Emerson Drive mixes rock and country

Published 3:21 pm Saturday, August 2, 2008

Emerson Drive mixed in its hits with some classic country and classic rock in a performance Friday that had fans enjoying every moment.

The group made its second appearance at the Freeborn County Fair, the first came in 2003, and enjoy playing fairs like it.

“They’ve been incredible for us over the last seven years just because we do so many of them,” said Brad Mates, lead singer of Emerson Drive. “If it wasn’t for some of these fairs we probably wouldn’t be as busy as we are. It’s always a great place to be.”

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Emerson Drive is in the midst of a summer tour to promote its new album which will be released in January. Fans got a chance to sample the songs that will be on the new album as the group performed a few of them Friday night.

“Whatever people hear live is kind of what they’ll get on the album,” Mates said. “I think it’s an important thing that as a band that you can recreate that sound live or in the studio. We give them an opportunity to let us know what they think about the music before it’s even out, which I think is kind of a fun thing.”

Fun was the right word to describe Emerson Drive on stage as Mates cracked jokes about the back room of the Aragon Bar and poked fun at bandmates in between songs.

Emerson Drive is all about fun, and making sure the audience has fun. The group achieved success with its hit “I Should Be Sleeping” in 2001 and has continued to turn out hits. The last one, “Moments” coming off its “Countrified” album.

The group played all of its popular songs while filtering in the new ones while showing some of its own musical influences.

Emerson Drive paid homage to fellow Canadian Bryan Adams when it cranked out “Boys of Summer.” The group also performed country staples “Fishin’ in the Dark” and “Next to You, Sitting Next to Me.”

After finishing the set the group returned for an encore — except this would be an encore of grand proportions.

Fiddle player David Pichette stepped on stage and went into a solo. Lead guitarist Danick Dupelle came on and performed his own solo, riffling off classic guitar riffs from Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.

All was a prelude to “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” and Emerson poured it on in the encore. Pichette climbed on top of the concrete barriers that separated fan from the stage and began walking up and down while fans grasped to touch him. Pichette then went into the crowd for a moment while the audience stood on its feet.

For first-time fans it was quite a treat.

“I always heard they did a bang,” said Crystal Shellhart, who drove up from Mason City. “I guess I didn’t quite expect it to be that big. That was pretty awesome.”

Emerson Drive won Shellhart over, but they also won over many others with its combination of country and rock.

“Country’s just not country without a little rock to it,” said fan Kristina McKinney. “I love it. They put in a lot of what influenced them and that’s what makes them Emerson Drive.”

Ashton Shepherd opened for Emerson Drive and performed songs off her debut album. The 21-year-old singer/songwriter sang authentic songs about being a mother and a housewife yet still wanting to have fun out on the town. Shepherd is married and has a young son, but is making her way up the country music business after winning a talent contest.

It’s hard to find a female country artist as authentic as Shepherd, an Alabama native.