Happy Earth Day with UNT and TWU!

I spent more time outside on this gorgeous Earth Day than ANY other day so far this year. It was one of the most "Earthy" Earth Days I have ever had!!! No free ice cream... still... but a WONDERFUL Earth Day none-the-less. (I used to always tell myself I would go to Ben &Jerry's in Boston on Earth Day because they give out free ice cream that day.... but I never did make it!)

We began this beautiful day at 6am when we left Commerce to get to Denton. We began loading in at the University of Texas at 9am. This was our second time at UNT. They were having a huge Earth Day celebration -lots of booths and things out on the quad. And y'all - it is HOT in Texas!!! I was wearing a coat last week in Maine... no coats needed here! The stage was in a beautiful spot, but there wasn't a cover for it.... so this little fiddle playin' white girl got BURNT UP! I actually burned myself once on my instrument, too. I had put the fiddle down to sing a song, picked it up for the next, and the chin rest was so hot it burned my face!!! CRAZY!


This is Brandon - he gave the BEST intro for us last year... but he was in class when the event started so he didn't get to today. I missed him :)


This lady was so sweet. She was visiting the school to pick up materials for her daughter who wants to go to UNT after High school :) We had a good chat.


And seriously?! This was the SMALLEST SNAIL I HAVE EVER SEEN! It was on my fiddle case - definitely had a hard shell. We put Miguel's guitar pick next to it so you could see how tiny it was! And you can see it's awesome trail... that trail took him at least 20 minutes :)


SO after the show at UNT we had to quickly pack up and head to the next gig!! We played UNT from 11-1. And then our load-in was at 3:30 at TWU. So we had just enough time to run by Jason's Deli (love that place) for lunch.
Texas Women's University was another outdoor Earth Day/Spring Fling/ Home Week event. They had EVERYTHING!!! Inflatable obstacle courses, inflatable gladiator games, one of those harnesses so you can flip around on a trampoline, and a PARADE!!! It was so cute. All the different clubs and organizations had decorated golf-carts. And they gave out prizes galore to the winners in the parade. SO MUCH FUN!
We played at the end of the event, and it was a great show. But by this point.... I had turned into a lobster. I was REALLY red. Even Miguel burned a little bit today.... and he's CHILEAN! So you know it's bad! Even thought we played from 6-7 - the sun was still really bright. SO I decided to wear my hoodie onstage to cover my arms. I know I'll be thankful later (you know, for not layering myself ONE more time with that lovely bright red sunburn), but it sure was UNBELIEVABLY hot!!! :) Oh well...

At least my arms match my shirt :)
These girls were AWESOME! They knew all the words to "fancy" including the back ground parts. It was impressive!


These kids were CRAZY during the show. I loved them. They were all singing and dancing and we hung out and talked a while after the show.


We all had problems with our instruments. Instruments + direct sunlight for extended periods of time does NOT = a good thing. As I was trying to start "Even Alaska" the D string popped on me.... so I just detuned the white one and retuned it back up for the next song. But then my bow... my poor bow...
Good thing this was an extra and not my nice one!


And let me just say - Stacie and Randy are the most incredible people in the world. We are staying with them tonight in Dallas and they always take such amazing care of us. Stacie even bought wash cloths because I was asking about them the last time I was here. We all played a little shuffle board earlier.... that game is AWESOME. I had never played before but I loved it. James and I got beat by Randy and Miguel... 2 out of 3... but it was CLOSE! ;) Randy's almost a freakin professional!

It is so wonderful to stay with friends and family on the road. We don't have the luxury of being able to do it often. But that's probably good because we sure do appreciate it when we get to!

Peace, Love, Fiddle, and Shuffle Board.

LIVE VIDEOS!!!!!!!

The day has come :)

We got the live videos back from Dallas today!!! These were shot in by our good friends at Frozen Fire Films. They are SO good at what they do! These are 3 of my newer songs that will be on the next album as soon as we get back into the studio. :)

And for everyone on the email list - you will have exclusive access to download these songs! So be checking those inboxes. I will give more details on how to go about that as soon as we have that set up! But I couldn't wait to share these videos with ya'll!

Standing My Ground


Even Alaska


Whatever It Takes



Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Videos That Appear As If From Nowhere :)

I love it when I wake up and a new video has appeared on Youtube of one of our shows. :) That's a GOOD surprise. And it never gets old.

