A rousing show of female power
“Who said rednecks can’t rock?”
This question was posed by a triumphant Gretchen Wilson Thursday night at South Shore Music Circus after she and her eight-piece band finished a particularly ferocious cover of Heart’s “Barracuda.” And if anyone in the sold-out crowd in Cohasset thought otherwise, Wilson certainly proved them wrong.
From the red-hot opener, “Here for the Party,” which was the concert equivalent of cracking open a fresh PBR, to
the boot-stomping “hell yeah!” refrain of closer “Redneck Woman,” Wilson confidently rocked her personal blend of honky-tonk, traditional country, and Southern boogie.
The 34-year-old also showed that while her neck might be red, she has several other colors at her disposal musically. Most notable in that palette is blue. While rowdy singalongs full of brassy attitude and electric guitar like “All Jacked Up” and “You Don’t Have to Go Home” got a lot of love, Wilson also revealed that she can go deeper than a Skoal tin and a shot glass.
“I Don’t Feel Like Loving You Today,” stripped back to a single acoustic guitar and three-part harmonies, got to the aching root of the frustrations faced by long-term lovers. “Heaven Help Me” found Wilson soaring vocally as she sought restored faith in herself and redemption from a higher power. And the heady “Come to Bed” offered a sultry twist on not going to bed mad.
But the song that neatly encapsulated Wilson was the title track to her latest, “One of the Boys.” As she proudly sang of her ability to outplay or outdrink any male competition, she admitted, “I still got this little girl inside of me/ That likes to be treated like a queen/ I know I don’t act much like a lady/ But I still need to be somebody’s baby.”
It was likely that many of her female fans totally related, no matter their neck color.
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