Happy Birthday El Guapo!

Last night when we arrived at the hotel... Panther realized that he FORGOT his suitcase. Yup. Left it in Nashville.

So for now, this is Panther's suitcase:


We ACTUALLY got to play the show!!! YIPPPEE!!! And it was a Great show. I was soooo nervous about singing Devil tonight. How many times have I sung that song? But yeah - the last night at Schooner's I totally blanked on the last verse and did not recover well. But everything was back to normal today. :) Articles online have already been posted!


Except for the fact that Miguel and I BOTH had issues - in the middle of the medley, my fiddle just STOPPED working. Kaput. I quickly scrambled to tune my other fiddle up to the right place and fell back in with the guys. Plus, Miguel's pedal broke before the show.

But NO WORRIES!!! Dr. Cancino set up shop in the hotel room tonight, after a quick purchase of a soldering iron, and got us back up and running! I would have had no clue. I am so glad he knows how to do that kind of thing! Otherwise I would be down to one fiddle tomorrow!



But the show went great. We made TONS of new friends in Greenwood. Plus it was David's birthday, along with 3 other audience members. We had an awesome birthday dinner for David afterwards. Since Ruby Tuesday doesn't do any major embarrassing song for birthday boys - they made him stand up in his chair (we were the only table in the restaurant) while we all sang Happy Birthday. David did not disappoint - he did the El Guapo dance IN THE CHAIR (from 3 Amigos). Made us all VERY happy.


Our new friends :)
Kathryn and Joey - Two of the SWEETEST kids ever. So cute - Joey REALLY wanted me to see that he was already wearing his Natalie Stovall button :)


And Hack!!! The MAN.


Just a few more of our new friends in Greenwood, SC!








Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

I Made It To My First Hall of Fame!!!

I got a message today letting me know that I have made it to Berklee College of Music's String Department Hall of Fame.

http://berklee.edu/departments/strings-hall-of-fame.html

WHAT THE!?!?! REALLY!?!?!?! (grinning ear to ear) Shhhh.... Don't tell them that I wasn't actually in the string department at Berklee - I was a voice major. I DID take classes in the string department!!!

You know what is funny? Berklee is where my confidence was destroyed on fiddle. Before college, I had ALWAYS gotten my foot in the door with things for being the "fiddle player that could sing". It's how I originally booked the Opryland gig as a kid. But I auditioned for Singer's Showcase at Berklee - the most prestigious and highly competitive show for the vocalist. The first 3 semesters, I didn't make it. I went in to talk to the judges and watch my audition tape. Want to know what they said? "STOP PLAYING THE FIDDLE. It's hurting your auditions."

I made it every semester after that and never played fiddle in the audition again.

Blessings sure can come in major disguise. That one specific moment - being told NOT to play fiddle - was where I FINALLY took myself seriously as a singer. Before that I never felt like a singer. I did, but I didn't. When I finally made showcase without my fiddle, I knew I was truly a singer and didn't need a "gimmick" to get me in the door.

It took me a while to build up my confidence again on the fiddle. I FINALLY feel like I am starting to get there again and think of myself as a double agent. Fiddle Player/ Singer. One is not dependent upon the other. It's a good feeling. I continue to learn more about my voice and my playing each day - especially on that fiddle. One might say I LOVE the PEACE I finally feel with my FIDDLE. *wink wink*

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Shut It Down

We just had a GREAT show at Bowling Green State University, despite a meltdown of gear before soundcheck....

We've all battled so many gear-related issues lately! I mean, you know that upkeep is a part of being on the road... but this seems a little excessive! One of the problems tonight was actually pretty funny. I turned my amp on and a radio station was coming through it CLEAR as day. I tried moving it around, but that didn't help one bit. When the announcer came on and said something that I won't repeat... Time to SHUT IT DOWN.

So I ran my fiddle through a D.I.

Panther's Amp starting popping and cracking so badly, that HE had to SHUT IT DOWN.

