Fans of country music were treated to a good show on July 10 at The Wayfarer in Costa Mesa, California.
Jade Jackson opened the show accompanied by Julian Ness on electric guitar. She played her acoustic guitar with a lot of energy as she went through a 40-minute set that included songs such as “Motorcycle” from her album Gilded as well as “Long Way Home” and “Don’t Say That You Love Me” (written by Mike Ness) from her new album Wilderness. It was unfortunate that Jackson’s vocals were sometimes drowned out by the roar of conversation among the audience members. Costa Mesa, you can do better. Still, the stage area was packed with people who enjoyed her heartfelt songs and lined up to buy her merchandise.
Chris Shiflett took the stage and proceeded to play a lot of songs from his new album Hard Lessons. He was engaging, telling stories in between songs. As he introduced, “This Ol’ World”, he announced that he had new t-shirts (they are pretty sharp t-shirts, by the way) for sale that read “Chris Shiflett for President.” He immediately announced, “If nominated, I will not run. If elected, I will not serve.”
“Welcome to Your First Heartache” was another song introduced by a story. Shiflett said that he wrote the song for his oldest son after his son ended his first teenage romance with a text. He also shared that he told his son that breaking up by text was a dick move, which got a laugh from the crowd.
After an hour-long set, Shiflett did a two-song encore that included “Together Again” and The Rolling Stones song “Star***er”. It was an energetic, entertaining performance that left the Orange County audience wanting more. See tour schedule here: and an earlier interview, here: Interview: Chris Shiflett on Podcast, Hayes Carll, Foo Fighters and the Ghost of Hank Williams