Someone posted videos from the audience at one of the NACA shows we did in the fall. :) It's so fun to see something like this from the audience perspective!!!


And she also posted "Even Alaska". It was funny to watch this one :) This was before I had settled on a key - so it is a half step down from where I sing it now. It sounds so low!!! Originally, we started a whole step up from this key... but after a few tries I didn't like it. Then we went down to F.... and now we are in F#. And F# seems to be the key of the year :) I always do that - not intentionally - but I'll go through phases where I gravitate to a specific key. It use to be "D"
It's also before Miguel and I added the fiddle/guitar jam at the end. I like the way it ends now. :)


Happy Monday!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Y102, Slaymakers, and Cunningham's Journal

Ughhh. This internet is sooooo slow. I have been going back and forth between wifi, plugging in the ethernet cable, and using our mobile internet card. Ummm... been trying to get at least ONE to work. The Sprint card seems to be working the best now. It's just frustrating. Especially when the hour you are tryin to get things to work is 3am. It is now almost 4 and I am JUST now on the page to write this. Good LORD, Bet Western. COME ON! ;) Oh the things we get frustrated about these days... boo hoo... my internet is slow....


We are in Keanery Nebraska (sung to the tune of "Even Alaskaaaaaa") I really wanted to change the last line of "Even Alaska" to "Even Nebraska" tonight. But I didn't think anyone would get it. I totally would have if Jenn had been here. (Miguel's wife). SHE would have gotten it! Right?!

Speaking of...
Have I mentioned all the connections we have to Kearney? I think I have... but here's a recap. Jenn went to school here in Kearney. And now her sister goes to school here. Her entire family lives in Nebraska... only a few hours from here. She's from Atkinson. And Ella (Miguel and Jenn's precious little girl) was born in Atkinson.... I found out today that Ella was born in the same room that Jenn was born in. Whoa.

And completely coincidentally, Bridget, Joe's girlfriend, also went to school here in Kearney. And she is from Broken Bow. But her family is still here in Nebraska. Nope. Jenn and Bridget didn't know each other while they were here. They met in Nashville. Crazy right? Both our guys are with women from Nebraska.
So it was very fitting we played here tonight. But it was strange that Jenn and Bridget's friends and family were all here but THEY weren't...

Billy Wolf had us on the 5 O'clock Stampede on Y102. What a GREAT station!!! Billy was so fun. We talked for a bit... Miguel and I played "Standing My Ground" live in the studio... they played "Best Years" on air... we talked some more.... and then we played "Angel". "Angel" is Billy's favorite song on the myspace page, and it was really cool to hear that. He didn't even know the story behind it and it was still his favorite one!!!

They had been advertising our show all week - we were the "after party" for the Oak Ridge Boys show in town. :) They were playing at the event center and the radio station kept telling everyone to go to Cunningham's afterwards to hear us a keep the party going. That was pretty fun.

Thank you for everything Billy!


Miguel and I playing a little diddy.



The show was SO MUCH FUN. We played 2, 75 minute sets. The first set everyone was so laid back! It was crackin me up. They all seemed to be enjoying it... but they were all just sittin and starin at the stage. One couple got up and danced on "Days Go By" but that was it! We even gave em "Love Shack" and they wouldn't get out of their seats. :)

But Lordy... after we took a break and talked to everyone.... and maybe just maybe a few drinks later for everyone.... THEY WERE UP AND DANCING the second set. It was AWESOME. Plus, Jenn's family - including her brother Jesse who was turning 30 - tripled the amount of audience noise once they got there. It made me so happy.

Jesse (Happy 30th!!!) is the easiest to spot in this picture! And Ki, Jenn's mom.... ummm she had NO TIME for the picture... she must have still been doing her "Funky Music" dance....

I really wanted Miguel in that picture but we couldn't find him.... He was probably in the back of the bar with people bowing at his feet saying "we're not worthy" because of his face-melting solos.

I didn't hear about this until later. I had gotten Jesse up while we sang "Happy Birthday" to him and we gave him a drum stick to play with James'. Apparently he had a little trouble with the stick. He tried to play a cymbal, but he threw the stick instead. Awesome.

Ok. I finally got Ki to take a time out from her dancing.


