Rock Valley College And On To North Carolina!

Can You say LONG drive?

We're driving from Northern Illinois to North Carolina right now. It wouldn't be so bad... but we've been creeping along in traffic since we left Rockford... over 3 hours now. Oh well.

We played at Rock Valley College this afternoon. The football team and lots of students and teachers came out for the free food, music, and the beginning of their homecoming festivities. The girls that were helping us out with the event were so sweet.

Cara was taking care of us all morning. :)


Some of the awesome peeps that I talked with after the show!



Thanks y'all! You're crisp weather up in Northern Illinois is PERFECT football weather. Have a good game this weekend!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Cinnamon Does NOT Like The Devil

While I was recording the "Devil's part" on "Devil Went Down To Georgia"... Cinnamon hopped up on James' shoulder and crouched as close to his face as possible. She was completely on alert and terrified.



So I guess I did my job. :)

I had to explain to her later that it wasn't really the Devil... it's only a song where I pretend to be the devil.

I love that dog.

Being in the studio is such a crazy world. It is so easy to get really REALLY nit-picky... listening to one note at a time to make things perfect. But that's not really the point, is it? Who wants to hear perfect? It's all about capturing the best performance possible.

Sometimes that's easier said than done. I have a tendency to pick apart every squeak, every time I "accidentally hit" another string... almost like I am getting a "lesson dot" in Suzuki. (That's when you had to play a song PERFECT before you could move on to get a lesson dot on the next song in the book) But the crazy squeak's and scratches are sometimes the character and charisma that makes a specific performance magical.

I'm a lot better at determining that when I am doing vocals. But I guess recording fiddle parts is a much newer venture for me. ESPECIALLY something as intense and crazy melodically as "Devil Went Down To Georgia". Recording a cover is difficult. There is an expectation there of how awesome it should be. Charlie Daniels wrote a real winner with that one. :) And so maybe there is a little added pressure trying to put that one down in recorded form. But it's been such a huge part of every show for me for so long that it was one of the more obvious choices. Now I just have to deliver, in a big way.

James, Ben, and I (and Cinnamon) were sitting outside on a break... discussing the whole "not making it TOO perfect" thing. Cause I was talking about how someone like Aubrey Haney, Tammy Rogers, or Rob Hajacos would play on a record. (Some of the fiddle players I LOVE). And Ben was saying... "well... yeah, but you wouldn't hire Jimi Hendrix to cut guitars on your record." He was saying there's a difference between a FIDDLE PLAYER and an artist who sings, writes, and plays the fiddle. So then I was using Keith Urban as an example. He is a monster guitar player. And I strive to beas great a fiddle player as Keith Urban is guitar player. I still have a ways to go, but touring and playing as much as possible is what's getting me there.

And then tonight I saw this article and it made me all aglow. Guess I am doing EXACTLY what I should be doing to reach that goal.
Keith Urban Grateful For Lessons From Bar

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie