{"id":36694,"date":"2025-08-14T18:01:34","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T22:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=36694"},"modified":"2025-08-14T18:01:42","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T22:01:42","slug":"outlaw-state-of-mind-celebrates-the-country-music-hits-of-chris-stapleton-at-town-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/outlaw-state-of-mind-celebrates-the-country-music-hits-of-chris-stapleton-at-town-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Outlaw State of Mind celebrates the country music hits of Chris Stapleton at Town Park"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Aurora\u2019s Concerts in the Park series\u2014proudly presented by TD\u2014took a decidedly deep dive into the Country Music genre on Wednesday night at smoky Town Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After four consecutive days of air quality warnings due to wildfires compromising cottage country, the Outlaw State of Mind quartet emerged from the miasma blanketing Southern Ontario and delivered the greatest hits of Chris Stapleton to an appreciative crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 1,000 fans of the prolific Kentucky-born songwriter and performer packed the Park to enjoy the soaring vocals and commanding stage presence of the tribute band\u2019s front man Dave McNab. A freezing cold Bes Lite\u2014purchased for $8 from the Market Brewery\u2019s beer and cooler tent\u2014made the evening even more enjoyable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McNab, who hails from Sudbury and is a Chris Stapleton look-alike, can hold a note longer than Donald Trump holds an imagined grudge. The big-bearded front man delighted the crowd when he strung out a note during \u201cYou\u2019re the Joy of My Life\u201d then wooed the group early in the band\u2019s first set with his disclosure that he \u201cgot married about a month ago\u201d and dedicated \u201cLuckiest Man Alive\u201d to his new bride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The soulful rendition was received warmly and, as the quartet delivered \u201cWhite Horse\u201d, McNab showed his good sense of humor when an errant beach ball from the dance floor denizens crash-landed on his guitar in mid-song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No such obstructions affected the band\u2019s opening number, \u201cOutlaw State of Mind\u201d, which showcased lead guitarist Carter Morin\u2019s talents. Morin\u2019s guitar work and McNab\u2019s soaring voice carried the group\u2019s fast-paced opening set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the highlights of the evening was the line dancing lesson provided by Rose who put over one hundred aspirants through their paces. The activity was loved by attendees of all ages as they moved impressively in unison in six long lines spanning the bandshell\u2019s dance floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McNab opened the second set with a pair of engaging and poignant acoustic numbers. \u201cNobody to Blame\u201d and \u201cWhiskey and You\u201d\u2014originally penned by Tim McGraw– were both received enthusiastically by the line dancers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The talented tribute band closed the concert with two of Stapleton\u2019s greatest hits: a hard-driving version of \u201cMidnight Train to Memphis\u201d and the strategically-placed \u201cTennessee Whiskey\u201d which saddened me to think about the consequences of the ill-conceived tariff war. Wednesday\u2019s concert was about as close as an Ontarian can get to Tennessee Whiskey \u2013 or to Kentucky Bourbon for that matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McNab was in fine form as the encore concluded and adoring fans of all ages milled about the stage in search of post-concert photos with the dynamic and obliging performer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we conducted our interview stage left at a Town Park picnic table, McNab was still stoked about the attendees\u2019 reaction to the band\u2019s performance: \u201cWhat a receptive audience.  They were so welcoming and definitely engaged.  This type of show is sometimes tough to gauge since it\u2019s between a festival performance and a bar setting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He discussed the joys of performing Stapleton\u2019s music and its broad appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChris\u2019s music hits a broad demographic.  It\u2019s so soulful and has its roots in the blues. It\u2019s loved by a wide group of music fans. [Lead guitarist] Carter Morin and I have been playing Chris\u2019s songs for over eight years and it\u2019s created the on-stage chemistry that we have.  I grew up with his parents in Sudbury so I know his family well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McNab offered some personal insights into the satisfaction of singing Chris Stapleton\u2019s hits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs vocalists, we\u2019re always struggling to find out what our voice is.  He was somebody that stuck with me.  The soul that he brings to country music and bringing it alive on stage is something that has really worked for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hundreds of fans who attended McNab\u2019s performance on Wednesday night would concur with the vocalist\u2019s self-assessment\u2014his rich, on-stage stylings brought Stapleton\u2019s soulful country music to life and it was evident that it really worked for them, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jim Stewart<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Aurora\u2019s Concerts in the Park series\u2014proudly presented by TD\u2014took a decidedly deep dive into the Country Music genre on Wednesday night at smoky Town Park. After four consecutive days of air quality warnings due to wildfires compromising cottage country, the Outlaw State of Mind quartet emerged from the miasma blanketing Southern Ontario and delivered the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":36695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025-08-14-04.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9xQ","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-07 19:50:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36694"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36696,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36694\/revisions\/36696"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}