Thursday, April 26th , 2007

Visits to BOB in Harrisburg, Pa. And WCAT, Harrisburg, Pa.

remember you can click on any picture for a full-sized one.

Hello! Well were up and on our way to BOB! We were looking forward to our visit again remembering how fun these guys were the last time with visited the station. We got to the station and had Holly, Nancy, Neuman and Joe come on board the bus to hang out and listen to some of our new tunes. While parked outside the station, we noticed the coolest piece of artwork! It was a kite on a straw/string! We couldn’t help but to take a lot of photos of it and then to take our pictures around it. Fun visit! Thank you!

Visit to WCAT in Harrisburg, Pa.
We then got to got meet with Will Robinson and Rich for a lunch at Panera Bread (now known by us crushers as Pantera Bread! Ha!) It was nice to see Will again. The last time we’d seen him, we’d went and rode go carts and played an extremely intense game of air hockey! I still am the reigning air hockey champion! Whoohoo! It was cool seeing Rich and Will and playing for them.

We were now clear for the rest of the day and on our way to Pittsburgh where we were going to meet up with my parents for dinner! Cool!

My parents got to the hotel around 7pm, and we all climbed into a hotel shuttle and went downtown to find some dinner. We ended up going to a place called “Bar Louie’s.” We’d had dinner at a Bar Louie’s before and we really had enjoyed it. It was so cool to have my folks here to hang out with us and we had a blast! One extremely cool thing about this whole five week tour has been that we’ve all been able to hook up with each of our families at some point of time or another. That means so much to us because we do not get to see our families very often, so if we happen to be close to some, we always try to make a visit happen! Thanks mom and pops for coming out!
Well, tomorrow is officially the last day of our radio tour. We still cant believe that it’s been five weeks! We’re all pretty anxious to get home to see our kids, men, doggies and kitty cats. Yay! We’ve been joking around about what we’ll be doing now that we’re going to be home for more than one day. We’ll all be calling each other wanting to see what the other one is doing!

Wednesday, April 25th 2007
Radio visits to Kat country 96 FM in Allentown, Pa. WGGY Froggy 101 in Wilkes-barre, Pa. And with WIOV “The Big “I” 105 in Lancaster, Pa.

Hello! We slept like rocks last night at the Sheraton in Allentown, Pa. I think that we’re all finally caught up from our weekend of running and performing shows. So today, we were on the move again. Our first stop was to Kat Country 96 FM in Allentown to see Jerry Padden. We actually already knew Jerry from a year ago while out on tour. We’d been playing in Allentown and he was so kind as to take us on a trip to Walmart to go buy us skivs! Bless his heart! Ha! Talk about such a sweet man, so full of patience! Anyhow, it was so nice to see him again and to catch up and chat. What a nice way to start out our day. So after playing for Jerry and some others who’d stopped in, we were on our way to our next destination.

Visit to WGGY Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Froggy 101
We learned what a “dump button” is. Ha!

Well, from here on things got really interesting for us! We dropped in at Froggy 101 and were greeted by Carolyn Drosey. She led us into the conference room where we met Doc Medek, Skeeter, Kelley Green and friends. Right from the start, Kelley and Trenna were off to the races with jokes and craziness! Hanging out with Kelly was especially hilarious! She was making us laugh so hard that our faces hurt! She and Trenna were going off about everything from bra sizes (making the men in the room blush), to commenting and cutting “interesting” jokes about the food that we were eating (still making the men in the room blush. ha!). We played our acoustic show for them and then we went on into the studio to do a 30-minute interview/ performance for Skeeter on the air.
What was about to happen next, the sister in this group has chosen not to have her name revealed, so I’ll respect that…, unless she decides otherwise. We were cutting up big time during the live interview! So we were just having a good ole’ time when “Sister X” tripped into a chair, stumbled backwards and almost fell into a soap dispenser hanging on the wall. While trying to catch her fall, she said “S*#t!” All of the sudden, the room went silent and immediately Skeeter was on the radio gear working diligently to “cancel out” the profanity before it went through the delay and hit the airwaves. Henceforth I introduce to you the “Dump Button.”
It was the stations' first official test of the “dump button,” and we’re pleased to say that it worked wonderfully! Basically, there is a small-second delay that cuts off any transmission and leaves silence on the air to ensure that there is no FCC violation which we were told is a $325,000 fine! There was a lot of sweating going on after that one! The crazy thing about it was that after the interview, everyone came into the studio giving “Sister X” high fives! Great job Skeeter and crew on the save! Who would’ve thought that an all girl group would be the first to test the “Dump Button”!!!! It kind of reminded me of “The Christmas Story” when little Ralphie had said “Fudge,” but it was really the queen mother of all dirty words that he’d said. Everything at that very moment moved in slow motion! We have decided not to watch anymore South Park prior to any live radio interviews from here on! --No harm done, but LESSON LEARNED!

