On Friday night, January 15th , Boston was treated to some good old fashioned country music. One of the class of ‘89 boys of country music, Travis Tritt entertained a full house of fans at the Royale Nightclub with a 20+ song set list. To start out the evening for us, was local performer, Houston Bernard. Bernard was joined on stage with band member, guitarist Sam Crawford.
Bernard and Crawford started their eleven song set list with the Alan Jackson/Jimmy Buffet fan favorite, ‘It’s Five O’clock Somewhere.’ They thanked the crowd and immediately broke into their second song, Chris Janson’s ‘Buy Me a Boat.’ Bernard and Crawford entertained us with several more cover songs, Dwight Yoakum’s ‘Even the Whiskey,’ Brad Paisley’s ‘Alcohol,’ and Eric Church’s, ‘Cold One.’ From the Houston Bernard Bands current album, they performed, ‘Country Crowd,’ ‘You Don’t Need Him,’ and ‘Home Is In Your Arms,’ which is their current single out on the radio. The two finished up their set with a song from their first EP, ‘Sweet Senorita.’
The stage was soon cleared of everything except a stool, a table and a guitar. The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed; that is, until Tritt entered the stage. The audience clapped, cheered, whistled, and screamed, giving him a standing ovation all before he had strummed one chord on his guitar or uttered a single note. Tritt bowed, put a hand over his heart, mouthed “thank you,” and then took his seat on the stool with his guitar in hand.
Strumming his guitar to the first song of the evening, ‘All About the Money,’ the country crooner had everyone already singing along. Ending his first song and barely taking a breath, Tritt began picking the chords of his guitar for his next tune, ‘Where the Corn Don’t Grow’ and then quickly followed with ‘The Pressure Is On’ and ‘I’m Gonna Be Somebody.’
Taking a deep breath, Tritt stopped to welcome us all to the show and like many other country artists, Tritt also has connections to Boston. “One of my dear friends in the world, the guy who was my best friend in high school, was from Worcester, Mass. He brought me up here certain times over the years to hang around in Boston. I’ve had a lot of good times in this town and it’s great to be back. Thank you all for being here.”
Amid the cheers and whistles of his fans, Tritt started his next song, ‘Lord Have Mercy on the Working Man,’ and then the song “that got it all started for me,” ‘I’m a Member of a Country Club.’ Travis stood up during the song and kicked up his leg as if he were a Radio City Rockette Dancer. From the screaming that followed, the ladies in the audience sure appreciated his antics.
During the next song, ‘Country Ain’t Country No More,’ an audience member placed a shot of whiskey and a beer on the stage for Tritt. His manager soon swooped in to remove them, but Tritt was having none of that. He asked for the shot glass and downed the whiskey in one gulp, continuing on with his set singing, ‘Here’s a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares).’ Other hits Tritt performed for us were ‘Drift Off To Dream,’ ‘The Whiskey Ain’t Working Anymore,’ and his first number one hit, ‘Help Me Hold On.’
Because of the simple, intimate set up of the stage, Tritt was able to share stories with us about his heroes in country music. He explained how he and his father would listen to the Grand Ole Opry every Saturday night on the radio, saying to us “If that ain’t country, I’ll kiss your ass.” He remembers watching the Johnny Cash Show every Sunday night. “I had my heroes, people that I loved even from an early age, and one of my heroes was a guy named Johnny Cash.” Cash was one of the first people Tritt met in Nashville. Tritt described his relationship with Cash as an old friend and a father figure, so he was honored to be asked by Marty Stewart to sing a song for a tribute album they were making for Johnny Cash. “Johnny told me some months later that it was one of his favorite songs on the album. And if you don’t mind I’d like to do it for you now.” Tritt performed the Johnny Cash hit ‘Walk the Line.’
There were three people that influenced Tritt throughout the years of his career- his own father, Johnny Cash and another of his childhood heroes, and probably the most influential, Waylon Jennings. “I loved his songwriting, I loved his guitar picking, I loved his singing voice, I loved everything about him. Because he meant so much to me, if you don’t mind, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to pay a little tribute to him.” Tritt performed for us, in honor of Jennings, a combination of three of his songs; ‘Are You Sure Hank Done it This Way,’ ‘Momma Don’t Let Your Babies Grow up to be Cowboys,’ and The Dukes of Hazzard theme song, ‘Good Ole Boys.’ It was an amazing tribute to the country music icon and the audience definitely agreed by the exuberance of the applause after the last notes were played.
After singing ‘It’s a Great Day to be Alive,’ and ‘It’s a Long Way to Richmond,’ Tritt introduced his next song. “When I think about being in Boston, I think about one of the albums I listened to growing up that influenced me as much as any other album I ever heard. It was a live album and was actually recorded right here in Boston by a guy by the name of Bob Seger.” As soon as Tritt strummed the chords to the Bob Seger hit ‘Night Moves,’ the audience roared. But not as loud as when he changed the ending of the chorus to, “We all know how hot it gets in Boston in the summer time.” The roar was deafening.
Tritt ended his night of songs and stories with his hit song ‘Trouble,’ from his certified 2× Platinum-selling album of the same name. He exited the stage as he had entered it, amid stomping and cheering. He again took a bow, touched his hand to his chest and screamed, “God Bless You! You have been a wild audience tonight! Thank you!”
Concert recap conducted by Lorraine Frigoletto, contributing writer for New England Country Music. Follow me on Twitter