Genre-bending Country Thunder endures the heat at Bristol Motor Speedway

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Friday brought country, Saturday the thunder.Country's tones of twang met rock, rap and pop in the form of quite the adventurous duo.Call it Country Thunder Bristol 2024. From Friday afternoon until nearly midnight on Saturday, Country Thunder's return to the high banks of Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee, featured an incredible array of mainstream country's young guns amid a smattering of seasoned veterans of the wide-open genre.Nashville-based Country Thunder, whose roots lead to Canada, had typically visited Bristol each early October. Recall last year's two-day event. Country Music Hall of Fame members Brooks & Dunn headlined day one while Eric Church — though realistically Jelly Roll — led day two.Cool, right?Well, during each of Country Thunder's early fall's visits to the high banks of Bristol, temps tended to dip well into the 40s and, on occasion, the 30s by nightfall. Apparently, not everyone agreed upon the pleasantness of that. Consequently, we are now in the midst of a two-year plan to see how June goes relative to their annual yee-haw soiree in Bristol. So, we'll see. Or feel.Meanwhile, if Country Thunder and its fans wanted the heat, then Country Thunder and its fans got the heat.Afternoon temps reached into the mid-to-high 80s each day. Those who wore very little did not seem to mind. Those of whom wore black, whoa boy. Sweat poured like water in the Amazon; it was quite the jungle within the concrete bowl of Bristol Motor Speedway.Friday began with newcomer Aidan Canfield. He looks to rock's Bruce Springsteen and mainstream country's Kenny Chesney for musical inspiration. "I cuff my jeans like I cuff my sleeves," Canfield sang within his 2022 breakthrough, "The Idea of Me." The fella from Pleasantville, New York, bore the swirling tune of personal elusiveness with impressive aplomb.Knoxville's Emily Ann Roberts followed. A season nine contestant on NBC's "The Voice" in 2015, Roberts parlayed that into a top five country single, "Burning House," which she played to a smattering of fans on Friday afternoon.Jake Worthington proved quite the revelation on Friday. As much of Bristol was clocking out, the 28-year-old Texan clocked in.Two songs into his set, Worthington sang of his "hankerin' for some Hank" on "Jonesin'." Name drop country luminaries George Jones and Hank Williams in one song, bliss follows. Add Worthington's pedal steel player Adam Goodale, who plied twang thickly and often, country music resounded from Jake Worthington."East Tennessee!" Worthington said three songs into his set. "Got any honky-tonkers out there?" Thankfully, yes. The young country gun then made his second of many references to George Jones. Later on, he revived Jones' country standard from 1959, "White Lightning."Result? Jake Worthington easily rated as the most country during Country Thunder Bristol 2024.Around about suppertime, Alabama's Shenandoah assembled on stage. The crowd swelled noticeably as the country vets played a mix of middle-of-the-road country. Interspersed with such No. 1 singles as the set-opening "Next to You, Next to Me" from 1990, lead singer Marty Raybon demonstrated one of the finest voices of the past 40 years. He still has it, too.Trace Adkins, still a bit hobbled from a broken leg last year, persevered. His voice, a deep baritone gem, opened with "I Got My Game On" to illustrate that he's a country boy who will survive.Adkins embraces versatility. Throughout the black-cowboy-hatted hitmaker's nearly 90-minute show, he strode from poignant country ballads (1996's "Every Light in the House") to occasionally silly more-rock-than-country fare (2003's "Hot Mama").As the clock clicked 10, native Texan Cody Johnson kicked off with boots and spurs. Before a crowd of about 25,000 or so, Johnson's contemporary-leaning neo-traditionalist style of country certainly evoked the country part of Country Thunder. For about 90 minutes, he stepped into a lane established decades ago by George Strait.Louder drums than Strait, night-one headliner Cody Johnson nonetheless provided as if with a compass a route for fans to