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

Introducing the New Band Members!!

Sooo....

I have alluded to the fact that new guys were coming on board over the last little bit, but I haven't said much because there were no "final decisions" made.

Today, that has all changed!!!

We have known for a while now that David Newbould would be joining Team Stovall. David will be coming on board as an opening act/ rhythm guitar/ vocalist in the group! We are THRILLED to have such a talented guy along for the ride. :) He's a fantastic artist - singer/songwriter/guitar player/overall awesomeness and in fact... you should head on over to his website when you have the time and take a look at HIS stuff!!!

http://www.davidnewbould.com/

He originally hails from Canada (thus furthering the borders of this international Stovall band) but he recently made the move to Nashville from Austin, Texas. We even figured out that Dave Madden - my first keyboard player... plays keys for David in Austin!!! Oh what a small world it is!


And the the part we haven't known until today - our new bass player!!!
Introducing Zach Morse (no kids... not Zach Morris... though I'm a little TOO excited about introducing him to Mr. Belding) from Cheyenne, WY (a new state to grace the Stovall Team). Zach has a very rich, deep voice which I can't wait to hear more of. He's a killer bass player. And he's got crazy curly hair to DIE for! :)

You can get a sneak peek at his myspace site:
http://www.myspace.com/zachmorsebassist

We had spoken to Zach, gotten GREAT recommendations from friends about him, and stalked him a little on youtube. Shhhh. We had a great feeling about him, but you can't exactly offer someone a job without meeting them and playing with them first. Well... you can. But, you know. So we got together with everyone today, played through some songs, dug the vibe, offered him the job, and thus now we have a full band again!

Whew. I can't even begin to describe what an incredible feeling that is. New Van, new band, new sound system, new songs, new sets, new fiddles... Whoa. I didn't even realize all the newness until I just typed it out!

Miguel, James, and I couldn't be happier with how 2010 is starting!!! Let's keep it a'rollin!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Running Out of Eggs Is Awesome

You know when you run out of eggs and it's annoying cause you thought you had more?

That little event - running out of eggs - made me SO HAPPY TODAY!!!! Do you know how long it has been since we have run out of something because we ATE it all??? You know.... instead of throwing it out because we were only here long enough to eat a little bit and then it was out of date by the time we got back. Yeah. That feeling of not wasting our food was AWESOME.

I have spent the last few hours going through all my songwriting ideas I have jotted down, or memos I have recorded on my phone. I can't believe how many great ideas I have that are just sitting there!!! I really thought I would be able to write more on the road this year. But with everything going on, it just rarely happens. At least so far that has been the case. The addition of some of our new band members for next year may change all that! WOO HOO!!!

But I am pumped to get back into the swing of writing. My good friend Jenn Bostic and I are writing tomorrow. It is our first time writing together. She is an incredible singer and songwriter. When I was at Berklee - I was the "country" girl that sang all the country songs in the showcases. After I graduated - Jenn arrived and she was the token "country girl" :) So tomorrow... the "Berklee Country Girls" UNITE. Watch out.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~nat

APCA Houston, Rockstar Babies, and Crazy Dreams

We're in a very stinky Comfort Inn somewhere in Mississippi. But I am so tired... I don't even care. Maybe it will inspire some crazy dreams. The other night I had a dream that Hootie and Justin were going on tour in Thailand with some music they had written together....

Congratulations to Charlie and Amy Hutto!!!!! There's a new rockstar baby in the world today - Jackson Chad Hutto. Charlie is a good friend, one of my favorite co-writers, and has been a band member throughout the years as well. Yay!!!

We played our final College Booking Conference of the year today. That's hard to believe. But next year is filling up like crazy. And it's gonna be SUCH a good year.

I love APCA and NACA because I meet SO many new people, hang with tons of cool performers, and see lots of old friends, too! There were 9 kids from UT Tyler which I just played on Tuesday - and their table was right up front during my showcase. So I had lots of friends in my corner yelling for us before they even introduced us! :) That makes such a big difference!!!

This is the lead singer of Fly Gypsy (a hip hop/ rock/ reggae band) and a beautiful poet who were both in my showcase.


AND Street Drum Corps!!!!


It was funny because it was Tim's first showcase with us. We have done so many this year, but he hasn't been with us on any of them yet. :) And he almost ended it with a splash!!! He was dangling off the edge of the stage on the last note and almost ended up in the monitor console! But whew, he got back on balance just in time.

Our next show is in West Virginia so we went ahead and got a few hours under our belt as soon as we finished up with the showcase. Tomorrow... we get to drive ALLLLLL day. :) Life on the road!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

This Is It

Miguel, James, and I went to see "This Is It" - the Michael Jackson movie tonight.

It was composed of footage from his last rehearsals right before he died. The man is incredible. It is such an interesting look into his artistry. And he continues to inspire even though he never got to perform those final 50 shows.