So he ran though DAVID's D.I. and David had to play electric the whole set. And he had to use my D.I. for his acoustic during his opening set. Whew.

Anyway... we got around all the electrical problems in time to have an excellent show.

Tonight was an especially emotional night during "Angel". Miguel's Abuela (grandmother) passed away yesterday in Chile. He's doing well and our prayers are with his family. She was in the hospital for the last week and a half, and the doctors were amazed at her strength. I know she was looking down tonight and is SO proud of him. I had more chills than normal. I don't think that was a coincidence.

The UAO was SO great to us tonight. Our green room was filled with BGSU t-shirts, a sweatshirt, sweatpants, and other goodies. I am wearing my tee and sweatshirt already! :) And they got us dinner from this amazing local place. We were all drooling over how great our dinners were.

Thank you UAO Music Board!


















I LOVE my new BGSU Sweatshirt and tee!!! They are awesome.


I was really impressed by this mixer!!! Aunt Carol needs it for making mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving. She makes such a huge batch every year and this would really contribute to the cause! :)


Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

We Rock the "G"

We rocked Georgia Northwestern Technical College so hard.... that we rocked the "G" off the wall. OOPS!


The Head of the Rome Campus came in after the show, asked "Did I miss the WHOLE thing?" And Brandy and Dione told him it was so crazy I smashed my fiddle and broke the "G" on the wall. I think as soon as he looked at me, he knew that wasn't true :)

Dione and Brandy... our awesome peeps the last couple of days!


Thanks for all the help David!


We had a lot of fun playing for 2 of GA Northwestern Tech's Campuses. And they even gave us CHOCOLATE BARS today!!! Woo hooo! (I'm a cheap date)

Looking forward to GA Highlands tomorrow!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Fiddlepalooza

Videos are poppin up from Joe's!!! :) Here's the Fiddlepalooza Medley we love to do :) YAY!



In other news:
Tomorrow night I will be playing a 15 minute acoustic set at the Rutledge at 8:30 in Nashville. The Berklee trip is back! A group of Berklee students come down every year on their spring break and get to see the insides of Nashville. Or at least a Cliff's Notes version of the insides. :)

The show is for the students (and anyone else who shows up!) and is put on by alumni that are here in town and in the music world. I get to play with Lots of my favorite talented artists in town:

The Young Republic
Jenn Bostic and Caitlin Nicol Thomas
Maureen Murphy
Megan James
Emily Shackelton
Natalie Prass
Casey Driessen
Charlie Worsham + John Lippencott

So it should be a good time!!!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Opening For Gretchen Wilson!!

We dropped James off this morning at the Atlanta airport at around 4:30am, and then pressed onward towards home. It started snowing right as we hit Monteagle Mountain, and didn't stop until I got home. I know this all of this unexpected snow has caused many problems and frustrations for lots of people. I know it makes it difficult for this part of the country where we aren't prepared for it. But at the same time, there is something so magical about all of this beautiful snow gracing us over and over and over again in places where we don't normally get to enjoy it!

Even on that awful drive from Augusta to Ft. Benning where the roads were almost as bad as the ones in Texas (where we had to cancel a couple of weeks ago)... it was so beautiful and majestic and storybook-like that it feels like the Universe is telling us all to pay attention. These things are what we make of it. And yes, it can be a harsh reality. But it can also be a wonderful reminder of God's beauty. So I say a prayer tonight for all that have endured hardships and loss due to this crazy weather. And I also give thanks for being surrounded by so much beauty!!!

The Gretchen Wilson show was SOOOOOOOO much fun. It was a bit disappointing that we had to do it without monitors. I kept switching my earplug from my ear to my back jeans pocket... depending on which thing I needed to hear more - my voice (earplug IN) or my fiddle (earplug out). But ideal situations rarely happen. And I was so excited that very little could have disappointed me about the show. The room was packed and the snow did NOT keep people away.

