From: ronw@gvlf6-e.gvl.unisys.com ()
Subject: Fair Hill (MD) Country Music Fair (Review)
Reply-To: ronw@gvlf6-e.gvl.unisys.com ()
Organization: Unisys Defense Systems, Great Valley Labs, Paoli, Pa
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 12:22:22 GMT

I was at the Fair Hill, MD Country Music Fair this past weekend.  It was to be held
rain or shine, so of course it rained.  So, you grab all the plastic you can find
and go sit in the rain and the mud with the rest of the crazies.

The first day lineup was Trisha Yearwood, Patty Loveless, Sawyer Brown, Tanya Tucker,
and Dwight Yoakum.  Trisha did a very good show.  I think she has a really great voice.
Patty did 3 or 4 songs then the rain started to get the equipment wet and they stopped
her  show.  What a disappointment!  Anyway, they cleared the stage, dried the equipment,
and hung some plastic sheeting to keep out the rain.

Next came Sawyer Brown.  The DJ who introduced them called them the best live act
in country music.  I don't think so.  They were good but not great.

Tanya put on a great show with a good mix of some of her early songs (Delta Dawn with
audience participation and San Antonio Stroll) and some of her most recent stuff.

I didn't stay for Dwight Yoakum so I can't say how his show was.

The second day lineup had the acts I really wanted to see.  Leading off was Bob Paisley
and Southern Grass (who? OK, I believe they are a local bluegrass band), Billy Dean,
Beausoleil, Mary-Chapin Carpenter (can you see what's coming??), and Clint Black.

Bob Paisley and his group played some very good bluegrass.  A good time was had by all.
Billy Dean really plays to the audience.  Good music and good voice.  What really 
impressed me about Billy Dean though was that he stayed around for about an hour after
his show to meet with the fans, sign autographs, shake hands, kiss the women and babies, etc.
He worked both sides of the stage, standing in the mud with the rest of us.  Later, he was
doing the same thing for the folks back stage.  I was really impressed.

OK, not to be partial or anything, but the real reason I went was because Beausoleil and
Mary-Chapin Carpenter were on the same bill together.  I was real concerned when they shuffledthe schedule and Beausoleil did not appear before Billy Dean as was listed in the program.
Anyway,  they finally did set up and did some really fine ragin' Cajun music.

Next came Mary-Chapin.  I saw her show about 2 weeks ago in a theater in the round setting.
She is much better on a full stage where she has some  room to move around.
She did You Win Again, Quitting Time, I Feel Lucky, He Thinks He'll Keep Her.
In her previous show, she did Come On, Come On which is the title cut from her new
album.  I like this song a lot and the whole album is great.

So anyway, she  did a lengthy show and I know Beausoleil is hanging around backstage, so
they'll be coming out to do Twist and Shout.  Can you spell anticipation?
So Mary-Chapin called them out on stage and presented them with a gold record for (Down at the
) Twist and Shout.  She said they had only performed the song together three times
up  to that point (once in the studio, once on the Grammies, and once at
Wolf Trap, I guess for the video).

So finally they got to the song, Beausoleil and Mary-Chapin Carpenter performing (Down at the)
Twist and Shout.  The entire audience was on their feet for  the whole song.  Dancing,
shaking rocking, stomping in the mud.  A great time was had by all.  This was the
only time the whole audience stood up for anything.

Well, you can't top that.  I had had my money's worth.  I didn't stay for Clint Black.
I saw him once before and that was enough.

Anyway, in spite of the foul weather, it was a great festival and you might want to 
check it out next year if you are in the area.


Newsgroups: rec.music.country.western