find the real country thing. From an early "Me and My Kind" through his rocked-up roll of Charlie Daniels' "Long Haired Country Boy," Johnson prompted thousands of cowboy-hatted heads to nod to and fro.Day two began with Josh Ross and closed with Hardy. Levi Lisi, a fan from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, stood at the front."Originally, I came to see Cody Johnson," Lisi said. "But I like Hardy, too. I'm in love with all sorts of songs. I'm looking forward to Hardy's rock album."Thunder, as if it dropped from the day's occasionally darkened clouds, draped Saturday at Country Thunder with a cloak of rock to louder rock to shades of heavy metal rock. No kidding.Opener Josh Ross did not pretend to be country. From an opening "On a Different Night" through "Red Flags" and a cover of pop-rock's Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris," the 28-year-old Canadian opened a sweaty can of rock that he poured throughout his set."Everybody holding up in the sun?" Ross, who wore a NASCAR Bristol t-shirt, said. Later, he added, "I'm a huge NASCAR fan, so it's an honor for me to be here in Bristol."Images of NASCAR lore — Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, etc., looked upon the scene from high above BMS' gargantuan grandstands. Petty grinned. So did Dale Earnhardt.As did Saturday's hearty audience. By the time of headliner Hardy's 10 o'clock entrance, numbers swelled to perhaps a shade more than 30,000 in attendance.Beer cans popped, the sun baked, and country music parked its fiddles and steel guitars on Saturday.Lonestar straddled pop and rock in the guise of country. We heard them dial back to 1974 for Grand Funk Railroad's "Some Kind of Wonderful" and their own pop crossover from 1999, "Amazed." Taut band? Clearly. Country band? Not really.North Carolina's Priscilla Block inexplicably followed Lonestar. They were stars before she started kindergarten. Anyway, the "Thick Thighs" singer demonstrated in song and in her daisy dukes. Some sang along. A few wore her merch.Through hour-long sets by Travis Denning and Bailey Zimmerman, they served ample notice for those of whom came to hear Hardy. Extensive rock spiced with flavors of hip-hop, they are country boys who sound incredibly wild.Denning referenced "small town" and even George Jones in his opening song, "I Know How it Sounds." But then came the "backstrap sizzlin'" part. Same with Bailey Zimmerman, who came on to a chant of "BAILEY! BAILEY! BAILEY!"Tennessee State Senator Jon Lundberg stood in the photo pit, enthralled at the enclave of enormous sounds that thumped in his ears."What's cool here is the diversification of the speedway," Lundberg, a Tennessee state senator since 2016 up for re-election this year, said. "It's known as the fastest half-mile track in racing. It's a music venue, too. It's been a football field. This place is incredible."Not a fan on hand for day two of Country Thunder would have disagreed with Lundberg.To the strains of "Religiously," Zimmerman sped on stage. Like the Road Runner with Wiley Coyote on his tail, Zimmerman zipped and zoomed with little pause. The sun had fallen, night was on, and the crowd materialized as near to the stage as they could.When the clock clanged 10, Snoop Dogg's "Gin and Juice" thumped. Moments later, Hardy appeared via video screen. He rapped the autobiographical title track from his forthcoming rock album, "Quit!!" He followed with its first single, "Rockstar." Thus, several trends rooted.One, Hardy writes and performs loads of autobiographical songs. Some of them, particularly an acoustic "Six Feet Under (Caleigh's Song)," justifiably moved his throng of adoring fans. Likewise, "Give Heaven Some Hell," his ode for the loss of loved ones.Two, Hardy cusses. Certainly more than, say, Alan Jackson. Still, fans near and far from the stage sang right along as he rolled as if aboard a tricked out 4X4 through such rockers as "Truck Bed" and "Unapologetically Country as Hell."Yet by night's end, most within the sweat-dunked and sunburned red crowd seemed eager to find their car and head home. Memories notched, weary legs and permanent smiles applied, thousands headed for the exits with love deeply engrained for Country Thunder.