I met Gretchen in the bathroom before the show and we talked for a while about the snow and the possibility of cancellations, and then she told me about their make-shift sleds they made last week in Tennessee. I could feel my heart beating harder than normal, and I told her how cool it was to be opening for her. After we finished talking, she walked out and told someone outside "I just met Natalie in the bathroom". It was so funny! Before I could even tell the guys I talked to her, she told someone ELSE that she met ME!!!! :) That was awesome.


The show itself was awesome. The crowd was electric, and they were so gracious! I know most of them were there to see her, but they sure did make me feel the love! And we put on a great show for them. I couldn't hear my fiddle at all and at one point I looked down and saw that my E string was a D#. Not cool... but I tuned quickly and that was really the hardest part of the show. I did start getting out of breath during a few songs because my adrenaline was pumping so hard and I was putting so much into it, that my body couldn't keep up. :) That's the way it should be! It's such a high!!!
Lots of pictures have shown up on facebook... I just grabbed these two quickly... Thank you Melanie Carver for posting!



My best friend, Sarah, drove all the way down + a surprise guest to come to the show. They got stuck in traffic in Chattanooga and Atlanta, AND it snowed so hard they had to go 45 most of the way. They got there about 30 minutes after my set ended. :( After all that. But we got to hang out the rest of the night... I hated they couldn't see the show, but it was amazing to have them there. The surprise guest was my former bass player and wonderful friend Amy Sporleder!!!! Amy is now playing in Sarah's band. I still can't believe they made the long trip down there!


There are pics of Gretchen and me somewhere, but I didn't get any on my camera. I will acquire them soon, I am sure. But this is us at the merch table. Gretchen and her merch guy were both VERY gracious and let me continue selling my cd's and t-shirts throughout the night. Even when she was in the booth signing.
Here we both are signing stuff - I think this was one of the times where the audience member wanted me and her to both sign a Gretchen t-shirt:


At one point, she poured a BIG shot of Jack Daniels for herself, her merch guy, and then handed me one. When Gretchen Wilson hands you a shot, you take it. And I did. :)

A few people had her sign my shirts and cd's which was so funny to me :) Awesome, and funny. And then Sarah had me sign her Peace Love Fiddle Tee and then got in line and had Gretchen sign the other side. I liked that. :)


So the night was amazing. I have some incredible fans in Augusta and surrounding areas that showed up. We've played there at the Country Club twice before, we used to play at a bar called Coyote's, and we played at Fort Gordon last year in May. There were people from ALL of the aforementioned places. Michelle, who made a blanket during my Fort Gordon show and had me sign it last year, brought me roses AND made me a scarf which was so beautiful!!! It was just so great to have some real fan support at the show. And I can't wait to play in Augusta again! I love it there!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

I'm Cooler Than I Thought!

I have been to so many shows in town this week!!! It has been a very musical week :)

One of the shows I went to was at 3rd and Lindsley - Eric Paslay (who I've written with), Rachel Loy (who I went to school with) and Dave Pahanish. Oh! And a surprise and stunning appearance by Miss Sarah Buxton, who was phenomenal.

Dave Pahanish is an awesome songwriter that emailed me on myspace a few years ago. I still remember when he was about to "make the move" down to Nashville and was asking us natives for advice on the real estate market. He has since done VERY well for himself. He has had songs cut by Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, Jimmy Wayne, Emily West, and Toby Keith!

I sang on some demos and played fiddle for him a couple of years ago (back when I was still in town a little more often) . And I didn't remember this... but I played fiddle on the demo for "This American Life" which you can hear on his myspace page:

http://www.myspace.com/davepahanish

Finding this out made me feel REALLY REALLY cool. Know why? "This American Life" is a song that Toby Keith cut... although you may know it as "American Ride." He wanted to change the "Life" to "Ride" and it became the title track for his latest album!!! I didn't know I was cool enough to have played on a demo that became a Toby Keith song! :)

Here's the ole Toby Keith video: Enjoy!!!