Visit to WIOV “The Big “I” 105 in Lancaster, Pa.

We arrived in Lancaster around 5ish. We met with R.J. McKay and also had the opportunity to meet Les who has been a volunteer for the fire and ambulance services ECAA. It was nice to catch up with R.J. (ha, we actually had two R.J.’s on this visit!). We hung out and talked for a good while and then it was time to hit up some good grub. We ended up going to a historic place called “The Lincoln Home,” in downtown Lancaster. Legend has it that Abraham Lincoln used to stay there, and the place reeked of history. Many photos hung on the walls, along with letters written by Abraham Lincoln himself! It was a good dinner with a historic atmosphere. R.J. joined us and we talked about cooking and wine tasting. It was a fine eve!

I think that after today, we’ve officially entered the “slap happy” phase of our tour. It’s kind of expected after being out as long as we have. When some people crack after being out so long, they express it in different ways, some for the better, some for the worse. We’ve expressed it via photos. We would like to post some of this silliness for your enjoyment. Rule 2: Never let the girls of Cowboy Crush get a hold of a camera during a “Slap Happy”/”Cracking” phase.
Good times!

Tuesday, April 24th 2007
Visits to WXCY in Havre De Grace, Md. , WPUR in Atlantic City, and WXTU in Philadelphia

Hello there! We’re rolling again! We finally got some good rest after the weekend and we just finished our visit with everyone at WXCY 103.7 in Havre De Grace, Md. We had a pretty full bus and a great visit! We got to meet Dave Hovel, Mike, Paula, Brittian and Ken. Thank ya’ll for listening!
We’re now on our way to Atlantic City to visit with WPUR. It’s hard to believe that we’ve been on the road for almost 2 weeks straight, and that we’ve been on radio tour for five weeks! Doesn’t seem like that long at all. Time flies by so quickly out here! Well, we’re stopping at a truck stop, talk to you again soon!

Visit with WPUR in Atlantic City, NJ.

We got into Atlantic City, N.J. (actually on the outskirts) a little before 2pm to visit with Joe Kelly at WPUR.
He came on to the bus and brought Jennifer and Susie along to hang out and listen as well. We got to talk to Joe about baseball because later this eve he had to go be an Umpire at a little league game. His son plays little league, but wasn’t playing this particular game tonight. So we got to play and visit with them for a little while longer then we were on our way to a cool seafood place that Joe had suggested called “East Bay Crab and Grill” where we had yummy crab cakes for lunch! They had huge oyster crackers in jars at the tables and I couldn’t help but to snack on plenty of those as well. With our full bellies, we were now off to Philadelphia for our final meet for the day with WXTU.

Meeting/dinner with WXTU, Philadelphia, PA.

