Subscribe
Community
Trace's twang, trace of tears
July 4 performance pays tribute to fallen U.S. troops
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by EMILY BARNES
The crowd is fired up at the July 4 "Night of Remembrance" concert at Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf which featured Trace Adkins.
|
E-Mail This Article
See related stories
Trace Adkins, a country star with numerous hit songs, was the headliner. He was also second fiddle.
On July 4, at Regency Furniture Stadium, during a "Night of Remembrance," the real stars were members of the military. The event particularly honored the fallen: From Maryland and beyond, 20 families who lost members in Iraq and Afghanistan attended as guests of Waldorf's Kool Productions.
This was more than a concert. Between the opening set by North Beach's John Luskey and the main act, active members of the military delivered speeches, a bagpiper performed to 4,500 attendees standing silently and the 20 families simultaneously let go of white balloons bearing a name and rank of their departed loved one along with messages filled with love, pride and tribute.
After traveling from National Harbor in a bus with a police escort, the families gathered in the Legends Club.
"My son told me that he might not come back," said Janice Chance of Owings Mills, "but he wanted to go, anyway. He wanted to change the world."
Chance's son, U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Jesse Melton III, was 29 when he died in Afghanistan. Sitting nearby was Melton's sister, Marine Capt. Jenine Melton, who has served two tours in Iraq.
The Maryland president of Gold Star Mothers, Carol Roddy, and her husband, Bob, of Abingdon, attended the event in honor of their son, U.S. Navy Petty Officer David S. Roddy, an explosive ordnance disposal specialist who died in Iraq in 2006.
Families acknowledged that moving on from the sudden loss of a loved one is very hard. Still, Keith Wallace of Lexington Park talked about the possibility of discovering a "new normal" — brought about because he is so proud of the service and contributions his son made to a cause in which he believed.
Meanwhile, in the three years since Keith and Mary Wallace's son, Cpl. Matthew Phillip Wallace, died in Iraq, never was there a chance to meet so many kindred souls: people like Gary and Cindy Lohman, whose son Sgt. Ryan Baumann attended Great Mills High School with Wallace and died in Afghanistan last August.
"Initially, it's almost like I'm speechless," Keith Wallace said. "It's such a therapeutic thing for people who share a common tragedy to be able to look at each other and realize they are not alone." He, and others, acknowledged the efforts and graciousness of Kool Productions, particularly its volunteer family liaison Monique Mitchell of Huntingtown. Mitchell, among other things, arranged for the families to meet Adkins before his set.
After the national anthem, Luskey played a set of songs from two albums, the latest of which was released during the show. A couple months ago, Mitchell had asked Luskey if he would write a song to honor the event's fallen soldiers.
Photos of the honored soldiers flashed on the screen while he sang "In Every American," and perhaps no other moment was as poignantly emotional. It was yet another surprise for the families.
Introduced by a recorded instrumental, Adkins opened a mostly loud, upbeat set of modern country rock with his 2007 single, "I Got My Game On," a song about a man feeling hyper-confident, a man that could have been Adkins.
The song, and most others after it, was accompanied by a Country Music Television video on a screen behind the stage.
When Adkins launched the song, "Swing," the audience could watch a video filmed, incidentally, in a minor league ballpark. On the other hand, when Adkins performed "Marry for Money," a single from his latest album "X (Ten)," one might have confused the latter part of the video with an ad for Victoria's Secret.
Song selections touched on Adkins' full catalogue, including the well-known cross-over hit, "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk," and the once-No. 1 country single, "Ladies Love Country Boys" off 2006's "Dangerous Man."
Backed by two guitars, keyboards, fiddle, bass, drums, pedal steel guitar and occasionally mandolin, Adkins was able to produce his songs in a live setting with a level of clarity equal to his records. Surprises, in turn, came between songs, when Adkins spoke casually to the audience like a regular pal.
He called the stadium a cool place. He said Blue Crabs jokes will write themselves. He commented on the outfield advertisement for See-thru Windows. "As opposed to what other kind?" he said, sparking laughter.
"I do a lot of silly songs, and I know that, but you got to have some fun," Adkins said, later, before singing a song he always "approaches with the utmost respect."
"Arlington," sung from the viewpoint of a soldier during his funeral in Arlington National Cemetery, drew the night's most enthusiastic response.
For an encore, a gospel choir from Washington, D.C., came out and backed up Adkins on his dramatic new single, "Muddy Water," which segued in and out of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground."
Adkins, however, did not play "Til' the Last Shot's Fired," a song he performed Memorial Day at the National Mall. Still, as the show ended — as the lights came on and the entertainer disappeared — one might have hummed his refrain: Say a song for peace, for every fallen son.
Shortly thereafter, fireworks exploded above and one might have imagined 20 white balloons rising higher through the air, beyond the eye-catching streaks.
Later, 20 families left the stadium. They were together then and will remain together in the years to come.
