Carly Pearce, Jackson Dean, and Tiera Kennedy helped celebrate K-Frog's 33rd Birthday Bash Friday night (January 27th) at Morongo Casino Resort and Spa, along with the K-Frog Family, including listeners and clients.
It was only the second show of 2023 for headliner Carly Pearce, who reminded the crowd that on the other side of her tumultuous divorce was a great deal of happiness, noting that her current age of "33 is much better" than being 29, the year she found herself married, then divorced, but which inspired an album that has catapulted her to stardom, earning nods from the ACMs, CMAs, and even a Grammy nomination for "Never Wanted to Be That Girl" (with Ashley McBryde).
Jackson Dean's acoustic set included the song that put him on the map, "Don't Come Lookin'," as well as a brand new one, "Train Song," and one written with Dan Tyminski (a member of Alison Krauss's band Union Station) and Luke Dick, "Superstitious." He shared that when a songwriter challenged him to write a song titled "Heavens to Betsy," he came up with the idea of a father in heaven using a CB radio to communicate with his daughter.
If Tiera Kennedy was feeling any lingering effects from hip surgery just days earlier, it was impossible to tell. She was in top form for her performance, sharing that when she first started singing, she wrote about boys, "because that's what Taylor [Swift] does," but has found her own voice, too, in songs like "Found It In You." She had the crowd singing along with her covers of Jo Dee Messina's "Heads Carolina, Tails California" and Old Crow Medicine Show's "Wagon Wheel" (introduced to a wider audience by Darius Rucker).
Happy Birthday, K-Frog!
Setlist:
Carly Pearce:
1. Diamond Back
2. Woman Down
3. Easy Going
4. Should've Known Better
5. Next Girl
6. Every Little Thing
7. 29
8. Never Wanted to Be That Girl
9. Dear Miss Loretta
10. Cowboy Take Me Away (Chicks cover)
11. Hide the Wine
12. What He Didn't Do
13. I Hope You're Happy Now
Jackson Dean:
1. Trailer Park
2. Fearless
3. Superstitious
4. Don't Take Much
5. Wings
6. Heavens to Betsy
7. Train Song
8. Don't Come Lookin'
Tiera Kennedy:
1. Alabama Nights
2. Wanna
3. Better Than Me
4. Heads Carolina, Tails California (Jo Dee Messina cover)
5. I'd Look Good In That Truck
6. Jesus, My Mama, My Therapist
7. Wagon Wheel (Darius Rucker cover)
8. Found It In You
9. Shut It Down