Hold me closer Tony Danza

Today James and I were meeting a friend for lunch in Green Hills. As
we were walking in our friend tapped me on the shoulder and said,
"Hey, isn't that Darryl Waltrip?" Sure enough there he was getting out
of his car... As we got closer our friend heard him saying something...

Was he on his cell phone?

Nope...

Was he talking to someone still in the car?

Nope...

He was definitely singing "Tiny Dancer" to himself...

That is awesome... Of course he would be. I wanted to jump up on the
hood of his car and join in for a big dramatic "Almost Famous"
moment... but he probably would have just called the cops.

Maybe next time...

Cinnamon Is a Monkey!

Yeah, so I would like to introduce everyone to my dog, Cinnamon. I am
in love, so you'll probably hear a lot about how cute I think she is.
Just bear with me. Any animal lover will understand. :)

She's a monkey... she really is.... I mean, a miniature pinscher
monkey. And to prove that point.... she likes to sit on her own
personal monkey rug.

Can I be Sasquatch?!?!

If I had seen my third grade teacher dancing my line dance to "Play That Funky Music" or screaming "Purple Rain" when I was little, I think my head would have exploded!!!! A conference begins tomorrow at Opryland for educators and teachers and they were LIVING IT UP tonight at the Jack!!! It was so much fun!

This guy, Josh, is a Principal of a elementary school and he was singing "Purple Rain" with his everthing he had during the show. We had a little reenactment afterwards. He had the entire audience cheering for his chorus of "Purple Rain". Yeah. It was awesome.



And THEN his friend - who is also a principal, said, "Let's take a picture, but I'll be like Sasquatch in the background!!!" What does that even mean??!?! SO THEN he said, "I'm the hispanic that'll make you panic" Which isn't true at all.... these were the nicest guys, so I definitely wasn't "paniced" A little confused, maybe. Can't say anyone has ever asked to take a picture so he can act like Sasquatch in the background.



I LOVE my life.

OH! And yeah, Boyd, who surprised me in Columbia SC. Oh he did it again! Surprised me AGAIN tonight but in Nashville. He brought a huge group of the sweetest people. Life is awesome.

~peace, love, fiddle

Strike a pose

Alan and I just hangin out.... you know how it is...

The Suburban Chronicles: Mud-Wrestling Incident

We played a show at Amarillo College back in April and after the show, this girl came up to me and said "Hey, you should mud-wrestle me!" I told her I would love to but I really didn't want to get my performing clothes dirty and I didn't have anything else to wear. (All of our bags were already at the hotel so I thought I was off the hook!) Immediately this one guy said - "I've got basketball shorts you could wear!" And the college had just given each of us a t-shirt. So I had kinda committed without even meaning to!! But as soon as I realized that I was REALLY gonna mud wrestle this girl... I realized that she looked like she had already taken some people down..... and I was smaller.... and I was about to get killed....
But hey! I think I put up a pretty good fight. Notice how she says "She won't go down!" towards the end. I am really proud of that part - cause girlfriend just TACKLES me at first and I was NOT ready for that!!!

Baja Burrito is the best!

One of my favorite little places in Nashville. The food
scrumtralescent!!!!

Boyd, Big Byrd, and Train Ridin'

So I am a little late on this.... but I have to go back to our show in Columbia, SC at Wild Wing Cafe.

1st of all.... one of my favorite people in the entire world showed up to surprise me! BOYD!!!!!!! He ad I met at NACA a little over a year ago, and we discovered we are both from Columbia, TN - Mule Town USA!!!! We grew up 2 streets away from each other and his Daddy was always the BEST host of the Liars Contest :) That is a tradition from Mule Day - one of the most fun events of the weekend.




The show was AWESOME. The "Ruth" party :) brought about 15 of the most fun people!
It was Big Byrd's birthday. :)
What is it with these unbelievably tall people at the shows lately? I mean, I know I am a shorty, but seriously?




The night ended with a conga line to "Come On Ride The Train" - I never noticed how LONG that song is!!!! I was one tired girl at the end of the night!

Opening night!

Oh my Lord. Batman was AMAZING!!!!! And there were Tons of people at
the Green Hills theater - over 12 theaters sold out. Reminded me of
seeing movies in Boston. These guys were the best :) It's going into
my Facebook favorite movies tonight!

Batman!!!!!!!!!!

