My First Negative Press :)

I've always hoped that someday my career would reach a point where I would be successful enough to start gathering negative press... It's an odd sign of success, but a sign none the less. And although I am definitely not "there" yet, I guess I can take this morning as a sign that I'm headed in the right direction. ; )

I've always tried to imagine what it would feel like so I could work on being mentally prepared... but I guess you really never know how you're gonna handle it until it happens. Well this morning, I got my first taste and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.

It's actually pretty funny because this entire opinion about me seems to be drawn from a song that I haven't played in a couple of years... And my myspace bio, I guess... But hey! This is small potatoes.

I can only hope that I will be successful enough to have much worse things written about me in time. And although I'm sure it will never be fun, I'm glad I was able to wake up and smile a little this morning. It's what my friend Ben's dad likes to call Cadillac problems... ; )

You can go to the website here:
http://www.clevescene.com

In case you have trouble with the link, here's what it says:

3/20: Natalie Stovall at Brothers Lounge

Twentysomething country singer Natalie Stovall admits she’s a “Silly Kid” in one of her songs. That’s a fitting summation. Stovall has a powerhouse voice, but her childish material (“Silly Kid” is punctuated with a series of annoying “nah, nah, nahs”) makes Taylor Swift sound all grown-up. Stovall peppers her MySpace site with many trivial biographical details (her favorite flower is the gerbera daisy, her middle name is Patricia, she got her first gig when she was 10, etc.), designed to appeal more to tweens than adults. Still, Stovall has performed at a White House dinner, opened for Gretchen Wilson and has been selling out dates on her current tour, which stops at Brothers Lounge (11609 Detroit Ave., 216.226.2767) at 9:30 tonight. Tickets: $5 advance, $7 day of show. — Jeff Niesel



The show is 3.20 and will be our first time in Cleveland! Now we just have to go do our best to prove him wrong! : )

Too bad it's a bar and all my tweens won't be able to get in... ;)


Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Metro Spirit Article

Metro Spirit Article:

On the road
Natalie Stovall may not be a household name, but that may all change soon enough for this all-American girl

BY ALICE WYNN

AUGUSTA, GA – One wouldn’t think that winning the title of Silliest Kid in America would lead to bigger and better things. But for Natalie Stovall, that’s exactly what happened. Of course, she was no stranger to the stage.

“I started playing the violin when I was four and, when I was about 10, I auditioned for the Opryland Kids Club, which was a show out at the Opryland theme park, and I played my fiddle for them and they were like, ‘That’s great honey, but you have to sing in this show,’ and I sang ‘Happy Birthday’ for them and I got the job,” she said from the road en route to Pennsylvania.

Winning the Silliest Kid title, which she won by doing a “crazy ventriloquist baby crying thing that I had learned backstage at the Opryland show,” led to an appearance on Oprah, followed by other talk shows and radio spots, which prepared her for the road ahead.

“It was a really incredible experience to get as a child performer and only helped develop me and get me ready for doing it all the time now.”



During her second year at the Berklee College of Music, Stovall formed a band that would move to Nashville during the summer, staying at her parents’ house while touring around Tennessee. After graduation, Stovall and her drummer James, who last year became her husband, moved to Nashville and found some musicians to tour with. They have been at it ever since, and have spent the better part of the past two years on the road.

“It’s part of making it happen for myself as an independent artist,” she explained. “I don’t have any record label or anybody writing the checks for me, so I gotta go out and do it myself. It can be very hard and it can be very stressful, but it’s been pretty amazing to watch. I write a blog every day and the traffic keeps coming from doing it and really being on the road, and that’s what’s rewarding about it.”

A country girl at heart, Stovall cites Keith Urban, Shania Twain and Garth Brooks as some of her favorites.

“I always really love to watch the people that put on really amazing live shows,” she said.

“That’s kind of where I get going is watching people that really put a lot of time and energy into their live material. That’s where I draw a lot of inspiration from.”

Her shows, although rooted in country, mix things up a bit, with covers such as Prince’s “Purple Rain” and Guns n’ Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine.” And because she plays the fiddle, Charlie Daniels’ “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” is a given. In fact, she included the song on her upcoming EP, “Standing My Ground.”

