On Nov. 13, country music artist Brett Young performed through Zoom for ETSU students, faculty and staff for the annual Student Government Association Fall Concert.
This was the second SGA concert of the semester, with the previous concert being by the X Ambassadors back in August for Welcome Week.
The event included a 45 minute acoustic performance streamed in from Los Angeles. His song repertoire ranged from his first ever single “Sleep Without You” to “Here Tonight”, which he wrote with some friends such as Charles Kelley of Lady A. He also performed covers of “Walking in Memphis,” originally by Marc Cohn, and “Hallelujah,” originally by Leonard Cohen.
He mentioned that by covering the songs, he felt like he was returning to the start of his career.
“I am sitting in Santa Monica like maybe a quarter mile from the restaurant I used to play cover gigs at every Tuesday night for a couple of years,” said Young. “Cover songs have been part of my repertoire for a really long [time], and then I got my record deal and started writing my own songs. Sometimes it feels good to go back to where it all started.”
Young provided context to some of his songs as well. “Lady” was written about his newly born baby girl, Presley. She was born this October, and he said once he knew the gender he had to write this song. He also claimed it to be his favorite he has written so far, while playing a white Gibson Dove guitar customized with his daughter’s name on it during the performance.
“This is a song that I think every artist that is also a songwriter, they know there is going to be this day if they plan on having children, they have their first child, and they want to write a song for them,” Young said. “That is the scariest most daunting task I think of all time and that is okay. I hope that if you do not already, I hope that one day you will get to experience what this feels like because it is a really special song for me.”
Following the concert, he answered Q&A questions for the audience. The session was moderated by Joey Diehl, his production manager. One question he answered was the pros and cons of being at home during COVID-19.
“I have been around for all my daughter’s firsts,” said Young. “I got to hear her say ‘dada’ for the first time. I have not had to miss anything in my personal life, but, the thing that fulfills me as a man and a provider is being out on the road and working.”
During the select meet and greet following the event, Young ended with offering some advice to freshman Miranda Bledsoe, a bluegrass, old time, and country music studies student, about working through the pandemic as an upcoming musician.
“I know that it feels like we are almost at the bottom of the rung,” Young said. “We were the first to stop working, we will probably be the last to go back to work. It is really about how much you trust your craft and desire to do it and I think that if you are willing to hang on, you are going to find a way to hang on.”
As the semester ends, students can look forward to more student programming and the spring concert in 2021. For more information about upcoming events, email sgaevents@etsu.edu.
