Photos and Review By James Currie<\/p>\n
This past Friday, Nashville based singer songwriter Lera Lynn played at the 34th<\/sup> Annual American Music Festival at FitzGerald\u2019s in Berwyn, IL. Located just outside of Chicago, the festival is home to the largest American music gathering around. Lynn played for about an hour and a half on the main stage inside to a packed house of adoring fans. It was the perfect setting\u00a0for her style.<\/p>\n Former waitress and bartender, Lera Lynn was born in Texas, raised in Georgia and now lives in Nashville where she concentrates her music career. A career that has skyrocketed after her debut television appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman this past Winter. One of Letterman\u2019s personal requests before retiring. She played, \u201cOut To Sea\u201d off her Sophomore album, “The Avenues”, a song that when played at FitzGerald\u2019s garnered much attraction as well assuring she has no plans to return to the other side of the bar anytime soon.<\/p>\n Lynn\u2019s Indie Americana Western style is a mix of Patsy Cline and Lucinda Williams with a touch of Sheryl Crow. It\u2019s passionately haunting and heartfelt with meaning and purpose. \u00a0A sultry sound filled with pedal steel guitars, riding bass and brush tipped drum stick beats.<\/p>\n Lynn, accompanied by her acoustic and electric guitars and her tight three piece band consisting of Joshua Grange on pedal steel, Tommy Perkinson\u00a0on drums and Robby Handley on bass, took the stage around 6:15PM. She warmed up to the mic with a greeting to the crowd and rolled into, \u201cI\u2019m Your Fool\u201d. Originally a track off her, \u201cLying In The Sun\u201d EP, also now on her album, \u201cThe Avenues\u201d. From there, they played through 15 songs of which included a couple covers like, \u201cFire\u201d by Bruce Springsteen (before which Lynn jokingly asked if anyone still liked Springsteen) and \u201cRing of Fire\u201d by Johnny Cash. She even debuted a new track, \u201cFor The Last Time\u201d. Of course the set wouldn\u2019t be complete without hearing, \u201cMy Least Favorite Life\u201d the latest tune gaining traction from the hit HBO show, True Detective, Season 2\u201d.<\/p>\n Throughout the show, she proved to be very personable. She told short stories, made whimsical little jokes and entertained a few drunks between songs. \u00a0At one point she commented how she wasn’t sure how we (the audience) kept going. \u00a0A reference to how the festival was already going for a couple days at this point and lasting until the wee hours of the morning fueled by plenty of whiskey and beer. \u00a0Lynn made another statement pointing out that the festival has been going longer than she’s been alive. \u00a0Which garnered a few half hearted laughs and groans. \u00a0No one really cared how young she was. \u00a0They already knew they loved her music, that speaks to all ages, and she is much more sophisticated than the average 20 something.<\/p>\n Lynn and the boys finished off the nights performance with a boot stomper country swing track, \u201cGood Hearted Man\u201d, one that left the audience cheering and calling for more. \u00a0The live version was even more pumped up than the recording on her debut album, \u201cHave You Meet Lera Lynn?\u201d.<\/p>\n Set List:<\/p>\n For more info on Lera Lynn including catching her on tour, checking out multimedia or buying her albums, visit:<\/p>\n www.leralynn.com<\/a><\/p>\n www.facebook.com\/leralynn<\/a><\/p>\n\n