At Two Step Inn, Zach Bryan and Travis Tritt talk it out while T-Pain walks it out

Forty-five minutes north of the Live Music Capital of the World this weekend, you could sing the words to Tanya Tucker’s “Delta Dawn” like an old-time hymn. And then four hours later, you could belt out T-Pain’s “I’m in Luv (Wit a Strippa)” with the same reverence. Truly, the full spectrum of human experience made itself known at Two Step Inn.

The short journey to T-Pain from T-Tuck came courtesy of Austin-based event promoter C3 Presents, which on Saturday and Sunday broke outta the city limits to test out a new festival. When organizers last year announced the inaugural Two Step Inn, they touted an event "where old school and new school country unite with everything in between to come together and embrace the genre."

To wit: I heard the electro-hootenanny of “Cotton-Eyed Joe” over the speakers on Saturday between sets at a stage dubbed Country Curious. “Now there’s a theme song for this thing,” I thought.

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"You know, it feels like it's a unique time in country music where the lines are pretty blurred in terms of labels,” festival co-founder Bobby Clay told the American-Statesman last week. He and festival co-founder Margaret Galton are longtime country music fans, especially of the 1990s radio age that defined much of Two Step Inn’s lineup, but “what it really boils down to is, what's good is good.”

"There are some things that we knew would be head-scratchers that have worked in our favor,” Clay said, adding, “It'll all make sense when you get here.”

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So, what did Two Step Inn look like?

Two Step Inn took over Georgetown’s San Gabriel Park, transforming an outdoor oasis in a growing Williamson County college town into a three-stage rodeo. According to a representative for C3 Presents, the fest sold out to about 30,000 attendees each day.

And this was no cheap boot-scoot. Admission ranged from $99 to $1,299. On top of that, throw in $18 bowls of macaroni and transportation costs — parking was not available at the festival, and a roundtrip shuttle from Barton Creek Square mall in Austin cost $50.

Commitment to a high-concept theme set Two Step Inn apart from Austin City Limits Music Festival, C3’s fall flagship. (There’s the name, for starters. Say it out loud.) Tasteful Western design flourishes, including a large ranch-style gate and neon saloon doors, gave the joint both yee and haw.

The Big River stage hosted megawatt acts, like headliners Zach Bryan and Tyler Childers, legends Tucker and Wynonna Judd, popular modern acts like Midland and even soul icon Mavis Staples.

The Showdeo stage took fest-goers on a time-traveling joyride. Artists like Jo Dee Messina, Shenandoah, Pam Tillis and Lonestar turned San Gabriel Park into a Clinton-era CMT revue.

Then there was the Country Curious stage, with its goofy name and stylistic sense of adventure. Over the course of the weekend, it best represented Two Step Inn’s hook: hip-hop veteran T-Pain, dance-music demon Diplo, Austin Americana scion Calder Allen, Kid Rock affiliate Uncle Kracker, local honky-tonker Kathryn Legendre and more took turns at the catch-all outpost.

Seeing as how the confluence of genres is Two Step Inn’s whole deal, we approached the weekend like a Chili’s sampler platter and grazed the park for a sample of disparate music tastes.

First up, we saw Tanya Tucker

In a Western-fringed cerulean shirt, rhinestone boots, pink eyeshadow and a blinged-out statement necklace testifying to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Tucker epitomized the outlaw glamor of a good-time gal from days gone by.

The singer, who hit it big early in life — signature single “Delta Dawn” broke when was just 13 — went through her share of tough times and triumphant returns, most recently with 2019’s Grammy-winning “While I’m Livin’.” On “Hard Luck,” a song in the classic country vein of bad breaks and big dreams, she sang with that famous rasp that could beat an F-150 to the finish line: “I was born to a hard luck world/ Hard luck, keep on truckin'/ Lord knows I'm a hard luck girl.”

“You got the same kinda luck, don’t you?” she said to the audience after.

Feisty and frosty-haired, Tucker tossed her head and switched her hips to the tune of “It’s a Little Too Late” and told a story with her ring-adorned hands on the bittersweet ballad “Two Sparrows in a Hurricane.”

The Seminole native is still reaching the people. Set-closer “Delta Dawn” (with an intro of “Amazing Grace”) spurred two young men in my line of sight to doff their cowboy hats. One in the air, one held to the heart.

Travis Tritt made his biggest mark before the fest

A trip to Travis Tritt took the Two Step Inn down a dip. The ’90s star performed a few serviceable renditions of his songs, leaving nothing much to remark upon, though the crowd seemed to enjoy “It’s a Great Day to Be Alive.”

It was hard to watch Tritt and not think about the unforced error that placed him at the center of a kerfuffle between Two Step Inn artists. Tritt on April 5 tweeted: “I will be deleting all Anheuser-Busch products from my tour hospitality rider. I know many other artists who are doing the same.”

The message signaled support for transphobic hate directed toward influencer Dylan Mulvaney over a Bud Light partnership, the latest bad-faith “controversy” inflaming right-wing internet circles that seek to ostracize marginalized groups. The singer later posted a similar tweet in response to Jack Daniels’ ad campaign featuring drag queens from “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

Two Anheuser-Busch brands and Jack Daniels sponsored Two Step Inn.

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A couple days after Tritt’s tweets, headliner Bryan tweeted: “I mean no disrespect towards anyone specifically, I don’t even mind (Tritt). I just think insulting transgender people is completely wrong because we live in a country where we can all just be who we want to be … It’s a great day to be alive I thought.”

