Davis plays it loose

It was the last night of the Buy Dirt Tour for Jordan Davis, and a loose, feel good attitude pervaded the evening. Part of that showed up in the energized stints by Davis and other acts on the bill including Seaforth. Part of that was when opener MacKenzie Porter popping up on stage to give a Christmas present of a bottle of tequila (or some alcoholic beverage) in a bottle to Davis while he was onstage.

The good cheer extended to the music and crowd for a crowd doubtlessly happy to be at anything live after a difficult yar due to COVID..

This was a night where it showed country music ain't what it used to be. By far, the most traditional sounding song was Davis' cover of "Neon Rainbow" with a little help from Seaforth. Davis knew his way around Jackson chestnut. While nothing particularly unique of Davis' take, at least he recognized his predecessors.

He also took note of his surroundings, noting that he was playing across from Fenway Park, resulting in a cover of Neal Diamond's "Sweet Caroline," a long-time staple of Red Sox games. He had the right spirit, but it wasn't all that clear that he knew all of the words.

Davis, who has enjoyed hits with "Slow Dance in a Parking Lot" and his debut,"Singles You Up," which closed out the regular set, was best during a three-song acoustic set. It was here that the emphasis was most clearly on the songs and vocals, and he scored points on both counts.

Otherwise, there was a bit of a generic feel to some of the songs with the material at times on the mediocre side.

But Davis' latest single, "Buy Dirt" with Luke Bryan, underscored the potential of Davis. He extolls the things that matter in life – love, work, marriage, God and family – in a non-jingoistic way. Simple sentiments, but they are part of the country ethos. For that along, Davis deserved credit.

Seaforth is the Aussie duo of Mitch Thompson and Tom Jordan. They may be marketed as country, but they seemed more intent on rocking out at least in the beginning – was. No one clued in how loud the drums were? - before settling down a bit for more subdued material. A few songs – the closing "Breakups" and "Love That" – stood out, but for the most part, Seaforth didn't show a lot of depth to the material either.