Introducing the New Band Members!!

Sooo....

I have alluded to the fact that new guys were coming on board over the last little bit, but I haven't said much because there were no "final decisions" made.

Today, that has all changed!!!

We have known for a while now that David Newbould would be joining Team Stovall. David will be coming on board as an opening act/ rhythm guitar/ vocalist in the group! We are THRILLED to have such a talented guy along for the ride. :) He's a fantastic artist - singer/songwriter/guitar player/overall awesomeness and in fact... you should head on over to his website when you have the time and take a look at HIS stuff!!!

http://www.davidnewbould.com/

He originally hails from Canada (thus furthering the borders of this international Stovall band) but he recently made the move to Nashville from Austin, Texas. We even figured out that Dave Madden - my first keyboard player... plays keys for David in Austin!!! Oh what a small world it is!


And the the part we haven't known until today - our new bass player!!!
Introducing Zach Morse (no kids... not Zach Morris... though I'm a little TOO excited about introducing him to Mr. Belding) from Cheyenne, WY (a new state to grace the Stovall Team). Zach has a very rich, deep voice which I can't wait to hear more of. He's a killer bass player. And he's got crazy curly hair to DIE for! :)

You can get a sneak peek at his myspace site:
http://www.myspace.com/zachmorsebassist

We had spoken to Zach, gotten GREAT recommendations from friends about him, and stalked him a little on youtube. Shhhh. We had a great feeling about him, but you can't exactly offer someone a job without meeting them and playing with them first. Well... you can. But, you know. So we got together with everyone today, played through some songs, dug the vibe, offered him the job, and thus now we have a full band again!

Whew. I can't even begin to describe what an incredible feeling that is. New Van, new band, new sound system, new songs, new sets, new fiddles... Whoa. I didn't even realize all the newness until I just typed it out!

Miguel, James, and I couldn't be happier with how 2010 is starting!!! Let's keep it a'rollin!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

NACA SOUTH = Awesome Show, Lots of Belding, and ANT!

I started my day by watching Mr. Belding on "Saved By The Bell" on television. I ended my day with Mr. Belding buying me a coke at the bar. I LOVE my life.

We had a LOOOOONG drive yesterday and last night. We left Northern Illinois at 2:00pm and arrived here in Winston-Salem at 8:30am. And the longest we stopped was at an Arby's to eat dinner for about 15 minutes. It was brutal. But we made it safely, and were able to take a nap this morning. I always worry about James. He can't sleep in the car. After the wreck... he just can't. So even though he "rests" while I drive... it's just not the same. But we always get it worked out between the two of us.

We played at NACA South tonight - we closed the opening night of the conference. It is so funny to play a 15 minute showcase. You blink and it is over! But it was SO much fun. And I met so many great students at the conference. And there were schools from Tennessee there!!! What a concept! Play a show in my home state? It is possible?

ANT (all 5 seasons of "Last Comic Standing", VH1, Tonight Show, Tyra Banks) was in the same showcase I played!!! It was so cool to meet him and play in the same show with him. :) He's fabulous.


I am SO excited about sleeping. Good night.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

OH! PS when I walked in the bar... this girl (Tuttie) freaked out and was so adorable and sweet about the show. She really wanted me to sign something, but didn't have anything with her, nor did I. She had me sign a menu. That rocked.

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

Fun In Hartford

We were in Hartford CT for NACA Northeast this last weekend. It was a HUGE conference for us, so we went out to celebrate afterwards! Dennis Haskins (Mr. Belding) and I are becoming good friends after all these conferences! And his good friend, Horatio Sanz (yet another Chilean-American) was hanging out too! Horatio was one of my favorites from SNL! What a fun night! :)

His watch.... AMAZING.


Look at those good-lookin Chileans :)


I NEVER thought growing up watching Saved By the Bell EVERY DAY after school, that I would be hanging out with Mr. Belding!!! He had to get a special pass to get in to see our show... and he was so sweet afterwards and told me that he is a huge fan. ARE YOU KIDDING!?!? I've been a huge fan of HIS for YEARS! My life is amazing.


As soon as I steal some more pictures from facebook, I'll show off the highlights of the conference :)

PEACE, LOVE, FIDDLE, Y'ALL!!

NACA CENTRAL!!!!

My very first booking conference was at NACA Central 2 years ago and WOW!!!!! How far we have come!!!! This year the conference is in Tulsa, OK. NACA Central is made up of schools from Colorado and New Mexico east of the 107th longitude (which roughly parallels the Rocky Mountains), Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

We got to see a lot of old friends and made a ton of new friends. And we've already booked over 20 dates for next year from this conference!!! So we'll see ya'll over the Central US!!!

Here's the highlights!

ME AND BELDING!!!!!!!!!!! I used to watch "Saved By The Bell" EVERY DAY after school while eating goldfish crackers and a caffeine free coke :) Mr. Belding is AWESOME. We're rockin out :)



Ari (my agent) and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary at this conference. We first met at NACA Central 2 years ago when I had no agent and didn't really know much about NACA. He saw my showcase that year in Little Rock and signed me! Happy Anniversary to us! Awwwwwwww..
This is Ari and me in a Dave Sandwich :)
Dave Madden is on the left and he was the keyboard player in my very first band in college!!! We were called Green Line South and we lived at my parents house 2 summers in a row playing music around Nashville. Dave is an incredible singer/songwriter/musician and he lives in Austin, TX.
Check him out!! www.davemaddenmusic.com
And Dave Tamkin is on the far right. He is another amazing signer/songwriter. He's lived in Chicago his whole life and is currently moving to Denver. He has a really fun, funky, acoustic sound. Check him out, too!
www.myspace.com/davetamkin



Before we got to NACA we had a message from the Orion Experience from New York. They were flying in and needed to share gear with another band, and we just happened to have the right amount of amps and such. :) I can't believe I had never heard of these guys! THEY ARE SO MUCH FUN!!!!! First off, they made our gear sound amazing :) It was fun to hear my fiddle amp handle a rockin guitar. These guys have a new song that was just featured in "The Hills" And L.C. AND Audrina both give props to this band as one of their favorites. And Perez Hilton loves them too!!! If you want to read what PEREZ has to say:
Click here
Their website is:
www.theorionexperience.com
They are a MUST KNOW band. Learn about them now so you can be one of those people saying:
"I knew them before they were HUGE."
I am obsessed with "Obsessed With You"

Here's me and Orion:


And both our bands!


Right after we took these pics, I ran into Nikhil Korula who we played a show with at Quinnapiac University in Hamden, CT. Nikhil has such a cool sound and his band has opened for Dave Matthews on the road. So if you like DMB, you will LOVE this guy!
www.nkband.com



We ran into tons of students that we met at previous conferences and Colleges we have played and then this sweet girl came up to me and said, "Hey! I saw you in San Diego on July 4th!!!!" Isn't that awesome? San Diego to Tulsa :)




So yeah, NACA #1 this year was awesome. We have another one in Lancaster, PA this next week. Stay tuned for the next Tour Diary which James is editing right now. I keep cracking up at all the footage!

Peace, Love, Fiddle