The exchange set off a flame war, with both country singers the target of vitriol. Tritt on April 13 tweeted a public message to Bryan asking to meet at the fest. On Sunday morning, Bryan wrote that he and Tritt “talked for an hour and a half last night, eye to eye. It was nice to meet an old legend. We disagree on some things and agree on some things and it seems the world did not end … My dad almost cried at his set … can everyone stop being so weird.”

More on Bryan’s performance later.

Two Step Inn feels the T-Pain

Even on a lineup selling such stylistic variety, Tallahassee, Florida-born hip-hop mainstay T-Pain, who followed country-pop charmer Niko Moon, stood out.

At the peak of his mainstream popularity in the 2000s, T-Pain was somewhat unjustly made the poster boy for Auto-Tuned artificiality. Since then, he’s seen a bit of a reappraisal, thanks to a stellar NPR Tiny Desk performance and nabbing a win on “The Masked Singer.”

So yes, T-Pain has pipes, but did you know he’s got moves? His Saturday evening set was s-h-o-w, and fest-goers got to see him moonwalk, mime, waack, and pop and lock his way through a cavalcade of hits that reminded us that he’s the master of the rap feature. “Cyclone,” “2 Step,” “The Good Life,” “Kiss Kiss,” “Blame It” and “U and Dat” came fast and furious, while T-Pain kept himself fleet of foot and fiery of flow.

Plus, it’s doubtful a man has ever remained so artistically earnest while contemplating that booty.

Solo hits like “Bartender” were received rapturously. “Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin’)” turned a Georgetown park into an LED-washed ATL club. And we had to wonder: What would Tritt have to say about the stone-cold American pop canon hallmark “I’m in Luv (Wit a Strippa)”?

“I’m preaching everywhere I go,” T-Pain said toward the end of the set. “Love conquers all. Anybody that’s still (expletive) with T Pain in 2023 — we’re best friends now.”

We were, indeed, (expletive).

‘From Austin’ to Georgetown, Zach Bryan’s spectacular

Bryan of course played his song “From Austin” pretty early in a set where he kept saying how nice it was to be in Austin — before correcting himself, since he was actually in Georgetown.

“It's 'bout time that I left Austin/ 'Bout time you settled down/ With a man who doesn't move as quick/ As the train rolling through town,” he sang in the song’s chorus. A funny line, because the trains that move through Austin are usually pretty slow, as anyone who’s been stopped at the Oltorf Street railroad crossing knows.

Bryan, a Navy veteran from Oklahoma, has powered his way to stardom since his 2019 indie debut, with 14,111,856 monthly listeners on Spotify currently.

His Saturday headliner slot (and that of Sunday top-draw Tyler Childers) made an interesting statement on Two Step Inn’s creative vision and an insight into what’ll move tickets. The top-billed acts both nights were relatively young artists who’ve made their names on working-class storytelling and sounds that owe more to Townes Van Zandt and John Prine than any king or queen of throwback country radio.

With a growl that could kill a fascist, eyes prone to wildness and a banjo and horn backing him up, Bryan often raised a can of Budweiser to the cheering crowd. Songs like “God Speed” and “Heading South” made for lovely primers to Bryan’s poetic melancholy and righteous rage toward those who only comprehend “a (expletive) dollar sign.” He dropped a 2022 live album titled “All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster.”

In a political era when everything seems to be burning down, Bryan’s a refreshing kind of superstar who reveals the change and kindness that’s peeking out of the char.

Just for fun, one line of “From Austin” seemed particularly apt for a feel-good Two Step Inn show that closed Night 1 with fireworks and a big ol’ jam: “You remember getting drunk on the outskirts of this town?”

Thank god for Wynonna

Childers was Sunday’s headliner, but we wanted to end our Two Step Inn rodeo with the biggest atom bomb released at San Gabriel Park over the weekend: Wynonna.

The flame-haired powerhouse gave one of our all-time favorite concerts, in 2015 at intimate St. David’s Bethel Hall during South by Southwest. Since then, Wynonna’s been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and publicly mourned mother Naomi Judd’s death by suicide.

We were sure that Wynonna was a must-see for Two Step Inn, and hot damn, the lady did not disappoint.

Barefoot and rocking three belt buckles, Wynonna emerged from the wings in sparkling, flowing black fabric and high glam. She spoke often to the crowd, saying she would consider the show a success if she made an emotional connection with someone in the audience. The Lord came up a few times. Every so often, Wynonna’s hands would find their way into a heart shape, thrown out to someone in the crowd.

Handsome white guitar in hand, she let the choirs of heaven rip from her mouth on beloved songs like “She Is His Only Need” and “Why Not Me.” Wynonna’s enduring connection to the singers that follow in her footsteps was subtly apparent, too, with “Things That I Lean On” (a Jason Isbell collab) and “Other Side” (a duet with Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield).

You’d be hard-pressed to find two bigger crowd-pleasers at Two Step Inn than Wynonna’s “I Saw the Light” and set-closer “No One Else on Earth.” She thanked everyone for knowing the words.

And, having hit Georgetown with a musical payload, Wynonna slowly drifted offstage, slowly waving her arms up and down like she was flying. What, like it’s hard?

It reminded us that Wynonna had just been in Austin for the CMT Music Awards. Two Step Inn's founders want the event to be the first big country music festival of the season, co-founder Clay said earlier in the week. "Texas has always been, in our minds, a home to country music,” he said.

Statesman staff writer Kelsey Bradshaw contributed to this report.

About the author

Eric Webb until recently covered music and culture for the American-Statesman for more than a decade. You can follow his work online at www.ericwebb.me.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Zach Bryan, Tyler Childers help sell out debut Two Step Inn festival