Our good friends at Cat Country 98.1 (WCTK) recently hosted their annual Stars With Guitars charity event benefitting the Hasbro Children’s Hospital at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence. This event is also the largest of its kind in the New England area. New England Country Music was generously invited back this year to attend this amazing event. This uniquely styled show produces great success for an even greater cause. The “guitar pull” lineup this year was full of insanely talented artists with plenty of timeless hits! Ryan Follese, Love and Theft, Runaway June, Jon Pardi, LOCASH and Josh Turner were the chosen performers.
A number of empty stools accompanied with microphones lined the stage as the Dunk started to fill with anxious fans. Round one of the this star-studded lineup consisted of Ryan Follese, Love and Theft, and Runaway June. The artists took to their stools and got right down to business. Ryan Follese kicked it off by saying “alright… y’all need to get wild for me tonight” and his song ‘Wilder’ was played with an added rendition of ‘Ignition Remix’ by R Kelly. Love and Theft responded to that crowd pumping intro with their recent single ‘Candyland’ – which had the whole crowd swaying and singing along. The ladies of Runaway June dedicated their song ‘Train Whistle’ to a little boy in the crowd named Liam who was attending his first concert – what a great first concert! “Alright Flossy, you’re up! We like to call Ryan ‘Flossy,’” the girls of Runaways June announced to the crowd as Ryan was about to take to his second song of the set.
“How many of you are out there with a significant other? Or maybe even a new significant other?” Ryan asked the crowd, in which they responded with cheers and yells which encouraged his popular single ‘Put A Label On It.’ Love and Theft played their newest single ‘Love Wins’ after that. Right before they played, Stephen Barker Liles took the time to talk to the crowd. “This song is very timely. It’s a reminder for Eric and I to be better fathers, husbands and humans on this planet.” “My god, how are we supposed to follow up after all these great songs?” the ladies of Runaway June said. They did however, do a great job following up the men preceding them. They played the first song they ever wrote as a trio, called ‘Forget Her.’
The third string of songs brought a more personal round for each performer. Ryan played a montage of songs that were written by his parents, Keith and Adrienne. The montage started with a song written by his dad which is known as the hit ‘Something Like That’ by Mr. Tim McGraw. Ryan delivered an amazing stripped down version of this track. Halfway through he stopped to tell the crowd a story; “So my mom didn’t write that song. So I’m out on the road and I’m playing that song, my dad’s song. And I get this call from my mom, and she’s like ‘Hey, sweetie, I saw you on Facebook! And I noticed you were doing your dad’s song… but I have one question, how come you’re not doing any of mine?’ And everyone knows the expression ‘If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.’ So we’re gonna do a couple of my mom’s tunes in case this ends up on facebook again!” He picked back up with his mom’s songs ‘I Love You’ and ‘The Way You Love Me’ and tied it back into finishing ‘Something Like That’ with the crowd helping him sing. Love and Theft were up next, and they played an all too familiar song with country music lovers. “This song came out 4 years ago, and thank you Cat Country for playing it. Sing it if y’all know it,” and the guitar chords of ‘Angel Eyes’ began. Stephen and Eric didn’t even need to sing the song because the crowd was taking over for them. On the ending chorus, the boys of Love and Theft stopped and let them take control. Runaway June was the last to play that round and they brought a song personal to their member, Jennifer. “How many of y’all know John Wayne? Well Jennifer is John Wayne’s granddaughter. And this song is a love song to John Wayne, and no it’s not weird at all!” and the crowd started laughing. ‘Wild West’ was dedicated to the late and great John Wayne and phone lights lit up the arena.
The final round of this acoustic set was started with Ryan Follese’s old band, Hot Chelle Rae, and their song ‘Tonight, Tonight.’ “Alright y’all, get those phone lights out,” and the singing began. Follese switched it up again and added in a rendition of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song. The crowd was loving every minute of it. Love and Theft slowed the tempo down and closed their set with their powerful song ‘Whiskey On My Breath.’ The boys took the time to talk with the fans before playing for the last time; “This song is very important to Eric and myself. Eric is 700 days sober and I am so proud of him. We have lost a lot of people to addiction and we’ve even battled our own addictions. So this song is for everyone struggling out there” and the crowd gave a much deserved applause. To close it out, Runaway June played their popular song ‘Lipstick’ and got the crowd ready for the next round of performers. The ladies took the time to thank Cat Country for playing their song and for hosting this event. “Alright y’all, how about we get ready for Jon Pardi, LOCASH, and Josh Turner!! You got 15 minutes, go grab a beer. Thank you for having us!” and just like that Love and Theft prepped the crowd for the next round.
As the intermission began, fans took direction from the boys of Love and Theft literally and took the time to refresh their beverages. Shortly after Jon Pardi, LOCASH, and Josh Turner took the stage. Jon Pardi was supposed to kick the set off first, but was having trouble with his sound; “We wanted to show y’all what soundcheck looked like, you go LOCASH, I’ll catch up.” However, LOCASH needed time to tune their guitars and the crowd started laughing. Pardi interjected in saying “I swear we’re professional!!” and Josh Turner counteracted with “Can I go?” and the crowd was dying with laughter. LOCASH started the set with ‘I Know Somebody’ which took 11 years to make and Preston Brust thanked the crowd in saying “we’re like the little engine that could all thanks to you guys!” Pardi was finally up to speed and was ready to play his song ‘What I Can’t Put Down.’ Josh Turner got his turn next and took time to get the crowd excited. “How are you Providence, Rhode Island? Y’all are my favorite part of this… they’re so into this man, they’re singing and dancing. Well, you know what they say; America runs on Dunkin and country music!” The crowd responded with uncontrollable cheers and Turner began his ‘Why Don’t We Just Dance.’ The crowd was on their feet and dancing all throughout the aisles to this classic song.
