Today we caught a glimpse of and a listen to the future of country music, both from an artist stand point and that of the fans. A huge crowd turned out at Indian Ranch and, as opposed to the normal, primarily middle-aged and up crowd, there was an overwhelming number of teens and preteens. Many of those fans could be seen running like wild fire to catch a glimpse of or better still a word from either Billy or Jessica.

     Much to the delight of the younger members of country fan nation (and yes most of us older ones too) Billy and Jessica have teamed up this summer for The Equals 29 Tour and decided to make Webster Massachusetts one of their stops.

     First onto the stage was seventeen year old Jessica Andrews. Jessica sang songs from her sophomore Dreamworks album Who I Am including the smash hit title track, as well as fan favorites from her first album. Jessica also did a very nice cover of Journey's song Open Arms.

     To the screams of seemingly thousands of young ladies, twelve year old Billy Gilman ran onto stage and put on a super high energy / high quality performance. Billy may have been inspired because he is originally from nearby Rhode Island and had many family members and friends in the crowd. He did a set that included songs from his first album and his current Epic /Sony - Nashville release One Voice including the tremendous hit title track. Billy also did some tributes to his favorites including Roy Orbison and Michael Jackson.

     At the end of Billy's show, Jessica returned to the stage to join him in singing You've Got A Friend

     Opening the show for Billy and Jessica was Teen up and comer Deana Marie. She did a set of cover tunes and was well received by the audience. The fans were not the only ones who liked Deana Marie. She made a good impression on Billy as well, at the end of the show he thanked her and referred to her as the lovely Deana Marie.
The only thing that kept this from being a perfect day of entertainment was the weather. It rained on and off throughout the day including several downpours. Almost no one left but many ran for cover at times. The weather that day was cloudy and miserable but it seems the future is very bright for country music.