We made it into Philadelphia 3 hours later, there was a lot of rush hour traffic! We were scheduled to meet Roy Land and his wife, Rachel. Congratulations newlyweds! WXTU has been a longtime supporter of Cowboy Crush and we’ve played various events for them before such as the Tweeter Center, Triple Nickel, and their birthday bash. We played for them first before going into Longhorn (Trenna’s favorite!) and having dinner. Roy said that “We definitely didn’t suck!.” Ha! We asked him if we could okay that for print and he agreed! We talked about movies, he loves comedies like “The Blues Brothers,” and “Blazing Saddles.” His wife Rachel, however is more into books and she and Debbie talked a lot about that. Rachel is planning to open up her own bookstore. You go, girl! We’ll have to stop in and visit you when you open it up! We promise not to cause too much of a ruckus while we’re there. Great dinner and a great visit! Hope to see you all again soon!
We’re now on the road again, heading towards Allentown, Pa. To stay the night. It looks like we’ll be touring Pennsylvania for the rest of the tour. We’ll be in Pittsburgh Thursday eve and it’s looking like my mom, dad and brother may be coming up to hang for dinner! Yay! My hometown, Moundsville, W.Va. is only 45 minutes from Pittsburgh, so it’ll be nice to see my folks.

Okay, before I close out for the night, I’ve just been informed by Trenna that I must make a special mention about our radio rep. R.J. Meacham. He’s quite the character, and whenever we’re out on the road with him, we all goof off like brother’s and sisters!
A few years back, R.J. and Trenna had been rough housing through the streets of Rochester, NY. when she’d accidentally chipped his tooth with one of those huge rings she wears. He says that he chipped her ring with his tooth, but we know differently! So we wanted to leave you with this extra special picture of R.J. to close out with! Saaaaalute!

Monday, April 23rd 2007 Beginning of week 5
Visits with 97.3 “The Eagle” in Norfolk, Va. and WMZQ in Washington, D.C.
(Oh yea! We made it through the weekend too!)

Click on any image for the full-size picture

Okay, Here we are! We made it through the weekend and boy, are we beat! We’re pulling into our hotel in Aberdeen, Maryland. We’ll all be catching up on our rest tonight. The weekend was awesome!

Our weekend got off to a great start by flying first class (Thank you Neal and 903 for that!) to our first gig in Waxahachie, TX. The flight service was extra nice; the seats were wider with more foot room and they were giving us free drinks and snacks before the plane even took off! My favorite thing about it (and I’m sure that every musician who has to carry their instrument on board can relate to this) is that you also got the opportunity to board the plane a little bit earlier to find a safe place for your prized possession (your instrument) and not risk it being stuffed under the plane to be potentially crushed. It’s always been a nail biting and intense situation for my fiddles and me because I’ve had things broken before on flights even when they are tucked away in a flight case! But- No worries whatsoever on this flight!

We got into Waxahachie later that night and we were staying at the Hampton Inn. Unfortunately, Becky and I were starving! We didn’t grab anything at the airport because we’d thought that we’d have the opportunity to eat either on the way to the hotel or at the hotel. We didn’t stop, and there wasn’t any food being served at the hotel. Our driver had to run off, and Becky and I were stuck wondering how we were going to get some food this late in Waxahachie.
How sweet it was for a man named Brandon, who was working at the front desk, to let us borrow his car and drive it a few miles up to an IHOP to grab a couple of omelets to go! Thanks Brandon!

Saturday, April 21st 2007 Waxahachie, TX. with Neal McCoy, Daryl Singletary, Daryl Worley and The Drew Davis Band

