Joe's, Justin, and Moore

Such a great night tonight!!!

Joe's in Chicago is everything it was built up to be and even better. The staff there was so helpful and sweet to us!

And JUSTIN MOORE!!! He is such a great performer. The place was packed, and I did not feel like an "opening act" because the audience didn't treat us like one. They were so energetic and attentive and pressed up against the stage like WE were the headliners. Just what you dream of. :)

I have to give a HUGE shout out to www.ChicagoNow.com
Thank you for posting so many great pics already!!!

Zach's Mom and sister were there! Bethany and Denise.


James and I both had our Mamma's there.


And Daddy, too.


Look at our crowd!!!


Here's so more of my favorite shots from the night.











To see more great pics:
ChicagoNow.com

And of course there are TONS more on my facebook page!!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Our Favorite Boca Baristas and Gretchen Wilson Pics!

We went back to our awesome Starbucks in Boca Raton today before we headed out of town. Both of our Baristas that were there the other day were working again! We got to talk a little more after they had both found us on facebook. And this time, we all got pics together. Courtney (on the left) told me that she saw our posters all over campus today after she met us :)

Thanks Angie and Courtney for being such awesome Baristas!


And last night, my best friend, Sarah, posted her pics from the Gretchen Wilson show! She and her current/my former bass player, Amy, drove all the way down to Augusta to see our show. But that was the day of the freakish snow storm that hit the south. It almost prevented the show from happening... and the snow definitely prevented my girls from getting to the show in time. They arrived about 35 minutes after we finished our set. :( but we still had a great time!!! And Sarah got some fantastic pics! (Most of the time I was at the merch booth... but we still had our fun!)

Sarah, Amy and Me


Gretchen Wilson and Me!!!!


Signing one of HER shirts for a fan :)


Sarah expressing how we ALL felt about the snow in Augusta, Ga!!


Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Opening For Justin Moore!!!

As we're gearing up to head back out on the road... we are looking toward some of the bigger shows coming up. I just wanted to go ahead and share this flyer with everyone for our upcoming Chicago show in March. We get to open for Justin Moore!!! If you know peeps in Chi-town - PLEASE tell them about the show. :) Joe's is a GREAT bar and this is our first time in. We want to make a good impression so we can go back!!!




Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Opening for Josh Gracin!!!

Our very first college show 2 years ago was in Elmira, New York, and it was an opening slot for Josh Gracin. After touring colleges and universities pretty solid ever since.... we were asked to open for him again. This time at Mansfield University in PA - only 45 miles south of Elmira. How crazy is that?!?

The show tonight? AMAZING. It flew by. The audience was packed. People were screaming uncontrollably. I felt like I was a headliner in my own little 30 minute opening slot. (which is SUCH a quick set for us!)
You want to know the craziest part? Not only did I FEEL like it was an incredible show... but I spent more time at the merch table than I ever have before. It was a solid line the whole time. How long? 2 hrs and 39 mins. WHAT!?!?!?! I could not believe how amazing these people were. I went to the table to start signing autographs and take pics after my set. I missed Josh's ENTIRE set... plus stayed until they were hauling sound equipment off the stage. But I promised to get to EVERYONE. And I did!!! It was SO FREAKIN AWESOME. I was overwhelmed by the enormity of the response to our set. People were so kind, when I was just happy for the opportunity.

And OH the food. The food was astounding. NOT ONLY did we have plums from Chile in our dressing room (which made one Chilean guitar player in my band very happy) but the salmon and the couscous. Perfection!!

We had LOTS of protection tonight :) (And good-looking protection I might add!)




I had an interview for tv and 2 newpapers before the show. :) Here's all the interviewers:




These girls asked me to sign their biology notes.


I must have looked at them a little funny because THEN they explained. They told me that they came to the show instead of studying for their exam.... I hope they do well on their exam because if they don't I would feel HORRIBLE. (I couldn't even pronounce the study points next to where I signed)


I signed a bunch of normal stuff tonight - you know - hats, t-shirts, ticket stubs. But this was the first time I ever signed cowgirl boots!!! And BOTH girls had me sign their boots. Adorable.


