Up Til Dawn for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital

We played the most awesome event tonight at Western Kentucky University.

It was "Up Til Dawn's" Benefit for St. Jude Children's Hospital. The students have been raising money for St. Judes all year and are already over 100,000 in money raised!!! Everyone that sent out 25 letters to help raise their money, got admittance into the event. It started at 10, they had food, games, inflatable laser tag, basketball courts, coloring stations, (us :) - the music), and everyone was dressed up in either sorority colors, animals, or other fun things. (I never really got the story on the dressing up part - but who needs a reason?!?)

Brooke, this sweet little girl, was there with her Daddy. She had a brain tumor that was cancerous at 18 months old. The doctors told her it was inoperable, but St. Judes said - we can fix this. They did. It took 2 surgeries, and then last year, she had some more cancer come back. But again she is healthy! She goes in Monday for more scans to make sure the coast is clear - so we all need to think about sweet little Brooke on Monday. She has defied all the odds!!! I was a little worried about being able to sing after hearing her story and listening to her Dad speak and thank these kids for all they are doing. But luckily, the students got up and did a really silly dance to Disney songs which helped lighten the mood back up!

It's called "Up Til Dawn" because even though it is a celebration of all their hard work - it is representative of how much these kids have to go through. Many times they are up all night because of their treatments. So the students stay up and hang out until 5am as a tribute to these amazing children!

Needless to say, this show was a GREAT one to be a part of.

One of these girls said, "I've never met someone who plays a fiddle! I'm telling my mom!" :)


Cecelia was such a big help all night long


Up Til Dawn Crew!


Nemo's and turtles (Yes, the Nemo's even have a torn sleeve as their "wounded fin)


Late Night Waffle Housing!


Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Playing for the Troops and Families at Ft. Gordon!

Tonight was one of those nights....

... where I just keep thanking the Lord that I was given this gift and am able to do what I do.

... where I don't know what to say other than "THANK YOU".

... where I can't hear myself over the screams and cheers of the crowd.

... where the line at the merch table is 2 hours long.

I really don't think I will ever get used to soldiers telling ME thank you. It is the strangest and most humbling feeling. I just want to say SHUT-UP!!! YOU DON'T THANK ME. I THANK YOU.

You know? I mean, these families and young men and women sacrifice more than my brain can comprehend. My Daddy went overseas I was 8 years old and although I understood that it was dangerous and I knew it was a big deal... there's only so much an 8-year-old can really "get". And so even though I've experienced it to a degree, I still can't imagine what it is like... from an adult perspective.

I met and talked with quite a few wounded soldiers tonight. Hearing the stories of an entire wall falling on someone's chest. Standing there looking at his scares while he's alive and telling me about it - yeah. No words.

And can I just say that when soldiers are helping us load and unload our trailer... it goes faster than it EVER does?! And we have to lift less than we ever do. They take it OUT of my hands and carry it onstage FOR me. :)

Here's the whole crew that was helping us load and unload tonight:


It was my first "Chucks" signing :)


This soldier asked me to sign his phase pass AND his Bible. Never signed a Bible before. I was a bit taken aback by that request. Pretty amazing.


Ok. So I saw this lady during sound check because I noticed she was crocheting something. She had just begun a beautiful pink blanket... and by the time she got to the merch table, she had enough done for me to sign it!!! It turns out she's making it for a friend (who was at the show) and so she wanted me to sign it. Once it's done, it will be a king size blanket!!! :) THAT was a new one! Signing a blanket that was made DURING the show!


Not only was the stage LINED with soldiers right up front singing and dancing along with us, but it was also lined with kids!!! So many adorable faces in the crowd tonight. And they literally started a "train" during Orange Blossom. SO CUTE!






And then of course, the soldiers!!











What a rewarding night. There were burgers, hot dogs, drinks, and even a dippin dots truck. It was like a festival... only... we were the main event. Just unbelievable.

Peace. Love. Fiddle. and Fort Gordon.
~natalie

Stowe, Vermont

What a weekend!!!

I can't say enough about how beautiful Stowe is. We could see a bit more of the landscape this time instead of just piles of snow :) But I like the piles of snow too... SOOO different from Tennessee.

The show on Friday night was really fun. It was a good crowd and a really good show on our part. There were a few key dancers on the dance floor that NEVER stopped. They kept the party going the whole evening.

The first person that came up to me was a very sweet girl who said "Are you Natalie?" I said, "Yeah." She said, "I heard you have a Chilean in your band!" And I eagerly pointed at Miguel. She was off!!! Miguel is quite popular in Stowe :) There are a lot of Chileans and Peruvians that work at the ski resort - and their housing is across the street from the Matterhorn! There was a whole group that came to support him.


John had the coldest job in the bar. He was our doorman both nights, and brrr. But at least it was 30 this time rather than the -15 we experienced last time - THAT was REALLY cold for him.


Saturday was quite a day. We had 2 shows. One was up on the mountain and then the night show was at the Matterhorn again. We were a bit concerned with the first show. Naturally, I was a worried about singing for 8 hours in one day.... they were both long shows. But even more so - we had to tear all our gear down at the club, load it into the trailer, drive 1/2 a mile up the road.... (and then the logistics of getting into the ski resort.... WHEW! Absolute chaos.), set up everything, do the show, tear down, reload the trailer, and then go unload and set up and do a whole other show.

