Natalie Stovall Newsletter #2 (Now with Free Song Downloads) ; )

Happy Mother's Day!!!

I sure hope all the mothers out there, conventional and unconventional, had a wonderful day. We spent it driving home from Michigan. Though I didn't get to spend the day with Mamma, she held up the phone so I could "be in a picture" with her and Granny and my sister. :)

Next Week

5/16 The Country Club - Augusta, GA : Show 9PM

If you are in the area for this, we would love to see you! For more information about this show or any others you can see my full calendar by clicking here!

Home

Did I mention that we are HOME?? We've been on the road since Jan 13!!! We've had a few stops here in Nashville, but for the most part, we've spent our time elsewhere. We have 1 more show this weekend in Augusta Ga at The Country Club, which is our final show for the Winter/Spring Tour of 2009. I sure didn't think it would go by this fast. What a whirlwind of zigzagging all over this beautiful country! We've gone through snow storms and sunburns, ski lodges and spring flings; I've tried scrapple (and spit it out) Chacarero's and empanadas, and I've gotten to sing at the Boston Garden, open for Josh Gracin, AND the Los Lonely Boys!

What a ride :)

And now... we're gearing up for the summer tour. We're constantly updating the summer calendar, so keep an eye out. We have some really exciting shows and venues coming up!!

 

Last Week

Picture Of the Week (I <3 Miguel)

Other fun stuff:

We found Bear Poop in our Hotel Lobby :) It was pretty exciting... and not nearly as gross as it sounds! (Click HERE to learn more)

We learned that they still don't even have leaves on the trees up in Northern Michigan!!!

We spent 4 days in Reading, PA

The whole band got to sign a script of "The Office"

We played shows at colleges with punk bands and ska bands and I got in touch with my inner "indie rock chick" by sporting a Valencia Hoodie all week. :)

Some great blogs showed up online about some of the shows. This one is from a fantastic photographer and it is filled with tons of great pics of one of our shows:

http://www.bardenphotography.com/blog/2009/natalie-stovall-2/

And this one is from the same show, but includes some video of the crazy rock medley we do:

http://www.jaredbarden.com/blog/categories/natalie-stovall/

Free Song Downloads!!

As promised... finally... the song demos for "Silly Kid" and "Best Years" are the first two songs available for download EXCLUSIVELY for people on my email list! YAY!! There will be plenty more where that came from, don't worry!!

To download the songs head to www.reverbnation.com/nataliestovall

CDs

Wanna know something that blows my mind and makes me so happy? We've SOLD OUT of another batch of "Late Night Conversations"!!! It's time to reorder cds! I knew we were getting close, but I had no idea we would be OUT by the end of this trip. We didn't even have enough at our show last night. Thank goodness for itunes!

Internetin'

For anyone who doesn't know.... I add ALL the pics we take at shows to my facebook page and myspace/website slide show. And I write a blog every day where I include pictures and stories of our crazy adventures :) Twitter is all the rave now, and I am proud to say that I am a full blown addict. Can't hide it and wouldn't try. And of course the Youtube page has had a few additions as new videos keep popping up online!

Peace, Love, Fiddle,

~natalie

Fun Stuff to Wake Up To

I love this world of internetin' and blogging. Not only do I get to post my own thoughts and pictures about each show and adventure on the road, but I get to wake up every morning and see what others have posted. I wake up to new pictures, videos, comments, and messages every day. It is one of the most rewarding feelings! There have been all kinds of fun things posted lately, so I have to share with you some of my favorites...

An incredibly talented photographer named Danielle Barden and her husband Jared came to the Josh Gracin show in Mansfield. I am so thankful they did!!! She posted some incredible pics of the show the next day, and I have been using this one as my main photo on facebook and myspace the past week. :)



She also wrote a blog about the show which includes a lot more pictures here:

Danielle's Blog

If you are in the Mansfield PA area and need beautiful photos taken - you should call Danielle! Her portfolio is really impressive. Thank you for letting me use your awesome photos Danielle!!!
Barden Photography Website


And THEN I saw ANOTHER blog posted by a Barden. :) Her husband posted one because he uploaded some videos from the show. :)
It is such a cool thing to see the show from the audience perspective!! Here's the cool vids he posted:

This is a clip of Miguel and me playing a bit of Freebird :)



Oh you "Devil" you.


And this one is another that showed up that I thought was pretty cool. :) I think someone from the school posted this video.


We made it to New York tonight. I am heading out to Long Branch tomorrow to do a bit of writing with Gordon Brown... no... not the Prime Minister... but this Gordon is JUST as cool! He's one of my favorites to write with! So help me channel good songwritin vibes for tomorrow! :)

Peace, Love, Fiddle,
~natalie

Opening for Josh Gracin!!!