These ladies were at the Elmira show, too!!! We were all really excited about that.


SO I could go on and on and on with stories of everyone I met at the merch table. But I need to sleep in a bad way, so I am gonna move on to the after party. Everyone was going to a bar down the road called Changos. I was exhausted but I really wanted to hang out. Plus, I felt horrible - I never got to even see Josh or thank him for having us as an opener. Well... Josh and his guys were all going, too. And Josh had told Miguel the same thing - he felt bad that we didn't get to talk.

So we headed to Changos


When we walked in, 2 guys were singing and playing acoustic guitars ("Don't Stop Believing" I might add). As we walked into the bar - they announced "Natalie Stovall has entered the bar" and Oh MY, Y'all. The whole place started cheering! Talk about making a girl feel good!!! And then the first girl I saw was ALREADY wearing the Peace, Love, Fiddle tee she had JUST bought!!!


A few minutes later Josh walked in. And we FINALLY got to talk!!!! I think he's my new BFF. :) (Don't worry Farm Boy... no one will ever be my FFBF but you.... there's a BIG difference) He is really a great guy. He puts on a heck of a show and he was so great to talk to. We bonded over the industry and the business and just making things work. He was incredibly sweet about my band. So yeah. I love Josh Gracin. We all do. Actually, Miguel and James are downstairs in the lobby with Josh and his band right now... they weren't ready for the party to stop!!!


We had a rough time leaving. But I knew I needed to go.... we have another 7 hour drive to Boston tomorrow and it's another big day. I'm singing the anthem for the Celtics. And even though it is only one song - it is one HARD song to sing. My voice is pretty swollen just from all the non-stop talking, interviewing, and show-puttin tonight. (I WOULDN"T HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY!) But I knew I needed to go. It's almost 4am right now... normal... but sucks when you have to get up at 7.... AGAIN.

We all tried to leave about 17 times. This was what happened when I was trying to leave.


Since that didn't work so well... James had to take matters into his own hands.



Good times. Although.... I am still not sure how Josh beat us back to the hotel. He was still inside when we left??? But he was inside the hotel when we got here. Hmmmm... He's magic.

This was even more than I hoped it would be. I had an overwhelming amount of friend requests on facebook when I opened up my laptop. What a great feeling. We're moving on up, ya'll. And it is all thanks to YOU. So THANK YOU for letting me get to do what I do. I will forever be grateful. And I will always stay until the last autograph is signed.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Jessica Simpson's Breakdown

I am a bit fired up at the moment. Normally I don't say things like this, especially publicly, but something about this just really struck a nerve with me. A few nights ago, I heard about the "disastrous" opening Jessica Simpson had for Rascal Flatts in Grand Rapids, Mi.

Let me start out by saying:
I was so excited when I heard that Jessica Simpson was "going country" because I thought it could be a good thing for country music. She's just the kind of person that could take country to an even wider audience for people who may not have given us "southern folk with our simple talk" a shot. Jessica is one of those people that I think has an incredible voice. I do get a little frustrated sometimes with how she uses it, but she has a natural gift and range that is undeniable.

When she started, her ability to belt out a song was impressive to me. And as a teenager who was also saving myself for marriage - I fell in LOVE with her. The song she wrote at the end of her first record for her future husband (before she knew who he was gonna be) was so beautiful.

I have loved many of her songs along the way. And her country songs are even better. "Come On Over" Good Lord. Adorable. Hooky, catchy, fun to listen to. (but not easy to sing!) The writers she got to co-write with for her her record are people that I have looked up to for years.

The reports of the Rascal Flatts concert talk about her forgetting lyrics, letting her background singers take over for her, mouthing "I'm sorry" into the video monitors, sulking around on stage, being visibly flustered, and even crying in between songs. Part of me didn't want to believe someone as talented and successful as she is would ever act like that, but the part of me that was tweaked wanted to see it for myself. I decided to do some research and try to find actual video footage from the concert.