We got up casually the next day, tried to rest as much as we could because we knew that the next few nights were going to be pretty rough sleep wise.
It was an absolutely beautiful day, perfect for the party. They had a stretch Hummer come to the hotel to pick us up, along with Daryl and Daryl (ha!).
The drive was about 30 minutes and the 903 party was being held on “Byrum Ranch.” It was 500 acres of beauty with a lot of wide open spaces, donkeys, cattle, and a lake. Neal, along with his crew and everyone else, greeted us as we arrived. There was a lot of activity going on with the stage being set up. The party was for the start of Neal’s new label called “903 Records”. 903 is the area code for Longview, TX. which is where Neal is from. We all went and hung out on Neal’s band bus for a while and we took time to introduce our new “Crush Drummer” Kim to everyone.
We all got to eat some fine barbeque and before we knew it was time for us to get on stage! They’d actually flown in Jack Hanna to be the MC for the evening and he introduced us for our show. We were so honored to get the party started! We did our show, and spent the rest of the evening hanging out with folks and watching the other bands play. Becky had her sister and mother come and hang out and we all had a blast. There were quite a few people there for the party and it was a great atmosphere. Much Thanks goes out to Shawn and Jan Byrum, and Neal for having us! We hung out most of the night, but we had to be on our way because we had an early call (5am!) to head out to Biloxi in the morning. The performances were AWESOME!


Sunday, April 22nd, 2007
The Crawfish Festival, Biloxi, MS. - (Show with Gary Allan)

We didn’t really get to sleep till around midnight Sat/early Sun. We had lobby call at 4:45am. We made it though and we were on our way to catch our flight to Biloxi! We flew out of Dallas with a connecting flight through Houston, TX. We were all excited about this gig for many reasons. Becky, Debbie and I had played many gigs down on the Gulf Coast in previous years and we had not been down there in a long time. We were anxious to see whom we’d run into while there. We’ve missed our friends from the coast and some of them we’d kept in touch with throughout the years, however some we’d lost touch with over time. We were also concerned as well about the renovations in that area since hurricane Katrina. We were excited to play and to potentially run into some people that we hadn’t seen in years, but were bummed to see all the damage Biloxi had been inflicted with. It was hard to find our bearings as far as what used to be where as we drove down highway 10 along the gulf coast. So many things had been wiped out, yet there were beautiful renovations happening as well. It was so cool that in spite of all of the damage, that they were moving on and having the Festival. Everyone was so sweet and in such great spirits.
We did get to connect back up with some friends of ours, how nice it was to see them (Hey Johnny, little Caleb and Folks! Hello Bill and Tom!) So there we were, doing a show right there on the gulf coast, right on the ocean and in the sun, oh yea-- the sun. I got some major sun! A little too much for my fair skin! We got to hang out and sign autographs for a while, but we ended up having to run out soon after because we had to fly out of Mobile at “O Dark Thirty” in the morning. 6am!

Monday, April 23rd 2007 - beginning of week 5 North East radio tour! Visits to 97.3 The Eagle in Norfolk, Va. & WMZQ in Washington, D.C.

We left the hotel around 4:45am to go to the airport and catch our flight to Norfolk. We had one quick stop off in Charlotte before getting into Norfolk to meet our bus. Ahhh….. the bus, we love our bus…. it was so nice to see ‘home’ again! We were all pretty beat, but we threw on an extra stout pot of coffee and we were immediately on our way to go visit 97.3 “The Eagle” in Norfolk, Va.

We got to the station and were met by “Jim,” a very sweet man who’d been in the Navy for 30 years and a chief on a submarine. He helped us with all of our gear and led us to where we were going to be doing our on air interview and performance. He had on a Jack Sparrow shirt (Becky’s favorite) so we had to get a picture of that! Afterwards, we were joining contest winners and others for some lunch and to perform a private show for them in the conference room. We also had the pleasure to hang and interview with Karen. That was fun! We found out that her sister had been diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 31. Unfortunately, she lost the battle and Karen is keeping her sisters’ memory alive and has written a book of her journey. You can read more about her story on http://www.tracesjourney.com/ Thank you Karen for being active in breast cancer awareness and for sharing your sister’s story to help others through your experience. Trenna could especially relate to Karen because her mom had battled breast cancer recently and is a survivor! We love you Trisha!
After the interview, we went to the conference room and got to join others for a music show and some lunch. We got to meet and talk with John Shomby (operations manager/program director) and Mark McKay (Music director). We also got to meet Ed and Ken who were also in the Navy. Ken was a great guitar picker. We jammed a little bit on some jazz stuff. He said that he didn’t get to play very often because of his duty, but we encouraged him to keep on playing whenever he can!

