Caroline County: From YouTube to Minnesota!

Woah. I started this blog thinking that this would be a slow summer so I would have plenty of time to write…well, I was soooo wrong! But I’m not complaining! I’m so thankful to have multiple jobs and to have already made lots of great memories with family and friends this summer. So far, summer 2011 is looking like one of the best!

I will post about the Taylor Swift concert eventually (I know…it’s been almost 3 weeks!). I have the post written, but it’s too long because the concert was so amazing so I’ll have to edit it a little. For now, I would like to tell you all about a concert I just went to on Tuesday, June 28^th: Caroline County at the Garage in Burnsville, MN. (I went to this concert as an early celebration for my 20^th birthday which was the next day!)

Caroline County is a duo featuring Julia Sheer and Matthew McGinn. Julia Sheer is best known for her duets with Tyler Ward. Julia is also my “girl crush” haha! I don’t normally like female singers, but there’s just something special about Julia. Anyway, I don’t know why, but she stopped working with Tyler and began doing duets with other male singers. After Tuesday night though, I think Julia can stop experimenting with duet partners, because ding ding ding! Matthew is the winner!

The big “problem” that people are having about CC is that *gasp* Julia isn’t singing with Tyler! HOW DARE SHE!! (This is sarcasm, by the way.) I am a fan of Tyler Ward, but it’s none of my business as to why he and Julia are no longer doing duets together and frankly, I don’t mind because the work she has done with Matthew is so much better! Because they are leaning towards the country genre, I have found that I have a better connection to their songs since they have stripped down to raw acoustics which highlights their unique vocals. All of their covers are better than the originals. "Kiss Me or Not" was their first cover song together that they posted on YouTube and it is absolutely gorgeous. I like the original of this song by Thompson Square, but CC slowed it down with a simple acoustic guitar (and mandolin, I believe) and now I LOVE this song. Julia has a special way of using her voice to give even more meaning to a song. Her cover of Taylor Swift’s "Sparks Fly" is one of my most played songs on my iPod. It wasn’t until I heard Julia’s version that I actually understood what the song was about! Swift’s version seems happy, but Julia transformed it into an emotional piece. Only a true artist can achieve that. And now that Julia has Matthew, their voices together will give you goose bumps.

At The Garage on Tuesday night, it was only the duet’s second show with their full band. I never heard about The Garage before, but it is actually a teen center where young bands go to play. Kayla and I sat through TWO hours of teenage bands before CC took the stage. It was…interesting. Some were terrible and some were okay, but compared to Caroline County, these young bands have a lot of work to do! The only exception to these opening acts was Patrick Picard. He is CC’s guitar player and he did a solo set before CC took the stage. He is dang talented! I am going to look him up and get some of his songs for sure! He reminded me of The Script. And I believe all the songs he played he wrote himself. They were fresh and innovative songs; unlike the other (excuse my French) crap we heard that night from the teenagers.

Back to CC. On YouTube, some people complained on the “Kiss Me or Not” YouTube video that Matthew and Julia didn’t have “a connection like Julia and Tyler had.” I want to tell these people to go to one of CC’s live shows because I definitely felt the connection. They didn’t have to be smiling and gazing into each other’s eyes at every moment, but musically, they were so emotionally involved in the songs and this is where the connection took place. This artistic quality is something I felt that Tyler lacked. Julia always outshined Tyler, but now she and Matthew gracefully share the stage together. Even though I didn’t know most of the songs they played that night, I totally got into the music! The song about sleeping alone was one I could closely relate too (Ugggg. That’s a whole other blog post. Ha!) Both Julia and Matthew are songwriters. I’m not sure if they have actually written one together yet but when they do, I have no doubt that with both of their talents, they could write a hit!

Two songs I did know were "Better With You" and Julia's YouTube hit, "Airliner". For me, the highlight of the night was when they sang Matthew’s song "Madeline." When I first heard about Julia pairing up with Matthew, I checked out his music and this song quickly grabbed my attention because it felt like this song could have been about me! I also featured "Madeline" in a blog post about break up songs because it's about what every girl wants to hear… that despite heartbreaks, they will eventually find love. The song makes even more sense now when Matthew said it was about his best friend. I think it was very fitting that I sent this song to one of my best friends when she was going through her breakup. It’s hard to tell your friend that everything will be okay, but music has the ability of reaching your heart and “Madeline” is one of those powerful songs.



Julia, myself, and Matthew! By the way, I JUST got
 a perm that day. Thus, the wild curls.



Besides the music, Matthew and Julia are complete goof balls with great personalities! And if you are female, then I’m sure you have noticed that Matthew is pretty sexy! In between songs they laughed at each other and were very personable to the audience. It was a small audience, but that makes concerts even better! Afterward they sold merchandise (I pre-ordered Caroline County’s first EP.) They also signed stuff for people and talked with everyone who came out.

I am soooooo glad Kayla and I decided to brave the rush hour traffic and go! I am rooting for Caroline County to make it to country radio someday, have music videos on CMT, and be able to play at bigger venues than The Garage. Regardless of the size of the audience, they are extremely talented artists and I’m pumped to get their songs in my itunes!!! The only complaint I have from the night is that they needed to play a longer set!

Ready. Set. GO check them out!!

Caroline County's YouTube
Caroline County’s Twitter
Caroline County’s Facebook
Julia Sheer's YouTube
Matthew McGinn's YouTube

And here's a little dessert! I took this video of "Madeline." I am working on getting a YouTube account JUST for posting my concert videos on this blog, until then, it's on my personal YouTube page.

Just for fun... I freaking love Minneapolis <3 Took this on our drive home off of I-94!