David Nail

DAVID NAIL
Friday, June 11, 2010
@ Joe’s Bar in Chicago, IL

Contributed by: Robin Dolezal

If you are in the city of Chicago and looking for a good country music concert than you need to look no further than Joe's Bar on Weed Street. You can see all kinds of acts within the genre. Ed’s hard work and support of country music is why he and his crew at Joe’s continue having today’s top country artists lining up for a stop in the Windy City. Continue to keep an eye on the schedule as they continue to add more shows to their calendar at www.joesbar.com.

The excitement from The Chicago Blackhawk’s win spilled into Joe’s Bar as an energetic crowd gathered for an evening to listen to one of country’s promising artists with red lights flashing to accentuate the theme for tonight’s show.

David Nail started the show with “This Time Around” a song about being a little older and a little more figured out and transitioned into the cover song “Firecracker”, by Ryan Adams. The crowd started to get rowdy as they kept singing the verse “Be your baby tonight” when signaled by the guitarist. Nail slowed thing down as he sang the title song off his album “I’m About to Come Alive” with a sincerity that said volumes about the emotion this song emulates.

To pick up the energy Nail performed the upbeat duet, ‘Strangers on a Train”. Too bad Miranda Lambert wasn’t on hand to add her robust vocals as she did on the album, but the void was filled with the enthusiasm of the harmonica and pedal steel player to add drama in just the right tempos. Before starting into his second cover song of the night Nail asked the fans to raise their glasses and toast to Waylon Jennings. “I think he wrote this song about me”, he interjected as the band began playing “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way”. The audience again cheered when the chords of the instruments transitioned into his newest hit song “Turning Home”, co-written by Kenney Chesney.

The lights then faded and the spot was focused on Nail as he played an acoustic solo on the rhythm guitar before leading the band into the song “Clouds”, a song about a gypsy choosing his never ending ways as he says goodbye to the girl of the moment. The slower ballad was the perfect musical passage into his hit song “Red Light”, co-written by one of Chicago’s favorites, Jonathan Singleton. There wasn’t a fan in sight that wasn’t singing away as the audience participation grew to levels that would have made country music radio US 99.5 proud. The red lights flashed on and off the stage creating a dramatic effect until the band again went silent. The only sound that erupted was the chords of the keyboard playing the intro to the soulful, southern classic “Mississippi”.