With a career spanning 20 years, LeAnn Rimes performed some of her greatest hits to the crowd inside The Palladium in Carmel, IN.

Since the tender age of 13 in 1996, LeAnn Rimes has entertained crowds across the globe with emotional and touching hit songs. For this evening’s performance, LeAnn and her band arrived at The Palladium to perform in this arts-centered community of Carmel, a northern suburb of Indianapolis.

The Palladium is one of three theaters that make up the Center for Performing Arts in Carmel. Based on European style, the dome centered concert hall is flattering to the acoustics of the performing artist.

LeAnn showcased her 20-year musical journey by performing hit songs from throughout her career starting off with her 1998 hit “Commitment” and jumping forward to “Nothing Better To Do” from 2007. With each number, LeAnn was able to show off her vast vocal ability with high stretches that measure above the clouds to lower note structures that fit the common man.

Talking and joking in between songs, LeAnn apologized to the crowd for them getting rain soaked as they arrived at the show. However, she was enjoying the weather as she now lives in California and rarely gets a chance to see or hear the rain.

As her and her team are celebrating the 20-year release of the Blue album, she has been changing up her nightly setlist to include some of the songs from that album and her past that she wouldn’t usually play. She has also changed the musical arrangements of some of the songs as she did in the song “One Way Ticket,” going from an uptempo to a downbeat ballad.

In 1994 at the age of 11, LeAnn first recorded the Patsy Cline hit, “Blue,” for her debut album released in 1996 by Curb Records. The song became her debut single and introduced the world to her rich vocals.

Growing up as a child listening to Patsy and trying to imitate her soprano voice and vocal style, she was often compared to and asked to perform like Patsy. In 2013 for the 50th anniversary of her passing, LeAnn was asked by the American Country Awards to perform a tribute to Patsy with a medley of hits that included “Leavin’ On Your Mind,” “Walkin’ After Midnight,” “Crazy,” and “Sweet Dreams.”

LeAnn has recently signed a new recording contract with Sony UK on their RCA UK label. With doing that she is in the middle of releasing her 16th studio album Remnants, already released in the UK and planned for an early 2017 release in the US. The album is a first for her as she feels this is the first time recording an album that she can let her feelings and emotions out to express the music she wants to capture instead of what others want her to record.

Growing up in Louisiana, LeAnn was surrounded by a lot of soul music. She wanted to add some of that soul to her new album by recording and releasing Brandi Carlisle’s “The Story” as the first single of the works.

Adding a taste of bluegrass to the show with some hand clapping beats by the crowd, the band played on with “Something’s Gotta Give.”

Keeping on with an uptempo mood, LeAnn, and the band played her hit song “Can’t Fight The Moonlight” from the 2000 movie soundtrack Coyote Ugly. As LeAnn danced across the stage while singing, she spotted out a group of young female fans to their delight dancing and singing along at their seats.

As the band left the stage, one guitar player sat behind a piano while LeAnn sat on a stool. She spoke of this song being her most personal but yet scariest songs of her career. She added that the song was written based on her feelings and thoughts at a songwriting session where she was expressing herself in front of her writing collaborator. The song “What I Cannot Change” is a personal reflection of LeAnn and has become her own Serenity Prayer. With tears being brushed away by some, the crowd jumped to their feet for a standing ovation as LeAnn waved and walked off stage.

The band returned to play a bluesy mix before LeAnn joined them once again for an encore of the Janis Joplin cover, “Summertime.”

Opening for LeAnn on this evening was the sister duo of Walker County. The family band consists of Ivy Dean Walker on acoustic guitar and vocals, Sophie Dawn Walker on drums and background vocals, while father, Billy Walker, keeps them in stride with lead guitar. Hailing from Sulpher Springs, Indiana, the family just recently moved to the Nashville area to record their debut album with Warner Music Nashville.

Walker County has been performing at all the events they could manage over the past ten years opening for artists such as LeAnn, Willie Nelson, and many others. In the last decade, they have gained a large fan following as they started out playing traditional country music and now adding their flavor to it.

Their song list includes covers like “Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash to their originals like “Time Machine” and “Don’t Ask Me If You Don’t Want To Know” where Sophie comes out from behind the drums to share the mic with her older sister Ivy and play harmonica.

Ivy thanked the crowd for coming and mentioned that they would be much happier if they were able to stand on stage barefooted before ending their short set with their cover of “Hillbilly Girl” by Lisa McHugh.

The evening concluded with the crowds exiting The Palladium in cheer and happiness as they listened to many types of musical styles throughout the performances. With the sounds of old traditional country and country club dance by Walker Country, they show they have a lot to bring to the new sounds that are starting to reshape the world of country music.

LeAnn Rimes showed the crowd why she has been able to continue with her emotional expressions of adult contemporary and country pop while creating new music to keep her in the circle for another 20 years.

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LeAnn Rimes
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Walker County
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The Palladium
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LeAnn Rimes setlist:
1. Commitment, 2. Nothin’ Better To Do, 3. One Way Ticket (Because I Can), 4. Probably Wouldn’t Be This Way, 5. Blue, 6. Patsy Cline Medley: Leavin’ On Your Mind, Walkin’ After Midnight, Crazy, Sweet Dreams, 7. How Do I Live, 8. The Story, 9. I Need You, 10. Something’s Gotta Give, 11. Can’t Fight The Moonlight, 12. What I Cannot Change, Encore: Summertime (Janis Joplin cover)