I got to meet Bridget's brother, Geoff! I already knew Colin her cousin, (we go WAY back.... back to Sam Hill's!) but I had never met his twin brother Riley!!! YAY! :)
All of Bridget's men.


Kirk! This guy was so great. He was in town for the night from Vegas. He was in Kearney looking at some major properties and just ended up at Cunningham's. He kept yelling at the owner "Whatever you're paying her.... it's not enough" I thought he knew the owners and was just giving them a hard time.... He didn't. They didn't know each other. Nor did he have a clue what they were paying us :) I just thought that was funny.



This bar was really great to us. And they kept talking about their outdoor stage in the summertime. It sounds incredible... They have a big Bier Garden outside. And I was really excited when we first walked in because I saw that our good friend Scott Holt is playing here in just a few weeks!!! Another Columbia, Tn native! It was fun to see both of our names on the schedule. :)

I played until about 5 minutes after 1am. I wanted to go a bit over our contracted time to play (we were just told set lengths - no specific stop times). But in Nebraska.... bars close at 1:00am!!! I had NO IDEA!!! I felt terrible. The bartenders and bouncers had their work cut out for them when we stopped playing. The bar was really full and they had to get EVERYONE out. Whew. Stressful. I'll definitely know for next time!!! I wouldn't have played that long at all if I had known. I don't think we have ever played a bar gig in a state where they close at 1:00am. It is usually 2. Oh well. You live, you learn. (Haha... they were playing "You Live You Learn" by Alanis Morissette when we got there today) And both of the bar owners didn't seem to be a bit annoyed by that, which was awesome. But it is hard for me not to stress about stuff like that. Cause I know what a nuisance it is for the staff.

I hope we get to go back there. It was such a fun night!

But it is 5:00am now. You think it's time for bed? Yeah. Me too.

Peace, Love, Fiddle, and Cunningham's Journal,
~natalie

Roger Williams University

Look at what was in our hotel room when we got here tonight!!! I shall call him... Franz. The Elephant. Why? Cause it just feels like the thing to do. HE HAS GOOGLY EYES!!! LOOK AT HIM!!!!




Franz was only the icing on the cake. Actually... he was the flower icing on top of the main icing. Tonight's show went so well. We played at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island. You could really tell they had promoted it a ton. Not only were there lots of students there - they were really interacting with us and giving us great energy.

The lights were all run by students (they had a VERY impressive lighting rig) and they were REALLY into the fog. There were times where I couldn't see the crowd because of the fog. IT WAS AWESOME. There was one time that I looked back at James and he looked like he was just smoking from awesomeness. It was like he had just emerged from a cloud of smoke... as if they were introducing him in a movie and he was about to melt your face with the best drum playing you've EVER heard. :) It was pretty hardcore. :)

The show was complete with lots of "cell phone lighters" swaying in the way back on the bleachers to people knocking chairs over in he front because they were dancing so hard! Yeah. It was a good time.

So I found my downloader doo-hicky in the back of the Suburban today!!! YAY!!!! Many pictures have been uploaded on facebook and myspace today thanks to well... possessing the technology to do so.

So now I can get back to my normal way of doing things and show you come pics!

These are my dancing girls!!! I made a comment early in the show that they must be on a dance team together... ummm and they are! It was great cause one of them would start doing a move and then the rest would join in. Their dancing was getting everyone pumped up! Actually, on "Even Alaska" that whole side of the crowd was jumping up and down to the music.... which definitely made me feel like one of the "cool kids".


These guys were great. I had just gotten done cleaning off the stage, and I could only find 2 set lists. These guys came up to us and said "Hey, we found these on stage and wanted to know if you could sign them" So see?! I'm not crazy! Plus, that is way better than just reusing them for tomorrow night. I like it when people want us to sign set lists. I spend so much time writing them all out - it is cool when they get appreciated like that! :)


If I were to take a WILD guess.... probably the youngest fans of the evening!!! Meagan and Michaela


JILL!!!! Jill and I were keeping in touch ALL day, just getting details ironed out for the show. I feel like we are best friends after all that phoning and texting! She took SUCH good care of us. AND she's wearing a Peace, Love, CEN (Campus Entertainment Network) t-shirt. ROCK ON.


Boston HERE WE COME!!!

Peace, Love, Fiddle
~natalie