It was a crisp fall morning with the sun shining bright, as hundreds of runners and walkers took on the five-mile course for the 13th Annual Country Heals on September 27th. Benefiting Tufts Medical Center and The Floating Hospital for Children, participants gathered at Wompatuck State Park in Hingham, MA, for a morning of exercise and country music put on by Country 102.5. So far, $3 million has been raised in efforts to heal, comfort, and learn about health promotion and disease prevention.
Local acts Alec MacGillivray, Jimmy Connor, Brianna Grace, and Emily Hodges played on the course throughout the run, a perfect source of entertainment and encouragement as the crowd pushed for the finish line. A festival full of BBQ, refreshments, country music, and games greeted the runners and walkers upon the completion of the event.
First up on the main stage was Alec Mac. JW and Lori had the pleasure of introducing the Massachusetts native, an artist who plays many shows for the Boston country music station. Alec led off with ‘Sixteen’ and then made the jump to his song, ‘Tom Petty,’ even changing the lyrics from “you and me and Tom Petty” to “you and me and Tom Brady,” giving TB12 the shout out. Next up was a cover of Kelsea Ballerini’s No. 1 hit, ‘Love Me Like You Mean It,’ which had the growing crowd singing right along. MacGillivray acknowledged Tufts and Country 102.5 for their work on putting on the event, even mentioning that he played the event last year and was happy to be back. A feat that Alec Mac is known for is his mashups with country music and the classics. This time, it was ‘Take Me Home Tonight’ with ‘I’m The Man’ and ‘Barefoot Blue Jean Night,’ a mix which the crowd loved.
Next to take the stage was Brianna Grace, an artist with a beautiful voice that everyone should get to experience live. Brianna treated the crowd to Miranda Lambert’s ‘Automatic’ and even took on Kelsea Ballerini’s latest single to climb the charts, ‘Dibs.’ It was Brianna who won the Female Vocalist of the Year at the 2014 Limelight Music Awards and on this New England September day, she showed us why. In a song that has the whole country singing along, ‘Girl Crush’ was an easy choice to add to the set list for Brianna, giving the crowd a chance to warm up their vocal chords. The fans were ready for the early afternoon to continue, as excitement rose for Chase Bryant.
With what may be the most noticeable hair in all of country music, Chase Bryant took the stage with his band members to rock for the fundraising-crowd, kicking it off with ‘Girls & Guitars.’ If you haven’t seen Bryant play live yet, it’s time to put it on your bucket list. The young artist is pure entertainment and has jokes for days, as we soon laughed and learned. “My name is Chase Bryant. I swear I’m not a Jimmy Neutron impersonator,” he laughed, acknowledging the style of his hair. ‘Jet Black Pontiac’ was next on the list for Bryant, a song off of his self-titled EP. We were informed that Bryant and his crew had just landed from Columbus, where they opened for Sam Hunt. “Girls, it’s gonna be okay, I know,” Chase said, with a clear understanding of Hunt’s followers. It was time for Chase’s first top-10 single from last year to grab the attention of the crowd, who sang along to ‘Take It On Back.’ Clearly a humbling moment to see the fans chiming in, Bryant took a second to thank them. “I’m the most down-to-earth person you’ll ever meet, but I want you to know, thank you, from the bottom of my heart for buying my stuff.”
The concert slowed down for a little, as ‘Change Your Name’ had the hearts of girls in the audience melting. Seemingly mature beyond his years, he took the time to talk about a girl he had dated for a couple of years, who had the plan of moving to Nashville to be with him. The rest wasn’t just history, but a song. “I was sitting down on my bus one night when we got done playing. I got a phone call (from his girlfriend) and it was just kind of weird, everything was going south. We were driving back from Tulsa to Nashville and she was coming into town and I was meeting her at the airport the next morning. Right before I went to bed, I got a message from Southwest Airlines; it said your flight has been reverted from Boston back to Sacramento. Basically, the whole moral of the story is thank you Boston, for breaking my heart. No, just kidding. The bus driver asked me what was wrong and I said well man, I’m in love and she’s in Boston.” The song, ‘I Wish I was a Plane,’ was a crowd favorite with the New England fans, and left them eager for the release of this song.
In a morning and afternoon full of raising money for a great cause, Chase Bryant put the cherry on top with an entertaining concert. Taking time out of his busy touring schedule to play out of the goodness of his heart, Bryant headed to New York City shortly after his time in Massachusetts ended, as the Opry took center stage in The Big Apple.
This was written by Lauren Rose, contributing writer for New England Country Music. You can follow me on Twitter here.
(Photo credit: Country 102.5- WKLB)