, TN listening to live country music each night.  I'm hoping to get this one crossed off soon!  Who wants to join me?!?!?!  I would also love love love to have a private concert on our acreage someday, but I won't hold my breath for that one.