Visit with WMZQ in Washington, D.C.

We got into D.C. and met up with Meg, Kim, Deena and Christy. Girl power! We kept kidding around with our radio rep. R.J. Mecham about him being totally out numbered by us women. We ate at Houston’s Restaurant and girl-talked. The Caymus Conundrum wine was excellent and we talked about golf and Texas! After dinner, we all went out to the bus and we played for them. It was a fun eve!

We had a really cool day, it was nice to visit with everyone and we hope to catch up with them again soon. Time to drive to the hotel and get some much-needed REST! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Friday, April 20th 2007
Visit to WQDR in Raleigh, N.C.

Today we got to drop in at WQDR in Raleigh, N.C. to visit with Billy, Lisa and the gang. They had us over for some lunch and we got to perform our acoustic show for them as well. It was a lot of fun and we had a blast hanging out with everyone at the station! This was officially the last day of our Southeast portion of our radio tour. A thanks goes out to our label rep. Mike Rogers for hanging with us!
We were due to fly out to Dallas today, so we parked the bus so we could take some time to prepare our gear, luggage, ect for the flight out.
We’re all extremely excited to go play the Waxahachie date with Neal Mc Coy and the guys. They’re actually flying us down first class! How sweet of them to give us such cool treatment! Becky worked with Neal a few summers back and was even in Neal’s “Billy’s Got His Beer Goggles On” video. He’s been a friend of ours for a while and we are all excited to get to open for him. We’ll also have the pleasure to hang out with Daryl Worley, Daryl Singletary and The Drew Davis Band. It’s going to be a lot of fun!
After the Texas date, we’ll be flying out to Biloxi, MS to perform at a Crawfish Festival. Being back in Biloxi will be extremely special for Becky, Debbie and I because we used to play at Treasure Bay Casino and the Grand Casino on a regular basis in years past. So we all have a bunch of special memories and not to mention a lot of friends in the Gulf Coast area that we are excited to hook up with again. We are looking forward to running into those old friends! That’s all for now…..will write again soon!

Wednesday, April 18th 2007
Visits to WSSL, WESC in Greenville, S.C. and WCOS in Columbia, S.C.

We got our day off to a cool start by going by WSSL –WESC in Greenville, S.C. to do our acoustic show and visit with Kix Layton, John Landrum and Steve Geofferies. They had a really neat little “showcase room” that they’d designated for live, acoustic performances in an intimate setting. It had a little stage with two small guitar lamps on each end. The room kind of carried that voodoo vibe and all we would’ve needed was some incense to burn while playing! They all came in to listen, and hang out. After the show, we got to meet Benny as well. He handled promotions at the station. He had some really cool stories to share with us and some neat photos of a band that he used to be in with his wife.
After performing and visiting, we walked with Kix and John to a place called “Sticky Fingers” to have lunch. Wonderful barbeque and great company! The downtown area of Greenville where we walked looked so pretty, we hated to have to run out so quickly, but we had to run on to Columbia, S.C.

WCOS Columbia, S.C. visit
We then stopped off in Columbia, S.C. to meet with Glen Garrett and L.J. Smith.
They came on the bus and hung out with us for a while. We played for them and chatted. L.J. was very complementary to Debbie’s bass playing, he then revealed that he played bass too. They led us inside to the station where we did some liners for them. We caught a glimpse of L.J.’s office. He had a really neat aquarium in there with “Nemo” and “Dory” fish!

