Live In The Vineyard returned to Napa Valley for its 16th year April 25-27. The three-day, invitation-only country edition, Live In The Vineyard Goes Country presented by Visit Napa Valley, featured more than 30 country acts performing at picturesque wineries and unique locations throughout California.
Videos by American Songwriter
Griffen Palmer performed at the event for the second consecutive year. In a conversation with American Songwriter the day before his debut album Unlearn released, Palmer says attending Live In The Vineyard Goes Country inspires him as a songwriter.
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“It’s hard not to be inspired by everything going on around,” he tells American Songwriter. “You also have so many good times with friends and co-workers and people you love over food and wine, which inspires songs in themselves.
“I’ve never been to a place quite like Napa,” he adds. “Every time I get to go to one of these majestic vineyards, it’s mind-blowing. … I love this place.”
Lauren Alaina, Jake Owen, Brandy Clark and Jimmie Allen debuted new music during their sets. Host and emcee Coffey Anderson, Jackson Dean, Hannah Ellis, Ian Flanigan, James Barker Band, Kat & Alex, Kimberly Kelly, Chase McDaniel, Neon Union, Catie Offerman, Kimberly Perry, MaRynn Taylor and Aaron Watson also performed during the festival.
“It’s like camp: sleepaway camp in Napa while drinking and listening to music,” Bobbii Jacobs, Co-founder of Live In The Vineyard Goes Country and President of FF Entertainment, explains ahead of a lunch showcase for music supervisors, radio programmers, DSP curators and label executives at Cuvaison Winery. “That’s what Live In The Vineyard is. I want you to get to know each other because you’re all so important to artists on so many levels.”
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From early previews of yet-to-be-released music to fan-favorite sing-alongs, here are the 10 most memorable moments from Live In The Vineyard Goes Country 2023.
1. Lauren Alaina debuts three new songs
One of the most engaging performers of Live In The Vineyard Goes Country, Alaina launched her set at Uptown Theatre Napa with her previous No. 1 single “One Beer” before she segued into three new songs. The new music will mark her first official release since signing with Big Loud Records.
“I figured since we were going to be here and this is all about drinking and country music, I would try out a couple of brand new songs on you guys,” she said. “This next one I’m really excited about. It’s called ‘Like Her’ and it’s about meeting your ex’s new person and you just want to hate them, but you secretly kinda like them.”
The striking ballad showcased Alaina’s powerhouse vocals while the vulnerable “Don’t Judge a Woman” served as a poignant female anthem. “All I want to do with my platform is speak for women and empower women,” she said. The clever “Walk In the Bar,” penned by Alaina, followed suit and detailed a woman trying to get over an ex. Who says heartbreak’s gotta be hard / Getting over you is just a walk in the bar, she crooned on the upbeat breakup song.
2. Chase McDaniel gets two standing ovations
McDaniel’s emotional four-song set at Napa Valley’s Nickel & Nickel Winery garnered two standing ovations. A powerful performer, McDaniel shared his vulnerabilities with the Live In The Vineyard Goes Country audience following “Your Daughter.” McDaniel said he wrote the song for his younger sister after their father “let go of his life when she was seven.”
“Growing up, our dad was an addict,” he said. “I watched her grow up longing for that fatherly love. … I grew up poor in a small town in Kentucky, where I came from a long line of tough men who taught themselves to be tough because the world had been unkind to them and they saw vulnerability as a weakness.
“It was about seven years ago that all those demons started catching up to me and I found myself standing on the side of a bridge feeling like I didn’t deserve to be alive when a tall angel with long arms found me and pulled me back over and told me that it wasn’t my time yet. So that’s why I’m here today at Live In The Vineyard.”
McDaniel added that he recently signed with Big Machine Records and that “it was the power of writing songs that saved my life.”
3. Jake Owen gets ready for summer with “On the Boat Again”
Owen turned to Willie Nelson for inspiration for his next single, “On the Boat Again,” which he also debuted at LITVGC on Thursday (April 27) at Uptown Theatre Napa. The song borrows the chorus melody of Nelson’s “On the Road Again” and changes the lyrics to embody Owen’s love of being on the water.
On the boat again
I just can’t wait to get on the boat again
The life I love is drinking cold beer with my friends
I can’t wait to get on the boat again
“If I could put out a song that feels like my life and feels good and also get Willie paid at the same time, this will be good,” Owen said as he introduced the feel-good track.
4. Brandy Clark embraces sad country songs
“I’m signed to Warner Brothers LA and they chose this set,” Clark said ahead of her performance at Regusci Winery. “So if you don’t like sad songs, you can blame them. But if you do, you can thank me.”
Clark’s set included the poetic “Buried,” from her forthcoming self-titled album, as well as the relatable “Dear Insecurity.” The latter standout had the singer writing a letter to her insecurities.
