Manic Monday Music Moment #3

Well, I totally dropped the ball on doing this as a weekly post!  Oopps!  Anyway, I am back at it and ready to go!


The song that hit me this week was Miranda Lambert's new single, "The House That Built Me".  It really made me think of my childhood home.  There are so many memories in that house and yard, some good, some bad, some happy and some sad.  And like the song, my parents build the house themselves.  The only difference is that my parents still live there.  I can and do relive many of the memories and special moments every time I visit.  I don't expect my parents to leave their home any time . . . well, ever, but if they ever do decide that it is time to move on, there will be a lot of sadness as we leave those memories and special places behind.


I know they say you can’t go home again
I just had to come back one last time
Ma’am I know you don’t know me from Adam
But these handprints on the front steps are mine

Up those stairs in that little back bedroom
Is where I did my homework and I learned to play guitar
I bet you didn’t know under that live oak
My favorite dog is buried in the yard

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
This brokenness inside me might start healing
Out here it’s like I’m someone else
I thought that maybe I could find myself
If I could just come in I swear I’ll leave
Won’t take nothing but a memory
From the house that built me

Mama cut out pictures of houses for years
From Better Homes and Gardens magazine
Plans were drawn and concrete poured
Nail by nail and board by board
Daddy gave life to mama’s dream

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
This brokenness inside me might start healing
Out here it’s like I’m someone else
I thought that maybe I could find myself
If I could just come in I swear I’ll leave
Won’t take nothing but a memory
From the house that built me

You leave home and you move on and you do the best you can
I got lost in this old world and forgot who I am

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
This brokenness inside me might start healing
Out here it’s like I’m someone else
I thought that maybe I could find myself
If I could just come in I swear I’ll leave
Won’t take nothing but a memory
From the house that built me



If you aren't familiar with Miranda's music, I really encourage you to check it out.  I have loved her since the moment I heard her first single, Kerosene.  She is a rocking country girl.  And despite having released 3 albums with 10 singles, she just recently had her first number 1 hit with White Liar.  She is one of my favorite female country singers, but she seems to sometimes get lost in the shadows of some of the other overrated, not so country girls in the industry.  (I won't mention any names right now, but let's just say that I think a certain someone should just run away with her hockey player and never come back!  But that's just my opinion!)  I just hope that Miranda keeps write and singing with the same passion and attitude that she has shown so far in her career!  

Kenny Chesney's Sun City Carnival Tour hits Ottawa!

Today, I feel the need to stay from my chosen blog topic (as I am sure I will do often!) to share my thoughts on last night's concert.

Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lamber and Kenny Chesney - I knew from the moment it was announced that it would be a show not to be missed! And apparently many others agreed . . .

Lady antebellum took the stage first. Every time I hear their song, "Love Don't Live Hear Anymore," I am taken back to a hot, sunny day at Riverfront Park in Nashville during the 2007 CMA Music Fest when a group of unknowns rocked the stage in front of a moderately interested crowd. I loved the song from that moment, and was thrilled that they have grown into a well known group. Last night, they rocked the stage in front of a roaring crowd at Scotiabank Place. They have a ways to go before they are the in the league of Kenny Chesney or other big names, but they have come a long way in two years! And what better way to learn than to tour with Kenny!

On the outside, Miranda Lambert's blond hair, blue eyes and silver tank top give people the impression of a sweet girl next door type. Then, you look a little closer and see the crisscrossed handguns on her stage backdrops and the mic stand, designed to look like a shot gun (or maybe a rifle, guns aren't my thing!) and you raise an eyebrow and wonder what's up with this girl. But when she rips into songs like Kerosene, Crazy Ex-girlfriend, and Gun Powder & Lead, the women in the audience are on their feet, clapping, cheering and singing along while the men in the crowd are peeing their pants in dear. Fortunately, she also shows us her humorous side when she let's us know how it feels to be stuck in a "Dry Town" and to be "Famous in a Small Town." Miranda is a force to be reckoned with in the country music game. And God help Blake Shelton if he ever pisses her off!

And finally, the moment that everyone had been waiting for. The curtains around the stage are raised for the one and only Kenny Chesney. All eyes are on the stage, waiting for the first look at the super star - all that is except the diehard Kenny fans. Our eyes are on the back of the floor area because we know that he will come in on a chair suspended over the crowd, sining "Live Those Songs Again."

Critics have complained about this, saying that it's been done before - but here, we don't care if he's done it every tour for 16 years, because, well, that's how long we've been waiting for Kenny to come to Ottawa. Yes, that's right, Kenny Chesney has been touring for 16 years and this was his first trip to Ottawa. When he mentioned this during the show, the crowd went wild. Kenny laughed and said, "I can tell that we waited 16 years too long to come to this town. We will be back!"

Kenny puts on an incredibly high energy show. By the time he a few songs in, you can already see that parts of his shirt are a few shades darker as he is dripping in sweat! But he never stops smiling. And even when he stops singing to have a drink of water, he never stops moving. My only complaint, is that it is hard to get good pictures, cause he is moving so much!

Everything about this show is larger than life! The band, the stage, the lights, the screens, the 20 trucks that bring it all from place to place are all as impressive as the show itself! Kenny does a perfect mix of fast ("Living In Fast Forward", "When The Sun Goes Down") and slow ("Me & You", "There Goes My Life"); old ("I Go Back", "How Forever Feels") and new ("Out Last Night"). And of course, as us die hard fans knew, the ever popular encore, "She Thinks My Tractors Sexy."

To top it all off, after Tractor, he spent probably 15 minutes singing autographs for fans in the Sandbar and around the rest of the stage. I thought that was a pretty decent thing for him to . . . just wish I had been down there!

All in all - best concert that I've ever been to! Let's hope that he doesn't wait another 16 years to come back!