Chauvet Professional Helps Trevor Drawdy Create Deep Woods Vibe on Hardy’s Country! Country! Tour

USA – It’s easy to be swept up in a sense of magic walking through the woods of Mississippi, a place where untold possibilities seem to move like the wind through the pines. Genre-defying Hardy wanted to convey this evocative mood on his 40-city Country! Country! Tour, which concludes on 21 August at the Whitewater Amphitheater in New Braunfels, Texas.

The multi-platinum artist discussed this vision with his production/lighting designer Trevor Drawdy. “Everything in this production lives inside the world of the Mississippi loblolly pines; that was Hardy’s vision from day one,” said Drawdy. “He wanted the audience to feel like the entire show exists in the woods and honestly, once he said that, it became the creative foundation for every decision we made.”

Drawdy and his collaborators: video content creators Dave Pawsey, Simon ‘Rusty’ Rouhier and Steve Lalonde from Lüz Studio and the scenic team at TAIT have achieved this vision in vivid fashion, creating a world on stage that breathes with the vitality and evocative power of a piney southern forest.

Even the stage’s trim evokes a deep woods image with its staggered configuration that reaches 50-feet at its highest downstage point and descends to 31.6-feet at its nadir on the upstage truss with nine other truss heights in between “The layering is what gives the rig its asymmetrical, almost architectural quality,” said Drawdy. “It keeps the stage from ever feeling flat or predictable and it lets the system read as something immersive rather than just a lighting rig hanging overhead.”

Contributing to this effect are 133 Chauvet Professional motorised PXL batten fixtures which, like the rest of the rig, are supplied by Bandit Lites. Positioned throughout the rig, the PXL fixtures include 95 COLORado PXL Bar 16s, four PXL Bar 8s and 34 COLORado PXL Curve 12 units. Together, the three groups of PXL battens define the lines and shapes of the asymmetrical structure on stage.

“They outline things and give the system a strong visual identity even before a single other fixture is fired,” said Drawdy. “They’re across all of the overhead trusses, with the exception of the downstage truss. They’re also on the sidelight positions and beyond that they’re integrated into the scenic elements along the downstage edge and they wrap around portions of the thrust. We wanted the lighting system to feel architecturally connected, not isolated to a few specific positions, so that the visual language carries across the whole stage. It reinforces that “in the woods” feeling from every angle in the room rather than just from the sweet spot out front.

“The goal with the overall plot was to make the rig feel organic, almost like you’re looking up through a canopy of trees,” continued Drawdy. “At the same time, our plot is still practical enough to tour efficiently, while also accommodating things like the kabuki drops and all the other production demands on the road. Our PXL plays a big role in helping us achieve that.”

Drawdy also notes that the PXL fixtures also help ensure that every seat in the house has a good view of the stage. “One thing that’s really important to me is making sure that each fan gets to experience the show. The battens are a big part of making sure the rig reads as dimensional and intentional no matter where you’re sitting.”

Regardless of where they sit, all fans also got to experience an enriching variety of visuals and music. “What’s interesting about this show is how much emotional range it covers,” said Drawdy. “We move through seasons, weather, time of day, intimacy, aggression. It’s a lot of ground to cover visually. That’s really where the blend of country and rock music Hardy performs plays out in the lighting. The countryside feels rooted and natural, tied to the environment. The rock side comes through in the scale and intensity when the show opens up. Finding the balance between those two worlds has been one of the more rewarding challenges of the design.”

At times, Drawdy’s design, which also features 41 Color Strike V motorised tilting strobe-washes and 18 Strike Array 4C fixtures, plays off the evocative scenic pieces, such as a deer stand and a physical model of a loblolly’s pine, created by the TAIT team who he describes as “an incredible partner.” Working closely with TAIT and Luz Studio, he has been able to ensure that the physical scenic and the digital content of the show match as closely as possible, so the set extension effect feels believable, rather than like two separate entities existing next to each other.

Pure passion is another key element fuelling the impact of Drawdy’s design. This is evident when he talks about one of his favourite points in the show, the transition to the “Jim Bob” song, which occurs when the crowd is calling out for an encore.

“The energy is just sitting in the room at that point and when the time is right, we hit them hard. It’s a deliberate sequence: sound first, then lights, then video and the audio doesn’t tip them off to what song is coming,” said Drawdy. “There’s no obvious lead-in. So, by the time the transition completes and the room catches up, and Hardy is already up in the deer stand delivering the opening lyric acapella: just him and that moment and then the crowd erupts. That feeling is genuinely hard to put into words. Standing there watching thousands of people react to something you helped build is pretty electric. That’s the moment I live for.”