Potato Skins Are Just The Carriers

"The way I see it.... potato skins are just the carriers for the cheese and bacon. The same way that the vocal is just the carrier for the fiddle."

Ben Strano (friend, engineer, co-producer aka The Sonic Fedora) upon discussing the vocals for "Devil Went Down To Georgia".

Turns out there's a BIG difference in singing this one on stage and in the studio. I think we were all a bit aware that this would be the case. I'm pretty animated when I sing this song live. It's hard not to be. It is such a fun and energetic song. But again. Recording is a microscope. And if I tried to sing this on the record as hard and excited as I sing it live? Well, it would sound almost cartoon-like... theatrical, if you will. And even though it is a song about a fiddle contest between the devil and a good-ole Georgia boy.... the song is cool as well... (sorry but I gotta...) hell. (You know, Devil... Hell... I'm a dork!)

I've always noticed that rappers do that... everything is way more hyped live because it is harder to get energy across when you are speaking. Never knew I'd be drawing inspiration from Jay-Z or 50 Cent in the studio. Just call me a Southern Ghetto-Fabulous Belle.

The other thing that is so different about the studio... NOTHING sounds like it will once it is mixed. When Ben is done EQ-ing and compressing my voice and mixing the track... it will sound sound a million times better than it does as we listen back right now. And the EQ-ing automatically makes it sound like it has more energy. We were talking about this... And the way I described it to him was... it's like the different between a matte black and a really sharp, rich, glossy black. (I was thinking in color because one of the photo set-ups yesterday was in front of a matte black wall) Ben's mix will take my voice, put it right in your face and it will go from the flat, matte black to a beautiful rich glossy black.

If I've lost you in all this talk between mixes and potatoe skins and matte or glossy finish, I apologize. But you probably know me by now if you are reading this, and you know it is 4am :)

Miguel and Ella get home from Chile tomorrow morning!!! They are probably in our hemisphere by now :)

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
Southern Ghetto Fabulous Nat

Janesville Performing Arts Center & The Cutting Board

Y'all. I walked into the hotel room and this is what I saw:



Because we ALL need a cutting board attached to our bathroom counters....

After I noticed the cutting board, I then realized I had just seen a lady walking down the hall with a giant block of cheese. These people in Wisconsin are SERIOUS about their cheese! There's no microwave or refrigerator in the room, but there's definitely a cutting board. Guess that's just how they roll up here.

Tonight we played in Janesville Wisconsin at the Janesville Performing Arts Center. It is a really beautiful auditorium!!! The first thing I noticed in our dressing room was that they had put Gerbera Daisies in there with my name on them!! :)


And then they brought in the longest sandwiches EVER. I just figured it out.... if we had laid our 4 sandwiches end to end.... they would have been half a foot taller than me.... WHOA. That's a LOT of sandwich.


Have I mentioned how much I love Hootie? Cause I do. What's not to love about that guy? Look at him! :)

There were SO many people responsible for putting on the show tonight! It never ceases to amaze me how many people it takes to put on a great event. And everyone at JPAC went way above and beyond the call of duty to help us out. This was the main group of people we worked with tonight. Between escorting us to and from stage, working our merchandise table, making sure we were fed, and working the ticket office... yeah... they rule.


And this is the group from Lamar - who were sponsoring the show tonight!! They were a HUGE reason this show was possible. Thank you!


SUE!!!!!!!!! We got to know Sue a little over a month ago in Peoria when we played one of her events for BASF. I had no idea she lived up here. She lives 2 hours away, but her hometown is right down the road from Janesville. She brought her whole family with her, and it was so great to meet them! It was a GREAT surprise. :)


Her youngest, Lane, was all tuckered out at the end of the night, though! This is how we found him after I had finished up talking with everyone after the show. CLASSIC!


Aunt Carol came all the way from Iowa to see the show tonight! And she brought her friend Eileen! I could barely see past the first row because the stage lights were so bright. But I could see their Peace Love Fiddle t-shirts in the 3rd row, so I knew where they were :)


Lots of kids came out tonight - which ALWAYS makes me happy :) Here's just a few of the beautiful girls I had the honor of meeting.


I loved this guy's purple sweater. :) It is a GREAT color. That lead us to talk about how much we love the color purple... and then they gave me a purple sharpie. YES! It's one of the adorable key-chain ones. He is one of the board members responsible for bringing us to Janesville. ; )-



Tonight was a really great show. I felt very much at ease with this audience and took my time. I was able to talk with them a lot between songs.Vocally, I had to work a lot harder than I have in a long time. I am SO glad that is the exception and not the rule these days. My voice is still a bit worn from singing in smoke a couple of nights ago. It's not a big deal. But I almost forgot how hard it used to be... not all that long ago... when we played a LOT more often in bars with smoke. I wish it didn't affect me so dramatically... definitely makes me feel a bit like a drama queen. But also the fact that we play less of the 4 hour shows and more of the 1-2 hour shows makes a huge difference as well. I've gotten quite spoiled this year with our shows! I'm not gonna question it though - just gonna keep counting my blessings!!!

Speaking of.... we have a few days off!!! It's so weird. We don't play again until Thursday in Massachusetts. :) We'll start heading that way tomorrow, but there won't be any need to rush. :) I have plenty to keep me busy though - I've got about 20 different songs running through my head that I need to finish and I plan on working a bit on those in the next few days.... and sleeping in... and maybe catching a movie... (Hootie is DYING to see Watchmen) But send some good songwriting vibes my way if you got em! :)

Peace, love, fiddle,
~nat