West Cost Cowgirl

Day 3

A lot of people I know don't like country music. Now, I usually say that's because they haven't heard real country. But I used to be one of them. Once, someone asked what kind of music I like. I replied "everything, except country." to which she said "you will one day, you just haven't heard the real stuff yet." And she was right. My friend said if you truly love music there's no way you can't at least appreciate country.

There's still a lot about the genre I don't know (and I have close friends who are educating me to fix this). But what I do know is that I love it. By Day 3, I was on a music high. So many great moments happened this day.

I also decided I needed a new hat. I know this style is supposed to be more manly, but I love how simple it is. It also smells like green tea, an aspect I greatly enjoyed when I used it for shade during a nap. I originally bought the denim vest for my Halloween costume this year, so I was very happy to find multiple uses. I picked the wrong day to wear a dress, though. It was so windy I had to use my hat as a shield to keep my dress down.

dress: Pins and Needles // vest: Forever21 // shoes: Steve Madden // hat: Down Dirty Hats

A lot of poeople don't know that if you go to central CA, most of the culture is pretty country. Caleche Ryder is very familiar with that, though. The first thing I have to say about her is she is completely lovely. Slightly badass, incredibly sexy, but very humbled. She put on a great show. She joked between songs and told us how she wrote them (and I REALLY want her boots!) I highly reccomend hearing more of her stuff.

Austin Webb

This kid is a proper country boy in the making.

Drake White and the Big Fire

The Cadillac Three

Chase Rice

I have to say that Chase Rice was the best performer of the weekend. To say he was interactive with the audience is an understatement. He pulled this little girl onto stage with him to give her some advice about life, and to have her sing with him. Appropriately named Emmylou and astutely wearing the cutest black cowboy boots I've ever seen, she got every word of the chorus right. He had the audience toast with him and made everyone feel that we were his buds.

He also noticed a sign that said it was this girl's 21st birthday, so naturally he pulled her on stage and serenaded her.

 A traditional country man

The moment the tradiaitonal country man met the modern full headdress Indian girl

Brett Eldredge

 Brett was all set with a hidden bar in the piano.

Jake Owen

Jake introduced his guitarist as having "the lamest instrument ever invented," the keytar. Then, he said that only every once in a while could a band make a keytar cool, and one of those was Van Halen. Afterwards, we were all jumping along to "Jump." I would have gotten more pictures of his great set, but he moved around so much all of them were blurry. He was definitely a close second to Chase Rise and I completely recommend seeing him live.

Tim McGraw

Of course, Tim McGraw was amazing. He was entirely about his fans. He disappeared into the audience so well, the spotlight guy couldn't even find him. The couple standing next to us in the crowd slow danced to one of his songs and it was one of the cutest things I've ever seen. There is clearly a reason why he's a country legend.

Photographed by: myself & Caroline Reich