Crystal and Will Yates
Friday the 13th was good for Leann Rimes, who brought her A-game, along with a really simple, clean sounding band, to Choctaw Casino’s Event Center in Grant, Okla., and who had a dynamite warm-up duo to get the crowd really ready for her. Crystal Yates, winner of the Country Showdown nationwide contest, and her husband, Will, a top-shelf musician who backs her up instrumentally as well as vocally, provided a 30-minute-ish set for the standing-room crowd before Ms. Rimes took the stage.
And when Leann took that stage, she owned it. For the next hour and a half, that stage, those lights, that sound system, and that crowd belonged to Leann Rimes, 100%. “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” “Nothin’ Better To Do,” “The Rose.” You name her hit – she sang it. And beautifully belted out Patsy Cline’s hits, to boot.
The next show at the Grant Choctaw facility will be Nashville recording artist Kellie Pickler. Shows start at 8 p.m. there, and the Friday night shows are followed by a live band at The River Bar in the same facility.