It's not often you get to see someone three times in a week, so step up Walker McGuire, back from Germany and a grilling from the #TEAMw21 team to supply another wining set. If anything the familiarity with the material is making them sound better each time, no wonder they were on a list of Rolling Stone's Country Artists You Need To Know! So we have the infectious humour of "What's Her Name" and "Mysteries Of The World" mixed in with their take on a John Mellencamp song "18 Forever" a song of "football and Friday nights". With their good buddy Luke Combs announced earlier as being at C2C 2018, hopefully the signs are good for an early return for the dynamic duo.
Levi Hummon took to the stage with a backing guitarist old enough to be his Dad, but he was obviously capable so I think most people let it pass unnoticed. He revealed himself to be a first time visitor to the UK and it was only after the second song "Chain Reaction" that he revealed that his guitar playing sidekick was in fact his dad! With his short cropped blonde hair he went down exceptionally well with the assembled crowd and with material like "Love You Hate You Miss You" which has had over one million streams it is easy to see why. He was not afraid to mention Las Vegas and was aware of the Arianna Grande outrage and was very emotional when singing a new song "Make It Love".
There were a few songs for those aware of Levi, the single "Don't Waste The Night" and "Stupid" but the biggest surprise was left for an emotional finale with Levi handing over to his Dad. There then followed a highly charged introduction into the final song, with Dad Marcus in tears and by the end of it half of the audience biting on their lips. When Dad said he was going to play a song he had written, a few eyebrows were raised and perhaps the worst was feared until he revealed himself to be one of the co-writers of 2005's Grammy winning Country Song of The Year "Bless The Broken Road", with Marcus taking the first verse and Levi the rest of the song for a spectacular finale
A second night for Temecula Road under the eyes of #TEAMw21 and once again they rose to the occasion. It has to be said that they are incredible to look at, both girls in ripped jeans Maddie wearing a cardigan, and let's be honest Dawson is quite chiselled himself and as the girls would repeatedly say single. Their talent shone through and despite one of their songs having over 2 million streams I would say that their producers have still to capture the essence of what makes them so good. With remarkably little instrumentation, Dawson on guitar and Emma occasionally on mandolin they made a beautiful sound. Unreleased songs such as the openers "That's the Kiss" and "Drive Slow" with it's impossibly catchy chorus point towards better things to come from this band. Things slowed for what Maddie considered to be her favourite song, and we at #TEAMW21 would have to agree, the soulful vibe with snazzy lyrics about Neil Armstrong and Andy Warhol on "Everything Without You" is the one recorded song that truly does them justice. Maddies vocal was exceptional on what was one of the songs of the evening.
A little party piece linking 20 songs starting with "My Church" via "Humble and Kind" to "Snapback" was a nice diversion but was surpassed with the next song which they delivered as a faultless cover of "Desperado" with Emma this time starting the vocals. They were always most powerful when all three sung together in perfect harmony such as for the new single "Hoping". They can do no more than leave you wanting for more and they certainly achieved that - highly entertaining.
Logan Brill took to the stage with a rather familiar backing band, Dan Clark & Tom Smith from Megan O'Neill's Common Threads, with Dan in trademark hat almost stealing the night with his guitar work and backing vocals. In fact it was Dan's kicking electric riff that set the scene for Logan's appearance as she kicked off with the title track of her album "Shuteye" even more impressive for being stripped back. Dressed in black leather, by the time she had completed "Words Still Round" she had justified her place as top billing with the largest rounds of applause of the night. For "Giving Up" the song previewed she also got the most successful bit of crowd participation going and really put some power into the line "George Strait singing "Let It Run" on the radio" absolutely excellent. She then seemed genuinely a bit nervous about doing the next song and at the same time really excited, before lighting the touch paper to kick of the party fireworks with "Jolene"
Logan was in the UK when news broke from Las Vegas and made an emotional speech before playing a new song that was originally about two people but now seems to have a wider meaning. It was a debut for a new song "Shine On Me" , beautifully sung, the final chorus a cappella. Logan has been to the UK before and regaled us with how her song "Walk Of Shame" in the UK would be called "Stride with Pride", either way it was another outing for the song premiered at C2C. A lovely story about seeing Bonnie Raitt complete with an impromptu burst of "I Can't Make You Love Me" was the lead in to a song called "Break Each Others Heart", it was here where Dan stole the show with exquisite playing. The song was an absolute triumph pulling in Country song titles and musical references and was delivered beautifully. An end to the set that was far too brief - judging by the amount of fans around me singing her lyrics i'd advise an early return as soon as possible to build on that momentum.
The end to the night saw everybody return to the stage for a tribute to Tom Petty with a version of "Free Falling". A bit like BandAid, everyone got to have go, Dawson from Temecula Road opening things up, while Johnny McGuire who at Cadogan Hall had been sporting a Tom Petty shirt, let rip with real passion on the next verse. Both band and audience were singing wholeheartedly if not necessarily in the same key or at the same time but it didn't matter - this was for Tom, underappreciated while he was here greatly missed now he's gone.