Country Thunder USA Concert

After suffering through blowing dust and rain on Country Thunder’s opening night Thursday (article), country music fans were treated to clear skies, warmer temperatures and two country music legends on the main stage Friday night.

The question on some fans minds wasn’t whether Reba McEntire would play a healthy sampling of the hits from her three decade career. It was what Randy Owen, formerly of now-retired country super-group Alabama, would play.

“I’m a huge Alabama fan,” said Ashley Miller of Spokane, Wash. “I’d be disappointed if he didn’t play any Alabama songs, but he might want to do his own thing.”

Owen is working on his first solo record, and some fans thought he might lean more heavily on his new solo material.

“I’d be surprised if he didn’t play any Alabama. That’s what I’d want to hear,” said Natalie Roberts of Hannibal, Mo., who was at the festival at Canyon Moon Ranch in Florence to see Reba McEntire.

As it turned out, Owen -- playing his ever first solo concert -- played mostly classic Alabama tunes such as “The Closer You Get,” “Tennessee River,” “Mountain Music” and “Dixieland Delight.” The huge Friday night crowd danced and sang along with the instantly recognizable tunes during the singer’s 90-minute set.

Blake Shelton, one of the better young country singers in the 2000s, got the crowd going before Owen’s set with a slew of his own chart-toppers (photos). Shelton engaged the crowd with humorous banter about his ribald language before playing his hit “Some Beach” and played other hits such as “Playboys of the Southwestern World,” “Nobody But Me” and his first No. 1 hit, “Austin,” during his crowd pleasing set.

During Tanya Tucker’s set she brought her 7-year-old daughter, Layla, out to sing – the little girl can already carry a mean tune – and it wasn’t hard to think about the fact that Tucker was a bonafide star as a child herself. She scored her first hit at age 13 in 1972 with “Delta Dawn,” the first of many chart toppers for the singer, who it seems has been around forever but is only 48-years-old.

Tucker played a long list of her most popular tunes, including “Love Me Like You Used To,” “I'll Come Back As Another Woman” and “Texas (When I Die).”

Another main stage act that got a big response from the crowd was Heartland. The Alabama band rose from obscurity to having a No. 1 country single with “I Loved Her First,” a tune that doesn’t fully represent the band’s southern rock sound but brought many of the fans to their feet when the group performed the song Friday afternoon.

Reba, Randy Owen highlight Country Thunder’s second night

Chris Hansen Orf, Get Out