Last night brought two kinds of emotions: fun because it’s another free country concert put together by 103.5 WEZL and sad because it’s the last Party in the Park of 2014. I feel like it flew by way too fast. We’ve had Love and Theft with Natalie Stovall and the Drive, Eric Paslay with The Swon Brothers, and Jana Kramer with Charlie Worsham.
The finale hosts Craig Campbell with Chasin’ Crazy and locals The Brady Smith Band. This event was a lot more hectic than the rest with double meet & greets so we actually missed most of the opening band. I did take a step out of the VIP room for a quick listen. I liked what I heard and I definitely hope I’ll get another chance to see The Brady Smith Band. I am still trying to decide which country singer it is Brady reminds of me. Who do y’all think it is?
We got two chances to hang out with the guys of Chasin’ Crazy before their set, and let me tell ya, they are C-R-A-Z-Y! Two of our Got Country Online girls (Aimee and Samantha) sat down with them recently where embarrassing stories were told and one member made a cape out of a towel. It was hard to corral all the boys together for M&G pictures! I need to figure out how to steal some energy from them. We got to see them launch into the first song of their set before we were swept away to M&Gs with Craig Campbell. When we walked back outside Landon was rapping Eminem. Excuse me? What?! I didn’t expect them to be rap stars. They did their own spin on Tim McGraw’s “Real Good Man.”
“We may be real bad boys
Oh but baby we’re a real boy band”
I told you those boys are crazy! And speaking of crazy, Jimmy James broke a string on his guitar so the boys of Awendaw Green worked to borrow a guitar from Brady Smith while the rest of the band launched into “Wagon Wheel“. After the next song or two, we realized Jimmy James broke yet another guitar string. Big props to Brady and his crew for letting Chasin’ Crazy borrow two, yes two, guitars so the show could go on. They ended their set with their first radio single “That’s How We Do Summertime.”
I learned something really sad, yet really amazing about Craig Campbell last night. It turns out his record label folded three weeks ago. Yet since he had already made this obligation he was determined to make it. He used his own funds to pay his way along with his band’s to make sure they made it to Charleston. That explains why he was carrying around Ram keys. Dear Craig, thank you so much! It means a lot to us that you did whatever it took to let the show go on. His set list included “Family Man“, “Fish“, “Outta My Head” (written by Cole Swindell), “Truck-N-Roll“, “Lipstick on the Moonshine Jar“, and “Keep Them Kisses Comin’”. I think my favorite part of the night was meeting Craig. He noticed Courtney Starr from WEZL taking our M&G picture from my phone. He asked if it was mine, I figured he’d make a comment about the pink camo case, but he wanted to make sure I would tag him in it. Another cool thing I learned about Craig was his passion to help raise money for Fight Colorectal Cancer, a cancer that took his dad from him. He was actually doing a fundraiser at the Party in the Park after party. Craig Campbell is an all around great guy. I wish him the best in finding a new label but he can definitely do it on his own! He proved that Tuesday night. And I hope we can help him spread the word to help fight colorectal cancer.
Until next year Party in the Park! Thanks for the great time! And let me know if you need any suggestions for who to add to the line up!
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