Our very first college show 2 years ago was in Elmira, New York, and it was an opening slot for Josh Gracin. After touring colleges and universities pretty solid ever since.... we were asked to open for him again. This time at Mansfield University in PA - only 45 miles south of Elmira. How crazy is that?!?

The show tonight? AMAZING. It flew by. The audience was packed. People were screaming uncontrollably. I felt like I was a headliner in my own little 30 minute opening slot. (which is SUCH a quick set for us!)
You want to know the craziest part? Not only did I FEEL like it was an incredible show... but I spent more time at the merch table than I ever have before. It was a solid line the whole time. How long? 2 hrs and 39 mins. WHAT!?!?!?! I could not believe how amazing these people were. I went to the table to start signing autographs and take pics after my set. I missed Josh's ENTIRE set... plus stayed until they were hauling sound equipment off the stage. But I promised to get to EVERYONE. And I did!!! It was SO FREAKIN AWESOME. I was overwhelmed by the enormity of the response to our set. People were so kind, when I was just happy for the opportunity.

And OH the food. The food was astounding. NOT ONLY did we have plums from Chile in our dressing room (which made one Chilean guitar player in my band very happy) but the salmon and the couscous. Perfection!!

We had LOTS of protection tonight :) (And good-looking protection I might add!)




I had an interview for tv and 2 newpapers before the show. :) Here's all the interviewers:




These girls asked me to sign their biology notes.


I must have looked at them a little funny because THEN they explained. They told me that they came to the show instead of studying for their exam.... I hope they do well on their exam because if they don't I would feel HORRIBLE. (I couldn't even pronounce the study points next to where I signed)


I signed a bunch of normal stuff tonight - you know - hats, t-shirts, ticket stubs. But this was the first time I ever signed cowgirl boots!!! And BOTH girls had me sign their boots. Adorable.


These ladies were at the Elmira show, too!!! We were all really excited about that.


SO I could go on and on and on with stories of everyone I met at the merch table. But I need to sleep in a bad way, so I am gonna move on to the after party. Everyone was going to a bar down the road called Changos. I was exhausted but I really wanted to hang out. Plus, I felt horrible - I never got to even see Josh or thank him for having us as an opener. Well... Josh and his guys were all going, too. And Josh had told Miguel the same thing - he felt bad that we didn't get to talk.

So we headed to Changos


When we walked in, 2 guys were singing and playing acoustic guitars ("Don't Stop Believing" I might add). As we walked into the bar - they announced "Natalie Stovall has entered the bar" and Oh MY, Y'all. The whole place started cheering! Talk about making a girl feel good!!! And then the first girl I saw was ALREADY wearing the Peace, Love, Fiddle tee she had JUST bought!!!


A few minutes later Josh walked in. And we FINALLY got to talk!!!! I think he's my new BFF. :) (Don't worry Farm Boy... no one will ever be my FFBF but you.... there's a BIG difference) He is really a great guy. He puts on a heck of a show and he was so great to talk to. We bonded over the industry and the business and just making things work. He was incredibly sweet about my band. So yeah. I love Josh Gracin. We all do. Actually, Miguel and James are downstairs in the lobby with Josh and his band right now... they weren't ready for the party to stop!!!


We had a rough time leaving. But I knew I needed to go.... we have another 7 hour drive to Boston tomorrow and it's another big day. I'm singing the anthem for the Celtics. And even though it is only one song - it is one HARD song to sing. My voice is pretty swollen just from all the non-stop talking, interviewing, and show-puttin tonight. (I WOULDN"T HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY!) But I knew I needed to go. It's almost 4am right now... normal... but sucks when you have to get up at 7.... AGAIN.

We all tried to leave about 17 times. This was what happened when I was trying to leave.


Since that didn't work so well... James had to take matters into his own hands.



Good times. Although.... I am still not sure how Josh beat us back to the hotel. He was still inside when we left??? But he was inside the hotel when we got here. Hmmmm... He's magic.

This was even more than I hoped it would be. I had an overwhelming amount of friend requests on facebook when I opened up my laptop. What a great feeling. We're moving on up, ya'll. And it is all thanks to YOU. So THANK YOU for letting me get to do what I do. I will forever be grateful. And I will always stay until the last autograph is signed.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Last Night in Nashville for 6 Weeks!

I had SUCH a long list of things I needed to do this week while I was at home.

I got the most important ones going.... you know... writing music!!! :) I am walking away with 3 songs finished and many more in the works. But ALL the other little things... :) they took a little back seat...

