Country Gold by the River: Maddie & Tae and The Hobbs Sisters Close Out Morgantown’s Summer Series.

by Dave Parsons

The Monongahela River rolled lazily past the Ruby Amphitheatre on a humid Friday evening as the final notes of summer 2025 prepared to fade into memory. But if this was indeed the sunset of another concert season in Morgantown, then Maddie & Tae, and rising stars The Hobbs Sisters, made sure it blazed orange and gold across the West Virginia sky.

What started as the Hazel Ruby McQuain Charitable Trust’s modest gesture of free Friday night concerts has evolved into something much larger for this college town. And on this particular evening, with the semester just beginning and thousands of WVU students mingling with longtime locals, the Ruby Summer Concert Series delivered its most potent dose of authentic country storytelling yet.

The evening belonged first to The Hobbs Sisters, Nashville transplants who’ve spent the better part of a decade perfecting their brand of harmony-driven country. Twin sisters Hannah and Lauren Hobbs, Pittsburgh natives who began singing in church from a young age, have built their reputation as a fiery duo.  That reputation felt less like marketing hyperbole and more like understatement.

Opening with a full hour-long set that showcased both their musical prowess and stage presence, the Hobbs Sisters commanded the amphitheater with the confidence of headliners like Lady A and Russell Dickerson, who they have opened for in the past.

But tonight, they proved they’re ready to carry a show entirely on their own.

The sisters’ setlist showcased both their original material and their ability to breathe new life into country standards. Originals like Mistakes Like You and Think About You immediately established their chemistry before delivering a stunning version of Dolly Parton’s Jolene that had the crowd singing along from the first verse. Their performance of Love Breaks the Rules was another moment to get on cellphone video!

What struck observers most was the genuine chemistry between the twins. It’s not just musical, but the kind of lived-in familiarity that only comes from sharing a womb, a childhood, and now a career. When they traded verses on their newer material, finishing each other’s phrases both lyrically and melodically, it felt less like a performance and more like a conversation between sisters who just happened to be having it in front of 3,000 people.

Mid-set highlights included What If It Was and Summer on a Slow Burn, both showcasing their songwriting prowess, before they stripped things down for an acoustic portion featuring Fleetwood Mac’s Landslide and their own Girl You Met.

The energy surged back with Never Find Another, building into the evening’s most joyous moment came when they launched into Shania Twain’s Man! I Feel Like a Woman!  The hour flew by, and judging from the line at their merch table, they gained many new fans with that opening set.

Maddie & Tae took the stage at 8:30, as the sun had descended behind the hills surrounding Morgantown, casting long shadows across the amphitheater. If the Hobbs Sisters were a spark, Maddie & Tae were the bonfire. The duo walked on with a kind of seasoned ease that comes only from a decade of surviving country radio, motherhood, marriage, and the stubborn unpredictability of the music business. Their bond—Maddie Font and Taylor Kerr—has been tested, and their catalog has grown deeper with each trial.

Maddie Font and Tae Kerr emerged to thunderous applause, immediately launching into Free Like, a song that felt perfectly suited to the open air, flowing river, and the kind of freedom that only comes when music connects artist to audience without pretense or barrier.

The duo’s 18-song setlist balanced their biggest hits with deeper album cuts that showcased their evolution as artists. Recent ACM Award nominees for Duo of the Year and CMT Music Award winners for Group/Duo Video of the Year, Maddie & Tae have spent the better part of a decade proving that authentic country music doesn’t have to choose between commercial success and artistic integrity.

Shut Up and Fish, their second song of the evening, got the crowd singing along immediately.  I was apparent that the new generation of fans they have picked up is loud and loyal. Sad Girl Summer and Kissing Cowboys showcased their ability to paint landscapes with precision, while Girl in Alabama demonstrated why they’ve become such powerful voices for women in country music.

The acoustic portion of their set, featuring Fly and a stunning cover of Lee Ann Womack’s I Hope You Dance, stripped away all production and left only two voices, two guitars, and 3,000 people hanging on every word. Tae’s powerful voice showed remarkable restraint during these quieter moments, while Maddie’s natural storytelling ability turned each song into a three-minute movie.

Woman You Got, the song that earned them their CMT Music Award, arrived midway through the set like a mission statement. Here was country music that celebrated rather than objectified, that found strength in vulnerability, that proved radio-ready didn’t have to mean substance-free. The crowd’s response, mainly from the young women down at the barrier, suggested the message was being received loud and clear.

While the hits certainly had their moments, it was the album tracks that provided the evening’s most revelatory moments. Chasing Babies & Raising Dreams offered a look at the different paths life can take, while Heart They Didn’t Break served as a defiant anthem about resilience. These weren’t songs written for radio programmers or streaming algorithms, but were written for people, by people who understand that country music’s greatest strength has always been its ability to find the universal in the specific.

The evening’s most surprising moment came during One Hit Wonders, a song that could have felt like self-deprecating humor but instead came across as confident self-awareness. Here were two artists at the peak of their powers, acknowledging the fickle nature of the music industry while simultaneously proving they’ve moved on past such concerns.

I can’t say enough about the venue and the quality of the sound and lighting. The Ruby Amphitheatre’s natural acoustics helped to allow every vocal nuance and instrumental detail to reach even the back rows clearly.  The fact that this was a free concert, part of the Ruby Summer Concert Series presented by the City of Morgantown and the Hazel Ruby McQuain Charitable Trust, only added to its significance. In an era when concert ticket prices continue to skyrocket, events like this serve as crucial reminders that music’s power doesn’t diminish when financial barriers are removed.  If anything, it increases in power and significance.

Setlist:

MADDIE & TAE Ruby Amphitheatre, Morgantown, WV August 29, 2025

1. Free Like
2. Shut Up and Fish
3. Sad Girl Summer
4. Kissing Cowboys
5. Girl in Alabama
6. Woman You Got
7. Friends Don’t
8. Chasing Babies & Raising Dreams
9. Heart They Didn’t Break
10. Fly (Acoustic)
11. I Hope You Dance (Lee Ann Womack cover) (Acoustic)
12. One Hit Wonders
13. Your Side of Town
14. Girl in a Country Song
15. Fall in Love & Find Out
16. Every Night, Every Morning
17. Bathroom Floor
18. Die From a Broken Heart

Hobbs Sisters Photo Album

Maddie & Tae Photo Album