Fiddlin Around

Tonight I started practicing for the new songs that we're adding to the sets. WHEW!!!! My fingers haven't been this sore from fiddlin in a while.

It's fun because my new fiddle takes a bit of getting used to with that extra 5th string. I've never had a 5th string before! But it means ALL the strings are closer together, so I have to work on keeping my playing clean even more than I normally do. (a constant struggle anyway)

I always like to learn the solos on the record first and then I can make them my own, once I can play the original. It's a really good way to build chops... which I can always use more of! But man! The "Callin On Baton Rouge" solo is not as easy as it sounds! It's trickier than I thought it would be. All the notes are so close together and quick, and now I am determined to learn the original. I can ply anything I can sing. That's my rule - if I can sing it... then that means I can hear it in my head... therefore I can figure it out on fiddle. But it took me a while! I can play it now. I just don't have it perfect, yet. But tomorrow it will be so much better. (I think... eh em, let's hope)

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

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!

Time Will Do The Talking

Time is such a beautiful healer. I've been on a Patty Griffin kick lately... and one of my favorite songs "Time Will Do The Talking" was bringing me back to something I was JUST pondering a few days ago.

It's amazing how we can go through relationships or events in our lives and feel like there's NO WAY we can ever get over something. And there are times that YEARS go by and we still suffer with the pain of a specific event or relationship. But it is easy to forget to TRULY have faith in the healing power of "time". Eventually, those feelings start to wear down and they don't hurt as badly.

I think back to things that went on in college that consumed my whole life. Relationships with people that I felt like I would NEVER stop crying over... or stop stressing out about. And now? I can't even remember details about some of those crazy times. The biggest thing I remember? How stressed out or upset I was. The way I felt is a memory that doesn't fade. But many of the things that made me feel that way... can't remember a dang thing about it.

I say all of this being in an incredibly happy place in life. But I think it is important to acknowledge these things as they pop up in our brains. There was a long time that people would say "give it time". And though I had faith... it is a lot harder to believe in something when you have yet to truly experience it. Now that I have? I want to make sure I remember this feeling RIGHT NOW of knowing that "time" has healed so many wounds.

It is important to me to really FEEL an emotion. Sometimes I just need a good cry. And sometimes I really don't want to wipe the tears away.... I want to feel them roll all the way down my cheek and drop off my face and splash down on my knee. I want to wallow a bit in the emotion so that I can get it out of my system. I am generally a happy person so when I am upset... I just need to be upset. And then, I am completely free to start focusing on the things that I DO want, rather than the things that have caused me pain. Cause that's what it is all about. It is a lot easier to get stuck in a rut of negativity than it is to focus on the positives. ESPECIALLY when everything in life isn't necessarily falling into place. But the more we focus on what we DO want - pray for it, meditate on it, visualize it - the more those things start to come into being. I've seen this first hand over and over in my own life. It's constantly a work in progress! But I try with all my might to be thankful for what I do have. It may not be fancy, but I sure am happy!

I am going to attach the lyrics of the Patty Griffin song because it is so beautiful. And SHE is so good that it is beautiful read as a poem. I wish I could post the mp3... but there's not a good way to do that on here. So if you get a chance to check it out it's called "Time Will Do The Talking". I definitely understand why the Dixie Chicks always put a Patty Griffin song on their records. Who knows... maybe I'll just have to post my own acoustic version of this one soon :)

You were so cruel
I hated being your fool
So I got a little bit more mud on my face
But the years will bring a bigger scheme of things
And make a pretty memory out of my disgrace
I don't believe there is such a thing as saying too much
There are those who like to look and
Those who ain't afraid to touch

Oh baby don't you know that the
Time will do the talking
Years will do the walking
I'll just find a comfy spot and wait it out
Time will do the talking
Years will do the walking
Time will tell you baby what you can't hear now

Well we dig our heels in
And wonder who's gonna win
Who is gonna win it or wear it out
I change the lock on the door
Or learn how to take a little more
I can outrun all of the devils there
But never the doubt
Try not to throw all your money into 20/20 vision
For the world won't wait on politics or indecision

Oh baby don't you know that the
Time will do the talking
Years will do the walking
I'll just find a comfy spot and wait it out
Time will do the talking
Years will do the walking
Time will tell you baby what you can't hear now

Can you hear the voice inside you
It calls you back to where you belong
Can you see the one beside you
Who's been standin' there all along
Baby, well you were so cruel
I hated being your fool
So I got a little bit more
Mud on my face
But the years will bring
The bigger scheme of things
And make a pretty memory out of my disgrace

The time will do the talking
Years will do the walking
I'll just find a comfy spot and wait it out
Time will do the talking
Years will do the walking
Time will tell you baby what you can't hear now
Time will tell you baby what you can't hear now
Time will tell you baby what you can't hear now

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Hilton Head

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