He holds back a lot during the rehearsals. You can tell he's mostly marking, and trying to save his voice (which he talks about a few times). And even though you aren't seeing full fledged MICHAEL... is still pretty remarkable.

I remember watching Thriller and being scared every time. I remember singing Man In The Mirror with my sister in our bedroom as a child. I remember choreographing my own dances to his music... dancing around my room singing with an "air mic" and visualizing hundreds of thousands of people in the crowd. I remember waiting and waiting for "Scream" the Janet/Michael duet to come out... and standing in my kitchen listening to it on the radio.

SO MANY of us have those memories. He just makes me want to get up and sing and dance. The people behind us in the theater couldn't help but sing along. :) He was the first person that inspired me as a little girl and one of the reasons I knew early on that THIS is what I want to do... forever.

Nick Bass, who was in the Opryland Kid's Club with me, was chosen as one of Michael's dancers. It is inspiring to watch someone that I have performed and worked with on THE ULTIMATE STAGE with Michael. It's funny. We did "I Want You Back" for another show we were in together.... man... he's come's a LONG way since we were 12 and performing that song for the NFL Player's Party!!! I still can't believe it when I watch him up there.

James and I came back to the room and both sat down pondering different parts about our own show. I was inspired on a visual level and scouring the internet for ideas. And he was coming up with more ideas and transitions within the music for our show. We do that a lot. But tonight was different. We couldn't HELP it after watching 2 hours of one of the greatest performers of all time.

James made the comment on the way home that "It's a shame that our last vision of him will be at half speed" I agree. But I hope that most people understand that if THAT is what he looked like at rehearsals that weren't even in front of an audience or full dress... I can ONLY IMAGINE how spot on and old school Michael he would have been for the real thing.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Mamma Rocks

We just made it home!!! What a beautiful weekend in PCB. But more on that later. :)

I'm not sure how many of you see the comments on my blog, but one of my favorite parts of writing this daily blog has become checking it the next day to see what Farm Boy and others have said :)

Farm Boy probably has one of the most creative and fascinating brains I have encountered. I don't know how he comes up with this stuff, but it always makes me smile! Yesterday, he commented on another comment ... and I wanted to elaborate.

He talked about my mamma being a writer, and he doesn't even know how MUCH of a writer she is!

Facts about Mamma:

She's a beautiful singer.

She plays piano and violin, as well :)

I learned to sing harmonies by singing along with her to oldies (especially Beach Boys songs) in the car.

She wrote for a television show called "I-40 Paradise" - it was a really cute show that I believe aired on TNN and in very TNN fashion - there was always a performance included on the show.

She's had short stories published in magazines.

She wrote jokes for Hee-Haw. Now, if you ask her about this, she will completely down-play it and say that she's not sure if any of her jokes ever aired. But I don't care. The fact that she submitted jokes to Hee-Haw is just about the coolest thing ever.

She love love LOVES word games and puzzles. She's always been way into puzzle sweepstakes and won a number of times. Her favorites are the ones where each letter in the alphabet is assigned a point, and then you are given what looks like a blank crossword puzzle. You fill in the puzzle, and the person who gets the most points wins. Sounds a LOT easier than it is. There are no clues.... so basically... any word (in whatever specified dictionary) works... so there are millions of combinations that you could use. :)

Oh and yeah, she's a retired dental hygienist. So all of that other stuff she did in her spare time while also raising 4 children.

Mamma inspired so much creativity in me and was the most encouraging and supportive person of anything I ever wanted to do.

Mamma Rocks.

This is one of my favorite pics of my sister, Stephanie, Mamma, and me:


Peace. Love. Fiddle.

How Are You Going To Change The World?

Today is a day that proves ANYTHING is possible. It's a day of hope. And it's a great opportunity to look inward and think about those things in our own lives that need an injection of faith.

I truly believe that we can do anything that we can dream about. When I look back and think about all the ways the stars have aligned at just the right time in my own life, it only makes me believe even more. I can honestly say that I have NEVER doubted what I am supposed to do with my life. I don't know how I got so lucky to just "know" at a very young age. But I have been dreaming about a HUGE stage, millions of listeners, and the responsibility that comes with that my WHOLE life.

There is not an ounce of this career that is easy. There is not a second of my lifestyle that is "normal" (though, who wants to be normal?). And there is so much more sacrifice that goes into being on the road and bringing my music to people one by one than I ever imagined. There are days where the set backs are so hard that the only thing I can do is cry. But those are the times where I realize I am being tested. Those are the times where I hope I can shine the most. Those are the days that make me reevaluate the path I am taking and give me the chance to make it better.

But I NEVER doubt what I am supposed to do with my life.

It's never too late to dream. It's never too late to change the world. I may not be the President. But I plan on trying to change the world in my own way.