Born to fly

Have you ever thought you sort of liked an artist, then you hear them perform and think, "Oh, yes, I love that song!" and then you realize that you actually love this performer?

That's what happened on Friday night. When a friend told me that Sara Evans was performing at Coyote Joe's and it was only $12, I was in. One thing I did not count on was the whole standing for three hours part and the show starting at 11 p.m. I am old, y'all.

Coyote Joe's is an old stomping ground. I've ridden the bull. It was my first time there in years and it was nice to see not much has changed, except the bull is now broadcast on video camera for all to see. Lovely.

Out of the Blue is the house band that opened for Sara and they were fantastic. They sang everything from Zac Brown band to Bryan Adams and laid it down for every single track. It also didn't hurt that the lead singer was ridiculously and insanely hot. Any band that ends their performance with an awesome version of The Devil Went Down to Georgia can count me among their fans.

Then it was Sara's turn. Can I first s

ay it is completely insane that a 40 year old woman with three kids looks like this? She is beautiful.

Sara's first album in six years, Stronger, came out on Tuesday. She gave away free CDs to everyone that bought a ticket. I think that means she's awesome. I've been listening all weekend and it is really good. (Picture credit to the right Clay Guffey)

Stronger was definitely her best performance. Sara has been through some relationship issues and the pain, and triumph, of those come out in her music. Every lyric of that song is strong and powerful. The whole room, male and female alike, sang along enthusiastically. You could tell the that this song is intensely personal to her.

She also did some old school favorites: Perfect, Suds in the Bucket, I Keep Looking and my favorite Born to Fly. Sara signed autographs throughout the show, chatting with fans and even asking the band to play a song while she signed someone's pink cast.

She told the audience she married Jay Barker a couple of years ago and all the men in the room booed. "He used to play football for Alabama," she said. More boos. "He also used to be a Carolina Panther." More boos. "Wow, he can't win with y'all." I think every woman in the room wanted to be friends with Sarah and ever man wanted to be Jay Barker. When she told the audience she and Jay have a combined seven kids, someone shouted out, "You should've charged more for the tickets!"

The show was sold out and the dance floor was packed. Sara really put on a show and seemed to be having a good time. The audience definitely did too.