Many regular readers know that our family is connected to country music by our son, Joe, who became hooked on the genre at a Billy Ray Cyrus concert (Achy Brachy Heart) in the early 90's at the Pyramid in Memphis.

In fact, since then, his love for country music has led us to meet a lot of famous, and not so famous artists. But there is one famous artist from the 90's that is still touring, and she has a special place in his heart for the way she has engaged with him, and I suspect there is a special place in her heart for him.

Her name is Deana Carter and the relationship with my son has been the subject of several weblogs over the years. But something happened in a small town in Ohio recently that redefined the world 'thrill' for both of us. Read on to learn why.

In June, we’ll be heading off to Nashville for the CMA Fest, an annual event held downtown that attracts tens of thousands of people to the city every June. 

Dozens of live music shows on a dozen stages from the Tennessee Titan's NFL Stadium to a floating barge on the Cumberland River, to an amphitheater, to parks, to the front of the Nashville Predators arena.  Stages and music are everywhere.

This year’s trip will be the 28^th time we’ve headed to Nashville in June for this event. Most years we drive (ouch), but this year we will be flying down.

The first chapter of this story started on the second or third trip to the CMA Fest, then called Fan Fair, at a roller rink in Goodlettsville, and had a spectacular recent chapter at a bowling alley (sort of) in Franklin, Ohio a few weeks ago.

Back in 1996, my son spotted a rising star, Deana Carter, who was going to have her first ‘fan club party’ at a roller rink in her hometown. Joe signed us up, and as I’ve previously written, we waited patiently at a table for Deana to come over and ‘meet and greet’. She did more than that, taking his wheelchair into the rink, and she skated a couple of laps around the floor with him, before she moved on to the next table.

That day, using a Sharpie pen, Deana signed and dated a t-shirt with her photo on it. The next year, at the next fan club party, she signed the same shirt again. In fact, each time we’ve met her over the years, she signs the shirt: it has become a custom.

An additional custom is that Joe puts all the ‘meet and greet’ photos of him with Deana into a collage and presents it to her each time they meet.

I’ve also mentioned before that after going ten years between connections, as she was unloading backstage at an outdoor venue in Nashville, she spotted Joe, and the t-shirt from about 20 yards away, rushed over and as she reached us said ‘Hi Joe!”

After ten years she remembered his name.

Since then, we’ve seen her play again in Nashville, of course, as well as Maine, Maryland, and South Carolina, among other locations. Each time she spends quality time with Joe and signs the shirt, which he keeps hanging on a wall in his room.

This year, we’d already seen her play in Boston and at Mohegan Sun Casino, as part of a tour with Blake Shelton, and we learned she was playing the day before Mother's Day in Franklin, Ohio about an hour north of Cincinnati on May 10. Since I was planning on being in Cincinnati for work on May 12, one thing led to another, and there we were at JD Legends in Franklin, Ohio waiting to see her again.

Over the last six years or so, her husband, Jim McPhail, and my son have been texting buddies, and through that communication system, Jim indicated that a table would be reserved for us at the show on Saturday night.

A quick note about the venue: the most unusual location for a concert that I’ve personally ever seen. It is a complex with a bowling alley, a bar, an outside deck, a giant beach volleyball complex and a full-sized stage. No idea how or why it evolved this way, and in Franklin, Ohio!

Deana and her band would be playing on the stage, with hundreds, possible a thousand people watching on the beach volleyball court and outside deck.

When we arrived we were on the guest list, but they didn’t have a table for us. Things happen. We found a place to sit about 75 yards from the stage, at the back of the venue. That left us pondering what to do. We knew the night wouldn’t be a total disaster because we’d be going backstage to meet Deana and Jim before she went on, but we didn’t have binoculars so while we would certainly hear the show, we were likely not going to see it very well.

As a dad and the concierge for this trip, before panicking or giving up, I carefully thought things through. Based on my assessment of Jim, and the long-term relationship with Deana, I reassured my son that they’d come up with a solution to the problem.

I was wrong.

They came up with better than a solution. They came up with a Thrill of a Lifetime experience.

(NOTE: Backing up for a minute. My son attends well over 100 live music shows each year, and you can check his Facebook page to see the ‘Photos of Joe with the Stars’ album there. Close to 1,000 photos. I inserted this note, so you would know that my son is a professional concert/live music aficionado of the highest degree).

But what happened on that Saturday night blew both of us away. Away, away.

About 30 minutes before Deana was scheduled to go on, one of her roadies, Trevor, found us at the back of the property and carefully led us backstage through multiple obstacles since the venue was not exactly super accessible.

We connected with Deana and Jim backstage and Joe presented her with a Mother's Day card and chatted for a while. Then she signed the t-shirt and we took a photo. And then…

Jim let us know that they had arranged for us to be on the stage, off to the side during the show.

Boom. 

Two spaces in the shadows, five feet from the drummer and twenty feet from Deana and Jim for the 90 minute set.  

It was unbelievable to be there and watch and listen to the show from behind them. Of course, my son recorded every song.

And of course, when the show was over, and Deana headed back to the dressing room, she stopped, gave Joe a guitar pick and a hug, and thanked us for coming.

No Deana, thank you for the thrill of a lifetime for my son. Nothing before or since, not one of the 2,000+ shows he’s seen could match what happened that night.

In fact, there are no words to describe our feelings about you, the show, or the experience, that’s why I simply call it the Thrill of a Lifetime.

Thanks, Deana. You’re the best.