By Lauren Friederman, Reporter

The party won’t be over when Brad Paisley exits the stage. There’s more fun to be had at Wild West where Sam Riggs will be performing Friday night.

The country singer and songwriter will be playing 11 p.m. Friday at Wild West in downtown Waco. Doors open at 8 p.m., when Brett Hendrix will be opening the show. Riggs will take the stage after Brad Paisley finishes his set across town.

Riggs is making a stop in Waco on his long tour, taking him across Texas and further north into Colorado, Wyoming and Montana.

Mark Easterling, the director of marketing and promotions at Wild West, expressed his excitement for Riggs’ upcoming performance.

“He’s just original,” Easterling said. “If you come watch his performance, you’ll see stuff you don’t see in other shows. He really engages the crowd and his songs are good.”

Riggs said he has played in Waco five or six times throughout his career.

“Waco has a lot to offer,” Riggs said. “I love Waco. It’s a cool little town.”

Riggs’ concert had already been scheduled before it was announced that Brad Paisley would play down the road the same night.

“My initial response was, ‘I wish I wasn’t playing a show so I could go to the Brad Paisley concert,’” Riggs said. “But when I found out what time he was playing it was fine by me because we go on about 10:45 or 11 p.m.”

Although both concerts are on the same night, the Traditions Rally is expected to finish with enough time for attendees to head over to Wild West.

“I think it’s going to be a blast,” Riggs said. “I hope somehow we can get people channeled and funneled over from that show to ours.”

Riggs has played the guitar since he was about six years old and started writing his own songs his sophomore year of high school. At that time in his life, he said he wrote about whatever he could come up with — especially girls.

“When you first start out songwriting, you just kinda start writing a lot of your own story down and coming up with songs and different experiences that you’ve had in your life, different emotions you’re going through, but eventually you sort of, I don’t want to say run out of material,” Riggs said. “But you end up writing the same story over and over again. As a writer you get good at making [stuff] up.”

Some of his favorite songs that he’s written include “When the Lights Go Out” and a song entitled “Lucky Ones,” from his new album, “Breathless.”

Riggs said he is looking ahead with big career goals.

“Someday I want to be able to go through a Taco Bell drive-thru and not have to pay for my food,” Riggs said. “I’m gonna be honest with you, There’s really no limit in my mind as to where I want to be, I just want to take it as high and as far as I possibly can.”

Easterling sees great importance in booking acts like Riggs at Wild West.

“I think it helps with the image of what we want to be,” he said. “It’s where country or at least Texas music is today. It represents what we’re about and hopefully what our customers want.”

Wild West has more upcoming concerts this year. A complete list of events can be found at on their website at wildwestwaco.com/events.

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Additional Information:

Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 at the door for attendees older than 21 and $12 for attendees ages 18 to 20. Before the show on Friday, if fans tag Sam Riggs on social media they have the opportunity to receive an advanced copy of his new album or free tickets to the show.