| Concert Review: Carolyn Dawn Johnson | |
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Reviewed by Matt Bjorke
On Friday July 19, 2002 I had the pleasure of seeing reigning Canadian Country Music(CCMA) Female Vocalist Carolyn Dawn Johnson. Incidentally, Carolyn, or CDJ, is the 2002 Academy of Country Music (ACM) Top New Female Vocalist as well. For the show Carolyn was the only act at a small venue, the King County Fair in Enumclaw, Washington.
On the previous night Martina McBride appeared on the same stage and the crowd was three times as large as Carolyn's was. That fact I expected for Carolyn is a relative newcomer compared to Martina. For Carolyn's show, she started the show at 8:30 pm and it ended about 10pm. One and a half hours of solid, well written songs.
Carolyn opened up her show with "Just Another Girl." An uptempo song from her Room With A View CD, "Just Another Girl" was the perfect song to start out the show. From there Carolyn introduced herself and thanked us for being at her show. She marveled about how beautiful the Pacific Northwest is while fondly remembered her time spent up in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Carolyn then broke into her first hit single "Georgia." From that song she then sang a new song for which the title escapes me. Before starting "Love is Always Worth the Ache" Carolyn stated that she tended to not write love songs that often, but when she did, they were usually special.
Carolyn also sang some of the songs that other artists recorded and made hits. The biggest hit Carolyn has written besides her own was Chely Wright's "Single White Female." A No. 1 hit, the song sounds just as good with Carolyn singing it as it did when Chely sang it.
There was a short two song interlude for which Carolyn sang with just her acoustic guitar. This part of the show is where her bass player, guitarist and drummer, all excellent musicians, were taking their break from the show. The three songs she sang were "Room With A View" and JoDee Messina's "Downtime." Carolyn went on to explain that "Room With A View" was written about her brother who passed away. She also said she was amazed at the notes she received about how this song has helped many fans in similar situations.
After those two stellar songs, she proceeded to perform the rest of her set taking time to tell stories here and there. "One Day Closer To You," I Don't Want You To Go," "Complicated" and her cover of Sheryl Crow's "Everyday Is A Winding Road" are all highlights of this part of the show. The song "Masterpiece" is a song Carolyn wrote about her Aunt and Uncle's undying love for eachother. The song is great on CD and in concert was even better than I could have hoped.
If you get a chance to see Carolyn Dawn Johnson in concert, I suggest you do because she is very friendly to her fans, and puts on a classy show. I know the next time she rolls into the Seattle area, I will do whatever I can to get to her show.
Set List:
After singing "You Are," she then went on to say that her good friend Deana Carter was just signed to her label Arista Records, and that they wrote a song together. While the title escapes me as I write this, I can tell you that the song will be a hit whether it's on Carolyn's or Deana's next CD.
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