Every year during Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, the Golden Nugget presents a concert series that places the pulse of country music in the heart of Downtown Las Vegas. A stay on Fremont Street during NFR creates proximity to The Showroom for the Golden Nugget’s slate of shows, and this year kicked off with scheduled dates by legendary acts Lonestar, Tanya Tucker and Marty Stuart. The series continues with heavy-hitters Tracy Lawrence, Aaron Tippin and the Bellamy Brothers before Jamey Johnson steps up to the plate Friday night for the final performance. (All performances are at 10 p.m. at The Showroom. For tickets, go to goldennugget.com.)
First, Ray Wylie Hubbard returns on Sunday, Dec. 4. Hubbard is an outlaw in the tradition of Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, with a knack for storytelling and a preponderance of tales to tell. He has a way with lyrics on the level of Warren Zevon and a road warrior’s perspective that could only come from the Lone Star State.
Hubbard has been inducted to halls of fame by both the Texas Heritage Songwriters’ Association and Austin Music Awards in recognition for a career that began in earnest when Jerry Jeff Walker recorded his early ’70s composition “Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother.” He has since written for Jennings and Lucinda Williams, and was named Songwriter of the Year for 2017-2018 by readers of The Austin Chronicle. Inspired by symbolist poetry, psychedelic insight, the Devil and God (as he writes on 2012 song “Lazarus”), Hubbard is part of the vanguard of Americana musicians.
It’s been 30 years since Dec. 6 headliner Lawrence hit No. 1 on the country singles chart with the title track from 1991 album Sticks and Stones. The neo-traditionalist honky tonker had four Top 10 country singles from that album, which had to be delayed due to Lawrence being shot four times prior to its release while protecting a friend from assault. The number four would figure prominently again for Lawrence when “Can’t Break It to My Heart,” “If the Good Die Young,” “My Second Home” and the title track his 1993 album Alibis all became No. 1 country singles.
Lawrence managed to not get shot again but could not avoid having more chart successes. Recent setlists include hits such as “Texas Tornado,” “Time Marches On” and “Better On, Better Off” as well as a medley of songs by Charlie Daniels, Charlie Pride and Kenny Rogers. The third volume in Lawrence’s three-album Hindsight 2020 Volume 3: Angelina, features a heaping helping of re-recorded early hits plus original material.
Tippin takes the stage Wednesday night, Dec. 7, with a set of songs highlighted by his No. 1 country hits “That’s as Close as I’ll Get to Loving You,” “Kiss This” and the song that started his rise to success, “There Ain’t Nothin’ Wrong with the Radio.” The latter was the big hit from his 1991 debut album, You’ve Got to Stand for Something, which came out a year after his potential as a live performer was discovered by Nashville. Tippin was already established as a songwriter, but his blue-collar beginnings informed his songs and made him a favorite among the working class.
The song “You’ve Got to Stand for Something” became a patriotic anthem during the Gulf War as well as laying down Tippin’s common-sense philosophy on life. Patriotism would inspire Tippin’s concert mainstay “Where the Stars and Stripes and the Eagle Fly,” which was a No. 2 country single and became Tippin’s biggest crossover hit.
Photo by: Derrek Kupish
The Bellamy Brothers, who headline Thursday, Dec. 8, had nothing but crossover hits during their heyday in the ’70s. At a time when being siblings gave musical acts an edge, David and younger brother Howard were pop-radio gold with hits that became part of the Me Decade’s musical canon. “If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me,” a musical symbol of the singles-bar era, contained both a double entendre in its title and south-of-the-border sonic seasoning that made the song unforgettable. “Let Your Love Flow” and “Do You Love as Good as You Look” fit nicely on playlists with Eagles and early Doobie Brothers, while deeper cuts “Old Hippie” and “Redneck Girl” remain concert favorites.
Johnson is the personification of a country music concert favorite. The singer-songwriter has 11 Grammy nominations under his belt, and two Song of the Year awards apiece from the Country Music Awards and Academy of Country Music. As a songwriter, Johnson has provided hits for Willie Nelson, Trace Adkins and Merle Haggard.
As a solo recording artist, Johnson can reduce listeners to tears on tracks such as “Angel” from 2008’s That Lonesome Song then celebrate the good life in “Place Out on the Ocean.” Johnson’s output has been sparse for the last decade, but a duet with singer Julie Roberts released in September titled “Music City’s Killing Me” may provide clues as to why. Regardless, he’s an authentic country music outlaw in a Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson way, and more than worthy of the climactic Dec. 9 concert slot.
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