Skip Ewing

excellent show nice intimate show very well done

Awesome

Skip Ewing: 12/16/22 “It was a cold evening in Shelby NC (30’s) at my favorite small capacity venue, the 400 seat Don Gibson Theatre for my first time seeing Skip Ewing LIVE. Ever since I heard ‘Burnin’ A Hole In my Heart’ back in 1988 and again ‘It’s You Again’ in ’89 I’ve held in high regard his smooth baritone voice and authentic and conscientious lyrics. Not including his own 15 charted singles Ewing has also written #1’s for Kenny Chesney, Collin Raye, Clint Black, Diamond Rio and Brian White, and penned for numerous other artists including Keith Urban, Zac Brown, George Strait, Willie Nelson, Conway Twitty, Merle Haggard, Trisha Yearwood, Tracy Byrd, Clint Black, Hank Williams Jr, Shania Twain, Mark Wills, Randy Travis, Alabama, George Jones, Tim McGraw and the list goes on! Billed as the 2022 Christmas Tour I was hoping to catch a few of his non-holiday compositions. Yes I’ll do an occasional Christmas show if it means seeing an artist I might not otherwise have a chance to see. With a couple minor traffic delays my wife and I arrived with 12 minutes to spare and were greeted by Ameila at the box office (a friendly face every time we’ve make the two plus hour trek).The stage set was simple with two microphones, two stools (for guitar and fiddle), Skip’s pedal board, and of course a Christmas tree. David Ralph ‘Skip’ the California Native who spent some of his formative years in South Carolina before moving to Nashville and more recently to Wyoming took the stage at 8:20 performing an hour and a half / 21 song set. Addressing the audience he began by saying, ‘What I like to think of when we do a show like this is that we’ve invited you into our living room.’ As he hadn’t been on tour in a long while here were folks from multiple states in the audience who were acknowledged. As for the song set, it wasn’t as simple as just counting the songs since there was no list to follow along with (some eager fan carrying away his handmade cardboard setlist after the last show). Some songs were partials, some were combo’s/medley’s and there was even a fiddle solo from his accompaniment partner Luke Bullock. Ewing opened with a non-holiday set mostly consisting of his number one’s written for other recording artists. First was Chesney’s You Had Me From Hello’, then Diamond Rio’s ‘I Believe’, and Raye’s ‘Love Me’, also featured were White’s ‘Rebecca Lynn’ and ‘Someone Else’s Star’. The back story on ’Star was that it was written around the melody of ’Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’. Ewing let us know that after his debut album ‘The Coast Of Colorado’ which included 5 top 20 hits, he went to pitch songs for future release and was received with resistance from executives telling him, ‘We need you to get something that’s gonna play on radio’. Ironically 7 songs from that list he eventually pitched to other musicians which became number ones for them. Also included in the beginning set was Skip’s ‘The Gospel According To Luke’ which he humorously re-quoted a fan’s expectation, ‘Play that song about the guy in an Audi, you know about the Audi on 8th Avenue’. The actual lyrics being, ‘his home was an alley on faith avenue’. Luke proved himself a great communicator all evening long often sharing the backstories of the pieces he chose which made for a great trip down classic 80’s-90’s country memory lane. Prior to the Christmas set two songs were chosen from the newest release and were very well received ‘Railroad’ and ‘Margolagine’. Skip shared with us how he sold everything he owned in Nashville with the exclusion of his instruments and a few pieces of art and he left for Wyoming to study horsemandhip, ‘so I could learn a lot about myself’. The ensuing Christmas set was much better than anticipated and uniquely and originally presented. There were excerpts from ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’, his own ‘Mr Snowman’ and ‘Jingle Bells’ with great fiddle work. Included was a solo from Luke Bullock (having recently toured in Lyle Lovett’s ‘Large Band’) who proved quite an accomplished fiddle player. At one point Skip left the stage and set up a stool in front of the 3rd row (the row I was sitting in two seats away) and sang ‘Rudolph’ with all the audience participation add-on’s to a 7 year old in attendance. He left side stage saying, ‘Can I get through that door?’ My wife calling out to the laughter of those around us, ‘If Chubby Checker did it, you can do it’! Back on stage, two perfectly arranged song combo’s were included ‘’Santa Claus Is Coming To Town/Twas The Night Before Christmas’ and ‘I’ll Be Home For Christmas/America The Beautiful’. Rounding out the evening was ’95’s ‘It Wasn’t His Child’ i.e. the Christmas story told from the vantage point of Joseph. The highlight of the evening was the final song, a rendition of ‘Silent Night’ in which Skip slowly backed away from the microphone for an all audience a capella sing-a-long. Being in the audience, it was literally the finest singing I’ve ever heard from an audience, the sound was simply amazing. Skip acknowledging the moment, ‘I got emotional there, it sounds silly but I did’. After the performance I took the opportunity to meet Skip who made an appearance at the merch table. Michele was able to talk with his wife Linda about their next tour date in Grand Junction CO while I asked Skip about his years living in Charleston, SC. Of course I took advantage of the photo op, and an individual in line payed it forward by buying me a tour shirt with Skip’s ’307 Horsepower Band’ logo!” Review and photo by DAve (Concert #732)

The Bend Theater in West Bend WI was so beautiful and historic! The opening act The Sapsuckers were so talented and sounded Great. When Skip Ewing came on, you could feel the electricity in the auditorium. The crowd was ready and Skip delivered a heartfelt and inspired evening of entertainment. Skips guitar talents are unsurpassed and his vocals are straight from heaven. In my opinion, his song writing gift us straight from God!! It was a wonderful evening with what seemed to be a dear old friend. I pray he does indeed come back to Wisconsin with his band!!

Skip Ewing was amazing! He engages with his audience and creates an atmosphere of being in the living room with an old friend…although he’s not old! He relates to all ages, but he has a special connection with children and they loved singing with him! I can’t wait to see him again!

Great performer

It was an amazing show. LIke being in someone's living room. The way he included the children was just wonderful. I will see him every chance I get.

It was great, as usual. First time to see the Horsepower 307 band. Really good. Really interested in the drum set and the electric cello. Can't wait for the next album to drop.

The show was amazing! I would highly recommend spending an evening with Skip. He played old songs, new songs and lots of hits that he’s written. He told stories about his life and career. He was extremely friendly and visited with everyone and took pictures.

Here are some of the comments from the show... “Absolutely the best concert I have ever seen” “What an amazing talent.” “He has a voice like no other.” Skip’s warm, gracious and humble manner made everyone feel like they were among dear friends. Don’t miss the opportunity to see Skip Ewing in concert!