You’re a mean girl, you’re a bully and I hope you’re having fun
’Cause insecurity, you try on all my clothes
It just occurred to me that you may live in my phone
You tell me I don’t fit in, push me close to quitting
“Insecurity is possibly the ugliest human emotion,” Clark noted. “And I started to think about that when I was in the car going into this writing appointment. I started to think about my own insecurities and the things in my life that they have screwed up and thought, ‘Wouldn’t that be something to write a letter to insecurity?’”
5. Coffey Anderson brings light and laughter
Anderson served as an affable host and emcee throughout LITVGC. When he wasn’t on the stage, he was cheering on every performer he previously introduced. The singer took the stage at Robert Mondavi Winery for a lighthearted set that showed off his personality.
Anderson fittingly kicked off his performance with the upbeat “Blame It On the Wine” and segued into a cover of Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl.” While he had the audience singing along to the latter, he also had them laughing along as he changed the lyrics of my brown-eyed girl to my green-eyed girl, my blue-eyed girl, my cross-eyed girl, and my one-eyed girl.
6. Kimberly Kelly shares the stories behind her songs
Kelly performed several songs featured on her debut album I’ll Tell You What’s Gonna Happen, which was released last summer. Seated beside her husband, songwriter and guitar player Brett Tyler, at Cuvaison Winery, Kelly shared the story behind “Blue Jean Country Queen.” The couple penned the song with Steve Wariner and she joked that each writer was envisioning a different woman during the writing session.
“We wanted to write a song about how you feel when you get all dolled up,” she said. “I was thinking about how, one time when I was younger, I was going to float the river in New Braunfels, Texas. My boss at the time said, ‘Sounds like you’ve got everything but you haven’t planned to stop and get alcohol.’ I’m like, listen, I’m gonna be floating down the river and some boy’s gonna be like, ‘Hey girl you want a beer?’
“I was thinking about that mindset and Brett was thinking about Trailer Park Tammy if any of you know who that is. Steve Wariner was thinking about Dottie West, so picture whoever you want to picture whenever you listen to the song.”
7. Aaron Watson waves the flag for independent artists
Watson has been breaking ground as an independent artist for more than 20 years. He continues to pave the way and raise up his fellow independent acts by shining a light on them when he can. During his rousing performance at Nickel & Nickel Winery, Watson powered through high-energy numbers like “Freight Train,” “Run Wild Horses” and “Outta Style.”
He also shared details on his upcoming fall album, Cover Girl. The project will feature duets with independent female artists covering female country singers who have influenced him, including Nanci Griffith, Emmylou Harris, Chrissie Hynde and Taylor Swift. “There’s not one person in this room that has the right to tell you whether you can or can’t be a country music superstar,” he said. “You just gotta keep working hard and keep after it. I mean, it only took Willie till he was 45 to make it. There’s hope for me yet y’all.”
8. MaRynn Taylor shares “’01,” inspired by Kendall Jenner’s TikTok
Taylor said she brought the idea for her deeply personal unreleased song “’01” to her co-writers after seeing a video from Kendall Jenner on TikTok talking about therapy.
“It was a cool video that showed her talking about how she can be critical about herself and her body and she’s literally a model,” Taylor said. “I’m like, ‘Yeah, I do that too.’ Her therapist told her, ‘You should put a little picture of yourself at six years old in your mirror. That way if you’re ever being mean to yourself, you’re also being mean to her.’ That hit me. … And we ended up writing a song.”
The girl I used to know, she wasn’t scared of nothin’
She had a fire in her soul, and she knew just what she wanted
She was happy and free
She could love so fearlessly
She made no apology
But I owe one to the girl born in ’01
9. Jimmie Allen is writing again, debuts “Small Town Anthem”
Allen closed out LITVGC with a stripped-down acoustic set at Regusci Winery. While the singer performed radio hits “Best Shot,” “Make Me Want To” and “Down Home,” he also tested out a new song he recently wrote called “Small Town Anthem.” The track had the singer reminiscing about his hometown in Delaware where he used to fish, attend church and enjoy a night of longnecks at a tailgate party.
It don’t get no better
Everyday we’re living this small town anthem
“I finally started writing songs again after about nine months, almost a year of not being inspired,” he said. “It was rough, you know? I feel a lot better. I’m writing songs again and I think it’s a beautiful thing.
“I found myself drowning in what people thought I should do or what my version of success would be or should be,” he continued. “Then I finally started listening to myself again and it’s a beautiful place and I started writing songs again.”
10. Catie Offerman stuns on “I Just Killed a Man”
Offerman shared a different take on heartbreak with her debut radio single, “I Just Killed a Man.” She penned the song with Ryan Beaver, Joe Clemmons, Jessie Jo Dillon and Benjy Davis. While the song at first sounds like a murder ballad, “I Just Killed a Man” instead is a twist on a breakup.
“It’s just good ole heartbreak and I’ve never heard it done like this one before,” she told the audience at Silverado Vineyards. “We just had to write it. I feel really special this is the first song to radio.”
I just killed a man
Left him in his drive
Watch the light go out of his loving eyes
I got in my car
Made my getaway
Couldn’t stop the tears
Running down my face
(Credit: Ryan Waneka / Courtesy AristoPR)
