{"id":1310293,"date":"2019-05-14T21:58:19","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T03:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/?p=1806695"},"modified":"2019-05-14T21:58:19","modified_gmt":"2019-05-15T03:58:19","slug":"this-is-how-nashville-does-napa-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/music-news\/this-is-how-nashville-does-napa-valley\/","title":{"rendered":"This Is How Nashville Does Napa Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alison Bonaguro<\/a><\/span> 40m ago<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

If there is a better setting for live country music, I\u2019ve never seen it.<\/p>\n

The breathtaking grounds of the estate vineyards of the Regusci Winery in Napa, California were the venue for Tuesday night\u2019s (May 14) opening night of the Live in the Vineyard Goes Country annual concert event. So it was a world away from the places you might otherwise find country music.<\/p>\n

Instead of stadium seats and plastic bleachers, there were hay bales. Instead of room-temperature cans of beer, there were stemless wine glasses of the winery\u2019s Rose, Chardonnay, and Block 3 Cabernet Sauvignon. Instead of a flashy backdrop and pyrotechnics, there was God\u2019s country, with rolling hills covered in rows and rows of grape vines.<\/p>\n

But while the environment was next level, the music \u2014 from Walker Hayes<\/a>, Lanco<\/a> and Brad Paisley<\/a> \u2014 didn\u2019t stray from its truest country roots.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow beautiful is this,\u201d Paisley asked me when we caught up before the show. And as for his plan for the intimate crowd? None. \u201cI won\u2019t go out there with a set set list. I don\u2019t have any idea what we\u2019re going to do, until I get there. This isn\u2019t a bad place to try out new music, to tell some stories and then just see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, Paisley was 100 percent himself throughout his 13-song set. He shared the view, the music and the laughs with the 500 or so guests gathered at the winery. Early in the set, he recalled someone telling him that high school was always the best years of your life. \u201cI don\u2019t know about you, but for me, high school was not<\/em> the best years of my life. There were no drunken wine parties on hay bales for me,\u201d he joked to introduce his nod to the not-the-best days of his life, \u201cLetter to Me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, what Paisley played was exactly the right mix of what the Paisley fans there wanted to hear: \u201cTicks,\u201d \u201cShe\u2019s Everything,\u201d \u201cFirst Cousins,\u201d \u201cCelebrity,\u201d \u201cLetter to Me,\u201d \u201cThis is Country Music,\u201d \u201cMy Miracle,\u201d \u201cI\u2019m Still a Guy,\u201d \u201cMud on the Tires,\u201d \u201cNo \u2019I\u2019 in \u2019Beer\u2019,\u201d \u201cThen,\u201d \u201cHigh Life\u201d and \u201cAlcohol.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before Paisley took the stage at around 6:00 pm, Walker Hayes was there to open the show, and Lanco took the stage next. Their short set was packed with the string of hits from their debut album \u2014 \u201cHallelujah Nights,\u201d \u201cBorn to Love You,\u201d \u201cGreatest Love Story\u201d \u2014 and their brand new one, \u201cRival.\u201d<\/p>\n

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