The New Poster

Now available at ALL shows. :)

And soon to be available on the BRAND NEW NatalieStovall.com



~natalie

Thank You Darsey's!!

We are back home in Tennessee. It is hard to believe that we were in my father-in-law's this morning in Seattle!!! James and I flew back to Atlanta, called our favorite Nigerian limo driver (who had JUST bought a brand new Suburban - new from the one he picked us up in last week) and headed out to Norcross to pick up our own Suburban and trailer.

We had parked it at the Darsey's who graciously let us park it in their drive-way while we were on the west coast all week. We were able to leave it there for safe-keeping - even though they had never met us before we showed up on their doorstep at 3am the night before we left!!! They are friends of my mother-in-law, and now friends of ours :) And don't the kids look AWESOME in their Peace, Love, Fiddle Tees?? They were wearing them when we showed up!


(I'm not sure who to credit for the awesome photography skills, but she was one of the neighborhood kids, and she was only about as tall as my waist. I see real photography potential in her future!)

We left not one but TWO permanent marks on the Darsey's pavement right in front of their driveway. We felt horrible, even though they reassured us it was no big deal. The angle of the driveway did NOT like the bottom of the trailer... there was just no avoiding the 3 foot scraping.

James and I were beat on our drive back to Tennessee. We weren't sure how we were gonna make it. But Austin Powers, Arrested Development, and Starbucks helped us get back home. And now we can spend time with our sweet puppy who has been very sick while we were gone. She's back to her "boiled chicken and rice and cottage cheese" diet per the Vets orders. So she's a happy monkey!!! She loves her chicken and rice. :) And I love being home to take care of her. Even if it is only for 1 day. Soon monkey. Soon you'll get to come with us.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

My Heart Is Full

My heart is so full right now. I am always speechless and overwhelmed when I read the blogs on Amazima.org

Katie, who started this ministry is younger than I and she is living in Africa running an orphanage and feeding the hungry. Her story is so inspiring and every time I read it, I realize that we have an immense capacity to change the world. Sometimes it feels overwhelming and doesn't seem like "there is much that I can do" But when I read Katie's story, I am so uplifted, and I know that there IS so much I can do.

I know that I am doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing right now. I am working as hard as I possibly can to achieve my dreams. And though I am swamped and enveloped in my own personal journey, I know I am soon coming to a place where I can do so much MORE. I can't wait for that time. I get nervous excitement in my belly when I think of all that is coming.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for coming to shows. Thank you for listening. Together, we're gonna spread a whole lotta peace, love, and fiddle.

~natalie

Penn State Altoona

West Virginia sure is beautiful! The interstates twist and turn so much more than normal! :) We made it to Penn State Altoona right on time. They had a great room set up with a stage and lights. And we got all ready to go.
But....
There were a few things missing...
Miguel left his boots at home.... I had never seen him play in tennis shoes before! It was funny looking. :) And it turned out that there wasn't any monitors. But it wasn't a big deal at all. We just did without!
But Hootie had something new. A Bass! He played his first show with it tonight. It sounded awesome, and it's a 5-string, so he had a whole extra string to play than normal! :)

Apparently, at Penn State Altoona it takes 3 good-looking guys and one British accent to put on a show!


These girls were all musicians, too. They were so sweet!


Totally his first country concert! He said "country's not really his thing" but, hey! He stayed the WHOLE show :) Nice.


And Jenny bought a cd for all of her friends! What a sweetheart!


So now we are driving to Staten Island. We play an afternoon show there, so we are already heading that direction. We are all starving right now, but there wasn't anything open in Altoona.... so we got on the road. Just tried to stop at a Perkins but it was CLOSED! We've found a Denny's in 45 miles though. SCORE. :)

Peace, Love, Fiddle,
~natalie

"I Made It All The Way To West Virginia"

This afternoon I was running on Belmont Blvd in Nashville, TN. Tonight I just checked into a hotel in West Virginia. :) I love that this feels NORMAL.

I spent the first 5 hours of the drive entering emails from the email list. It was almost an entire month's worth of emails! I tried to write a new email for everyone, but quite a few roadblocks appeared. But it's coming soon :)

As we were packing up to leave, I wanted to restock the cds. And to my surprise I emptied the LAST box of cds for this trip! That means it is time to reorder cds AGAIN! And the best part is, I will be reordering the first one at the same time I will be recording the new one :) YAY!!! Pretty excited about that. This means I have sold nearly 3,000 hard copies of cds with well.... I'm not sure HOW many have been sold on itunes, but it's quite a bit as well. :)

Tomorrow we are playing a show at Penn State in Altoona, PA. Every time I read "Altoona" I hear it in Arnold Schwazenegger's voice. You know... like, "It's not a Tooomar" :)

Ok. yeah. I should probably try to sleep or something. It IS 4:30 and the birds are already chirping...

