FLORENCE — Who says you only get one chance to make a first impression?
On Sunday, the honky-tonk trio Trick Pony made its second first impression on the final day of Country Thunder 2007.
And boy did they impress.
They showed that change can be healthy, life-affirming and all the other clichés your parents told you as they were packing the dog in the car for the move out of town.
Late last year, Trick Pony frontwoman Heidi Newfield left to pursue a solo career. Keith Burns and Ira Dean had no plans to turn their trio into a duo, so the pair did what any self-respecting country band does these days: It got itself a new leading lady.
On Sunday, Dean and Burns introduced Aubrey Collins to the die-hard fans who have watched Trick Pony on the Country Thunder stage over the past seven or eight years.
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At first, it was hard not to look for signs that Collins, a 19-year-old hard-rocker until earlier this year, would simply channel Newfield.
She didn't.
She has a similar stage confidence, earned through years spent being a rock star.
Collins also has a similar sass that was evident when she sang the opening line of "Pour Me." But her imposing personality does not get lost in the shadow of her bandmates, who often were so much larger than life next to Newfield that she seemed to shrink beside them.
If Sunday was any indication, Collins can hold her own with these guys. She can match them lick for lick on the guitar and she brings an infectious energy and attitude to the band that some longtime fans would argue had been missing for the past couple of years.
The trio dipped lightly into Trick Pony's trove of catchy hits — "Night Like This," "Just What I Do," "I'm On A Mission" — possibly to avoid fans trying to draw comparisons between Collins and Newfield.
Instead, they devoted most of their 45-minute windy afternoon set to selling the new Trick Pony. They have a rougher edge and a gentler delivery, but the Trick Pony attitude is alive and kicking even harder.
They sing about driving big trucks and mama burning down the kitchen when she finds daddy cheating. They are witty stories in the rich tradition of country storytelling, but they have more rock than twang; not once did Dean pull out his trademark stand-up bass and there wasn't a fiddle strain to be heard.
But the country is there. Just listen closely as Collins sings: "I got a big truck / I got some big wheels / I never get stuck / When I rill through a cornfield."
They also have a song about a redneck who won the Powerball and became "Hillbilly Rich" — that's where you have enough money to equip your pickup with a flat-screen TV but you're too cheap to leave your mama's home or pay her rent. It was a wonderful romp very much in the Trick Pony tradition.
It didn't take the audience long to warm to Collins, which the singer acknowledged later Sunday gave her the warm-and-fuzzies.
In a backstage interview, Dean and Burns described their split with Newfield in terms of a marriage: Sometimes it just ends. But Collins is not the second wife, Burns quickly noted; she's like their baby sister.
Country Thunder 2007 wrapped up Sunday with equally energetic acts Phil Vassar, Neal McCoy and the headliners, Montgomery Gentry.
Sunday's attendance was about 25,000; some 125,000 attended over the event's four days, organizers said.
Review
• What: Country Thunder USA
• Where: Four-day festival ended Sunday in Florence
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