The thing that makes me crazy? It's not that bad! Yeah, she was having a rough vocal night, but if she wouldn't throw her arms up in the air in the middle of a chorus and just STOP singing.... you'd never know she was having so much trouble. There are so many things she could have done to cover up her rough vocal night. In the chorus of "Come On Over" she is obviously having problems hitting the high notes. So what? That's not the worst thing in the world. Just DON'T SING THE HIGH NOTES... take the melody down... OR hold the mic out and let your fans help you sing it...

If she could have let go and had a good time, she still could have had an amazing show. It's such a shame. It breaks my heart, actually. As a fan and someone who is rooting for her, it disappoints me. It makes her seem so self-centered (even if she isn't). Like the show is "all about her". It's not about having a perfect voice. There are singers out there that have had MUCH worse vocal nights, but they knew how to play it off so the audience didn't know. You guys in the audience understand that we aren't perfect. If you can't cancel the show, you just find a way to make it work. No matter what's going on backstage, onstage, or at home, there is no excuse to give up on your audience like that.

As another performer who is far from perfect, I have performed sick, thrown up between sets... songs... done 5 hour shows with so little voice - all I could do between sets was cry... broken down backstage because of boyfriends... And it's not because I'm so cool... God knows I'm not... It's just what you have to do as a performer. There's a responsibility that comes with being blessed enough to do this for a living. And the really funny thing? Those shows weren't even for 9,000 people.... not even for 900... Sometimes not even close. The only thing that matters is that, no matter how many of you there are, YOU GUYS don't know how sick or upset I am during the show. If you find out later, fine. But I will do my very best while I'm on stage to give you everything I've got, even if its not as much as I want it to be. Why? BECAUSE IT'S MY JOB. And I love what I do SO much. When it comes show time - it's not about me anymore. It's about making sure you are having a good time. And if I am lucky enough to get the point where I am so famous that the media is printing lies about me or "fat pictures" (though I can't imagine how upsetting that would be), I hope I never lose sight of what really matters.

I'm human, my band can attest to that... There are times where I have had to remind myself of all things I have said here. All the things I wish I could have said to Jessica right before she went out on stage.

You know what's amazing, though? When performers get out of our ego-centric little worlds - it is AMAZING how much better we do if we just rely on you guys. The audience is what helped me make it through one of the biggest and most difficult shows of my life. We had our National showcase for NACA in St. Louis last year... I had been in the ER for flu 14 hours before the show in Nashville. It was awful. I was so sick and I had such a thin little voice. I was throwing up in the bathroom 15 minutes before the show listening to some girls talk about how they heard this "Natalie" girl can play "Devil Wen Down to Georgia" and that they hoped it was good... I was laying down on the cement off stage until the moment they introduced me. We were even doing "Sweet Child of Mine" in that set - and Sweet Child is one of my toughest songs even when I'm 100%. It was FAR from perfect. I had a coughing fit in the middle of "If I Run To You Now... But with all that stuff going on, all I had to do was look out and see the audience up in the front, jumping around and screaming. It kept my adrenaline pumping and kept me on my feet. And I know way too many performers that would have done the exact same thing.

You guys expect us to do our job for YOU because you are doing your job for US. That's why when I hear about this whole Jessica thing, it gets so frustrating - for all the people out there who haven't "made it" yet that would never act like that. It doesn't matter that she had a bad night. I just can't believe someone I've liked as much as her gave up like that and let her audience down...

If you come to my show - there's a reason you're there. Sometimes I may need to lean on you for a little support. But no matter what happens, I won't ever give up during a show. I may not be in tip-top vocal condition every night, and I may not always be able to hit the most impressive notes. But I promise you won't care and hopefully not even notice because I will give you my all... Every time. I promise.