“We put it on the record to give everybody a little something from our live show,” she said.

For her first record, “Late Night Conversations” released in 2006, she wrote all of the material. But the new record enlisted the help of co-writers, including Taylor Swift producer Nathan Chapman.

“It was a totally different venture for me, but the more that I started co-writing, the more I really, really liked that environment for writing because it allowed me to kind of take these ideas I always had and bounce them off someone else,” she said. “It was just fun because it gives a different perspective for the new record and I’m just really excited to release it.”

Natalie Stovall
The Country Club
Saturday, October 3
Doors, 7 p.m.; music, 9:30 p.m.
$5, guys; $3, girls
myspace.com/nataliestovall
augustacountry.com

Washburn University

What a DAY!!!

Today started EARLY for a bunch 'o musicians who are usually up until 4am or later! :) But it was AWESOME. I got up and went to 94.5 WIBW this morning to chat and sing with Walker Daniels. We chatted, I think they were VERY surprised about the REASON I was on Oprah :), they played one of my songs on air, and then Miguel and I played "Standing My Ground" acoustic on air. It was so fun.




That's Rusty Walker on the left and Jim Daniels on the right.


They were such great people. It is SO fun to do an interview when it doesn't feel like you're being "interviewed" :) It really just felt like we were having a conversation. And before we even got back to the hotel room, Walker Daniels had already facebooked me, posted a video, and become a "fan"!

To see the a little clip Rusty Walker posted from the studio, click here.


We got back to the hotel, we all worked a bit and even napped for a few minutes and then we met Brian (THE MAN!) for lunch. Brian was our contact with the school, he's the one that set up the radio and tv spots for us, was there all day with us, AND was there ALL night helping out. (Plus, I think he had a trillion meetings in between helping us out all day) Brian is a Champion and we love him!!! But don't make him mad when he has a lighting pole in his hands... the boy sure can whack a head with one! I think I am still seeing stars... I don't even want to know what it would feel like if it was intentional ; )-


After lunch and hanging out with Brian for a little bit, we ran some errands before we had to go to the tv studio. Whew! We were playing FULL band on a local news show. It's pretty intense to set up a full band for tv... especially when you have time restraints. It was a bit tricky because there really wasn't a great way to get our sound to them. But we got something figured out with their sound guy and everything worked out great. It was a quick segment, so we talked for just a bit, and then we got RIGHT to the song. We played "Standing My Ground" and I felt pretty good about the performance.


As soon as we got packed up it was time to head to the school and start setting up there! So we were off once again!

I was REALLY excited. Not only did a whole bunch of students come, but some non-students came as well! This is Jeff and Trina. They are huge Scott Holt fans. Scott is an incredible Blues artist from Columbia, Tn - my hometown! They saw Scott a few years ago and have been going to his shows ever since. They drove all the way from Topeka to Columbia to the annual Christmas Benefit show that Scott and I do together. So they ended up seeing us play with Scott this last Christmas. And then they came to OUR show tonight! How cool, right? And notice that Jeff has on his official Natalie Stovall/Scott Holt t-shirt!!! YAY!




Caleb came up to me after the show and told me that "Angel" meant a lot to him. His grandmother passed away last week, and he told me it felt like I was singing about her. He said she was a lot like my Granny and was always supporting him to follow his dreams in life. When he started taking piano lessons, she BOUGHT him a piano. How amazing is that? So I was very touched by Caleb and his grandmother's story.


These girls were all visiting from Japan!!! They are here for 3 weeks. They were SOOOO sweet. We took tons of pictures, but I HAD to get one with the whole group. They were just adorable.


This boy was right up front - he was rappin with Hootie, shouting and hollerin all night, and he even did quite the hoe-down during the last song. :) He had em ALL goin in the front!


And this is Joshua. He was there with Brian when we pulled up to Washburn and helped us load gear before and after the show. AND he took pictures for me because I couldn't find my camera (I was panicked! But I found it later in my coat pocket.... NEVER put it there.... weird) SO I have to thank Joshua for sending me all of these pics tonight so I could do a complete blog!!!



So I have been up almost 24hrs now. I am pretty stoked about sleeping tonight. Pretty ready to get in bed. See y'all tomorrow!

Peace, Love, Fiddle,
~natalie