My Heart Will Crack On

Long Day of driving... but it's the first time in a while we haven't been in a ridiculous hurry. We got to go to Cracker Barrel tonight which made me so happy!

We heard "My Heart Will Go On" today at lunch. I sang that song in high school assembly and totally cracked on the high note. I'll never forget that. I was SOOOOO nervous about that one note - I did it a million times on the drive up with no problem, but I had only gotten a couple hours sleep (I never slept in high school). Plus, singing it over and over probably wore my voice out before I even got to school! That was back before I really understood how the voice works.

I guess we all have to go through those moments. And even though it seemed like a huge deal to me then, NO ONE but me remembers that. I KNOW if I hadn't been so worried about it, it would have been fine. I had the ability, just not the confidence. Nerves can be a crazy thing. But even when they make your biggest fear come true, if you can overcome it, you'll be so much stronger. Cliche? Yes. I don't care. It's the truth.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

My Sticky Shoe

Anyone get the title? Think "Phoebe's sexy flem" on Friends :)

Yeah. I could hit lower notes than normal tonight. Didn't help much with the high ones...

When James tries to talk NOTHING comes out. :(

But we made it!!! One more and then we'll rest up for next weekend. I can't BELIEVE how great I felt on stage tonight. I was a wreck today... but the show must go on.


So, apparently it is "former bass player week" :)

2 nights ago Dennis Haskins (Aka Mr. Belding from Saved by The Bell) and one of my first bass players in Green Line South, Adam Countryman, started texting me at 3am. They met each other at a bar in L.A. and somehow my name came up :) CLASSIC. That was definitely some good "get well medicine"

And tonight.... Davide Pezzini My VERY FIRST BASS PLAYER... EVER from Berklee came out to the show tonight!!! We think we haven't seen each other in 6 years. How crazy is that? Wow. He's originally from Switzerland, but now lives in Chicago! I'm all about the international band!


And we had SOOO many wonderful people come out tonight. THAT is what got me through the show. Our Iowa family was here - James' Mom, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and lots of friends!!! WOOO HOO!!! I didn't get pics :( It was chaos! But we played Doobie Brothers for Aunt Deana!

Sue and her crew drove in:


Fred won the prize for furthest drive.... He drove all the way from Marquette, Mi where we originally met at Upfront and Company! So when he requested Purple Rain, we HAPPILY obliged! He had to jet out, so we didn't get a pic either, but it was SOOO good to see you Fred!

Tim got to fly up earlier in the week to spend time with his brother and brand new baby niece. John even snuck away from his baby girl to come out to the show tonight!


The wait staff had an awesome contest for who could look the most country. :) They were pretty awesome:



Jessie is with us again! I don't know what I would have done without her tonight!


And this place was packed. We had SO much fun with everybody there! I <3 Ballydoyle Pub!





Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Janesville Performing Arts Center & The Cutting Board

Y'all. I walked into the hotel room and this is what I saw:



Because we ALL need a cutting board attached to our bathroom counters....

After I noticed the cutting board, I then realized I had just seen a lady walking down the hall with a giant block of cheese. These people in Wisconsin are SERIOUS about their cheese! There's no microwave or refrigerator in the room, but there's definitely a cutting board. Guess that's just how they roll up here.

Tonight we played in Janesville Wisconsin at the Janesville Performing Arts Center. It is a really beautiful auditorium!!! The first thing I noticed in our dressing room was that they had put Gerbera Daisies in there with my name on them!! :)


And then they brought in the longest sandwiches EVER. I just figured it out.... if we had laid our 4 sandwiches end to end.... they would have been half a foot taller than me.... WHOA. That's a LOT of sandwich.


Have I mentioned how much I love Hootie? Cause I do. What's not to love about that guy? Look at him! :)

There were SO many people responsible for putting on the show tonight! It never ceases to amaze me how many people it takes to put on a great event. And everyone at JPAC went way above and beyond the call of duty to help us out. This was the main group of people we worked with tonight. Between escorting us to and from stage, working our merchandise table, making sure we were fed, and working the ticket office... yeah... they rule.


And this is the group from Lamar - who were sponsoring the show tonight!! They were a HUGE reason this show was possible. Thank you!


SUE!!!!!!!!! We got to know Sue a little over a month ago in Peoria when we played one of her events for BASF. I had no idea she lived up here. She lives 2 hours away, but her hometown is right down the road from Janesville. She brought her whole family with her, and it was so great to meet them! It was a GREAT surprise. :)


Her youngest, Lane, was all tuckered out at the end of the night, though! This is how we found him after I had finished up talking with everyone after the show. CLASSIC!


Aunt Carol came all the way from Iowa to see the show tonight! And she brought her friend Eileen! I could barely see past the first row because the stage lights were so bright. But I could see their Peace Love Fiddle t-shirts in the 3rd row, so I knew where they were :)


Lots of kids came out tonight - which ALWAYS makes me happy :) Here's just a few of the beautiful girls I had the honor of meeting.


I loved this guy's purple sweater. :) It is a GREAT color. That lead us to talk about how much we love the color purple... and then they gave me a purple sharpie. YES! It's one of the adorable key-chain ones. He is one of the board members responsible for bringing us to Janesville. ; )-



Tonight was a really great show. I felt very much at ease with this audience and took my time. I was able to talk with them a lot between songs.Vocally, I had to work a lot harder than I have in a long time. I am SO glad that is the exception and not the rule these days. My voice is still a bit worn from singing in smoke a couple of nights ago. It's not a big deal. But I almost forgot how hard it used to be... not all that long ago... when we played a LOT more often in bars with smoke. I wish it didn't affect me so dramatically... definitely makes me feel a bit like a drama queen. But also the fact that we play less of the 4 hour shows and more of the 1-2 hour shows makes a huge difference as well. I've gotten quite spoiled this year with our shows! I'm not gonna question it though - just gonna keep counting my blessings!!!

Speaking of.... we have a few days off!!! It's so weird. We don't play again until Thursday in Massachusetts. :) We'll start heading that way tomorrow, but there won't be any need to rush. :) I have plenty to keep me busy though - I've got about 20 different songs running through my head that I need to finish and I plan on working a bit on those in the next few days.... and sleeping in... and maybe catching a movie... (Hootie is DYING to see Watchmen) But send some good songwriting vibes my way if you got em! :)

Peace, love, fiddle,
~nat

Rathskeller & a deer hood-ornament

We played The Rathskeller again tonight. What a cool place.

I literally sang my voice out :) I'll be on vocal rest all day tomorrow.... So I guess blogging is a great way to communicate right now! I've felt pretty crummy all week, but I was just hoping I could make it through tonight! And I did! YAY!!!!
We sure made it worth it tonight.

I'll have to share the highlights with pics when I get them off my camera. I have some very special thanks you's to send out, but I want to do it properly!

I will say that on the way to Indy.... we saw a deer strapped to the hood of an explorer.... Not the roof.... the hood. WHOA. It was pretty.... ummm.... I don't know? Well, it was something special. I wouldn't have even been able to see over the deer to watch the road if I had been the driver. But that is probably the most unlikely thought I have had all day..... me driving a car with a deer strapped to the hood. Yeah. Never gonna happen.

For now. I go to bed :)

Night!