C. Jam and the Mystery Man

If you’re a country fan, I admit that Wisconsin is the place to be.   With more than 4 big time festivals, you’re bound to spot at least one of your favorite country artists, without fail, every year.   You’re also bound to spot at least 4 dozen drunken hooligans wearing cut off jean short shorts and t-shirts that say “I’m in the mood”.  And hey, you might even be lucky enough to spot the 50 year old beer-bellied man wearing nothing but a grin and basketball shorts. 

I was lucky. 

I absolutely LOVE country music, so aside from all of the shenanigans caused by loud, obnoxious girls attempting to sing all the words to songs but fade out because they realize they don’t, it was pretty amazing.  I could do without those beach balls they hit around, though. 

Usually when I think of live singers, I picture okay performances with unpleasant acoustics and slightly off key singers.  Country Jam 2012 was anything but.  Honestly, I have not heard that many fantastic performers in a row before.  Chris Young, Trace Adkins, Luke Bryan, and Jason Aldean were absolutely phenomenal.  Really.  It takes a lot for me to say that.  But never once were there pitchy notes sung.  In fact, all of them hit more notes than I imagined.  The best part of the whole weekend was when Luke Bryan sat down and played and sung Adele’s “Someone Like You”.  If a person could actually melt, I would have been on the floor. 

I did run across more than my fair share of lunatics, but I also met a very nice man.  It’s one of the things I love about Wisconsin.  You can strike up a conversation with just about anyone and you have more than a 60% chance of receiving a friendly reply.  That’s exactly how it was with him.  Maybe we hit it off so well at first because we knew we would probably never see each other again and telling our life stories seemed harmless.  Regardless, we talked about topics that I normally wouldn’t talk about with someone unless I knew them for at least 2 months.  It was great, and at the end of the night we wished each other luck and parted ways. 

Attending my first Country Jam concert was quite the experience.  Many good and interesting encounters.  For those of you who have attended one, you know what I mean.  And for those of you who haven’t, I’d say go.  If just for the experience.  

And to the Mystery Man that I met, I send you my support and hope that your situation plays itself out for the best.