It's been a wild week. I spent three days at Gaylord Opryland for Mark Lowry's Christmas Celebration Senior Trip. On Friday, it was off to Christ Community Church in Franklin for Buddy Greene's Christmas concert featuring Buddy, Jeff Taylor, and Tricia Walker.
Sometimes when you get a few moments into a show, you know it's going to be special. This one truly was. What I liked the most about it was that it wasn't a concert where the same tired Christmas songs were sung. Buddy, Jeff and Tricia took it out of the box and also brought in songs that really reflect the values that should be remembered at this time and beyond: loving and caring for one another. If you go to one of Buddy's shows, you'll also find much of his gentle humor, and that too was mixed well into the concert. (Best line of the evening: while introducing Jeff Taylor, Buddy said "One of Jeff's ministries to me is being balder than I am.")
Admittedly, I wasn't very familiar with Tricia Walker, but the buzz on her at the product table was accurate. A singer/songwriter with songs recorded by Faith Hill, Patty Loveless and Alison Krauss, her voice is exquisite and her song "Heart of Dixie" grabbed the soul. Jeff Taylor is one of the most diverse musicians around, supporting Buddy superbly as usual on piano, accordion, penny whisle and perhaps other instruments I've left out. One moment that brought down the house was Buddy and Jeff's "movements for accordian and harmonica, two lost instruments of the classical era".
As for Buddy...aside from his musical excellence, I love his soul, and I love his spirit. His rendition of the Stephen Foster classic "Hard Times" was passionate and heartfelt, a highlight of the evening. He also shined on "Glorious Impossible", a widely acclaimed song that the Gaither Vocal Band recently recorded, and of course, no way could he do a Christmas show and not do "Mary Did You Know". He told the audience the story of how Mark Lowry handed him the lyrics and asked him to come up with the medley, and that the reaction he got when he first played the tune in South Africa told him the song was something special. It was a neat experience for me to hear both composers put their own stamp on their performance of the song in the course of the same week.
Buddy told us not to go home early, as he would have a surprise for us at the end of the show. Your eyes aren't playing tricks on you in the picture--that is indeed Amy Grant, who joined Buddy, Jeff and Tricia on stage. Buddy and Amy did a couple of special appearances together in the past weeks and she stopped in on the show as a favor...it was a treat for all of us. Amy sang "Tennessee Christmas" and joined in at the end for "Go Tell It On the Mountain".
I'm here to tell you too that Buddy Greene is the real deal onstage and offstage, a guy who walks his talk and has a lovely family. Love ya, Buddy.
And of course, I love this town.
No comments:
Post a Comment