Visit to WWNU in Columbia, S.C.
Okay, on this next visit, the pictures will just have to do a lot of the explaining! We arrived in Columbia, checked into our hotel and then headed up to WWNU where we met Rick Taylor and Tyler Ryan. We met Tyler Ryan first and right from the get go, Trenna and he were quick witted, full of fire, and great “sparring partners” throughout the interview!
Another really funny moment was when Tyler’s mom rang him on his cell phone and Trenna actually answered! We’re not really sure how his mother handled that, but at the moment it was hilarious. After playing and doing the interview, we all went to “Mc Doogles, where we hung out at the bar for a while with Rick and Tyler. Tyler was a trip (see photo)! I did get to chat with Rick. He had only been at the station for a few weeks, coming from Las Vegas, NV. He and his wife have moved roughly 25 times since he’s been in radio! It was really interesting to hear about his history in radio and the different places it’s taken him to and all of his accomplishments. We had a fun time with Tyler and Rick, but we had to call it a night because we had to head out in the morning! It was also unfortunate because there was some sort of violin display going on around town in which 30 different artists took bodies of violins and turned them into their own works of art.

Thursday, April 19th 2007
Visits to WEZL 103.5 and WNKT, Charleston, S.C.
Today we were off to Charleston, S.C. First we stopped to see Reid Thrush and Kenny Sherbert of WEZL. We invited them onto the bus and got to play for them and visit for a bit. They were especially moved by our special song for the troops called “He’s Coming home.” There’s a lot of troop presence in Charleston and this is the town where a lot of the troops are brought home via C-17 planes. We would be honored to come back to Charleston to play a show for our troops soon!

Visit to WNKT - We were then on our way to meet with Brian Driver of WNKT, Charleston, N.C. We played for him on the bus and then we were off to lunch to a place called “ Morgan Creek Grill” in the “Isle Of Palm.” It was a pretty bay area with a lot of cool boats and water front homes. Becky and Brian talked about the dance hall scene around the Dallas. Brian had lived in Dallas and Becky had played many clubs and dance halls in the Dallas area. Debbie got to talk with him a lot about Branson, Missouri and Bass Pro Shop in Springfield, Missouri because Brian had also lived in Joplin, Missouri. So we all had plenty to talk about!

So we’re now on the road to Raliegh, N.C.
We have one more radio station visit, then we fly out to Texas to do a special show with Neal McCoy in Waxahachee. After that, we’ll be going to Biloxi, M.S. to play the Crawfish Festival. A couple of busy, yet fun days ahead of us! See ya'll soon!

Monday, Tuesday April 16th and 17th 2007
Week 3 South East Radio visits

Click on any image for the full size picture.

Here we are! Getting ready to start on week three of our radio tour visits! This week we’ll be focusing on the S.E. portion of the country with Mike Rogers.
We had a few days off at home to regroup, do laundry and to switch out busses. Yep, we moved to a different bus! The previous one was scheduled to be sent out elsewhere so we had to move all of our stuff onto a new bus. It’s so crazy how settled in you can become on a 45 foot space. You literally move in and it becomes home! Another funny thing about moving to a different bus is that you have to relearn where and how to pack things and re-organize them. It’s also quite entertaining figuring out how to open the various “push button” doors, turning on lights, working T.V. remotes, and even flushing the toilets!
So here we are, once again heading out of downtown Nashville and I couldn’t help but to once again capture the moment of beauty and thinking of how blessed we are to be doing what we’re doing. I couldn’t help but to stop the girls in midst of their conversations and have them take in the special moment and reflect where we’ve come from and what we’ve done to get to this point. How cool!

We’re heading to Asheville, NC. To see K-99 Kiss Country.

Once we got to Asheville, we invited Zach, Georgy, Chelsea, Brian and Jeff onto the bus to listen and hang with us. We played them some of our tunes and later that eve we had dinner with Jeff Davis and Brian Hatfield at a place called “Flatrock.” Neat place and wonderful Tilapia! Debbie found out that Jeff was born in Huntington, Indiana, which was only an hour from where she’d been born. Also she was intrigued to find out that he had had a book from the radio station “WOWO” which used to host barn dance bands back in the 20’s and 30’s. That struck her as cool since her grandpa used to be in a barn dance band and they used to do that whole Indiana circuit.
Trenna and I talked, showed pictures and shared stories with Brian Hatfield about our pets. It was a really good dinner and it was nice talking with Brian and Jeff. Thanks for hanging with us!

