Sammy Kershaw, Aaron Tippin and Collin Raye continued the legacy of country music in their “Roots & Boots” tour on Friday in the Shippensburg University H. Ric Luhrs Performing Arts Center.

Roots and Boots brought fans both near and far to the Luhrs Center, where the group performed their own hits as well as songs written by other big country names.

The three began the concert together, backed by a full band including a drummer, an electric guitar and bass, keyboards and violins. The audience teemed with excitement. They yelled, whistled, clapped and hollered along to the show.

Kershaw took the stage solo first while the other two retreated to the wings. Before his first number, he joked with the audience, saying that he has had bronchitis since he quit smoking in 2011. He also talked about his success as an artist. 

“I’m a country singer, and I’ll die a country singer,” Kershaw said.

Kershaw played many of his more popular numbers, including “She Don’t Know She’s Beautiful,” and “Cadillac Style.” At the end of his portion of the concert, Kershaw threw Mardi Gras beads to eager audience members. He then gave the stage to Tippin, whose energy throughout the night never failed. 

Tippin opened his portion of the concert with “You’ve Got To Stand For Something.” Tippin swayed his hips suggestively to “There Ain’t Nothin Wrong With the Radio,” and later brought out an instrument case that housed a star-spangled guitar. Tippin’s energy flowed through the audience, which stood up and clapped along to the mad powerhouse. 

After Tippin left the stage, Collin Raye sauntered on, slapping his elbow to the beat of his first song. Raye then talked about his excitement for the tour and the people he has been working with. 

“It’s been like a brotherhood,” he said of Kershaw and Tippin. 

Raye then continued to perform “I Can Still Feel You,” “My Kind of Girl” and finished his selection with the iconic “Love, Me,” the song that he said launched his career. Tippin rushed out on stage with a light and jumped up next to one of the musicians, waving the light back and forth for the audience to join him. Eventually, the whole theater lit up in response. 

“Thank you for keeping the music alive,” Raye said before inviting Kershaw and Tippin back out. The group then went on to perform several songs by other artists, such as “Take This Job and Shove It,” by Johnny Paycheck. 

After the group took off, they returned to the stage for an encore. They interacted with the audience, who began to crowd the base of the theater with their concert programs, hoping for an autograph, to which the three performers happily obliged. 

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