I Bought A FIDDLE!

Tonight made me feel like all this hard work we've been putting in is WORKING.

It wasn't that anything was extra special about the night. But we've never played in Raleigh, before. Ever. Yet we had a HUGE crowd at the show, and I had lots of people say that they googled me before they came to see what my music was like. And they must have liked what they saw online because they came!!!

It's just amazing. It's usually pretty tough to get people out when we play in a new city... understandably. I hope we get to come back. Because it was awesome.

My friend, Natalie, came out! She went to Berklee, too :) We both lived on the 4th floor of the dorms our first year at school - only 3 rooms of girls on the whole floor out of 50 rooms. And there were TWO Natalie's :)


Guess what else?

I BOUGHT A FIDDLE TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The best electric fiddle shop in the country is located in Durham, NC! Seriously. I've been waiting to go for over a year. You'd think, Nashville, right? And in Nashville there's The Violin Shop which is the best in the world for acoustic violins. But I have been wanting to try a bunch of different lines of fiddles for a while, now. And FINALLY today, and the Electric Violin Shop I got to try everything I have been wanting to play! YAY! And I actually bought one! I ordered a custom violin from Mark Wood a couple months ago, so I'm waiting on that one to come in, too. But today I bought a beautiful black Skyinbow. I loved the sound. And honestly, it is the only one I would have walked out of there with. I am very picky about the electric's still LOOKING like a fiddle. I don't like the cut away designs. I really want it to LOOK like a fiddle. It's VERY different from what I am used to. But I am pumped about working with it and my sparkle white Mark Wood Sabre that is coming in!

Wild Wings was WILD!!!

We're back in TENNESSEE!!!!!!!!!

We've had some good Wild Wings shows over the last year, but this one topped them ALL. The one in Knoxville is great to begin with. The stage is really nice and the room is very open with lots of good partying room :) Plus there is a huge deck with a little pond outside, so it is a beautiful place.

Tonight? STANDING ROOM ONLY. It was amazing. And we had TONS of groups that came out. We had a BLAST on stage tonight and really let loose. Miguel freakin played with his TEETH tonight!!! I have only seen him do that a few times, but he did it the longest I have ever seen him do it tonight. He broke a string during Sweet Child of Mine and had to play the ENTIRE solo with a broken string and would you have ever known if you hadn't seen the string flopping around? NOPE. He didn't miss a beat. He's a monster.

I walked right past some friends the first time I took a load in to set on the stage. I didn't even notice them at the table. Well, a few minutes later - I saw some of THEIR friends walking in the door. Kenny and Debbie Green drove ALL the way up from Columbia to come to the show tonight. And they were all decked out in their Peace, Love, Fiddle gear. Their friends (who have made it out to Sam Hill's on many an occasion) brought their daughter and son-in-law. Plus, Jennifer (Miguel's wife) came up, and she brought our friend John Anderlie. (Who coincidently used to work with Debbie and knows Kenny and Debbie quite well!)



After I saw this crew, I noticed a whole table of people from the Christmas party we played in December. And ummm... then I saw another table of people from the party.... and then another....
Here's Leslie and some of her peeps :)


When the guys, Jenn, and I sat down to dinner... I saw a couple that looked very familiar waaaaay across the room. At first I wasn't 100% sure because I thought, "What are they doing in Knoxville?" But then I saw them looking at me, too. We waved across the room and it WAS them!!!! It's Keith and Susan from my church at home! FUMC unites in Knowxville :) (They stayed until the very last note!) AND they brought friends.


Ok. Now it just seemed to get crazy. This place is 4 hours from my home town, but it was starting to feel like Columbia just because there were so many familiar faces!

The next person I saw was Caroline Marsh from BGA. We went to high school together, and I have not seen her since I graduated. She is in School in Knoxville, and this was her very sweet fiance Luke.


This group of people saw us in Panama City Beach last August, and then came here tonight, AND said they are coming back to PCB in August this year! YAY!!!


And THEN I saw Dave Evans. He had brought 3 whole tables of people, too!!! We played the music festival that he is in charge of this last summer - the Little Tennessee River Music festival in Vonore, Tn.


DJ Stan Duh Man is literally THE MAN!!! He wore his peace, love, fiddle t-shirt, he even sported a cowboy hat for me, AND not only did he play before between and after the sets - he scratched records during "Play That Funky Music" which was SOO fun!!! I have never had a dj sit in on a show before!


And this will probably go down as one of my favorite band pics of all time.


But now it is 6:30am so I should probably work on that whole sleeping thing. It's now officially Spring Break for me this week. We have a few days off, and I will finally get a chance to get some good writing done.

Greenville, South Carolina

This morning I spoke on a panel at APCA called "Rolling Out the Red Carpet." Boyd Jones from Winthrop University (and Columbia TN!!!) put this Ed Session together for the students. There were a couple of agents, a couple of artists, and then a poet, and a speaker.

The students were given a chance to ask questions, and we all just had a general discussion about the details that go into making the best show possible - for the schools, the agents, and the artists. :) It was a great panel, and it was fun to be a part of.

After that, I went to the co-op to see what that was like. Co-op is where the schools who are already interested in booking an artist have the chance to block book and work with other schools (which makes it cheaper). If 5 to 7 schools in a row book us all within driving distance of one another, then of course the price comes down.

