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Something changes in a piece of dirt when people gather and music fills the air. Maybe it’s the bootprints left behind, or the way the energy soaks into the red clay between shows, waiting, longing, storing up a charge for whoever comes next.
Back in June 2011, these grounds became hallowed, a place where Willie Nelson’s voice tangled with the summer air, and where Sugarland, Lady Antebellum, and Darius Rucker all left a little of their souls behind. Randy Houser, Brantley Gilbert, Craig Campbell, Lee Brice, and Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, and even Jamey Johnson himself, every note played here settled in, tucked away like a firefly in a Mason jar.
For 14 long years, this patch of land waited. Through summers and storms, it held onto that magic, patient and unhurried, as only Carolina clay can be. But a stage is meant to be filled. A field is meant to echo with voices, laughter, and the snap of a snare drum on a night that feels like anything is possible. Jackson Dean opened the night with his soul and grit.
And who better to wake up the bones of this place than Jamey Johnson? Always drifting just outside whatever country music is “supposed” to be, he’s a troubadour for the honest, the haunted, and the ones who know every word by heart. His songs never sound the same twice, he plays them like a jam band that swapped tie-dye for denim, always fresh, always true, always surprising, settling into a groove of this planet as it spins.
We don’t know how many musicians it takes to revive a music venue, but we know how many Jamey Johnson used. Nine, including legendary steel guitar player Cowboy Eddie Long (a man who’s shared a stage with Hank, Skynyrd, and the Allman Brothers, and still picks notes like they might float off and land in heaven).
The night was perfect. The air soft and forgiving, the venue itself a kind of North Carolina dream, wide open, welcoming, and brand new all over again. You could see it on the faces of every person who showed up: hope, gratitude, and the kind of excitement that only comes when you know you’re part of something being reborn.
So here’s to the Carolina Crossroads Amphitheater, to the people who built it, the musicians who fill it, and every soul who ever sat under these stars. May the music never stop, and may this patch of dirt always remember what it feels like to come alive.
Upcoming Shows at Carolina Crossroads Amphitheatre
September 13 2025 Alabama
October 3rd 2025 Lynyrd Skynyrd
