Buddy Jewell: 2/25/23 It was a great day for country music in my hometown as multiple award winning singer-songwriter Buddy Jewell took the Abbeville Opera House stage Saturday evening! The 61 year old Arkansas native Star Search and Nashville Star winner (beating out Miranda Lambert) rolled in this weekend between gigs in Massachusetts and North Carolina bringing in his ‘Sweet Southern Comfort 2.0 Tour’. Jewell had received national notoriety with his self-titled release in July of ’03 spawning two #3 singles, ‘Help Pour Out The Rain’ (sub-titled ‘Lacey's Song’ for Jewell's daughter) and ‘Sweet Southern Comfort’. Once known as ‘Nashville’s most popular demo singer’ prior to that release, recording more than 4,000 projects some of which were recorded by artists such as George Strait, George Jones, Trace Adkins, and Lee Ann Womack, he hasn’t slowed down a bit recording a total of 10 studio releases of his own material spanning 19 years. I couldn’t have had better seats for the event, the center two in the front row! Billed as an acoustic show the stage set was bare basics, microphone, a guitar plug in, bar stool, twin monitors, and 14 spotlights changing out dual color patterns at the beginning of each song. I scanned the stage for a setlist but there was none to be found later to find that it was tapped to the top of his guitar. At 7:41 Jewell took the stage for a 21 song / 1.45 hour set (11 originals/10 covers) all neatly sandwiched between the two major hits. Dressed in his Watson’s Signature black hat, black shirt and boots with a guitar strap with ‘BUDDY’ written in turquoise blue on the front and goatee he presented himself true to the Jewell America has come to know and love. ‘How y’all doing tonight. We’re gonna have a lot of fun at least I am I’m getting to sing what I like and to get paid for it.’ Commencing with ‘Help Pour Out The Rain’ he moved quickly into Jones’ ‘Green Green Grass Of Home. ‘By the way I appreciate the guys being here cause I know y’all would rather come see Miranda Lambert… she done pretty good for third place I’d say. I think I mighta tried a little too hard.’ After a well appreciated salute to the military ‘A Hero In Harlan’ came next, a Tom T Hall song whom he had met at an event and developed a friendship with. He asked Tom for his phone number and it took him two years to work up the nerve to give him a call. Tom handed him a CD with the song and Buddy had the chance to put it on a record. As a true storyteller it was fascinating hearing about his interaction with some of country’s great superstars like Tom T and Hal Ketchum. ‘The Southern Side Of Heaven’ followed, he got the idea for the song going on the Opry stage while Hal was coming off, in a brief interchange he asked, ‘Hey Hal what’s that you said about the southern side of heaven out there? He looked at me real funny and said, “I didn’t say anything about the southern side of heaven, I said my brother’s name is Kevin!”’ Immediately following was ‘Dyes Arkansas’ a song about a town both Jewell’s parents grew up in which was also the hometown of Johnny Cash (a strong influence of his music) who’s family’s had multiple ties with his own. Campbell’s ‘By The Time I Get To Phoenix’ was dedicated to his forthcoming grand daughter who is to be named ‘Phoenix Rose Jewell’. ‘Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town’ was performed in honor of Kenny Rogers who Buddy once opened for, confessing that they ‘they had the biggest time’ during that tour. He introduced ‘One In A Row’ by stating, ‘’m gonna do a Buddy Jewell version of a Randy Travis hit written by Buddy Jewell.’ ‘Good Hearted Woman ‘ was sung as a duet where he did both Waylon and Willies parts (accents and all) which he learned to do going back to his demo days where he trained himself to sound like the artists he was recording for. There was ‘Jesus, Elvis And Me’ about his wife’s three favorite people from his Gospel record with nine gospel songs and one that wasn’t a gospel song at all but 20-30 times he does say Jesus name, ‘If it’s good enough for Him, it’s good enough for me.’ ‘When I’m Good And Gone’ came next, one of only two of his songs that were actually recorded by other people. Ricky Skaggs recorded it, Buddy wrote it for his dad just before he passed and his dad was never able to hear it. ‘Willie Gave Up Weed’, a little song about the end of the world brought some humor into the subject, ‘It’s gotta be a sign some kind of Bible prophecy, they say he beat his bong into a plowshare mercy me, they say he even combed his beard to get rid of the seeds.’ In tandem were, Michael Martin Murphy’s ‘Wildfire’, Horton’s ‘Whispering Pines’, and ‘Abilene On Her Mind off his own first album, one that he wishes they would’ve put it out as a single. Each song showcased his silky solid low tenor voice, true and genuine American country! There was Haggard’s ‘Are The Good Times Really Over’ and ‘What This Country’s Comin’ To’ a song he wrote to exercise his right to free speech ending it with a ‘Can I get an amen, Y’all my name is Buddy Jewell and I approve this message!’ Someone in the rear orchestra called out, ‘Play some Kenny’ which launched off an impromptu full cover of ‘Daytime Friends’, not slated on the setlist. Rounding out the set were, his own ‘You Know How Women Are’ which he had originally written as a demo that he ended up recording for himself, ‘The Wheels Turn Slow’ about living in a small town, and the crown jewel of the evening, ‘Sweet Southern Comfort’. ‘Mid song he asked, ‘You know I’m not supposed to ask this, is it Gamecocks or Tigers… go Tigers.’ Abbeville South Carolina which appeared on the official tour shirt (which by the way sold for a reasonable $25) was a stop in between Taunton MA and Mebane NC. He clearly loved the small time feel of a population about 5,000 talking mid-set about how it was similar to his own hometown of 8,000. He dined local at JP’s Food and Spirits and commented on the Opera House to the delight of the fans, ‘This is a beautiful theater in’t it, every time I look around I’m waiting for the two guys from the Muppet Show.’ ‘It’s great to live in a small town cause everybody knows everybody, right, and then it sucks cause everybody knows everybody!’ After the show he and Tene his wife of 35 years this September who hasn’t been on the road with him in quite a while came out in the lobby to mingle. I had the incredible opportunity to speak with him briefly telling him it was my 749th all time concert to which he signed a poster ‘To DAve #749 Buddy Jewell’. The crowd was smaller than anticipated so I let him in on a secret that Shenandoah was also in town that evening and how I made my choice of concerts purposefully. His only comment, ‘I’m going to have to talk to Marty (Raybon —a good friend of his) about that!’ It’s clear that super-stardom status and astronomical album sales may have not been Jewell’s top accomplishment (at least thus far). However he has summarized his thoughts on the matter by stating, ‘I don’t really care about being famous, I just want to be able to take care of my family and enjoy life, and I’ve been able to do that. What more could a guy ask for?’ Amen!’ Review and photo by DAve (Concert #749)
