Jessica Lynn and her band wow crowd
How lucky we are to sit in the Atlantic, bobbing up and down, just waiting for great talent to find us, and entertain us! And our luck held last night ... Jessica Lynn and her seven-piece band wowed the audience at the Southampton Princess in the latest offering at the Bermuda Festival.
The enthusiastic audience was given no choice but to have a good time.
Ms Lynn opened with a high energy song from one of her albums, They Say, and the tight band and clear vocals set the tone for the evening; indeed, it is worth mentioning here that they have had two PBS specials and are soon to be appearing alongside ZZTop.
The beginning of the show mainly featured Jessica Lynn’s own compositions such as the slow but relentless Better Than That and the provocative response to online doubters, Kiss my class.
The evening’s songs were of an often-personal nature, with allusions to family (four of the eight are closely related), and to gaining acceptance despite not hailing from the traditional country music belt.
There followed Twice As Good — a nod to traditional country music, with its customary strong narrative (and watch for the keyboards that we could have heard lots more of).
Then a Loretta Lynn classic, with imperturbable “Uncle Bob” Reidel on pedal steel, his sympathetic harmonies underpinning the backup line, as we had become used to hearing.
Then they covered an Elvis song, with a satisfying guitar solo.
The next song, Pretty, was a slow tempo piece about peer pressure, with a nice piano line and great slide — and by now the band had a firm grip on its audience. This was probably a turning point in the concert, with a return to their popular hard-driving style with plenty of pedal steel in Play Something Country.
Johnny B. Good started quietly and got the crowd dancing — then Uncle Bob emerged from his corner, and burst loose, wielding now the lead guitar, and showing he was no slouch in the vocal department either — and all the more dramatic given that he had hidden under his hat all evening, obviously just biding his time.
For the encore, a bit of Shania Twain — and by now the whole crowd (country music fans or not) was on their feet going a little bit crazy.
As in all good concerts, they were left wanting more.
Tickets for tonight’s Jessica Lynn concert at the Southampton Princess are available at bermudafestival.org