Lady Antebellum, Brockport idols amaze concert crowd

By Allison Kowalski
LIFESTYLES EDITOR

Photo By Chelsea Craddock, CAMPUS TALK EDITOR Lady Antebellum perform at the College at Brockport.

For the first time in years, students at the College at Brockport made their way to the Seymour Union College Ballroom to attend a country concert performance courtesy of WBEE, a country radio station in the Rochester area.

Cowboy hats and cowboy boots were not out of place as a throng of students headed into the Ballroom to hear the 2006 and 2007 Brockport Idol winners, Amber Rose Regling and Rebekah Nowak, local Rochester band Flint Creek and the most anticipated act, country trio Lady Antebellum.

To kick off the concert, Regling, Nowak and Regling’s guitar-playing fiancé Brian DeFazio performed a series of five songs, mainly country. Both of the girls’ performances proved that they were indeed worthy of winning the title of Brockport Idol for the past two years.

First, Regling belted a strong version of “Stay” by famous country group Sugarland while Nowak smoothly followed with one of Carrie Underwood’s newer songs “Just a Dream.” In the third song, the two girls peacefully harmonized one of The Wrecker’s hits “Leave the Pieces.” Following, Nowak sang a beautiful rendition of Kelly Clarkson’s “Beautiful Disaster” and Regling provided a great ending to their performance with “No One Else On Earth” by Wynona Judd while Nowak provided back-up vocals.

This concert is the first time Nowak and Regling have sung together and they said they do not plan for it be their last. Both girls have a strong appreciation for music and as long as a song has a good tempo, they will sing their hearts out.

“I just love to sing,” Nowak said. “It doesn’t even matter what song.”

Next, Flint Creek, a band from the Rochester area, provided a plethora of upbeat songs that literally had a majority of the audience putting their cowboy boots to good use. Truly audience-friendly and exuding energy, Flint Creek was definitely a welcome addition to the concert lineup.

After much anticipation, Lady Antebellum finally took the stage as the final act of the night. Perfoming a variety of songs from their album, the audience was enthused and energized while deep Southern vocals escaped the artists’ mouths and the smooth, rich sounds of the guitar matched almost perfectly.

Lady Antebellum is one of the newer country bands to successfully make it out of Nashville, Tenn. The group also did not form the band in a traditional way. In fact, it all started with MySpace.

When vocalist Hillary Scott was walking around the Nashville bars one night, she thought she recognized Charles Kelley, also a vocalist, and immediately talked to him.

“I think I know you from MySpace,” Scott said.

Scott is not a stalker, but since she is also a songwriter and singer, she browsed fellow artists’ Web sites. After that fateful meeting, Kelley suggested they both get together to write songs. Soon, a third musician, Dave Haywood, was added to the group, making a final trio.

Haywood and Kelley knew one another from college and experimented with music in the past. The group came up with the name Lady Antebellum while they were being shot in pictures with old, Southern antebellum homes in the background.

With their first hit single, “Love Don’t Live Here,” and wrapping up a tour with country singer Martina McBride, the group is definetly reaching its way to the top. Currently, they are in the first round of nominations for CMT awards. Still, the group is still getting used to their surprised, yet well-deserved success.

“It’s been interesting and really fun,” Kelley said. “I don’t think you ever get used to it.”

Based on their performance, it will be no surprise if Lady Antebellum gets past the CMT nomination rounds, thus furthering their success.