Country band Lady Antebellum plays to a smaller crowd on a picture-perfect Sunday evening at the Rock County 4-H Fair in Janesville.
JANESVILLE — The music was excellent—rock-based country delivered with skill and soul.
The weather was excellent—78 degrees, low humidity, refreshing breeze.
The price was right—$8 tops to get into the Rock County 4-H Fair.
The crowd?
Enthusiastic but light—quite light for Lady Antebellum.
“I truly applaud the people who came out because this is such a poppin’ group,” said a 59-year-old Rock County woman who declined to give her name. “But I’m really disappointed in Janesville.”
Lady Antebellum is a poppin’, up-and-coming group—winner of the Academy of Country Music’s top new vocal group of the year award, said Justin Brown, afternoon disc jockey for WJVL (99.9 FM) in Janesville.
“They’re brand new; that’s the problem,” Brown said. “They only have two songs on the radio right now.”
But Melanie Loterbauer heard those two songs on WJVL and sought out Lady Antebellum’s self-titled and only compact disc.
“After I heard the CD, I was hooked,” said Loterbauer, a 34-year-old kindergarten teacher in Milton.
Loterbauer was dancing and singing along with friends and a few of their kids. Many of the same group traveled recently to County Thunder in Twin Lakes to see and hear Lady Antebellum, she said.
“I’m having a blast,” Loterbauer added.
So, Melanie, are you on the cutting edge of country?
“I’d like to think so,” she replied.
So is Kaleigh Cleveland, 18, of Evansville.
She was spotted singing along and swaying to the rock beat.
“I cried when they came out,” she said. “It (the music) just hits me.”
Cleveland said Lady Antebellum’s lyrics and sound—especially the soulful twang of co-lead singer Hillary Scott—push her emotional buttons.
Lady Antebellum was as close as the Rock County 4-H Fair came to straight-ahead rock ’n’ roll this year, the hip-hop and R&B of Corbin Bleu notwithstanding.
Besides performing their own skillfully crafted songs, Lady Antebellum’s six members covered Tom Petty, the Doobie Brothers, Allman Brothers, AC/DC and Georgia Satellites.
Mostly older teens and young adults pressed against the fence to get close to the show.
But what about the spectators in the last row of the grandstand? Why there, guys?
The backrest provided by the grandstand wall was the answer for at least eight of the back-row watchers.
“The back rest is the big thing,” said Tony Ross of Clinton after he and his wife, Linda, settled in.
“We (the family’s three sons) show a lot of animals. We’ve been here all week,” Tony began.
“We’re tired,” Linda interjected.
“And we’re not as young as we used to be,” Tony said.