BTW: Dave, Eric, and Rachel put on a GREAT night of music! I saw friends I hadn't seen in a long time, and I enjoyed a true Nashville evening of outstanding songwriters and performances. If you get the chance to see ANY of those performers... GO!!

Peace. Love. FIDDLE!
~nat

Little Nat Fiddlin Pic

This was posted on facebook today from a friend. :)

Thanks Bryan!!! Bryan's mom - Mrs. Bone, used to ask me to come in and play violin and perform for her 4th grade class. :) I was working at Opryland at the time... and I jumped at the chance to perform for anyone who would listen.

So here I am... 4th or 5th grade, myself :)



Check out those stirrup pants. That was the hotness!

Peace. Love. And Itty Bitty Fiddles.
~natalie

I Played The Stone Pony Tonight!

Tonight was AWESOME.

I played fiddle for an incredibly talented and OH SO YOUNG (she's only 16!!!) artist named Corey Wagar.

Guess WHERE this was!?!?!?

The FIRST ever country show at the legendary Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ!!!!! (Which was SOLD OUT! Heck yeah!)


I have heard so much about this club... it's kind of like Tootsie's in the Rock N Roll world... Bruce Springsteen is known for jamming with the local musicians there... Jon Bon Jovi, Elvis Cotello, Joan Jett, Stevie Ray Vaughn... all kinds of cool people will grace the stage with their presence between gigs in New York and Philadelphia.

And I got to play at their first ever country show tonight!!! My friend, Gordon Brown, that I write with a lot, had put together the band for Corey. He knew James and I had planned on coming to the show. He sent me one of her songs today. I learned it, we hopped on the train, and I got to play it with them! They also brought me up for the encore... A little "Gunpowder and Lead" action :)

I think James must have captured this little clip of "Gunpwder and Lead" :) It isn't very long... but it gives you the idea.


It was so much fun! And Corey's song that I played with her "Me and My Girls" was so cute... and come to find out, she wrote it with Jamie O'Neal! I LOVE Jamie O'Neal! I was obsessed with "Shiver" in college. :)

Here's Gordon - my wonderful friend and co-writer


And of course Corey (Click her name to visit her myspace!)


I love this picture of Gordon and me... even though it's a bit dark :)


It was so cool to be a part of tonight. Corey is incredibly talented... and oh my word... she's only 16. I can't imagine where all she will go from here. So cool.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Snowed In

We are SNOWED IN in Iowa right now!!!

We woke up to a winter wonderland. The snow hasn't stopped coming down, and the wind is FIERCE! It blows the snow all over the place, and there was a huge drift right outside of Grandma's door that made it hard to stomp our way inside!!!

It is currently 3 degrees... don't even want to know what that is with the wind chill!!! The roads are frozen solid. Our plan was to leave tomorrow, but we're not sure how good of an idea that will be. We'll have to see what everything looks like when we get up in the morning. :)

Hope everyone is warm and safe and cozy tonight. I never get tired of the snow. I like that you really can't go anywhere. I always wanted to know that feeling in Tennessee, but I never got it until I moved to Boston... and then acquired a family from Iowa! :)

Peace. Love. and Snowy Fiddles.
~natalie

Cheap Trick

We went to see Cheap Trick at the Ryman Auditorium tonight!!! Paul (my manager) bought tix for James, Ben, and me as an early Christmas present. And Cheap Trick is one of his favorite bands, so he wanted us to experience the almighty Cheap Trick for ourselves :)

It was SOOOO MUCH FUN!!!! They are incredible live. And dude. Robin Zander?!?!? Good Lord. If I have half of his voice when I am over 50, I will be good to go!!! The bass player was playing a 12 string bass. Ummm... NEVER seen that before. But it was really cool.

These guys KNOW how to put on a show. They are rockers in the true sense - as in, you don't feel like they are trying to rock. They just do. And the audience was pretty impressive. It was packed with session players, artists in town and even LARRY DAVID! Hilarious! No idea what he is doing in Nashville, but I saw him... didn't think it was actually him... because, well, why would he be in Nashville??