We had NO idea what the show was going to be like at the ski lodge. We have a few days in April where we will have 2 shows in one day, but none of those will be 4 hour long shows.... So this was the day we were all the most apprehensive about. You know what, though? Everyone there - Everyone - helped out so much. Paul was a freakin workhorse. And everyone at the lodge was pitching in. We had a long way to load in all the gear - up an elevator through some curvy hallways and then through the dining area to the stage. But it didn't FEEL that way. It is amazing how when a lot of people pitch in to help - the work gets done SO quickly. Everyone's hospitality made the whole situation SOOO much better.

So the ski lodge? Gorgeous. It was GINORMOUS. (yes, that is an actual word people. Well, not really, but it should be) It was this really open room with food, a bar and glass widows all the way around so you could see the mountains outside. I have never played a gig before where I watched people skiing during the show!!! That was pretty cool, I must admit.

The show was from 2-6 (although set up took longer than usual, and we got a late start. But everyone was cool. Normally that would STRESS me out - but it was obvious we were working as fast as possible). And there were so many kids there. We had one group that pulled their chairs right up to the front of the stage. And did they sit in them? NOPE. They STOOD in them and screamed "You're AWESOME" and "You Rock" the whooooooole show. It was pretty amazing. Needless to say, our show was a bit different from a bar set or a typical "Natalie" show. I tried to incorporate the kids as much as possible. Especially since they were such a great audience!!!

These were the main front row girls who attracted MANY MANY more throughout the set. And I signed the one little girl's pink cast which she is showing off here. :)



This little boy was adorable!!! He was so shy when it came time to ask me... But he wanted me to sign his ski helmet. THAT was a first!!!


Signing ski boots was another first!




Ava wanted me to sign her hands. "Natalie" on one palm and "Stovall" on the other palm.


Then ALL of them wanted it:


Miguel gave a guitar lesson:


And James let a British chick play his drums:


There was a birthday party with about 200 people there too. It was Jim's 50th birthday! But Jim had a guest who was not prepared for the music. She came up to the stage and yelled at us - said she had to listen to us for TOO LONG (She was ANGRY) and wanted us to turn "all the way down"! I tried to be polite, and said "Ma'am, we only have 2 songs left, and then we're done." That did not matter. She kept yelling. But the song had already started. And no matter how much I tried to reason with her... she wouldn't listen. Even though it was 5:50!!! I wish stuff like that didn't get to me... but I found myself trying to sing "quieter". Ugh. Can't win em all. But the rest of the ginormous room seemed happy. :)

We finished the show, I signed some more interesting things - the inside hoods of jackets, tags or shirts.... you name it. Then we packed up and headed back down the mountain to the Matterhorn. When we got there, Gerry had his horse "Annie Oakley" tied up at the post. As soon as I got out of the car, he announced to everyone in the parking lot (he had been at the show the night before) "There's the singer!!! Natalie, come on. I brought Annie Oakley down for you to ride" I was SO excited he was gonna let me ride her!!! I shared one pic a couple of days ago. This was me right AFTER the ride.



Hootie got a turn, too. Right before he got off of her, she did a full body shake, and nearly shook him OFF! It was hilarious.


The show was AMAZING. It was PACKED just like last time. And I was really excited because there were a lot of people who had seen us there in January that came back this time!!! That always makes it fun.


This guy had me sign his shirt last time :) So he wanted to keep the Tradition alive I guess!!!


I had never met a world famous dog trainer before! But this is Alex and he's the trainer of Ashley Whippet. It is quite an amazing story - he and his increible dog Ashley have been on the David Letterman Show, The Today Show, you name it! Ashley has caught a frisbee on it!


It was the first time a fan has ever made and brought chex mix to a show for me!!! And mmm. mmmm. mmmmmm. He makes it with Worcestershire Sauce - just like my Mamma does!


These guys were all from the Harvard Business School. Pretty cool, huh?


Look at how much fun they are!!!


The Matterhorn did not disappoint. It was so incredible last time, that I didn't want it to be a disappointment this time. They had told us the season was winding down and it might not be as crowded, but it was AWESOME!!! It's just such a great bar. They have amazing food, enthusiastic clientele, and they even have Woodchuck on tap! HECK YEAH!!!! It's just good people, you know?

So after an amazing show, we are getting ready to head back to the hotel at 3am. James gets in Paul's car, and then Hootie, Miguel, and I are taking the Suburban. But as we are getting in the car, there is OBVIOUSLY a party going on inside the building we are next to. Miguel said, "OH!!! That must be the party they (the Chileans) were telling me about!" We walked in to see what was going on and we saw all these people who had been at the show. Everyone was dancing and getting down to Reggaeton (which was new to me!) and people were just having a good ole time. It was really fun. We couldn't stay because it was so late, but I wanted to!!! They were having so much fun. Ahh. Vermont is just filled with good people.

Driving back to Tennessee was looooooooooong. But good. And I love it here. Home is a good place to be. If only for 2 nights. :)

Peace. Love. Fiddle.