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

What a Whirlwind of a Week

Man. Texas was a blast. I am now home in Tennessee for a few hours. But this whole last week feels like a blur. We were working at such a fast pace and it never stopped! We got home tonight around 11 and leave tomorrow for PA :) It is so great to get to do laundry and sleep in our own beds for a night!

I can't believe how allergic to Texas I was this week! And that's coming from a Tennessee girl!!! (The Tennessean's understand to what I am referring) But almost as soon as we crossed the state line... my eyes started to clear up. Whew. Something in the water or the pollen did NOT like me there. And it makes me sad because I love Texas. It won't stop me from going back.... Probably the fact that we did 6 outdoor shows didn't help the whole "pollen" thing. But yeah, that was crazy.

You know something that is funny? We sold less merchandise (cd's t-shirts, posters, etc..) in all 7 shows than we sold at almost every single show the last few weeks. It's not something I am upset about - just an observation. As an artist - the cd's and t-shirts we sell are our lifeline. So naturally, it is something we pay attention to. The enthusiasm of the audiences weren't down a bit. And I signed just as many or more t-shirts, cups, and scraps of paper this week than I usually do. But not nearly as much was purchased. It's so intriguing how things like that can be drastically different from show to show. But that's the fun of it :) If it were easy, everyone would do it!

Time sure is flying. I can't believe we only have 2 weeks left on this tour. It seems like it was just yesterday that we were putting the Tour posters together and gearing up for Winter driving! Now we're all sunburnt and the suburban is back to full on AC mode.

It sure is fun to look at this tour poster and think about where all we've been and how far we've traveled together!


Hope everyone is having a happy Monday! See you somewhere on the road.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

The RATHSKELLER!!!!!

The Rathskeller is THE BEST BAR in INDIANAPOLIS!!!! If you live anywhere close to Indianapolis and you have never been - YOU NEED TO GO NOW!!! Seriously. RUN! I'll time you :)

The Rathskeller is just so cool. And the food. Oh the food... Don't get me started - I'll get all hungry again. Though I don't know how I'll EVER be hungry again after how well they fed us tonight.

Dan, the owner aka Dan THE Man... of awesomeness.... is one of the coolest guys in the world. It's not often we get to really talk to and hang out with the owner of the clubs we play in. The managers? Yes. The owners? No way! They usually aren't there! But Dan is.

When I walked in today, Dan pointed at me and said, "Tortilla Soup, right???" (Somebody's been reading the blog!!! YEHYAH!!!) I said "Ummm, yes please!!!" He said "I have some you'll LOVE. It's Shrimp Tortilla Soup"
Ok, I've put hamburger and ground turkey in mine - NEVER thought to put shrimp in. MMM. mmm. MMM!! It was so good. REALLY spicy. Just how I like it! Man, I wish I had another bowl right now.

Dan the Man (who you can see in Tour Diary #2 from the first time we played at the Rathskeller)


And then Dan's wife and her 2 best friends came back. This is a really cute story. Leslie and Jackie - the 2 beautiful ladies on the left side - came to our very first show at the Rathskeller. They met for the first time that evening. They have been best friends ever since!!! They even just went to Cabo San Lucas together! Isn't that cool? Peace, Love, Fiddle - bringing people TOGETHER!



Ok. Now for THE BEST SURPRISE I've had in a LOOOOOOONG time. (I LOVE LOVE LOVE surprises) MAMMA and DADDY came!!! They are so sneaky! I had NO idea - not even a hunch they were coming! They drove all the way from Nashville just to surprise us and watch the show. It was so exciting to have them there and share the night with them. We have so much catching up to do ALWAYS. But I won't have to catch them up on THIS show! They got to witness all the craziness firsthand! And Dan. My Goodness. He gave them the star treatment! Every time I looked up they were wisked off to meet more cool people! (And Daddy was VERY happy with eating dinner here!)


We were gonna try to stay at the same hotel, but it ended up taking us a while to get packed up at the end of the night. Plus, we were going in different directions. Plus, good ole Jeeves... trying to take us on state roads even though there was an interstate RIGHT NEXT TO US. We keep ending up having to navigate with our iphones. Dangit Jeeves! Get it together!

Karen and Pat.
Ok. These two are such wonderful people. The last time we played the Rathskeller, they came and brought me a present. Karen had made me Peace, Love, Fiddle earrings!!! How cool is that? This time... they brought a HUGE group of people with them AND they made me another design of Peace, Love, Fiddle earrings!!!! Goodness. I love them.
James was there to document the whole thing!
Me unwrapping the earrings (Did I mention that I also LOVE to unwrap things? Cds... Dvds... wrapped boxes... they don't even have to have anything in them. It is just fun to unwrap!! Seriously.)


Me showing off the earrings:


Me thinking that Karen made them again:


Me finding out that Pat drilled holes in them - so he made them too!!!


And then tonight I took a picture of BOTH pairs of earrings so you could see how adorable they are!!! The first pair is on the left and tonight's is on the right:


And the whole group they brought with them!!! How AWESOME are they!?!?



