The Exception to the Rule

Hello, blog friends! Remember me? Long time, no see. So much for my promise to myself to blog every day, right? The bad news is that I haven’t lived up to my own lofty expectations (imagine that!) BUT the good news is that you can rest easy that if I’m not blogging, one of two things is happening in my corner of the world. Either a) I have nothing blog-worthy going on (which you know can’t possibly be right) or b) I’m out kicking up my heels and just haven’t had time to tell the tales. If I were a bettin’ gal, I’d bet on the latter.

Buckle up, boys and girls, we’re taking a little Drive.

As much as blogging every day was my intent, it was also my intention to not duplicate topics. If you’ve read this blog for very long, you have figured out that my “No Duplication” policy has basically two exceptions: Christian Kane and Bill Gentry.

Three weeks ago, before the maple syrup hit the waffles after the concert in Lynchburg, Blane, Patsy, Jaime, & I were busy making plans to see Bill Gentry again in Charlotte. To pass the days that were moving slower than turtle speed, we watched one or two youtube videos , learned the words to a few more songs, and chatted with Bill and the band on facebook.

Finally, Saturday arrived and we jetted off to Charlotte for the big show.

We got to Coyote Joe's before it was too crowded, wandered around a little, and then struck up a conversation with a bouncer who asked us if we wanted to go to the Meet & Greet. I think he actually said, “Come to the Mee..” before we were out of our seats like we were on fire, blazing a trail to the back door of the place.

When we walked into the M&G, I immediately noticed that the band was missing two members and I was teetering on the verge of upset but karma was smiling on us and just about the time Jaime walked up to take photos, they walked in. Whew! Good thing; it just wouldn’t have been the same without Eric and Steve. And, since we're facebook friends with most of the guys (yep, in some tiny way, we're "with the band"), they remembered us from Lynchburg and Jaime and Bill laughed over him splitting his pants. When he showed her he was wearing the same pants, sewn up of course, I’m pretty sure I saw 19 shades of blush between the two of them. We shared a round of hugs and some laughter; the night was off to a phenomenal start.

The concert was as unbelievable as I anticipated PLUS some. Just when I think I can’t have more fun than I had at the previous Bill Gentry show, he finds a way to prove me wrong. He raised the roof; we raised a ruckus. Alongside the covers of Def Leppard’s Pour Some Sugar on Me, Lynard Skynard's Simple Man, and Jason Aldean’s She’s Country (among many other songs), he played most of our favorite BG original tunes and this time, we knew almost all the words. I hated he didn't play Hell & Half of Georgia; I'd been practicing that one and it's one of my favorites (even though I am a firm believer he should have been looking in NC and not in GA!) He noticed that we were singing right along with him although I suppose it would be pretty difficult to overlook our front row, center stage, singing, hollering, cheering, clapping, jumping and fist pumping.

After the show, we hung around for a minute to speak to Bill and he was, as we expected, grateful, genuine, humble, and friendly. What we didn’t expect was to learn that our favorite fella had the flu. Through more than two hours of a high speed and low drag, pedal to the metal, rockin’ country show that moved along with breakneck fury, Bill camouflaged well the fact that he was miserably sick. Just another tribute to how fantastic Bill is; nothing keeps the man from doing what he loves and from taking us along for the ride.

After one last round of hugs and promises to see each other again in Raleigh this weekend, we headed toward the car. But then I saw Matthew standing beside the tour bus so my route to the car veered slightly off course for one last goodbye hug for my favorite fiddle player. He did not, however, let me try on his hat! :)

Without reservation, I believe that I’ve talked to him enough times that I can honestly say that Bill Gentry is one of the nicest people I’ve met in ages. He’s above and beyond gracious on facebook, always commenting back to people and thanking them for coming to see the band. Live and in person, the only thing that overshadows his commanding stage presence is his lively demeanor. Bill’s energy catapults off the stage, bounces off the back wall, runs around the room high-fiving people, pauses to slam a few shots of Jack with the boys at the bar, jumps back on stage, spins a microphone stand, and tosses some beads to the fans, tangling a few into the rafters so that no one ever forgets he was there. He's a flash of frenzied fun; this shooting star is blazing one heck of a hot trail!

Bill Gentry is the life of any party and lucky for us, there’s an open invitation for everyone to join in on the fun. He'll be in Raleigh this Friday; we will too. Hope to see you front row!