THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
People are going to say, “I was there!” ‘There’ is the performance of Breland and Friends at The Garage in Highbury, North London, October 21. Breland is Daniel Gerard Breland, an American country/hip-hop singer/songwriter. This was his first gig as a headliner, anywhere. He and his friends brought the house down.
The night opened with ‘Out The Cage’ written by Keith Urban and Breland followed by ‘Here For It’ from his debut album, Cross Country. Recorded with Ingrid Andress, for the show Breland was joined by Liverpudlian, Laura Oakes. The crowd loved it. They had come for Breland’s style of country, all the better for being joined by home town heroes.
‘County Line’ was next, a hip-hop riff on coming from a small town. A country song, and as Breland told the crowd at one point, “I’m from New Jersey and people ask me, how are you a Black guy from New Jersey doin’ country? Cause country is for everyone!” The full house agreed.
There wasn’t a stinker on the setlist, but some really rang like a bell. One was ‘Praise The Lord’. The gospel inspired hymn about country life was performed with Ben Earle of The Shires. This was a great match. Another highlight was ‘Told You I Could Drink.’ This was recorded with Lady A, in The Garage, The Ward Thomas twins joined Breland on stage.
Breland premiered a new piece called ‘London Rap’, which mentioned city sites and helped cement his relationship with the crowd. He had no problem finding volunteers to join him on stage to line dance or were willing to compete with the guitarist, Christian Crawford in a beer ‘shotgun’ competition before the song, ‘Beers On Me.’
Caitlyn Smith, from Cannon Falls, Minnesota, came out to join in on ‘Cross Country’ and stayed around to perform her song ‘High’. The Arkansan headliner, Matt Stell showed up to join Breland on ‘Strawberry Wine’ and sung his own ‘One Of Us’.
The last guest was Una Healy, of The Saturdays, who joined in a rousing rendition of ‘Throw It Back’, replacing Mickey Guyton, who sung on the recorded version. But the brightest star among the evening’s constellation was Breland. He obviously loves what he is doing and his enthusiasm was infectious. He made the evening a party among friends. And he was clear that he didn’t do it alone. His band was tight, guitarist Crawford and drummer, Harley DeWinter, were excellent and an integral part of the whole evening. But as the philosopher Fish said, “If you got it, go with it, cause you can’t give it away.” Breland’s got it.
The last song was Breland’s hit, ‘Don’t Touch My Truck’. Or so it seemed. Breland just couldn’t end the evening and came back for an unscheduled second round of ‘Praise The Lord’. Hallelujah! Everybody joined in. It was a revival in North London.
Breland celebrates today’s American music, erasing boundaries with enthusiasm. When he is back tickets won’t be £15, but go, whatever the cost, it will be worth it.