It's ok though!! I mean, really?? This week: Thursday I am opening for Josh Gracin in Mansfield PA. :) Friday I am singing for the Boston Celtics at a home game, and Sat I am playing at Cafe 939 in Boston - basically at Berklee. :) What a fun way to get this last leg of the tour rolling!!!!

Before I get back to doing laundry, packing, and realizing all the things I meant to do this week that never got done.... I have to give a shout-out to my good friend Mr. Charlie Hutto. We wrote yesterday and I finally got to catch up on all of his good news!!!

Just to remind everyone how I know Charlie: we met at Berklee, played a bunch together at school, and then when he moved to Nashville - he was in the band for a long time until we started going on the road full time.

Along with being an incredible songwriter, upcoming producer (he just produced another good friend, Jenn Bostic's record), and fantastic guitar player....
He is the Band leader and the "Riley" part of Williams Riley Band. :)
The Williams Riley Band just added their new single "I'm Still Me" to radio this week. And the video was added to CMT today!!!

Williams Riley Band   More CMT Music   More CMT Music Videos

They added the song on the same week as Keith Urban and Brad Paisley's new singles were added... that makes it even MORE difficult to get airplay as a new artist. But we can all help by requesting and spreading the word!!! :)

I'm just very happy for Charlie. They are having a blast on their radio tour right now - and we're gonna be zig-zagging along each other's paths up in the Northeast this week. :)

Hope to see y'all out on the road! We're driving to Rhode Island tomorrow. Well... getting a head start at least.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Josh Gracin, Los Lonely Boys, and Singing for the President

Still in Syracuse! Very nice. :) We are back in Dunkin Donuts land!!! :) LOVE me some of those flatbreads.

Got some bad news and some GREAT news.

Bad news first... which isn't THAT bad.
We had a show cancel on us today. This is the first college show that has had to cancel, which I think is pretty amazing. It just makes me thankful for how lucky we have been so far. I know a lot of school's have gone through major budget cuts in thi crazy economy. And considering how much we have been working - well, we have been very blessed so far. We had one club that closed their doors after we played and never paid us. We were actually the last band that played there. But other than that.... well... and that one club in Dallas that just blatantly stiffed us (but that was a character thing.... not a "we are really hurting" thing)... I am just thankful!

Now on to the good news. Which is TWO different items!

We are opening for Josh Gracin again!!!!

AND

We are opening for Los Lonely Boys, too!!!


I had all the information written out, and then I realized I better keep it hush hush as to where both of these events are happening. I am not sure if they have been announced yet, but I am SOOOO excited to be opening for these 2 artists. We have gotten to open for Josh before and he puts on such an incredible live show, and I feel like we have come so far since the last time we opened for him. That was in Elmira, New York and Miguel didn't get to play in that show, so now he will get to! He was in Chile visiting family - that was a bit of a last minute show - but Charlie was still in the band, so he went with us on that trip.

Ahh. I remember that so well. The night after the show was where I got the email in the Suburban on my cell phone about the President gig. I got an email asking if anyone was interested in singing at this "White House" thing. I was SO excited and I remember emailing my agent at 1 in the morning saying YES! Of COURSE I am interested.


I sent in an mp3 of singing the "National Anthem" and the next thing I knew - I had an invitation to sing at the White House.

I actually have a couple of pics from that I have never put up online. They sent these to me after the event, and it took me this long to scan them onto my computer. :)- (Thanks for that scanner for Christmas James!)

This is one of my favorite stories....
I was in a VIP reception before the event started. There were 50 people in this room and it was mostly A-listers :) I got to meet Charlie Gibson, Katie Couric, Tiki Barber, Condolezza Rice, and of course The President and First Lady. After about 30 minutes of schmoozing, it was time for the event to start.
They escorted everyone out of the room except me, President Bush, The First Lady, some photographers and Secret Service. The President would walk out first and then I would be introduced to sing "God Bless America". We had a few minutes alone in the room.... you can imagine how I was feeling!!! Someone asked me if we had gotten an official picture yet.

Right before we took the picture, Mrs. Bush took my arm and said, "Georgie, Natalie is singing The National Anthem tonight". President Bush said, "No she's not. She's singing "America the Beautiful". We smiled and posed for a picture



Then I looked at them both, put my hand on my chest, smiled and said "God Bless America" : )- It was so funny. We all 3 busted out laughing. I'm so glad they thought it was funny – I didn't want it to look like I was "correcting" them, but it seemed to me to be more awkward NOT to say anything….


I thought it was SO cool they captured us laughing right after all of that happened.

If you are interested... I just posted my entire blog on here so you could read the whole thing.... Previously it has only been on myspace.... but I can't "link" you to that one :)

Singing For the President Blog


Peace, Love, Fiddle,
~nat