Tuesday, April 17th 2007
Visits with WSOC Charlotte, N.C., WKKT and WTQR Greensboro, N.C.

Today we rolled onto Charlotte N.C. to meet Rick Mc Cracken, Stacey, Chele and D.J. of WSOC. They all came on the bus and we played for them. They would’ve been able to have lunch with us except that they all were a day behind on their work due to power outages following the storms that came through here the day before. We went on to lunch and actually got to hook up with some close friends of ours from Charlotte. Hey Bonnie and Sarah, great to see you!


Dinner at “Table” with John Roberts of WKKT Cat Country.

After a few hours of chill time, we were off to this cool restaurant called “Table” to meet up with John Roberts and his wife Chris. The place was elaborate! We hung out in the bar area for a few rounds and taking in the atmosphere before they arrived. It was most definitely some of the best food that we’d ever had. I actually tried Bison for the first time! It was really tasty and still as healthy as chicken. We talked about American Idol and Canada (that’s where they were from). It was John’s birthday so we had a desert brought to him (and it was yummy!). Speaking of deserts, the Bison was awesome, but we got to try their banana foster. The chef made it for us right there (at one point it flamed up really high!), and it tasted great. Finally, we made it out to the bus and only because they were close friends with Mike Rogers, (our S.E. radio rep. who’s out with us), did they get to see a “crazier” goofier side of Cowboy Crush. Between Debbie’s famous Grinch face imitation and my Chewbacka impression and just goofiness all around from all of us, it made for an extra fun acoustic show and visit.
Another cool part to the bus show was that a close dear friend to Debbie, me and the band showed up to watch us play. So nice to see you Jenna! Debbie and I hung out with her for a while after the meet and caught up on talk. So we probably didn’t call it a night until around 1am! Yikes! I'm going to bed! More tomorrow........

Country Thunder; Florence, AZ. -Thursday, April 12th 2007

Remember, you can click on any image in this blog and see the full size picture.

Hello there! We made it back home Friday afternoon after our gig at Country Thunder, so we’re now just catching up on some “blog-age.” Are you familiar with that song by “Kansas” called “Dust In The Wind?” Well, that song was running through our heads as we prepared to take the stage at Country Thunder. We’d caught a small glimpse of what strong winds can do in the middle of a desert when driving from Bakersfield to Phoenix the other day, but we’d never imagined what it would be like to play a show in that same situation!
It wasn’t too bad as we left our hotel in Phoenix, however as we got farther out into the desert and closer towards Florence (45 minute drive), the, the desert winds started kicking up and we could see the dirt devils tossing around! The sun was still out though off and on and the temperature was comfortable.
Country Thunder is a major happening, and the fact that it is such a big outdoor event,event; it has to be held out in the middle of a HUGE spread of land.
We’ve played four of these events in the past, and all of them have required a lot of land! Country Thunder out in Arizona is awesome! It’s like one giant country music party in the desert!
So we got to the venue, and got our bus settled in. They had catering for all of the performers outside, so we helped ourselves to some good grub. Afterwards we had some interviews with “Jay” and “Big Shoe Stew,” of KMLE 108, a pre-show jumbo-tron interview with KNIX 102.5, and the Florence Newspaper.
The wind was kicking up a little bit more by then and it was looking like we were going to be in for a very “interesting” show. We were told that a dust storm was heading our way and that the winds were going to get up to 50-60 miles an hour. We headed out anyhow because the show must go on!
We were quick to set up our gear, and we all wore sunglasses, not because of the sun that was no longer shining through, but because of the rushes of wind that would blow sand and dust in our faces as we played. During the show, Debbie’s bass doubled as a parasail, and Trennas’ hair would lash wildly in her face as she sang. She was unable to move her microphone stand because the stage crew had used a roll of duct tape to fasten in down to the stage due to the wild wind. Becky’s keyboards was shaking too. Kim’s cymbals danced back and forth in the wind, and if the stage crew hadn’t have taped those down as well, the audience would’ve caught sightings of what would’ve looked like UFO’s sailing out into the air! It was a fight for me to even keep my fiddle and bow in my hands as I played. I looked out and the visibility was becoming less and less as the dust and sand kicked up. But we played on and in spite of all of the craziness it all went well!
We signed autographs after the show, unfortunately the temperature had dropped and it became pretty chilly, but it was all worth meeting every single person in line, signing hats, pictures, tee shirts and taking photos.
It’s always such an honor and privilege to play Country Thunder. We had a blast, and its days like that, that remind us of how dedicated Country Music fans are, because the weather came in and they didn’t budge! Thanks for hanging in there with us!