Midnight showing! Let ya know how it turns out :)

Band Practice in the living room!

Working on all kinds of new surprises.

The Jack is always so much fun!

An amazing group of people were sitting at the table closest to the stage - they were really impressing me on the "Funky Music Dance" - Jim, as I came to find out later, just about had the best "wiggle" of anyone I have ever seen. I think it must be because he is from Scotland :) The whole table was from Scotland and they cheered every time I said Y'all! :) Which only made me the happiest southern girl in the room! It was Dave and Sandra's 25 wedding anniversary - so we made them dance to a little Marvin Gaye :) It was awesome.



And THEN!!!!!! The tallest guy I have ever seen walked up to buy a cd. I had played Rocky top for him earlier cause I noticed his UT hat.... WOW. And look at how cute his girlfriend is!!! She is so tiny and he is.... 6'10" Yeah. I was really excited to stand next to him. Thanks for letting me take this pic, Justin! I wonder what the world looks like from up there :)

Mrs. Drummer Girl

Now that I am married to a drummer - my entire jeep is loaded down
with drums. So much so that I have to carry 2 of them in my lap. :)

Hilton Head!!

Hilton Head is GORGEOUS. I can't wait to come back sometime when we can stay more than just the night of our show! They have HAMMOCKS out in front of their grocery stores! Why doesn't everyone else do this? And even the Piggly Wiggly has a Starbucks! I know James already posted this on the band blog, but I feel the need to post it on my own because it is just THAT cool.



The show was PACKED and a blast! My Alabama girls were standing in front dancing and screaming ALL NIGHT. I promise - next time you'll get your Dixieland Delight!



And there were some of the coolest and most well behaved kids hanging out with their whole family. Carson, the youngest, sat on the subwoofer next to the stage and was groovin to the beat ALL night long. And Sammi, the cutie in the striped shirt, danced to every song. We had the WHOLE bar doing my line dance. So, yeah, I was a happy girl. We need to come up with a name for that dance! Any ideas?



Thanks Hilton Head! Off to Columbia, SC!

~natalie

Austin, Hippos, Jazz Flute

My good friend Austin came to our show in Charleston last night. He's
never been in a blog before so I thought I would remedy that! :) He's
a pretty freakin awesome photographer and graphic desinger.

In other news in Charleston:

- I met 2 guys from the National Weather Service which was a first and
pretty cool.

- There was a giant Hippo head on the wall that Hootie kept making
jokes about.

- A jazz improv flautist who was celebrating her 21st birthday offered
to sit in with us at our next gig. That would be pretty awesome. I
keep picturing a scene from Anchorman. :)

- A gentleman walked in towards the end of our show carrying only a
guitar. He got up and sang a song at the end of our show with James
and Hootie. He tried to convince Hoot that "I Cant Help Falling In
Love With You" was his own original composition. And then he provided
a compelling argument on how we'd make a lot more money if he joined
the band. :)

For more on this story and others in Charleston:
Visit the band blog.
Http://www.natalieband.blogspot.com

The eyes!

It's after midnight. We're at iHop. We're heading towards Charleston
and this is what happens after 6 hours of brainstorming on set lists
in the Suburuban.

Chili Pepper

I had the most beautiful chili pepper with my meal tonight which, of
course, made Miguel very happy. So we all decided to taste it :)

Miguel's first bite was great. James had a bite, still good. By the time it got to me, I bit into a bunch of seeds..... AHHHHH!!!!! SO HOT!!!!!!!!!

Now we are back at the hotel watching "The Break Up".

San Diego is awesome.

On our way to dinner...

Hootie is looking for the perfect spot

Happy 4th of July!

This picture doesn't even slighty do it justice but I took this
really quickly before we started playing. Every time I turn around and
look at James this is the view!
And seriously. Can you imagine a more humbling feeling than playing a
show for 10,000 men and women that serve this country and their
families? And then watching an unbelievable display of fireworks
overlooking the bay in San Diego? Cause I really could never put into
words that feeling. It is ALWAYS an honor and privilege to play for
soldiers and then add to that playing for the Navy ON the 4th of July
- wow. It's just overwhelming.
Hope EVERYONE had a happy 4th of July!!!

San Diego....

...Bringing Hoots and Chileans together :)

Loadin Up!

Justin and Hootie in the parking lot just waiting to load the trailer :)