Langhorne Slim

On Monday, the night before leaving for Asia Pacific I was able to catch Langhorne Slim at Southgate House in Newport, KY. He and his band The War Eagles were straight off the Lollapalooza weekend in Chicago but came to Southgate House early for a portrait photo shoot with me in the green room.

Langhorne Slim is an American folk artist who’s music has been featured in the movie Waitress and has been a Rolling Stone Editor’s top pick.

His latest album Be Set Free was released September 29, 2009.

Check him out on myspace:

http://www.myspace.com/langhorneslim

Rascal Flatts, Darius Rucker & Dierks Bentley

On Saturday night, I shot my first show at the Columbus Crew Stadium. It was a strong lineup of some of the top country artists around. I was thrilled and a little overwhelmed to be shooting in a venue that holds over 22000 people in a sold out show.

The show started strong with Dierks Bentley singing songs like “Long Trip Alone” & “Come a Little Closer.” I was a little alarmed that there was no barrier or pit between the crowd and the stage. For the first few acts I did not anticipate a problem, but I never underestimate girls as they try to get near their favorite bands.

Darius Rucker came on stage next and sang all the hits on his country album as well as some of my old Hootie & the Blowfish favorites. Truly a happy moment for me to hear “Only Wanna Be With You” again live after so many years. I saw Hootie 4 times one summer while in college and it brought back good memories of very fun times. My only disappointment was that Darius sang without his trademark acoustic guitar which was a photograph that I wanted to capture.

By the time Rascal Flatts took the stage, it was very dark and the stadium was packed. We went down a few minutes before the set and I was frustrated from the moment we arrived near the stage. There was no space for photographers because fans were already right up next to the stage. The stage also extended about 200 ft out into the crowd. The band spent most of one of the first three songs out in the crowd so that limited photo options significantly. Overall, the session was very disappointing and I was only able to get a few photos after trying to push my way through the crowd to the stage.

Collective Soul, SAFETYSUIT & Ryan Star

I had extreme 90’s flashbacks over the weekend as I shot Collective Soul at Bogarts. I’m sure everyone remembers “Shine”, “Breathe” & “The World I Know” from college in 1994-95…hello. Collective Soul brings back other fond memories for me when they performed at the first New Year’s Eve’s party that Bryan and I attended together. Check out their new “Rabbit” album being released on August 25, 2009 with the single called “Staring Down” that is headed up the VH1 Top 20 countdown.

My reason for shooting the show in addition to the 90’s college memories was to photograph SAFETYSUIT, an up and coming band from Tulsa, OK currently residing in Nashville. I love the single “Stay” off their new record Life Left to Go and I was not dissapointed in the band’s set with songs off the album. The band members: Douglas Brown, Dave Garofolo, Jeremy Henshaw & Tate Cunningham are coming on strong with radio ready tunes.

Ryan Star (RStar), a runner up on the TV show Rockstar: Supernova, opened for the acts at Bogarts. His new album 11:59 is scheduled to be released on September 15th, 2009. Ryan has had songs appear on NBC’s show, The Philanthropist, and his “Last Train Home” was featured on the P.S. I Love You movie soundtrack.

Jimmy Buffet SummerzCool Tour

Jimmy Buffett rolled into town last night with the SummerzCool tour at Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati. Parrotheads from all across the country camped out onsite before the show. This show has been sold out in Cincinnati each year for over 20 years in a row which is kind of crazy and amazing.

I shot the show and the fans for CityBeat and was so happy to get access to this legend and witness the spectacle in person for the first time. Jimmy’s management and publicity team was laid back and easygoing to work with to get access to the show for CityBeat.

We had to shoot the show from the side of the stage but I was still able to get some great images of him with my 18-200 mm zoom lens.

I have decided this must become a yearly tradition to see him in concert. So fun and laid back for summertime. All I kept thinking was now I know why Chris Bagby has does this every year since I have known him and I must frame a picture for him for Christmas.

Little Big Town & Jamey Johnson Ohio State Fair

This weekend I covered the Ohio State Fair concert series for CityBeat. I was able to shoot Little Big Town & Jamey Johnson. This show was extremely difficult to shoot. I thought it was going to be outside, but it was actually inside a huge barn at the fairgrounds and the stage was literally 12 feet off the ground so you had to shoot straight up.

I was pretty excited to get access to Jamey Johnson’s show at the last minute. Special thanks to the staff at the fairgrounds.

You gotta love anyone who can write lyrics like… My life was just an old routine … But I traded that for cocaine and a whore … he sings in “High Cost of Living.” I also just realized he is less than a year older than me (his DOB July 14, 1975) but he seems so much older and wiser than his age.

It was pretty amazing to hear “In Color” performed live. Johnson proves that “real” country music is still alive and well in Nashville. I can rest easy that I still have a place to go home to in TN…

Little Big Town is a band that has stayed together through life’s struggles of divorce and death since it was formed in 1998. Their music is amazing with the vocal harmonies of all four singers: Karen Fairchild , Kimberly Roads Schlapman, Phillip Sweet , & Jimi Westbrook.  My favorite song by far from the group is “Bring it on Home”  from album The Road to Here.