Let’s be honest. I’m blown away at concerts – a lot. Before a year ago, I rarely saw any live music at all, so anyone with the moxie to get up on stage and do a reasonably good job, well, yeah, that blows me away.

But Saturday night's CMT Next Women of Country tour totally blew my socks off. Going into the concert on Saturday, it was a foregone conclusion that I’d be blown away. I had no idea, though, that I’d be moved to tears, thunderstruck and completely re-energized all in the span of a little over three hours. And yet, that’s exactly what happened.

To start, let’s first just say that it’s been an upside down last few years in country music. Party anthems and songs about bikini-clad chicks riding in big ol’ trucks have dominated mainstream country radio. Don’t get me wrong, every country fan loves a well-timed party anthem. Still, a fairly significant gaping hole was left where female country artists should have been.

To help begin overhauling the industry, CMT took a definitive and encouraging step away from the bro-country dominated format of country radio by adding a multi-artist tour to its "Next Women of Country" initiative. That tour, headlined by Jennifer Nettles and stacked with three of CMT’s Next Women of Country, hit the Northern Lights Theater at Potawatomi Hotel & Casino for a two-night stand this weekend.

And from top to bottom, they delivered a great, great show.

Tennessee native Tara Thompson hit the stage first. Thompson is a self-described hillbilly whose sassy lyrics will leave you laughing so hard you might miss the fact that she’s a very talented vocalist. How can you not love a girl who sings, "Love me like you just got out of prison"? With just a single guitarist, her four song, acoustical set felt surprisingly robust. I was left for sure wishing she could have played longer.

Next up was Lindsay Ell, a Canadian singer-songwriter who is no stranger to the country scene. She’s been singing and playing guitar pretty her whole life. Tara Thompson introduced Ell, describing her as a badass. I agree that talent-wise, Ell was definitely a badass. But musically, I found Ell to be genuine and thoughtful. One of her standout songs, "Not Another Me," was written for a friend of hers with muscular dystrophy. Overall, it was a terrific set. 

After two brilliant artists, Brandy Clark followed with a fantastic extended set. The singer-songwriter played songs from her last album, songs from her new album (including her recently released single, "Girl Next Door") and songs she’s written for other artists. Clark has this silky smooth, powerhouse of a voice (think Trisha Yearwood and Wynonna Judd). Couple that with some heartbreaking acoustical, funky rhythms and moving lyrics (in the sweet way, but also the slightly angry and for sure edgy ways, too), and you get one heck of an artist. She’s funny, too. After someone yelled, "We love you, Brandy!" She chirped back, "I love you, too, but I think maybe we should see other people." Her hour-long set ended with an amped up version of "Crazy Women."

Seriously, I would have been full-up satisfied seeing those three phenomenal artists. But then I’d have missed Jennifer Nettles re-energizing my world.

Nettles hit the stage just before 10 p.m. ready to rip. For an hour and fifteen, she took the audience on a journey like the ghost of music past, present, and future, performing songs spanning her career and throwing in a few covers along the way for good measure. It went so fast my head was spinning.

From her delicately sweet song "Falling" to her gritty rendition of Bruce Springsteen’s "I’m on Fire," Nettles and her remarkably talented band pulled on heartstrings, amped up the crowd and just generally had them eating out of her hand. And how could they not be; her voice, which is incredible through radio speakers, is ten times more powerful and rich in person. There’s really no way to resist it.

Before launching into her heartbreaking new single, "Unlove You," Jennifer paused to reflect. She noted that while people sometimes make fun of country music for its subject matter, what the genre does better than any other is "celebrate brokenness. And celebrate realness in a way that helps us heal when we hear it." So true. The song made me cry.

The theme of brokenness continued with  "Way Back Home" and "Salvation Works," two songs that you definitely should find and listen to.

Then, seemingly all too soon, Nettles was thanking the audience and saying good bye. I found myself hoping there would be an encore. And there was.

That’s when my socks were blown off.

Following a sizzling rendition Sugarland’s "Stay," Nettles paused "two shakes to hydrate," saying that we’d realize how important it was to hydrate when we realized what they were doing.

What they did next was a mind-blowing version of Queen’s "Bohemian Rhapsody." Seriously, words fall short here. They took "Rhapsody" and made it rapturous. While Nettles is the solo act, the powerhouse singer, the country music household name, she didn’t let any swagger get in the way of a crazy, pure, collaborative effort. It brought the house down.

Every note was incredible, brilliant, amazing. The whole concert felt that way.

I gotta go find my socks now.

SET LIST

"Playing with Fire"
"Baby Girl" – (Sugarland)
"Drunk in Heels"
"Falling"
"Moneyball"
"Three Days in Bed (Holly Williams cover)
"Want To" – (Sugarland)
"Chaser"
"Unlove You"
"Sugar"
"Way Back Home"
"Salvation Works"
"I’m on Fire" (Bruce Springsteen cover)
"Who Says You Can’t Go Home" – (Sugarland)
"Something More" – (Sugarland)

ENCORE

"Stay" – (Sugarland)
"Bohemian Rhapsody" (Queen cover)
"Playing with Fire" – Reprise