Guerrilla Marketing

The drive to our show today was SCARY. REALLY SCARY.

Jeeves decided that it was a good idea to take us on a little tiny dirt road. It wasn't even a gravel road. It was a muddy, winding, narrow HORSE TRAIL. Seriously. It felt more like a horse trail than a road. And we were scared. James was so stressed out, I think everyone was scared to talk to him. But we went around one curve, and he thought it *might* be just wide enough to turn around.

THANK GOODNESS IT WAS!!!! Miguel jumped out and helped us turn around, Tim found the best route according to google maps on his phone, James drove and maneuvered like a champion, and I held on for dear life.

Jeeves, our GPS, had good intentions. I am sure according to a map... it was the shorter route... but ummm NOT cool, Jeeves. NOT cool.

The show, however? WELL worth the 20 hour drive! The students in charge of the show asked me if I would go through the dorm rooms with them and try to drum up some more excitement for the show. I've never felt more like a moving billboard. :) The guys walked through the hallways, BANGED on the doors, asked guys if they were coming to the show, and then pointed at me :) It was funny.

Whatever the reason... the free food.... the fact that they put my picture on all the napkin dispensers in the cafeteria... our guerrilla style marketing.... I don't care what it was! It worked!! The show was AWESOME. They were up and clapping and dancing at the front of the stage from EARLY on in the set. And it felt like old times at Sam Hill's when they started asking for "Sweet Child of Mine" Plus, after the show, one of the guys really wanted to hear "Amazing Grace" on the fiddle. So we had an "after concert" :) I played Amazing Grace as students gathered around, and then they asked for an Irish Jig. I don't think I have played the "Irish Washerwoman" since St. Patrick's Day my freshman year of high school. But it was revisited tonight!

The river next to the school is a popular white water rafting area. It was BEAUTIFUL. This is where we stopped to get gas on the way... just sayin...


YAY!!! I <3 WVU Tech!


The Jamaicans at WVU Tech


Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

APCA Houston, Rockstar Babies, and Crazy Dreams

We're in a very stinky Comfort Inn somewhere in Mississippi. But I am so tired... I don't even care. Maybe it will inspire some crazy dreams. The other night I had a dream that Hootie and Justin were going on tour in Thailand with some music they had written together....

Congratulations to Charlie and Amy Hutto!!!!! There's a new rockstar baby in the world today - Jackson Chad Hutto. Charlie is a good friend, one of my favorite co-writers, and has been a band member throughout the years as well. Yay!!!

We played our final College Booking Conference of the year today. That's hard to believe. But next year is filling up like crazy. And it's gonna be SUCH a good year.

I love APCA and NACA because I meet SO many new people, hang with tons of cool performers, and see lots of old friends, too! There were 9 kids from UT Tyler which I just played on Tuesday - and their table was right up front during my showcase. So I had lots of friends in my corner yelling for us before they even introduced us! :) That makes such a big difference!!!

This is the lead singer of Fly Gypsy (a hip hop/ rock/ reggae band) and a beautiful poet who were both in my showcase.


AND Street Drum Corps!!!!


It was funny because it was Tim's first showcase with us. We have done so many this year, but he hasn't been with us on any of them yet. :) And he almost ended it with a splash!!! He was dangling off the edge of the stage on the last note and almost ended up in the monitor console! But whew, he got back on balance just in time.

Our next show is in West Virginia so we went ahead and got a few hours under our belt as soon as we finished up with the showcase. Tomorrow... we get to drive ALLLLLL day. :) Life on the road!

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