Photos by Andy Argyrakis

By taking an outlaw-inspired approach to an unconventional cocktail that’s primarily country and occasionally hip-hop, Shaboozey is carving out a distinctive path to becoming quite a breakout star of the last couple years.

Though the singer/songwriter/rapper dropped his first major label project in 2018 alongside the “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” soundtrack, it wasn’t until he was featured on a pair of Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” tracks that the floodgates fully opened, followed by “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” sealing the deal after 19 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100.

In fact, Bey and Boozey made history as the first two Black artists to consecutively top Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, yet it was only the beginning of a streak that also included a Grammy Award-winning collaboration with Jelly Roll.

It’s no wonder why the “Outlaws Never Die” Tour behind the new album “The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales” is selling out prominent places like the Aragon Ballroom, a fairly large club, but relatively intimate compared to the arenas on the horizon.

Throughout 90 headlining minutes backed by a live band, Shaboozey was already performing on that scale, working the crowd like a consummate professional as he strolled about the ranch-like surroundings during “Til Sunday,” “High Noon” and “Drink Don’t Need No Mix.”

References to alcohol abounded, as did various scenes straight out of a vintage western, including the colorfully titled “Sweet Revenge,” “Blink Twice,” “Bullets & Blades,” “Bounty On My Head,” “If I Was An Outlaw” and “Kissed By An Angel.”

And while his focus was exclusively on the current collection and the prior “Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going,” the hit list was already long enough to produce some serious sing-a-longs come “Amen,” “Good News,” “Cowgirl,” and of course, an unforgettable little ditty that had “everybody at the bar gettin’ tipsy” and raising a glass to this Top 40 trailblazer.

Besides making a cameo in Shaboozey’s set, Kashus Culpepper opened with a compelling bend of country, soul, blues, folk and rock, covering everything from Grover Washington Jr.’s “Just The Two Of Us,” to The Allman Brothers’ Band “Whipping Post” and Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine,” plus debuted a few originals bound to follow in the footsteps of his already famous friend.

For additional information on Shaboozey, visit AmericanDogwood.com.

Upcoming shows at the Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom include JPEGMAFIA (Oct. 10); Taste Of Chaos (Oct. 11); Jessie Ware (Oct. 13); Suki Waterhouse (Oct. 17); Yousuke Yukimatsu (Oct. 23); The Living Tombstone (Oct. 30); Gods Of Chaos (Oct. 31); Trippie Redd (Nov. 5); Los Gemelos De Sinaloa (Nov. 6); Rawayana (Nov. 7); WWE NXT (Nov. 15); Jessie Reyez (Nov. 16); Victoria Monét (Nov. 18); Beartooth (Nov. 20); Trivium (Nov. 21); Tyla (Nov. 22); Underoath (Nov. 24); El Tri (Nov. 25); Dexter And The Moonrocks (Nov. 28). For additional details, visit LiveNation.com.

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