You know the old adage, you get what you pay for? Most of the times, it's very true. If you get something free, it's not worth a whole lot. Such was not the case at the free accoustic show given by Universal South recording artists Phil Vassar and Jennifer Hanson at Feather Falls Casino, in Oroville, CA, on January 20, 2008. They gave us 110%, and everyone had a wonderful time.
I don't get to attend a lot of free shows. Most of the time, if it's a free show, it's usually someone no one has heard of. So, imagine my suprise when I heard that Phil Vassar was putting on a free show. Phil Vassar? You mean the guy with several top 10 hits to his name, as well as two number ones? The guy that wrote "Bye Bye," "My Next 30 Years," "Something Like That," "She Was Mine for a While," "I'm Alright," and "Little Red Rodeo," for Jo Dee Messina, Tim McGraw and Collin Raye? Yep, that would be him.
Jennifer Hanson may be slightly less known, but she's had some hits on country radio in 2003, when she released her self-titled album for Capitol Nashville. Her most well-known song was "Beautiful Goodbye." More currently, you have heard Jennifer's songwriting, with the No. 1 song recorded by the Wreckers, "Leave the Pieces," and Bucky Covington's "A Different World."
Jennifer started the show with just one other guitarist and herself, reminding us of that first single, "Beautiful Goodbye." You could hear some of the people singing along as she sang and strummed. She then told us about growing up in California, and that she was a singer/songwriter, and that she'd been lucky enough to have one of her recent songs cut by Bucky Covington. She said she would like to perform the song for us, and that it would be on her upcoming album, which is due out later this year. That song was the popular "A Different World."
In another amusing story, Jennifer told us that before she had her own record deal, she had a publishing deal. She wrote this one song that she really liked, but even today, she still hasn't cut it. One day, her manager called her up saying, "Jennifer, good news, Little Big Town just cut your song." This was when Little Big Town was brand new on Sony Nashville. She was thrilled. It was even supposed to be a single. Then, later on, she got another call saying, "Bad news, Little Big Town was dropped." But, soon after that she found out that Shannon Brown had cut her song. Shannon Brown was on RCA Nashville at the time. Well, you guessed it. Before the song was released, Shannon was released from the label. Then, Jennifer finally got a deal, and she wanted to record the song, but they didn't think it was a single at Capitol, where she was signed, so she didn't record it. Finally, she got another call from her manager saying that Michelle Branch wanted to cover the song. Jennifer was happy, but thought, why would she want to record it? She's a pop star? Her manager explained that Michelle was doing a country duo thing with Jessica Harp, and they wanted to make the song their first single. They did, and the rest is history. She then sang her interpretation of "Leave the Pieces."
Jennifer told one last story about how she was at her mom's house, looking through some old photo albums one day, trying to find a certain one of herself as a little girl, when she came across a photo of her mom and dad and her, when she was just born. She said that her parents looked so very much in love in the picture, and if you knew her parents, who ended up divorcing, it was strange to see them looking that way. She said that there wasn't another picture of her with both parents until she graduated. She got to thinking, what if her parents had stayed together. How would that have changed her life, if they had stayed in love like they were back in 1973. And that was how she wrote the song "73." She said it will be the next single out. It was very pretty, and I think it makes a great album cut, but I don't see it really as radio-friendly. I hope I'm wrong.
I really enjoyed Jennifer's show. She thanked everyone for coming, and thanked Phil for taking her out on the road with him.
Song List:
- Beautiful Goodbye
- A Different World
- Leave the Pieces
- 73