Snowed In

We are SNOWED IN in Iowa right now!!!

We woke up to a winter wonderland. The snow hasn't stopped coming down, and the wind is FIERCE! It blows the snow all over the place, and there was a huge drift right outside of Grandma's door that made it hard to stomp our way inside!!!

It is currently 3 degrees... don't even want to know what that is with the wind chill!!! The roads are frozen solid. Our plan was to leave tomorrow, but we're not sure how good of an idea that will be. We'll have to see what everything looks like when we get up in the morning. :)

Hope everyone is warm and safe and cozy tonight. I never get tired of the snow. I like that you really can't go anywhere. I always wanted to know that feeling in Tennessee, but I never got it until I moved to Boston... and then acquired a family from Iowa! :)

Peace. Love. and Snowy Fiddles.
~natalie

Superstitious Much?

We made it back to Iowa safely tonight. I was so pumped for the first 6 hours of the drive - it was FLYING by. Not having the trailer allows me to use this revolutionary thing called... CRUISE CONTROL. It's amazing what a difference that makes - my back doesn't hurt, and we can actually drive the speed limit the whole time. What a concept! Well... until it started snowing. As SOON as we crossed into Missouri, the snow started to fall. BIG SURPRISE. Missouri is NOT our lucky state. I'm not one to be superstitious... but it's pretty unbelievably consistent.

We were back on that same stretch of highway again tonight where our wreck with the semi happened. UGhh... I was having to go between 35-45 on the interstate because I couldn't see the lines. The snow was covering everything, and it was coming down pretty hard for the last 4 hours. It doesn't scare me normally... but being in that same spot... well... every time a semi passed me, my whole body would tense up.

But we're here now. Safely. Thank goodness. We'll be spending the day with family and friends during visitation tomorrow. It's gonna be a full day of celebrating Grandpa and everything he means to all of us. There's never a shortage of Dick stories. Believe me :)

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

The House That Built Me

Tonight I heard a song that stopped me in my tracks. I've heard it before, but I hadn't really LISTENED to it yet.

James and I came down to my parents house tonight so I could get a head start on some cooking for the big day. It was 1:00am, I was standing at my kitchen stove... in the house that I grew up in... and I was kneading out dough with my hands. It was just me, some yeast roll dough, and Miranda Lambert's new cd. "The House That Built Me" came on, and I started crying. It hit me like a ton of bricks. My parents have lived here since before I was born. And this is definitely the house that built me. And the lyrics of this song, as I prepare for the family to come home for Thanksgiving, well, they just resonated with me in a pretty powerful way.

James' grandparents are selling their farm right now, and I know that was part of it as well. The farm is where he learned to play drums. They got a drum set and let him bang away as a kid when he spent the summers there in Iowa. And that was one of the houses that built him.

Miranda explains and sing it best. Hope you enjoy this video of her singing "The House That Built Me".


Hope your bellies are full and your hearts are warm.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Peace. Love. Fiddles. and Turkeys.
~natalie

Nick Motil / Natalie Stovall Simpson College Year 2

Final Road Show of The Year!!!!!

I say it. But I don't believe it. It's like a birthday. There's a part of me that thinks I should "feel" different. But I don't.

This is our last night in a hotel for the year, too!!!

Ok. I'm done freaking out for just long enough to tell you about the show. I've really been looking forward to this show for all KINDS of reasons:

Simpson treats us SO well. They really do a great job putting on the shows, and they are the FIRST school ever to set up a Wii in our Green Room!!! That's never happened before. They had a sandwich tray, and tons of snacks. I can't tell you how much I LOVED making my own sandwich today from a loaf of bread. I haven't gotten to do that in MONTHS. Plain and simple. Bread, Cheese, ham, turkey, and a little mayo. Mmmmm. SO great.

They turn their Student Center into a pretty awesome live music venue - they have moving lights, and a huge sound system set up. And there was a whole group of guys that I met before the show that pulled a couch up to the front of the stage and watched the whole show sitting RIGHT up front!!!
They had me sign... ehh emmm.. their nipples before the show :)


And this dude PICKED ME UP. I was surprised :)


Nick Motil is another artsit on my agent's roster. He was actually the guy at my first showcase that introduced me to Ari. He's incredible to watch. It's just him and his guitar, and he knows how to work a crowd. We've both been so lucky in the college world. He's been the most booked singer-songwriter in the college market the last couple of years. And we've somehow become the top booked band in the college market. (And again.... I say that.... but I don't know how that's real)
We've been cooking up some ideas for the future ;) Y'all may see more Nick/Natalie shows down the road.


And another reason I love this show is because it's in IOWA!!!! Most of James' family (my in-laws) is here, and Lord do they know how to pack out a room! We feel spoiled because we got to see SO MUCH of the family tonight. And then we'll get to see them all again next week for Thanksgiving, too!! It really makes the show immediately more meaningful when family can be there.


But yeah... I'm still fighting these allergies... I thought I was allergic to Kentucky... but I'm in Iowa and it's not better yet. Oh well. I get to rest now. Thank the Lord I don't have sing anymore. But you know what? I don't have to stress because I don't have to sing again until Dec 12. :) YAY! Now I just have to worry about getting well so I don't breathe germs on the rolls I make for Thanksgiving.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Kentucky ---> Iowa

We drove from Kentucky to Iowa today :) We made it just past the Mississippi River, but stopped right outside of Davenport to sleep. We play in Indianola tomorrow. We watched a LOT of West Wing today :) I LOVE LOVE LOVE that show. It's even better re-watching it than it was the first couple of times around.

