Music

Same Trailer Different Park

Anna Blankenheim Music , , ,

One of my latest music purchases is Same Trailer Different Park by Kacey Musgraves.

Same Trailer Different Park
Same Trailer Different Park

When I first heard her on the radio not entirely impressed. However, since then I’ve heard a few more songs and fallen in love with her tell-it-like-it-is style of songwriting and singing. She wrote or co-wrote all twelve songs on this album and is credited as a co-producer. She really tells the story in each of her songs, something that is really lacking in a lot of today’s pop country.

While her songs come across as fairly depressing, they’re about real life and real people. One of my favorite lines is from “Silver Lining”: “If you’re ever gonna find a silver lining it’s gotta be a cloudy day. ” Love, love, love it! Definitely a great album worth the money… can’t wait to see what she comes up with next!

Favorite Songs: “Blowin’ Smoke”, “Follow Your Arrow”, Merry Go ‘Round”, “Silver Lining”, and “My House”.

The Night Train Tour

Anna Blankenheim Music , , , , ,

Last night I went to the last concert of the megaticket series – the Night Train Tour featuring Thomas Rhett, Jake Owen, and Jason Aldean. Amber and I went for our traditional In-N-Out dinner before the show. I played with my new curling iron that does these beachy waves… I love it!

Rocking The Waves
Rocking The Waves

I was seriously impressed with Thomas Rhett… out of the three acts, I thought he was the best overall entertainer. He had a natural ease on the stage and got the crowd really involved. I’m shocked to see on Wikipedia that he’s only twenty-three years old… he definitely performs with maturity beyond his years! Jake Owen was really good too… I couldn’t remember any of his songs, until he actually got on stage. Turns out I knew a lot of them! Then it was time for the main event… Jason Aldean. He did all of his big hits and was just a blast to watch. I absolutely love “Night Train“… it’s one of my favorite songs right now! I was exhausted after the show… we sang and danced almost the entire time!

One of the most shocking events of the night happened on my way back from the bathroom… as I was climbing the stairs back to our lawn seats, I noticed a group of people huddled around something on the ground. Once I got closer, I realized it was a person… to be clear, a girl. She was screaming bloody murder and was being held down by a bunch of the rock med people. I have no idea what was going on, but she was clearly out of control. Crazy!!!

It was a great time! This is the last concert on my calendar for the year… unless something pops up before the year ends. We’ll see!

Light The Fuse Tour

Anna Blankenheim Music , , , ,

So I’m a little bit behind with my concert posts… a couple of weeks ago Amber and I headed out to Sleep Train amphitheater to see the Light The Fuse Tour with Keith Urban, Little Big Town, and Dustin Lynch. To be honest, I was most excited to see Little Big Town… I don’t mind Keith Urban, but he’s never been my favorite. In fact, most of his show felt like an epic guitar solo… over and over and over.

Little Big Town was absolutely amazing. I’ve always loved them, but they are phenomenal live. Their harmonies are amazingly tight! They did all of their big hits, and even did a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Listen To The Wind Blow”. I think since I sang harmonies with my dad and sister growing up that I’m drawn to that kind of music… to me there’s nothing sweeter than beautiful harmony!

And now for the obligatory pre-concert picture:

Amber & I
Amber & I

Favorite Song Friday – “All Kinds of Kinds”

Anna Blankenheim Music , , ,

This week’s favorite song is “All Kinds of Kinds” by Miranda Lambert. Seriously, this girl can do no wrong in my book. I love the song and the general message (we need to accept everyone because it takes just about everyone to make things work). Happy Friday!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02X8bX_EBv4

Don’t Fear The Reaper, DMB Style

Anna Blankenheim Music , , ,

Yesterday I met up with Sean, Erin, and Clarissa for the Dave Matthews Band 2013 Summer Tour at Shoreline Amphitheater. If you ever get a chance to see him live, do it. I had an absolute blast!

