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The Zeiterion Performing Arts Center presents country music star Kellie Pickler on Thursday, August 25, at 8 p.m. Pickler has earned the admiration and affection of countless fans as a country music artist, beginning as a American Idol finalist. She has since released four studio albums, including the single “Best Days of Your Life,” co-written with Taylor Swift and her first Top 10 song. The multi-talented songbird also partnered with Derek Hough to win Dancing with the Stars in 2013. Tickets from $35 to $75 are available at www.zeiterion.org, 508-994-2900 or at the Zeiterion box office, 684 Purchase Street, New Bedford. A post-show meet and greet with Pickler is included with the purchase of a $75 ticket.
“My life is a country song,” she has said on occasion, and no one who knows her or has watched her career evolve from her days as a breakout presence on American Idol would argue in the least.
Attributing her sound to the queens of country Tammy Wynette, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton, Pickler is a down-to-earth fan of her genre who also happens to be one of its best interpreters. There is also an echo of her idols in her love of taking her music to fans, one show at a time. Her third album, 100 Proof, drew huge critical acclaim, earning No. 1 Country Album of The Year by Rolling Stone in 2012, saying it “may be the best traditionalist album of the year.”
With the release of her latest album, The Woman I Am, her first for new label home Black River Entertainment, Pickler takes yet another long step forward. The project reflects her continuing growth as an artist and as a person. It features the instrumental talents of many of Nashville’s best musicians and songs from some of the city’s most talented writers, as well as some she wrote herself. One of her co-writers is husband Kyle Jacobs, who stars alongside Pickler in the CMT hit reality show, I Love Kellie Pickler, now shooting its second season.
“When I write a song,” she says, “I just write about who I am and where I’ve been, where I am and what I’m going through, or about people who have had an impact on me.”
The results here include the title track, “The Woman I Am,” an honest look inside Pickler’s worldview, “Bonnie and Clyde,” a look at relationships with a sly nod to the well-known outlaw couple, and the truly remarkable “Selma Drye,” which Pickler wrote about her pistol-packing, snuff-chewing great-grandmother.
Her charm and candour have made for memorable appearances from The Ellen DeGeneres Show to GMA, from The Tonight Show to baseball’s All-Star Game. Her reputation as someone who has overcome adversity has made her a natural everywhere from USO tours to the Middle East (she is about to undertake her seventh) to charitable endeavours including St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, American Cancer Society, Wounded Warrior Project and many others. Her heart-on-her-sleeve compassion was in evidence when she shaved her head in support of her friend Summer Miller, who was battling breast cancer, and to spread the message of early detection.
Tickets to see Kellie Pickler Live in Concert on August 25 are available for purchase at www.zeiterion.org, by calling 508-994-2900, or in person at the box office at 684 Purchase Street, New Bedford, MA. Box Office Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and two hours before each performance.
