Did y’all really think I would go to a Garth Brooks concert and not post about it? :)

The concert was amazing. If I could’ve gone again the next night, I totally would have. It was THAT GOOD!

Colby and I met Momma and Daddy at our hotel in Tulsa, got concert-ready super fast, and headed for a quick dinner. We tried to take pictures, but little brothers happen…

This was my fourth concert at the BOK Center, and it is one of my favorite concert venues. It’s big, but it still has a smaller feel, and the music sounds amazing!

The BOK Center renamed the streets after Garth songs! It was very cool, so of course we had to take a few pictures!

Family selfie!

When we finally got inside, seeing the giant ‘g’ on the stage made me SO EXCITED!!

I had been tweeting about the concert pretty much all day, talking about how excited I was, sharing pictures, things like that. While we were waiting for the concert to start, I got a message on my phone from Twitter…and then I screamed.

Karyn Rochelle, an awesome singer/songwriter opened the show, and then it was time for Garth! The lights went down, a countdown started, and then…there he was!

He opened the show with “Man Against Machine” from the new album before going right into a wonderful mix of his greatest hits, including “Rodeo”, “The Beaches of Cheyenne”, and “Ain’t Goin’ Down (Til The Sun Comes Up)”.

I was blown away by his energy on stage. I don’t think he ever stopped moving. I was exhausted at the end of the night from standing and sorta dancing, so I don’t know how he kept going with all of the running and jumping he did, on top of the singing!

Seriously, he was climbing on the set!

Partway through the show, Trisha Yearwood joined him for their song “In Another’s Eyes”. Their voices are amazing together, and they are seriously so cute!

Garth took a little break while Trisha sang a few of her songs, including her new single “Prize Fighter” and my personal favorite “She’s In Love With The Boy”!

I was surprised at how emotional I was! I knew I would probably cry when he sang “The Dance”, because it’s my favorite song and I cried when he sang it at the Toby Keith concert, but I didn’t expect to cry during “The River” or “Unanswered Prayers” too!

It was such a great night! I’ve seriously been a huge fan of Garth’s since he released his very first album, and I’ve wanted to see him in concert ever since! When he performed at Toby Keith’s tornado relief concert, I got a tiny little taste of what a Garth show is like, and I can honestly say it was well worth the wait. Not only does he have a great voice and great songs, but you can tell he genuinely enjoys what he’s doing. He was born to make music, and I’m so glad that I got to spend an evening watching him bring these songs to life.

If you ever get a chance to go see him, go! Even if you’re not a huge country music fan, go! You won’t regret it, I promise!

We’re going to talk about music today, but first, a vlog!

The Swon Brothers

I LOVE these boys! This is a really solid debut album, and out of all of the contestants on The Voice up to this point, I feel like these guys have the best chance at a successful career. They have a great true country sound that I feel like country radio is missing right now. The album starts off strong with “What I’m Thinking About”, and it just gets better from there! Upbeat songs like “Later On”, “Songs That Said It All”, and “95″ are radio-ready, and slower songs like “Breaking” and “Same Old Highway” will break your heart. The boys don’t shy away from singing about their faith, and they have two great songs in “Pray For You” and “This Side of Heaven”, which features background vocals from Carrie Underwood and will leave you in tears. Eleven songs just doesn’t feel like enough, and I’m already excited for album number two!
Download Now: “Songs That Said It All”, “Later On”, “This Side of Heaven”

Little Big Town: Painkiller

Like I said in the vlog, I’ve been waiting for Painkiller since Tornado was released. These guys are my favorites, and I just can’t get enough of their sound. I didn’t know if it was possible for them to top Tornado, but Painkiller does a really great job! The biggest surprise of the album is a song called “Girl Crush”. I promise you, it’s not what you think! It will completely surprise you, and it’s awesome! They slow down and show off their beautiful harmonies on songs like “Live Forever” and “Tumble and Fall”, and they really rock out with “Stay All Night” and “Save Your Sin”. Karen sings better than I’ve ever heard her on “Painkiller” and “Things You Don’t Think About”, and I catch myself listening to these two on repeat. I wish there were more than 13 songs, because I already want more!
Download Now: “Girl Crush”, “Painkiller”, “Stay All Night”, “Things You Don’t Think About”