My DMB Peeps
My DMB Peeps

As always, it was an amazing show. What I love most about DMB is that lawn seats are all you need. You take a blanket, have a beer, and just relax and listen to the music. His songs morph into these epic jam sessions and his in-between songs banter is absolutely hilarious.

Dave
Dave

He played “Crush” (my favorite song), but I think one of the best moments if the show was their cover of “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” by Blue Öyster Cult. All I could think about the entire time was “needs more cowbell”! It was a seriously good cover. I always judge a band by how well they play live since we all know what kind of magic the folks in recording studios can work. DMB is honestly one of those groups that I think is way better live than on a recording. There’s something amazing about a very talented group of people coming together to just make music!

Favorite Song Friday – “Maybe I’m Amazed”

Anna Blankenheim Music , ,

This week’s favorite song is “Maybe I’m Amazed” by Paul McCartney, which has special importance to me – it’s the song that Mike and I danced our first dance as a married couple to at our wedding. Mike actually picked the song and I fell in love with it. It’s really strange – I’ve heard the song on the radio about five times this last week and I’ve been missing Mike (he’s still fighting the Rim Fire). Every time I hear it I’m reminded not only of the love of my life, but of our amazing wedding and how much fun it was. It definitely puts a smile on my face! Enjoy!

Beat This Summer

Anna Blankenheim Music , , , , , ,

Last weekend I met up with my friend Amber and headed out to see Brad Paisley‘s Beat This Summer Tour at the Sleep Train Amphitheater. I love going there and getting lawn seats… there’s something so much fun about laying out a blanket and just hanging out. This show ended up being kind of interesting… there were lots of drunk cowboys around. So many, in fact, we saw three actual fist fights. Drop down, chests puffed up, roll on the ground fist fights. It was pretty entertaining!

Amber & I
Amber & I

The concert itself was really good. Lee Brice opened the show and was followed up by Chris Young. I went into the show thinking I didn’t know very many of either of their songs, but was pleasantly surprised to find out that I did. They were both awesome live… and as you know, that’s a huge thing for me wither performers.

After those two came Brad Paisley. I’ve seen him once before and loved him… this time was no exception. He can seriously play guitar. Like seriously. I love his music… he sings really great love songs. He even had a Carrie Underwood hologram for his song “Remind Me”. Amber and I spent a decent portion of the song trying to figure out if she was real or not… so it was pretty convincing!

Brad Paisley's Stage
Brad Paisley’s Stage

Let the summer of music continue!

Summer of Influence

Anna Blankenheim Music , ,

*** So this has been sitting in my drafts for like a week… totally forgot to actually hit publish! ***

Last night I finally got to see Straight No Chaser with Mike, Adam, and Eva… I’ve been wanting to go for years and one thing or another has gotten in the way. For those of you who haven’t heard of them, they’re the a cappella group from Indiana University who rose to fame with this little gem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8

The concert was at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga which is quickly becoming one of my favorite venues to see a show. It’s a great little concert bowl that overlooks the valley… absolutely stunning views.

SNC was as awesome as I had hoped they would be. They went through a range of their most popular songs (all covers of hits) and left me wanting to hear more. I would definitely see them again… I was really bummed that they didn’t do “The 12 Days Of Christmas” (yes, I’m aware that it’s August).

Blurred Lines

Anna Blankenheim Music , , , ,

I have fallen in love with the song “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke. Yes, I’m aware that it’s on the radio ALL the time – in fact, sometimes you can even change the channel and it’s on like all of the pop stations. But it’s catchy and I like it.

I am a believer in buying the whole album, not just a single. Some of my favorite songs have never seen the light of day via radio DJ, but were recorded. I bought this whole album (also called Blurred Lines) and was actually disappointed. Part of what I really loved about Robin Thicke was his strong R&B roots. On this album, he’s completely crossed over to a highly mixed, far less R&B sound. To be honest, I’m not loving it at all.

This might be one of the few times that I recommend just buying the one catchy single and passing on the album!

Blurred Lines
Blurred Lines