Chris Cagle held his Fan Club on June 6, 2006 at the Gibson Bluegrass Showcase. I had never been outside of downtown Nashville before, so Dianne and I rented a car, and armed with maps from Mapquest, we headed up to the party early on Tuesday morning.
The party was to start at 11:00 am, and we arrived around 10:15 to see a long line outside the building. There was a covered area right around where the end of the line was, so we got in the shade to wait for the doors to open.
We got our nametags and got to pick out what color Chris Cagle Fan Club Party rubber wristband we wanted. Actually, we got to pick several if we wanted, and I picked up a sky blue and a chocolate brown one.
Around 11:10 the doors opened and we made our way inside the nice sized venue. It's tiered with tables along the front by the stage, then on each level up to the top. Maybe 4-5 levels total. We were on the second level on the far left as you face the stage, and we grabbed two of the four seats and went to the buffet line to get our lunch. The food was pulled pork sandwiches, chicken, potato salad, potato chips, coleslaw, beans, and a selection of cakes for dessert -- carrot cake, chocolate cake and banana cake. Then, they had ice tea to drink, and pitchers of water as well.
Around noon, I think it was, Chris hit the stage and welcomed us to the party. He started the performance part of the show with "What a Beautiful Day." After that, he mentioned that he wished he had something new to play, and wondered if we ever got tired of hearing the same old songs. We all cried out, "No way!!" "I Breathe In, I Breathe Out" was next.
Chris mentioned that he's happy to see so many families at the party, and said that 90% of the time you can bring your kids to his shows, and they wouldn't hear anything they shouldn't repeat.
When asked if he ever thought about releasing an acoustic album, he replied that he had, and he wished he could take this type of show on the road. He hopes maybe one day to release an album where someone could get the regular version, and then download the acoustic version at iTunes.
Chris told the story of when he was touring with Brooks & Dunn, and he just got off the stage to find Kix Brooks watching. He told Kix, "Man, that crowd is hard. I wish they would stand up." Kix replied, "That's easy to do." Chris said, "How do you do that?" Kix replied, "You ask 'em." During his next show, he tried that and the whole crowd got to their feet and roared.
Chris said he's working on his next album, and it should be called Diary of a Redneck.
Someone asked him about cooking, and Chris gave his recipe for Cordon Bleu. You take a chicken breast and some kind of cheese... guerrier or something and wrap it in saran wrap and pound it flat. Then get bacon, jalapenos, garlic, baby spinach, and you stuff that all in the chicken and cook it.
"Miss Me Baby" was next, followed by another question, asking him what was the worst job he ever had. Chris answered that it had to be when he worked as a roofer. He thought when they said he was paid by the square, he was paid by the shingle, and he found out it was a square yard, I think. Big difference. He did so bad on that job that the next day, he just didn't even show up.
A few songs were next, "Laredo," "Maria," and I think the song was called "All You Needed Was Me." Then, he sang "Chicks Dig It," and "I'd Rather Have the Girl," which was written about a breakup that he experienced, and it made him cry as he sang it. Very touching. This was a song he had performed a while back at a show one of the fan club members had seen, and she asked him to play it. He said he wasn't going to record it. I guess it's still too hard for him to sing. Maybe he will one day. The song is beautiful, but so sad.
He sang part of a song that he's writing called "Let Me Love Someone Like I Never Have." Then, "Lovin' You, Lovin' Me," and "Walmart Parking Lot."
By this time it was about 2:30, and we still hadn't had the meet & greet. Chris wanted to give us more time since there wasn't a set time he had to be out of the venue. Would have been great had Dianne and I not had another appointment that afternoon that we had to leave for. We didn't get to do the meet and greet, but we sure did enjoy the party, and the intimate experience with Chris.