Before the second round began, Jon Pardi and LOCASH had casual banter about the G.O.A.T., Tom Brady. “Y’all are Patriots fans out here aren’t ya?” Chris from LOCASH asked the crowd and of course, the response was deafening. Pardi improvised a lyric from LOCASH’s song and said “I know Tom Brady…” and LOCASH responded with “he might have a little dirt on his rings…” and the crowd was loving every second of this exchange. The boys of LOCASH started up again in playing the song they helped write for Tim McGraw, ‘Truck Yeah,’ which started an instant party in the arena. Jon played ‘Up All Night’ to continue the party theme. Turner played his newest single ‘Hometown Girl’ next and dedicated it to all the ladies of the arena in saying “I do believe that there are some hometown girls out here tonight” and the screams from the ladies were intense. Turner also thanked Cat Country for playing that song and getting it out there to the fans.
To keep the Tom Brady frenzy alive, LOCASH started up again in playing their latest single ‘Ring On Every Finger.’ Before they performed, they took the time to dedicate it to TB12. Jon Pardi followed in playing ‘Heartache On The Dance Floor’ and was congratulated after his performance by the boys of LOCASH on winning the ACM’s New Male Vocalist award. Josh played the title track of his new album, ‘Deep South,’ next which is a song he wrote. This new song got a great reaction out of the crowd with claps accompanying the beat. In this song, Josh’s low reverberating voice is displayed all too well, and the boys of LOCASH have a definite man crush on the way it sounds. Throughout the whole set they kept commenting on how cool his voice was; “Man your voice is so damn cool… I’m jealous I can’t make my voice go that low. We’re gonna record you saying ‘LOCASH’ real deep and we’re gonna use it!”
To carry on with the set, LOCASH introduced the song ‘Drunk Drunk’ which was ironically written on a bus in Rhode Island that they boys were snowed in on. Preston also introduced us to something that they called the “Love Dunk” which is dunking a donut into a mug of beer. Preston was instantly in heaven and told Chris he could sing the next song by himself. During this song there was a huge crowd interaction in which Preston pointed out two men in the crowd, which he named Bubba and Hubba. He made them sing the line of “1 long island, 2 long island, 3 long island, 4” to one another and the crowd was in hysterics, including the artists on stage. After that, Jon Pardi had some following up to do. He delivered his song ‘Head Over Boots’ and during the chorus, one lucky fan got proposed to – and of course she said yes! To end it, the audience sang the chorus. Turner played another song that he wrote called ‘Long Black Train’ and he took the time to say, “thank you Cat Country for playing my music and staying loyal to me.”
The final round was a battle, no doubt. Hit after hit was presented and the whole arena was on their feet from the start of it to the end. LOCASH played a song that they dedicated to the United States military and how grateful they are to have them representing our country. Before the song began, the boys let out a “‘MERICA!” yell and started singing ‘The Fighters.’ Pardi was up next and he certainly started one! ‘Dirt On My Boots’ was his final song and he brought the house down, which included a fantastic guitar solo by his guitarist, Terry. During this song LOCASH and Josh were rocking out alongside Jon. “I’ve been getting snow on my boots all week!” Josh said right before he played his final song of ‘Your Man.’ Once again, he dedicated it to all the ladies in the audience; “This one’s for all the Rhode Island girls out there tonight.”
To close out this amazing guitar pull, all the artists came out on stage and they invited Cat Country to join them and to give thanks to them for putting on this incredible event. Preston from LOCASH addressed the crowd one more time in saying “we’re here tonight for Hasbro Children’s Hospital. FOR THE CHILDREN!” and everyone began singing their popular hit ‘I Love This Life.’ The arena was an absolute frenzy of dancing fans and incessant singing. The audience took over the chorus for the artists and sang it back to them as if they were right up on stage with all of them.
Cat Country really outdid themselves again this year with this lineup for their annual Stars With Guitars. The money they raise and the success that they bring in from this event is always so incredible to see and the changes they’re making in people’s lives is truly inspiring. Chris from LOCASH was quoted in saying “the second we heard that this was for the children of Hasbro, we were sold. We were like ‘done. It’s a done deal, we’re in. Don’t say anymore.’ I have babies of my own and I truly don’t even know what I would do if anything were to happen to them. This means so much us and them.” The country music community is truly one of the best out there and is always so giving. Each artist came strapped and ready to deliver the best acoustic sets they could – and they succeeded!
Please be sure to visit the Hasbro Children’s Hospital website to view conditions and treatments available, the doctors and nurses who dedicate their time to helping these beautiful souls, and most importantly – to donate, if possible.
Photos courtesy of Sal Capirchio and Matthew Fike of C + F Photography.