Oklahoma is one of the best states to live in for live music. Being only thirty minutes from OKC and just under two hours from Tulsa, we tend to see a lot of concerts. This year has been one of the best years for live music for myself. I’ve gotten to check off a couple bucket list shows early this year, seeing Trenton Fletcher, Kenny Feidler, and Josh Meloy in early February, followed by Ryan Bingham in mid-February. Then, a month later, going to night one of Boys From Oklahoma, getting to see the return of Cross Canadian Ragweed.

I also got to make Carson Jeffery my most seen artist in June, but I also got to check off some bucket list venues, seeing Logan Ryan Band and Carson Jeffery in October at Tumbleweed at Stillwater. And then there’s my show of the year. With my show of the year, I finally got to see a show at Cain’s Ballroom up in Tulsa. After the end of the year, I will have seen four shows there, but that first time walking into Cain’s Ballroom, I could tell it was special. I could feel the history that building has, and I feel like everything came full circle.

The show? Hayes Carll and Evan Felker acoustic on a sold-out Thursday night. It was a show I didn’t get tickets to, and then the night before, Brennan from Western Grunge Tapedeck called me up and asked if I wanted to come with him. It turned into my favorite show of the year.

The Turnpike Troubadours are a band that I owe a lot to. I grew up on Ragweed, Boland, Stoney, Jenkins, etc., but Turnpike? That was a band I was introduced to in a weird way, but a way that made me fall in love with country music again and are a big reason I started all this. Then you got Hayes. Hayes is arguably one of the best songwriters in the game and one of my most listened-to artists of all time. He has an incredible life story of how he got to where he is today. He was one of the artists I found right after Turnpike, so Evan and Hayes together wasn’t something I was going to turn down.

I remember right as Hayes and Evan were walking on stage, I thought to myself, “holy shit, this is insane.” I mean, you have the lead singer of one of the best country music bands of all time and one of the best writers of all time about to do an acoustic song swap. Then I thought back to the first time I saw Turnpike right after their hiatus. I remember the stadium roaring as the lights went down. I remember everyone walking on stage, and in that moment, I knew that Red Dirt was back. I knew music was back.

Then I thought back to Christmas Day of 2022, when my mom got me tickets to go see Hayes Carll. I was so excited. Then I looked at the date, and it was the same night as our senior prom. So I called my girlfriend and talked to her, and she more or less said, “screw prom, let’s go see Hayes Carll.” And it was the best night ever, because zero part of me wanted to go to prom anyways. To skip prom and see Hayes Carll, it was amazing.

I remember this one moment in the night when Hayes was talking about his song “Help Me Remember,” talking about how it has to do with dementia, and then he went into it. I’ve never seen a room so silent yet so loud at the same time. It’s a sad song that had almost everybody in tears. The room was silent while he played, yet loud with pain, and it made me realize how much a song can mean to someone.

So after remembering those two nights, as Hayes and Evan walk on stage, I get excited. It’s my first time at Cain’s. I’m front row, about to be seeing two of, if not my two favorite artists, on a random Thursday night because one of my friends called me the night before. Evan, I believe, started off the set, and the crowd is screaming back the songs to him. Now I’ll say this: you could tell the crowd was there for both, but loved Evan more. But Hayes captured that crowd. I heard multiple people say that they were going to check him out after that night.

I remember the crowd that night going crazy for every song, but there were two that I think made the crowd excited, and Hayes and Evan put them early into the set. They were Hayes Carll’s version of “Drunken Poet’s Dream” and Turnpike’s “Easton & Main.” From that moment, it set the tone of the night. Then it’s just the two of them playing song after song, with the crowd singing back the whole night.

And something after the show, as we were standing under the sign outside of Cain’s, made me think. That next morning, I said it was not only the best show I’ve been to this year, it’s the best show I’ve ever been to before.

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