Concert review: Strait, Stapleton turn Jacksonville into a honky tonk for stadium show

If there is one guy who deserves to have his star behind the bar at the Honky Tonk Hall of Fame, it's gotta be George Strait.

"Honky Tonk Hall of Fame" is a new song Strait played Saturday night in front of 50,000 or so fans in Jacksonville's EverBank Stadium. It was written by Chris Stapleton, one of the openers for Saturday's show, and it's so new that Strait and Stapleton stared each other down as they sang it, as if each one was scared he'd forget a line.

They pulled it off perfectly and it's clearly going to be another big hit for Strait. The guy has 40-something Number One hits in a career that stretches back to the early '80s and, to his credit, he didn't just play all of them Saturday night. He played a lot of them, of course, but he also mixed in some deep cuts, ones that only made the Top 20.

It was the third concert at the stadium in eight days, following two last week headlined by Luke Combs. The weather was perfect on Saturday and there seemed to be more families in the crowd than at the Combs shows, perhaps because it was Mother's Day Eve, but more likely because that's just Strait's nature. He's a family-friendly frontman, a pro who has seen it all and knows just what it takes to keep a huge crowd happy for better than two hours.

Last week's show:Luke Combs rattles stadium at Jacksonville concert, ready to come back and do it again

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Combs in photos:Luke Combs in concert at Jacksonville's EverBank Stadium

He mostly does that by delivering great songs in front of one of the finest country bands ever assembled. There are players who have been in Strait's Ace in the Hole Band for decades and it shows. No one ever steps forward for a solo — some of them don't even stand up — but they know how to deliver the goods. If you wanted traditional Western, complete with fiddles and steel guitar, there was plenty to be had ("Amarillo by Morning," "I Can Still Make Cheyenne," "How 'Bout Them Cowgirls"). Big singalongs? "Ocean Front Property," "Check Yes or No" and "All My Exes Live in Texas" ought to qualify.

"Honky Tonk Hall of Fame" wasn't the only new song in Strait's set. He said he has a new album, "Cowboys and Dreamers," ready for release. Saturday night, he played "Three Drinks Behind," Waylon Jennings' "Waymore Blues" and "MIA in MIA," a salute to life in South Florida.

Stapleton, who also sang a verse of "Pancho & Lefty" and all of "You Don't Know What You're Missing" with Strait, might seem an unlikely pairing with the Texan. His opening set, which lasted for about 90 minutes, was much more bluesy than Strait's, opening with "White Horse," which he played a few weeks ago on "Saturday Night Live."

Stapleton never looks like he's working very hard on the guitar, but he sure sounds like it. He had a second guitarist and a pedal steel guitar in his band Saturday but did most of the heavy lifting himself, sending out punky chords to open "Second One to Know" and getting slow and bluesy on "I Think I'm in Love With You."

Stapleton brought the house down twice with nods toward the Jacksonville music scene. Once was mid-show, when he stood center stage with his electric guitar and picked out a few verses of "Free Bird." He's been playing it for years and it was no real surprise, but playing a Lynyrd Skynyrd classic for 50,000 people in Jacksonville still takes a lot of nerve.

The second was at the end of his show, as he introduced his crack band. He brought out Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks from Jacksonville's Tedeschi Trucks Band to join them on "Tennessee Whiskey." They'll open for Stapleton at a show next month in Texas and they sent the crowd favorite to dizzying new heights. Tedeschi took the second verse of the song and Trucks improvised a long slide guitar solo to close it out. Many in the crowd didn't know who they were, but those who did were going out of their minds at the unexpected treat.

Little Big Town kicked off the show a little before 6 p.m. and played for about an hour, playing most of their big hits as the seats steadily filled. Singer Karen Fairchild, blessed with a voice a million "American Idol" wannabes would kill for, commented early in the set that she wanted to see those seats full by the time the group got around to playing "Girl Crush," and the fans delivered. Seats were maybe one-third full when Little Big Town started and nearly packed by the time they finished.

The group has some of the best four-part harmonies in all of music and it worked surprisingly well, considering it was in a football stadium. No need for a light show; the four singers stood up front in the sunshine while their band played in the shadows behind them.