An audience of young, predominantly female devotees wearing cowboy boots, hats and glittering waistcoats rushed to the front of the stage to get closer to their idol, Kaylee Bell, at the Regent Theatre on Friday night.
Parents and grandparents among the good-sized audience kept mostly to their seats, clapping and hand-waving on cue.
This world, though delivered in a refreshingly New Zealand accent, is backdropped with images derived from a poverty-stricken Nashville desert rather than the wealth of Gore’s lush rolling pastures. Its heroes are Dolly Parton and Shania Twain.
Bell’s enthusiasm spills out from the stage and hopefully will inspire the upcoming generation to take up the guitar and clear their throats.
The majority of Bell’s songs — Red Dirt Romeo, One More Shot in the Dark and Cowboy, for example — are indistinguishable one from the other. The quieter tunes, Heartbeat and Man Kind wrought, she says, from the "psychotherapy of the mixing room", reveal a sensitivity which promises to inform her latest works.
Warm-up country singer Zac Griffith takes his inspiration from Zach Top and Johnny Cash. His playing is forceful with signature flourishes.
Griffith has a rich tenor voice, and strong delivery, all presented in a convivial stage manner. His material reveals a distinctive, thoughtful perspective on life’s nuances.
Highlights include Midnights in Georgia and Love of a Travelling Soldier.
Bell’s band and crew received a single callout.
We will indeed be ready to Put a Ring on It and be ready for Good Things to come our way.
