Bluegrass in the Smokies

Last night we played in Vonore Tn at the Little Tennessee River Music
Festival. The stage was set in the middle of the Smoky Mountains
overlooking a lake in this great amphitheater. While the first band
played - skies were blue, beautiful breeze was blowing, and then BAM
the clouds started rolling in and this HUGE thunderstorm began.
Sideways rain, lightening, huge thunder claps - a true southern summer
night thunderstorm. It took about 5 guys just at the Front of House
sound board to hold down the tarps. It was crazy. The show stalled for
almost 2 full hours - and let me tell ya, I was completely astounded
at the people in Vonore - no one left! They all hung out in the
Sequoya Birthplace Museum until the storms passed and stayed for the
next 3 bands and the fireworks show! We didn't even finish our set
until 12:15 - and the crowd was phenomenal! It was truly a show I will
never forget. When the storms passed and as they were drying off
equipment to get everything powered on - we looked behind us and saw
the most beautiful rainbow over the lake. I couldn't get the whole
thing in the pic - but you can see a good half of it. :)

It felt like a movie backstage while the storms were happening. A
bunch of us were trapped in this little dressing room so Sammi Moore
and the other singers and players started jamming to some bluegrass. I
mean, I'm in the middle ofthe Smokies where much of that style of
music began, surrounded by these amazing singers and pickers, we're
all fanning ourselves with whatever we can find, and God provided a
pretty unbelievable light show. Yeah, I love what I do.

I say 'Dunkin', you say 'Donuts'!

When I pulled up to Dunkin Donuts this morning after oversleeping to
pick up the boys for our road trip today - this is what the lady said:
"When I say Dunkin, you say Donuts! Dunkin! ..... Dunkin! ....."
:) I wish more people had that much fun at their jobs! I'm sure there
are Plenty of people who roll through there and roll their eyes - but
Lord life's too short for that mess! That one interaction changed my
whole feeling for this overslept morning.
Love it.

We can sit on the couch and eat cookies!

Mamma took Granny to the doctor this morning and Granny apparently
caused quite the stir in the waiting room :) She sat down next to
another older gentleman who was there with his wife. The man started
talking to Granny and it turned out that he knew my Uncle Ed, her
brother-in-law, the street they live on, etc. They had a lot in
common. Well, ANOTHER older gentleman sat down on the other side of
Granny and joined in the conversation. This one told her he was 93 to
which she replied, "oh you're just a youngster. I'll be 98 in
September!" The three of them continued to talk and then when the
doctor called Granny to come in, the 93 year old asked her if she
wanted to go out on Saturday night. She said "Are you kidding? I can't
go anywhere with these knees!!" He said, "Oh that's ok, we can just
sit on the couch and eat cookies!" The other older gentleman told her
she was rocking the cradle, and I guess he meant she was "robbing" the
cradle since the man was *only* 93. : )

I'm not even sure Granny realized she was being asked out on a date. I
mean, she married Grandpa Tom in her early 20's so it has been over 70
years since she has been on a date. She refused to date after my
Grandpa passed away when he was 53. He was her husband and she didn't
believe in dating anyone else. I just think that is amazing.

So Granny's still getting the boys all riled up! Her nickname was
"bright eyes" because her eyes are so blue. But she's so humble and
cute, she'd never assume someone was hitting on her. :) Mamma said
that the guy didn't know her name, but he did know that she lives at
The Bridge. So if there is some random man sitting on the couch
downstairs at The Bridge that no one knows... we'll know who he is
waiting for!

Doug's a cool guy

Last night we met Doug - one of the most refreshingly enthusiastic
people I have met in a long while! Doug heard about our show at the
Lazy Chameleon in Columbus Oh, so he did a little research before he
came out. He bought a cd BEFORE be heard one note of the show, danced
and sang all night long, and even gave us money before we left to buy
us breakfast this morning! That was a first for us! And we REALLY
enjoyed our free "breakfast" at Red Robin! So thanks Doug!

Conveyer Belt Buffer :)

My favorite "Farm Boy Fan" as he's dubbed himself :) brought this to
me to solve my conveyer belt woes! He saw my blog and as always, was
thinking about what he could do to help! I just burst out laughing
when he gave it to me - it's a box to help keep all my stuff together
to cure my OCD. SO GREAT!!
Thanks Barry!

Jack Daniel's Saloon, Opryland Hotel

So last night at the Jack was pretty awesome. I could probably start
off most nights after the Jack with that sentence... Cause you just
NEVER know what kind of crowd is going to be there!
I think there were 2 stars of the night in my mind- the rowdy group of
Irish boys and Mark, the Australian that showed us all moves I had
never seen before. I wish I had gotten a picture of Mark - or more
importantly footage of his dancing.
One thing is for sure at the Jack, if you don't find me or the band
very entertaining, usually the crowd will provide MORE than enough
visual stimulation for you :)
These rowdy Irish boys were exactly what you'd think of when you think
Irish boys. They were hilarious! They had been traveling for 23 1/2
hours, and what did they do when they got to Opryland? Go to the
BAR! :) They were so fun and I could have listened to them talk all
night long!
One of the guys was named James - so he really wanted James in the
picture :)

It's Gonna Be A Good Day

So today I got to write with Dylan Altman and Marla Cannon. Dylan
wrote "Watch the Wind Blow By" for Tim McGraw - which is one of mine
and James' songs. And Marla wrote "The Fool" for Leann Womack, "Ten
Rounds" for Tracy Byrd, and most recently "Cleaning This Gun" for
Rodney Atkins sooo..... yeah..... I pretty much felt like the coolest
kid in school.
It's so fun to write with different people. It was pretty obvious
these two write together a lot, cause they comfortably fell into their
natural roles. She's awesome with words, and he is so great with
guitar and coming up with cool parts and mapping out the song. They
said they've been writing a lot of slow and depressing stuff lately,
and I came in wanting to write fun and happy. :)
But Dylan started playing a guitar part that sounded great, I started
playing a fiddle line over it, and Marla threw out "It's Gonna Be a
Good Day" So, we worked on it and in about 4 hours, BOOM. We had a
great song! It's been in my head all day, so that is a good sign!