Come National Finals Rodeo time, there are always tons of country shows to see in Las Vegas. You can check out living legends, hungry up-and-comers, cover bands, country comedians and many, many more. One performer who’s been coming to town regularly each December is Gretchen Wilson, and if you’re looking for a bit of old-school country, a bit of Nashville gloss and a bit of rock ’n’ roll in one package, then she’s the perfect choice for your NFR entertainment.
Wilson is still probably best known for her 2004 hit “Redneck Woman,” a rollicking celebration of being a Southern working-class female. When she sings lines like, “I’ll stand barefooted in my own front yard with a baby on my hip,” she taps into an underserved audience of beer-drinking, truck-driving, country-listening women just like her, and the “redneck woman” label is one that both Wilson and her fans still proudly sport. “Every time I step on that stage there are generations of women I’m performing for,” she told the Dayton Daily News when she stopped in Ohio last month.
Wilson co-wrote “Redneck Woman” with John Rich of country duo Big & Rich, and both Wilson and Rich were part of an informal Nashville collective known as the MuzikMafia, which helped bring rock ’n’ roll swagger to country music in the past decade, and whose influence can be heard in the music of artists like Kid Rock, Toby Keith and, of course, Wilson and Big & Rich themselves. The redneck spirit that Wilson espoused in her debut single has carried throughout her career, and has helped her connect with fans of various musical genres.
Gretchen WIlson
To see the variety of Wilson’s musical style, just look at the albums she released in 2013 alone, starting with her fifth studio release, Right on Time. With songwriting contributions from hot talents like Kacey Musgraves and Shane McAnally, it’s a timely, lively country album in the vein of Wilson’s most popular work. All Music called Right on Time a “strong, confident and diverse album,” citing its influences from garage rock, blues, funk and soul. Just a few months after Right on Time, Wilson released Under the Covers, a collection of classic rock covers by artists like Led Zeppelin, Bad Company and Cheap Trick, showing that Wilson can hold her own with rockers just as well as she can with honky-tonkers. (She’s also been known to perform with members of Heart from time to time.)
As if that weren’t enough, Wilson rounded out 2013 with Christmas in My Heart, a collection of holiday songs featuring standards like “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and “Silent Night” along with a handful of holiday originals, including the title track. Since her NFR shows fall just before Christmas, there’s a good chance that Wilson will break out a song or two from Christmas in My Heart. She’s also likely to throw in hits like “Here for the Party,” “All Jacked Up” and “Work Hard, Play Harder,” not to mention “Redneck Woman.” After all these years, it’s still a fitting anthem.
Golden Nugget 10 p.m. Dec. 6-7, $42.90-$108.90 VIP meet-and-greet, plus tax and fee. 866.946.5336
