I have watched a lot of concerts on a quite a few stages, but The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville is one of my favorite places to see a concert. I was livestreaming the show, but there were some fans in the seats. When I saw the lineup for Friendsgiving, I knew it would be a great show and I wasn’t disappointed.
Grace Leer came to the stage first and performed three songs. The last of her three-song set was “Over The Rainbow,” which was one of the songs she performed on American Idol. Leer competed on Season 18 and had to to compete from home because of the pandemic. I really liked her original song and I loved how grateful she seemed to be on the stage of the Ryman. She mentioned playing with the same band for 10 people a short distance away.
After Leer performed, Dillon James took the stage. He performed three acoustic songs. He told the story of being homeless in Santa Monica and not knowing what he would do next. He performed a song called “Home On Four Wheels” that was written about the experience. James was also on Season 18 on American Idol.
Laci Kaye Booth was the third artist to perform. The last song of her three-song set was a cover of “Can’t Help Falling In Love,” a song which she dedicated to her grandparents. They have been married for 46 years and Booth said their love inspired her. Booth appeared on American Idol in 2019.
Laine Hardy, who was the Season Season 17 winner of American Idol, played up uptempo set of three songs. He played a song called “Let There Be Country,” which I really liked. Hardy’s set included “Ground I Grew Up On” and “Tiny Town,” among others.
Kolby Cooper followed Hardy’s performance. I hadn’t heard him before, but I really enjoyed listening to his songs. He dedicated “Even Stars Fall Down” to his kids. He said he left his band in Texas. Even though he did a good performance with just a guitar, I would love to see him with a full band. As I researched him, I learned that he had almost seven million streams Spotify in just over a year. I thought that was impressive.
The Friendsgiving show was closed out with a performance from Riley Green. He started his set with “There Was a Girl,” which was his first number one song. He also performed “If It Wasn’t For Trucks” before bringing out Booth for a duet. Green closed the show with performance of “If Grandpas Never Died.”