There were a few celebrities in the room tonight as well :) Along with Karen and Pat's group was their niece, Sarah Fisher - a professional Indy Car Race Driver. She's the on the right.
In 2000, Fisher became the third woman to compete in the Indianapolis 500. She went on to become the first female to earn a pole position and is the fastest woman to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 with a four-lap average of 229.439 mph. I looked it up! I mean.... I knew that off the top of my head :-)~


And then all of a sudden, all these guys with these gargantuan Super Bowl Rings seemed to appear out of nowhere! I am not sure about all of them, but I know one of the guys said he a Doctor for the team!


I didn't want to be left out, so I stuck my ring in there, too. And I thought MY ring was big.


Happy Birthday Lawana!


Jill's sons were at the venue across the street watching Mudvayne. So she came over to the country concert! She ended up staying the whole night!


The show was really fun. We hadn't played a bar set in a LONG time it felt like. So far on this leg of the trip, it has just been Colleges. We ROCKED IT OUT tonight. Once Pat and Karen took the dance floor - the rest of the crowd followed their lead, and they all stayed out and danced for the rest of the night. It was so fun!!!

Next time we go back to the Rathskeller is July 11. We'll be back out at the Bier Garden in the beautiful warm weather!!! But I will definitely remind everyone when we are going back! Thank you for everything Dan!!

Peace, Love, Fiddle,
~natalie

I Think I Won The Lottery!

Ruth Collins and I wrote a song called "Lottery". I love this song!!! It is so cute and Ruth sounds amazing singing it. This is the song I mentioned that I tried to record us doing acoustic for you guys, but umm.... my computer protested and wouldn't let me have sound added in with the video.

But the good and very exciting news is that Ruthie just recorded it and has a rough mix up on her myspace page! She also did a really cute little video blog about it and us writing it. :)

You should go listen and let me know what you think!

Click HERE to listen to "Lottery"!!!

Peace, Love, Fiddle!

Peace, Love, and Ice Cream

Everyone that we talked to this weekend calls Stowe "The Aspen of the Northeast".

It is the home of Ben And Jerry's. And it is also home of the Trapp Family Lodge... as in the "Sound of Music".

We went to the Ben and Jerry's factory to take a tour, but it was going to be 45 minutes before the next tour AND they weren't making ice cream today. Plus, we'll have a bit more time when we come back to Stowe in March. In a 22 hour drive - we just don't have 45 minutes to sit around and wait! But our next trip up there.... we are going to do the tour (it looks like it will be AWESOME). And I hope to make it to at least go skiing one day while we are there, too. More on all this later. Now, it is bed time. :) We're somewhere a little past Rochester New York.

I was pretty excited about the "Peace, Love, Ice Cream" sign. So much that I bought a shirt!



~natalie

Boooed off the stage :(

Yep, after years of playing "Devil Went Down To Georgia" I attempted it for my debut on guitar hero.... Boooed off the stage before I could even get to the heart of the song. So sad.

Fate

My fate is that way. Apparently, it is a little under construction.

SPINNAKER!!!!

There's usually quite a bit of military at our shows at Spinnaker. This time there were a whole bunch of Navy Divers. The first night they were all there celebrating Wally's Bachelor party. All the guys were dressed in Captain's hats, sports coats, shorts, and some had pipes :) They were quite a sight and you just knew there was a story behind it. At first I thought it was a fraternity rushing.... but no, it was "Walter's Bachelor Party" :) They had rules written on his shirt that he had to accomplish for the night. They were all dancing and partying in front of the stage, and on my set break, they asked if I would make up a rule for him. :)



Rule: pick up a fiddle player.



And check.

The next set, they kept putting this water bottle up on my monitor and then taking pictures of me with it.... I was pretty confused, but then they told me that it was the water bottle for their "Class". They are supposed to take pics of all the random places they take it and at the end of their training, they'll do a big montage of the places it's been.



Here's the whole crew, in all their glory - including the one really cute girl that is also a navy diver:




The next night they actually had an auction with all the guys and 1 gal to raise money for gear for dive school. It was hilarious. I don't know that I have ever seen men be auctioned off before, but as you can imagine.... the ladies were going crazy at the club. One of the bar tenders wanted to bid, but she couldn't since she was working... So she gave me money and I went and bid for her!!! :) 

I'm not gonna lie. It was pretty fun.

Goodness, it was such a fun weekend. This couple came that had seen us about a year ago at Spinnaker - Billy Ray aka "Biggun" and Tonya - came back and Billy Ray bought a XXL Peace Love Fiddle shirt. That boy immediately put it on and was showing off all night. He was really proud of it - and so was I!!!!!



Spinnaker is always a good time. How could it not be with all this craziness??? Funny thing is - this is about par for our shows there. It is ALWAYS wild. There were a few bachelorette parties, and even a wedding reception - the bride and groom got up on stage and danced while we played "Let's Get It On". 

But seriously? I just love any place where on my set break, I get to go get a breath of fresh air by letting the waves of the ocean wash over my toes. Yeah. That's awesome....