Man, I really loved that 12 string bass. It was such a cool sound. And he had the most gorgeous finish on it - very sparkly - and has given me inspiration for my next fiddle finish. :)

Yeah. So tonight rocked. It was a great way to kick off our marathon of being at home! Grandpa walked 4 times today, and his chest tubes came out. So YAY for that!!! Progress there :)

And welcome to the new blog followers! I see there are a few newbies to the list :) I'll try not to let you down. I may not be on the road the next few weeks, but I have no doubts there will be plenty of adventures to share :)

Night all.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

My New Baby Girl

Ain't she a beaut??



I can't wait to test her out in a show. She's a custom made - sparkly white, FIVE string (which is a new one for me!), solid body, Sabre, Wood Violin! Wood Violins are some of the best in the electric violin world. I LOVE the way she sounds. I played her for a while today in my living room and drove Cinnamon nuts.
I'm a pretty big snob when it comes to electric violins - no one makes them to LOOK like a violin. And it drives me crazy. But if she's not gonna look like a violin body... well... then this is the next best thing! I think she's beautiful! She might have to get a counterpart pretty soon. We'll see.


Peace. Love. New Electric Fiddle.
~natalie

The New Poster

Now available at ALL shows. :)

And soon to be available on the BRAND NEW NatalieStovall.com



~natalie

Why Georgia, Why?

Sooo....

Someone backed into the Suburban today in the parking lot. :( BUT it's not bad at all. It's just a little dent in the back driver's side door. So it's not a big deal... just annoying. You know, a lot more annoying than when NO ONE backs into your car.

I ran out to the burb to get a scarf and as I was locking up, the security guard for the parking lot said, "Ma'am. Is this your vehicle?" He said the guy didn't even realize he had done it and just kept going... they had to chase him down the parking lot, and get his info.

Today was FREEZING. It was 50. Which, yeah... isn't so bad. But the wind was blowing like crazy and there was no sun. By the last set, it was in the 40's and I could see my breath. And guess who broke ANOTHER fiddle string tonight!?!?! Crazy, right??

I would leave my hoodie on and take it off RIGHT before the show each time. And I'd fill up on hot chocolate... but that didn't help my fingers or fiddles! But hey. At least I wasn't one of the waterskiers. They stopped by our show before they had to go get ready for their 9:00 show. And you could just see the dread in their faces. It was rough. I don't know how they do it! One of the hot tub vendors let them jump in the hot tubs right after their show to warm up a little bit. Ughhh. I can't IMAGINE how cold that water is!

We had 3 fantastic shows today. But for some reason, the computer isn't letting me upload photos. Maybe tomorrow, ya'll. Hope everyone out in cyberland is having a good night! Try not to get backed into in the parking lots!

I Broke A String

I broke a string tonight in the last show!!! WOOO HOO!

I'm normally not that cool. Miguel breaks strings all the time. But I hardly ever do. And the funny thing is, Amanda - who has come to see us at Whiskey River a bunch up in Macon, came to the first show on Wed night. She asked me if she could have the next string I broke on stage. I told her I hardly ever break one. It's only happened a few times in my whole life. And then TONIGHT. She came back to tonight's show. Lo and behold, guess who broke a string!?!?! SO yeah, she got to keep it!


And these wonderful people, I met on the ferry coming off of Put-In-Bay. I blogged about their awesome doggies - they have a standard, toy, and miniature poodle. I told them at the time that we would be at the fair, and they came!!! It was so cool to see them. It didn't register who they were at first. I felt so bad, becaue I had other people talking to me, and I was a little scattered, but as soon as I realized who they were, I got SO excited!


Alright folks. I think I am gonna go have a drink with Barney Fife. Cause how many times in your life do you get to say you've done that??

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Whoa.

Thanks Bailey!!!



Peace. Love. Fiddle. And I Hope You Are Smiling.
~natalie

Brought To You By Standard Candy

I was rummaging around looking for something at Mamma and Daddy's today, and I came across a bag of Grand Ole Opry Memorabilia from the time I performed on the show when I was 12.