When they announced my name, it felt a bit like being auctioned off :) I mean, it was AWESOME, but it was really strange to be sitting in the back of the room, with my little hat on, looking all incognito... and watching schools fight over dates and yelling across the room to work with each other. It looked like a bunch of commodities brokers! Absolute chaos. But it is an incredible feeling to know that we'll have work for at least the rest of the year. And we've already gotten booked for 4th of July in 2010, plus other dates in 2010. Wow. :)

James and I went back to the hotel, picked up the guys, and then we headed to Bosphorus. That is the Cymbal company that James endorses. Their main office is in Kennesaw Georgia, just north of Atlanta, so James always tries to stop in when we are close. Plus, it means he gets to try out a bunch of new cymbals :) He bought some hit-hats and a crash cymbal, which he played tonight! James was a happy boy.

So then we headed out to Greenville, South Carolina. We played at Wild Wing Cafe there tonight. We played there almost a year ago, so it has been a while since we have been back! Greenville has the cutest and most adorable downtown. I LOVE it. But we have never had enough time to explore. This is one of those places I would love to come back to when I can really spend some time. They had an outdoor concert going on (which was happening last year, too). And there are tons of cute little shops and restaurants with outdoor patios.

The show was awesome. This is one of my favorite Wild Wings we play. Load in is the hardest - it is an old building with... no elevator.... and we play on the second floor. Loading our entire trailer up stairs is never fun, but these strong boys can handle it :) Clemson was playing when we got there, and they had the game showing on 2 huge screens on stage. We wouldn't DARE get in the way of the screens, so we just waited until the game was over to actually set up on stage. The game was SOOO close.... but Clemson lost :( It was sad. The place was packed and they all just looked demoralized. So we lost a whole lot of the crowd before we even started... they all were slowly filtering out with their tails tucked between their legs... not really in the mood to hang out.

But those that stayed? And then those that came in and filled the place back up? QUALITY audience!!! They were so much fun. Everyone was dancing and singing and I remember seeing a lot of hilarious stuff happening from stage. :)

When I first walked in, my friend JEFRE T! (That's his myspace handle) was already there, and he had brought a CROWD! He was at the show last year, and he brought his wife and tons of friends to the show tonight!


This guy was at our show in Cape Carteret - at the The Dive last year. (We were the last band to play there before they had to shut their doors. Sad) But he told me the coolest story. He said he had brought (I think it was) his niece to the show at the Dive. She played the violin when she was growing up, but hadn't played in years. He said after they came to my show, she has been playing ever since. How cool is that!?!?! That makes me so happy to hear.


Howard The Disco Cowboy!!!! Howard won that buckle in a dance contest believe it or not! He is one of the most fun people to watch dance. I don't know how he does some of the stuff he can do. It is impressive! He used to line dance at the Wildhorse on TNN when that station was still around. And he also ballroom dances - his parter is from South America. Yay Howard! We love you!


Cowboy Hoot! When Hootie sang Hank Jr. - Howard couldn't resist giving his hat to Hoot!


Dana (on the right) was at the show last year, too! He and his friend had me sign a poster last year for another bar in town. He said it is still up in that venue - I've never played there, I just signed a poster for them :) And then someone else later in the evening was telling me how he had seen my poster in this other place and got excited!


These guys both came up on stage to take advantage of their free hugs :) One hugged me, the other hugged Hootie!


This guy was so much fun to watch. He was cuttin a rug out on the dance floor! It was AWESOME!


So yeah, we had a great night in Greenville. It may have been a Thursday, and Clemson may have lost, but that didn't stop these Greenvillians! They still partied just as hard or even harder!

You wanna know something awesome? We have a late check-out tomorrow. :)

Peace. Love. Fiddle.

Hilton Head

They're just using me for my body....

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!

I hope everyone had a very safe and awesome halloween!!!! We had a blast in Asheville, NC at Wild Wing Cafe. They were having a HUGE costume contest, so it was EXTREMELY entertaining for us from stage!!! I was Pippi Longstocking, Hootie was "Emo Joe", Miguel was The Crow. and James was ummm... something. The sound guy asked if James was dressed up as me. cause I usually wear a red feather boa. :)-



Hootie reminded me of Todd in "Wedding Crashers" One of my favorite characters EVER.

Slash was put to shame with Miguel's playing on "Sweet Child" :)-



Ghost Busters won the costume contest!!!!!!



This guy actually takes care of us - that was NOT a costume! Security had their hands full!!!



KISS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Cousin IT!!!!!!!!! I felt soooo bad because the end of my pigtail (actually, the coat hanger that I braided it around) got stuck in her hair and ripped her glasses off.... took us a while to get untangled, but we eventually did!



Ummm.... this guy?



Yeah. SO it was awesome!!! I have more pics, but that is all I can handle right now.... I am falling asleep at my computer - we're playing in Knoxville tomorrow night. I better get some good rest so we can get up and do it all over again!!!

night night

Boyd, Big Byrd, and Train Ridin'

So I am a little late on this.... but I have to go back to our show in Columbia, SC at Wild Wing Cafe.

1st of all.... one of my favorite people in the entire world showed up to surprise me! BOYD!!!!!!! He ad I met at NACA a little over a year ago, and we discovered we are both from Columbia, TN - Mule Town USA!!!! We grew up 2 streets away from each other and his Daddy was always the BEST host of the Liars Contest :) That is a tradition from Mule Day - one of the most fun events of the weekend.




The show was AWESOME. The "Ruth" party :) brought about 15 of the most fun people!
It was Big Byrd's birthday. :)
What is it with these unbelievably tall people at the shows lately? I mean, I know I am a shorty, but seriously?




The night ended with a conga line to "Come On Ride The Train" - I never noticed how LONG that song is!!!! I was one tired girl at the end of the night!