Today we saw a little Cinnamon Min Pin with a tail and a wiener today as we left the hotel. I've never seen a Min Pin with a full tail!!! I wish they hadn't chopped Cinnamon's off. I hate that for little puppies. But that's how she came, and her nub is quite adorable. :) And I get to spend so much time with her SOOOOO soon. I am so excited. It's going to be so great to see her and not have to immediately leave her again.

Night night.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

University of Texas Tyler AGAIN :)

I think it was actually warmer today than it was when we played there in April!! :) I was pouring in sweat today... umm... to put it in Miguel's words "I can't get it right!"

Cute pink knee socks with my boots were a bad choice today.

We both packed so warmly for this trip because we have been FREEZING the last few weeks. Then we get to Texas and it's in the 80's all week. However, we will end this trip in Iowa... so we know we'll be happy then with our coats and sweaters! :)

Today Jennifer lured students to their "Tunes at Noon" show (which... well... we were providing the "tunes" for) by giving away free pizza. It's amazing how many more students we had at the show THIS time when they had free food! However. Our saga with bees continued :) We had bees swarming around us on stage the whole show. I only missed one line of singing because of them... there was one way too close to my mouth and I couldn't risk a stung tongue. :)

Jennifer AGAIN took such great care of us. We love her. And the construction guys that were watching us through the window on the second floor of the building across from the show!


Thanks for another great show!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

My Sticky Shoe

Anyone get the title? Think "Phoebe's sexy flem" on Friends :)

Yeah. I could hit lower notes than normal tonight. Didn't help much with the high ones...

When James tries to talk NOTHING comes out. :(

But we made it!!! One more and then we'll rest up for next weekend. I can't BELIEVE how great I felt on stage tonight. I was a wreck today... but the show must go on.


So, apparently it is "former bass player week" :)

2 nights ago Dennis Haskins (Aka Mr. Belding from Saved by The Bell) and one of my first bass players in Green Line South, Adam Countryman, started texting me at 3am. They met each other at a bar in L.A. and somehow my name came up :) CLASSIC. That was definitely some good "get well medicine"

And tonight.... Davide Pezzini My VERY FIRST BASS PLAYER... EVER from Berklee came out to the show tonight!!! We think we haven't seen each other in 6 years. How crazy is that? Wow. He's originally from Switzerland, but now lives in Chicago! I'm all about the international band!


And we had SOOO many wonderful people come out tonight. THAT is what got me through the show. Our Iowa family was here - James' Mom, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and lots of friends!!! WOOO HOO!!! I didn't get pics :( It was chaos! But we played Doobie Brothers for Aunt Deana!

Sue and her crew drove in:


Fred won the prize for furthest drive.... He drove all the way from Marquette, Mi where we originally met at Upfront and Company! So when he requested Purple Rain, we HAPPILY obliged! He had to jet out, so we didn't get a pic either, but it was SOOO good to see you Fred!

Tim got to fly up earlier in the week to spend time with his brother and brand new baby niece. John even snuck away from his baby girl to come out to the show tonight!


The wait staff had an awesome contest for who could look the most country. :) They were pretty awesome:



Jessie is with us again! I don't know what I would have done without her tonight!


And this place was packed. We had SO much fun with everybody there! I <3 Ballydoyle Pub!





Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

W-I-O-Waaaaaaa

In case you were wondering... Stowe, Vermont to Ames Iowa is a LONG drive. Very, very long. It was snowing today on our drive in. We were so close to the gig... but the roads sure did look like they did last February when we had our wreck. James didn't even realize how tense he was until he noticed that BOTH of his hands were asleep (from grabbing the steering wheel so tightly).

I went through the same thing on part of our drive to Vermont. It was only a few hours - but we were on some state highways that were just two lane roads, curving around mountains in the snow in the dark.... I was going the speed limit but not ANY faster.... which apparently made people very angry. Especially since we are pulling that trailer... I was taking it really easy around the curves. And people kept passing us over a double yellow line. Real smart people. It was stressing me out. But going any faster wasn't an option. And after you've been hit by a semi because of road conditions... it adds a whole new perspective to driving.

But it was worth the incredibly long haul to get here ;) We played a really great show. They actually had foosball, pool tables, Poker tables, Buck Hunting, Car racing games, and electronic darts going the whole night. It was pretty impressive. The guys and I had a pretty awesome foosball game going at the end of the night. I'm pretty terrible. But I don't ever play that game in my defense! And I try really hard. But everyone had a REALLY good time. It was hundreds of men with only 3 or 4 ladies again :) So they weren't getting up and dancing or anything. Well... except for this one guy who called himself "The Rabbit." He was doing all KINDS of dance moves. So I got him up to sing on "Love Shack" :) But the crowd was singing their hearts out by the end of the night! We played almost every song we know (or know well enough to play without rehearsing) and then we played "Living On a Prayer" for an encore. We haven't played that song in FOREVER. It was really fun :) Made me think of Cameron from Sam Hill's in Columbia!

I am so worn out. These drives have really taken it out of me these last few days. But we get to go home tomorrow for a few days. I can't wait to see Cinnamon. I miss that sweet puppy so much.

Night y'all!

PS Anyone who gets the Backyardigans reference in the title gets bonus points. :)