There's so much I didn't remember!!! I remember Billy Walker introduced me, but Mark Collie was also during my time slot? Wow! Plus, Riders In the Sky, Porter Wagoner, Ricky Skaggs, Lorrie Morgan, Grandpa Jones : ), Bill Anderson, and Jeannie Seely were all on that same night.

That night was such a blur. I remember rehearsing that afternoon with a piano player, but I didn't play with a band until the actual performance. I remember them showing me "the circle" that had been taken from the Ryman stage where I would be standing. I remember lots of flashing lights. And I remember doing the Opry Backstage show with Bill Anderson who had me play "something on the fiddle" and I had no idea how long to play so I just kept going.... :)

What an incredible experience.... then... I flew back to L.A. to keep auditioning for tv pilots... What a cool life I've already been livin!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

I Love You Parties

I fell in love with my photographer and make-up lady at the photo shoot. They were some of the most fun and approachable girls to hang around. I want to hang out with them all the time!!! :)

Lorena, who was my incredible hair and make-up sylist, told some of he cutest stories. One of them, especially, I want to share with everyone.

When she was a little girl, her mother would throw "I Love You Parties", if she (or anyone in the family) was feeling down, or seemed to have a rough day or week. Lorena's Dad would drag her to the store or something to get her out of the house, and when they got back her mom would have balloons and decorations, and a cake that said "I Love You" on it to cheer her up.

How adorable is that? Yeah, I'm stealing it for my kids. What a great idea. And I love ANY excuse to have a party :) But what a cute and amazing way to show someone you care.


Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Country Girl Fairytale EP on itunes!!!

So I was pretty stoked yesterday when I heard that my good friend Ruth Collins has her EP "Country Girl Fairytale" on itunes!!! YAY!!!!! :)



Know why I am EXTRA excited about this one? One of the songs on there is one that we wrote together! Ruthie is such a talented girl. She was in a duo called Wild Honey that was on the first season of CMT's "Can You Duet". Ruth and I went to Berklee together, she was roommates with James last year, and now she is one of my favorite co-writers :) She is every bit as sweet as you think she is from her pics and bio. And she writes all of her own music. I love that girl! We wrote a really cute song called "Lottery" together and she sounds fantastic singing it!

You can get it on itunes OR you can order "Country Girl Fairytale" HERE.

She put a lot of love into the packaging because she hand-made them all herself!!! So go support Ruthie! And if you've got the time... write a good review on itunes for us ;)-


Studio Update:
I really forgot how all-consuming recording in the studio is.

We got soooo much done today. Fiddle AND vocals on 2 songs. Whew. May not sound like a lot... but when you're putting something creative under a microscope.... well it takes nothing but precious time.

So now we need to get fiddle and vocals on 2 more songs. I am hopeful to get both done tomorrow. Then we'll just have to get the backgrounds and any other miscellaneous parts added on. YAY!!!!!!! Have I mentioned how excited I am to be recording new music?? Yeah. I think I have. But I will AGAIN!!! WOO HOOOO!!!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

My Heart Is Full

My heart is so full right now. I am always speechless and overwhelmed when I read the blogs on Amazima.org

Katie, who started this ministry is younger than I and she is living in Africa running an orphanage and feeding the hungry. Her story is so inspiring and every time I read it, I realize that we have an immense capacity to change the world. Sometimes it feels overwhelming and doesn't seem like "there is much that I can do" But when I read Katie's story, I am so uplifted, and I know that there IS so much I can do.

I know that I am doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing right now. I am working as hard as I possibly can to achieve my dreams. And though I am swamped and enveloped in my own personal journey, I know I am soon coming to a place where I can do so much MORE. I can't wait for that time. I get nervous excitement in my belly when I think of all that is coming.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for coming to shows. Thank you for listening. Together, we're gonna spread a whole lotta peace, love, and fiddle.

~natalie