This past Saturday, Authentic Unlimited hosted their first of soon to be many annual Christmas shows at the Field of Dreams Activity Center in Dandridge, TN.
Before the show, Jerry Cole’s longtime friend, John Williams, led off with a reading of the Christmas story from Luke, and an opening prayer. Then the band launched into an hour long set of bluegrass for the packed auditorium. They played their classic set list and absolutely tore it up. Authentic had a special guest join them to play dobro during Fall in Tennessee, former Quicksilver bandmate, Josh Swift.
The second set rolled around, and it was time for a total Christmas takeover. Josh Swift switched from dobro to drums, Chris Key joined to play piano, and even Santa Claus himself showed up to sing, though he did look suspiciously like Jerry. The boys went through the entirety of their new Christmas album, Christmas Time is Here. The instrumentation was a solid mix of jazzy Christmas grooves and slick bluegrass sounds. Jesse Brock and Steven Burwell lit the traditional holiday songs up with fast breaks and incredible licks, John, Jerry, and Eli crooned the night away, and Josh Swift and Chris Key backed the band expertly. The crowd loved every minute of the second set and was floating along with excitement and Christmas Spirit.
The true highlight of the set was Authentic Unlimited bringing together the whole story of the real reason for the Christmas season. Eli Johnston sang the Keith Whitley song, New Kid in Town, and John closed out the show with Jonas, bringing the story full circle from the manger to the crucifixion and resurrection.
“We talk about the birth of Christ in New Kid in Town,” John Meador began, “and as beautiful of a thing as that is, that wasn’t his only purpose for coming here. He came to die, to fulfill the prophecy to die for all of our sins so that we could have everlasting life. I’m going to try to finish the story here. We told you about the birth of Christ; now I’m going to tell you about the end.”
Ending the show with Jonas was quit powerful, and truly brought the whole message of Christmas together beautifully.