Taylor Swift: 1989

I feel like I should just list off every single song and why I like it, because this album is THAT GOOD! I won’t do that, but I’m telling you now, there’s not really a bad song, like at all. Even the ones I don’t like as much as others are still good songs. This album definitely feels like a grown-up Taylor Swift, but I don’t feel like she’s selling out or changing who she really is to try to appeal to a more pop audience. Even though it’s a new sound, it still feels like a Taylor Swift album. She co-wrote a few songs with Max Martin, who wrote for *NSYNC, BSB, and Britney back in the day. That’s probably why I like so many of these songs! “Blank Space” has quickly become one of my favorite T-Swift songs ever. A few were co-written with Ryan Tedder from One Republic and Jack Antonoff from fun., so it’s a really fun mix of songs. Of course I have my favorites, but you should probably just get the whole album! The deluxe edition from Target has three extra songs, and those are great too! Go get them all!
Download Now: “Blank Space”, “Style”, “Shake It Off”, “I Wish You Would”, “Style”, “All You Had To Do Was Stay”

Ok y’all, let me know if you have any of these albums and what your favorite songs are! If you try

George Strait, one of the greatest men to ever sing country music, announced a couple of years ago that he was going on one last tour before he retired from touring. On June 7th, he played his final show at the Dallas Cowboys stadium. Neely and I were lucky enough to get tickets to the show, and we had such a great night!

I got up SUPER early Saturday morning and started the drive to Dallas.

Only in Texas…

It was so exciting to finally be reunited with Neely! We hadn’t seen each other since February!

We went to brunch at Number One, where we had the most fabulous blackberry muffin and a beautiful plate of strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries! After brunch, we headed to Northpark for a little shopping. Ally hadn’t made it back to Dallas from London yet, so Flat Ally went shopping with us!

I think she had a lot of fun :)

After some shopping, we had an early dinner at Mi Cocina, and then headed to Cowboys Stadium!

So excited!

Ally came with us too!

Asleep at the Wheel was the opening act! They’ve been around for over 40 years, so it was neat to get to see them play! They played for around an hour, and then it was time for the main event!

It’s George! He opened the show with “Check Yes or No”, one of my favorite songs!

Since this was his last show, he had lots of special guests that came out to sing with him. It was pretty incredible to see all of these amazing performers on stage with him! He ended up playing about forty songs, a great mix of songs from the ’80s through today, including “Amarillo By Morning”, “I Can Still Make Cheyenne”, and “I Saw God Today”.

Vince Gill was the first of the special guests! I was sooooooo excited to see him! I’m a big fan, and even though I saw him at Blake Shelton’s benefit concert last year, the giant screen was blocking my view, so I didn’t get to see him perform. It was nice to finally get to SEE him perform! He’s amazing!

Jason Aldean

Eric Church

Sheryl Crow

Martina McBride! I’ve been wanting to see her FOREVER! Her voice is just flawless.

Faith Hill

Alan Jackson! I’ve never been a huge Alan Jackson fan, so I was surprised at how giddy I got when he came on stage! It was amazing to see them perform together!

Miranda Lambert! She’s one of my favorites, and even though I’ve seen her a couple of times, I was so excited to see her again. She seemed so in awe of George, and you could tell how much it meant to her to perform with him. Side note-her sparkly boots were amazing!

Kenny Chesney! This guy puts on one of the best shows I’ve ever seen! He’s a great performer! He said the first tour he ever went on was a George Strait tour, so it meant a lot to him to be a part of George’s last show. They were great together!

At the end of the night, George brought everyone back out to sing “All My Ex’s Live in Texas” with him! So many awesome people on stage at the same time!

George ended the show with “The Cowboy Rides Away”. I have to admit I got a little teary as the show was coming to a close. He is such a legend in country music, and I’ve wanted to see him in concert for a very long time. I’m glad he will still be releasing new music, but it’s sad that he won’t be touring anymore.

It was also so great to spend a fun weekend with Neely! We don’t get to spend nearly enough time together, so even though it was a quick trip, it was great to have a little bit of  best friend time!

Have you seen George Strait in concert?