Sawyer Brown (May 2, 2014)

Headliner: Sawyer Brown 

Opener: Mac Powell 

Date: May 2, 2014

Venue: Kris Allen Stage - Toad Suck Daze Festival (Conway, Ark.)

Popular ‘80s and ‘90s country group Sawyer Brown thrilled a packed crowd at the Toad Suck Daze festival on the square in Conway, Ark. on Friday (May 2).

The award-winning act began their nearly two hour set with their cover of the classic trucking song
“Six Days on the Road,” originally popularized by Dave Dudley. The performance riled up the crowd and gave them a sign of things to come.

Over the next hour or so Sawyer Brown performed many of their hits that fans might have forgotten over the years like “Café on the Corner,” “All These Years,” “This Time,” “The Boys and Me” and “Drive Me Wild,” their last top 10 hit from 1998.

The highlight of the early portion of the concert was their emotional “The Walk,” a number two charting song for the group from 1991 that surely left many eyes in the crowd teary.

Sawyer Brown has always been known for their energetic performances, which probably initially led to their success early on even more so than their performances when they got their start on the television show “Star Search,” a talent show reality series that was a precursor to shows like “American Idol,” in 1983. More than 30 years later, singer Mark Miller is still a wild man on the stage with his outrageous dance moves and gyrations that make him akin to the Joe Cocker of country music.

The band’s energetic style came out the most during the performances of their first two hits from all the way back in 1985 – “Step That Step,” their first of three number ones, and “Betty’s Bein’ Bad.” The group also thrilled the Toad Suck Daze visitors with a cover of the Alabama classic “Dixieland Delight,” which Miller said the group had been asked to play by Alabama when the iconic country band was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame a few years back.

The group also debuted some relatively new music from their most recent album Travelin’ Band with the title track from that album and the humorously corny “Smokin’ Hot Wife,” which Miller wrote for his wife when she asked him to write a song for her.

Toward the end of their set Sawyer Brown thrilled the crowd with their cover of the George Jones classic “The Race is On,” which was a hit for them in 1989, and has always been one of the greatest country covers, in my opinion. The group also put smiles on the faces of many with their number one “Thank God for You” from 1993 and “The Dirt Road” from 1991.

Miller also stepped aside momentarily to let some of his bandmates shine vocally with keyboardist Hobie Hubbard taking lead on a cover of Joe Walsh’s “Life’s Been Good” and guitarist Shayne Hill singing Steve Miller Band’s “Rock’n Me” and Free’s “All Right Now.”

After their set Sawyer Brown returned to the stage with a couple of more covers: Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop” with Hubbard taking the lead and the Eagles’ “Already Gone” with Hill taking lead. The group then finished their impressive show with quite possibly their biggest hit, and my personal favorite, “Some Girls Do,” which they took to the top of the country charts in 1992. “Some Girls Do” appeared to be the crowd favorite of the night.

Prior to Sawyer Brown’s performance Mac Powell, of the popular Christian band Third Day, performed an opening set featuring his country music side. Powell released a self-titled solo country album in 2012 and his set featured some nice performances from that album including “Sweet Georgia Girls,” “Saturday Night” and “June Bug.” Powell also performed a couple of Third Day’s biggest hits to the delight of many in the crowd. He also featured a nice cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Call Me the Breeze” and a country/gospel medley featuring Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues,” Hank Williams’ “I Saw the Light” and the standards “I’ll Fly Away” and “Amazing Grace.”