Riley Green, Jon Pardi & More Best Moments

Green, who closed the festival Sunday night (Sept. 6), proved again what a thoroughly engaging entertainer he is, giving a no-frills, solid performance steeped in authenticity and warmth. Like his musical heroes, such as Alan Jackson, Green didn’t run around or move away from the mic stand much at all. Instead, he simply he ran through hit after hit (ever since Green went from steadily rising star to supernova over the past two years, he’s been racking up the hits at an incredibly fast pace). It’s easy to see Green turning into a modern-day country standard bearer; his unabashed love for old-school country and his own talent as a superb solo songwriter is an unbeatable combination.

He brought out Watkins to fill in for Ella Langley on “Don’t Mind If I Do,” and she gave the duet a sweeter, more wistful feel than the original’s burnished longing. He also roughed up “Change My Mind,” adding a tantalizing, almost menacing edge to it. He threw in his usual covers of Toby Keith and Alabama songs, but the best was his sinewy cover of Tom Petty’s “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” which he first covered earlier this year.

Whitcomb, hands down, gave the most energetic set of the fest, mesmerizing the crowd. While he’s new to many folks, he’s already a star in his native Canada: His album The Hard Way earned a Juno Award earlier this year, and Whitcomb is up for entertainer of the year at Sept.19’s Canadian Country Music Awards.

It’s a sign of country’s expanding borders that there’s room, thankfully, for someone like Whitcomb, who combines pop-punk, rock and country in equal measure (OK, let’s say 50% pop-punk). Performing shirtless (as he did at Stagecoach) and showing off his tattoo-covered torso and arms, he didn’t say much to the audience, letting the music lead.

Whitmore’s a coiled bundle of nerves on stage, pacing back and forth, even doing a back flip, as he somehow combines some of the most forthright, dark lyrics about addiction (take these lyrics from “Options”: “Wake up at home or in a coffin/ It’s nice to know I got options”) and depression with an overall uplifting performance. He proudly declared that at 23, he’s now three years sober. There was a raw power to his music and performance brought on by a fearlessness that makes him one to watch.

LoCash always understands the assignment. As anyone who has seen them knows, LoCash’s Preston Brust and Chris Lucas are a party in human form. As they ran through their hits, including “I Know Somebody,” “I Love This Life,” “One Big Country Song” and last year’s No. 1, “Hometown Home,” they also turned into human jukeboxes blending in tunes like Poison’s “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,”  Tim McGraw’s “Truck Yeah” (which they co-wrote), the Beach Boys’ “Kokomo” and countless more.

But where they really won over the crowd was by bringing out a mariachi trio they found when they went into town on Saturday. Donning sparkly sombrero de charros (traditional Mexican hats) along with the trio, they sang their hit “Ring on Every Finger” before an impromptu, and appropriately slapdash, “La Bamba.” The crowd ate it up, following every song and waving their arms in unison. It was the feel-good performance of the fest.

The organizers took coziness to a new level with two concerts around a firepit at 6:45 p.m. before the doors officially opened, making it one of the perks of staying on the premises. On Saturday night, Zach John King and Jon Pardi separately performed two songs accompanied only by acoustic guitars. On Sunday, it was Riley Green, Dasha and Lauren Watkins’ turns. Dasha, who gave a lively mainstage performance Friday night, gave off the fest’s best line when talking about using her dismal love life as fodder for songs, noting, “Men are business expenses at this point.”) Pardi was also feeling confessional, reminding the audience he was “freshly single” and jokingly added, “What’s up, girls? Hey, I’m not trying to be a man whore,” stressing he’d been through “a lot of therapy.” He then dedicated “Head Over Boots” to ex-wife Summer saying “because I love her. I love you too.” There must have been something in the air because Green admitted as he took the stage, “I’ll be honest with you, I’ve been drinking and I just took a weed gummy,” as he started his short set.

It was thrilling to see all of them, especially Pardi and Green, in such up-close settings in a way that teased their upcoming full-band electric sets but didn’t distract from them. It’s an idea that should be expanded on to include songwriter rounds at future events — perhaps in the afternoons.  

Anyone who’s seen Wetmore in concert knows he shimmies and wiggles around on stage in his half-unbuttoned shirt like a modern-day Elvis, unlike so many country male artists who stay pretty much glued to one spot. (At several points, female fans were screaming for Wetmore to “take it off,” as he kept unbuttoning his shirt. “We’ll not be doing that,” he finally answered.)  

Wetmore, who headlined Friday night, continues to grow as an entertainer, but he also prides himself on his serious piano playing chops. The self-taught Wetmore trots the keys out every show for a short segment, but fans got a little extra on Friday night when he sat down at the keyboard and, in an effort to cool off a bit, stayed there longer than normal, going from Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” into Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and then remarking, “I don’t want to get off the piano yet” before improvising into Journey’s “Faithfully.”  We’re looking forward to an album where Wetmore really leans into his piano side.

Most of the performers commented on the stifling heat, but poor Pardi, the headliner for night two, seemed to be suffering the most because — as he confessed about half-way through his 75-minute set — he’d also been battling a cold for a few weeks. He added, “It’s been killing me. I’m not my best.” In addition to the stifling heat — like Wetmore, his shirt was soaked through with sweat within 20 minutes of starting his performance — and his cold, Pardi said he was also having trouble hearing himself over his band. He finally opted to sing a few songs solo, just him and a guitar, including “She Ain’t in It” and “Night Shift.” “I don’t sound too bad when I can hear myself,” he joked.

But the truth was he didn’t sound bad at all. In fact, he sounded pretty great, especially as the neo-traditionalist ran through hits like “Ain’t Always the Cowboy,” “Last Night Lonely” and “Heartache Medication,” after opening with a cover of Johnny Horton’s “Honky Tonk Man.”

Country Splash Cabo was not for you if you wanted 12 hours of live music a day. It was way more chill than that. And, quite frankly, given the heat, if people were standing poolside on the hot concrete in front of the stage during the daytime, they’d probably be dropping like flies — as would the acts.

This was the fest to hang by — o r better yet, in — the pool during the day. Even though the live music only took place at night, it didn’t mean there wasn’t music throughout the day. Both Saturday and Sunday afternoon there were poolside DJ sets starting with ADHD, the DJing alter ego of Nashville mega-songwriters/producers Ashley Gorley and Jesse Frasure, who have written more No. 1 country songs than anyone can count. Their set was mainly comprised of their remixes of hits for artists like Morgan Wallen, Jelly Roll and Sam Hunt, with classics from The White Stripes, Dolly Parton and Nirvana mixed in. Diplo, who came straight from Burning Man and a set in Vegas, followed with a smooth, intoxicating mix of country, pop and rock mixes. We’re not sure how many other DJs can segue from The Ramones’ “Hey! Ho! Let’s Go” into Alan Jackson’s “Chattahoochie.”  

On Sunday afternoon, VAVO, the duo that credits themselves with helping spawn the YEEDM movement, led a fun poolside set followed by Dee Jay Silver, everyone’s favorite country DJ. Silver was omnipresent, not only DJing Sunday afternoon, but between sets all weekend long to earn the unofficial title of hardest working man of the fest (OK, maybe second to founder Rob Fried).