Tues April 10- Visits to KNCI in Sacramento, Ca., KAT country 103 in Modesto, Ca., 93.7 Kiss Country in Fresno, CA.
Wednes. April 11– Visits to 93.7 (studio) Kiss Country, KJUG in Viasalia, Ca. and KUZZ in Bakersfield, Ca.

It’s been a busy few days for us out here in the West! Our goal has been to try to visit as many stations as possible prior to our gig coming up Thursday (tomorrow) at Country Thunder.
It was quite a trek getting from Salt Lake City, Utah out to Sacramento! Kudos goes out once again to our awesome bus driver, Donny Michaels (www.gigtours.com) for making it happen all while keeping us cozy and safe.
One of the cool things about the Sacramento visit was that some of Trenna’s family/friends happened to be close in the area and were able to stop by to hang out with us. Her dad Delbert, along with his friend Doreen and also Trenna’s Uncle Tom and Aunt Marianne came to join in on the fun. We got to catch up with them and have breakfast at the hotel prior to our radio visit.
Our first radio visit was with KNCI, Sacramento, Ca. We had the pleasure of meeting and having on board Mark Evans, Nate and Matt. We had a nice visit with them and played them some of our songs. Hope to see you again soon! Trenna’s family also joined us on the bus and got to listen to us perform our acoustic set.
After the bus show, we had to say goodbye to Trenna’s folks and roll on to KAT Country 103 in Modesto, Ca. We went into the station where we met “Bear,” Dee, Nate, Ray, Roper, Denee, Jenae, and Lenee (Wow, that’s a lot of –“ae’s!). It was a really cool station visit and we took a lot of pictures (behave yourself, Roper!). Thanks for all of your hospitality!
We were then on our way to Fresno, Ca. where we were to meet Jody Jo Mize, Steve Pleshe and Katrina of “KISS Country 93.7” for dinner at “Flemings.” Dinner was great (especially the Austrailian lobster) and so were the Cosmopolitans. We introduced Jody Jo to the Cosmopolitan and she enjoyed them. We also got to try an extremely special wine, a Remo Farina Amarone della Valpolicella, Italy. Cool vibe, great company and intriguing conversation throughout the dinner as Debbie and Katrina talked all about horses. Becky and Jody along with Katrina, showed pictures of their beautiful kids. After the dinner, we invited them over to the bus where we got to play for them. We were scheduled to play for them the next day and they urged us to stop in a little bit earlier so we could perform on the air at the station. We called it a night afterwards, except for a few of us (Debbie, Donny, Eric and I) decided to hang out “outside the bus” and watch a few boxing matches before turning in. It was so wild because there is actually a flat screen t.v. built in under the bus in a bay that comes out! I didn’t have a clue that it was there until last night. It was quite the sight, and Donny had set up a series of lawn chairs around the t.v. so we could sit down and hang out for a while! So there we were, camping out behind the Ramada Inn, watching boxing! All we needed was a good campfire and a lake.

Wednesday, April 11th 2007
Visits to 93.7 KISS Country in Fresno.Ca., KJUG in Viasalia, Ca. and KUZZ in Bakersfield, Ca.

We started off the morning with a visit to 93.7 KISS Country. We got to meet up once again with Jody Jo Mize and Steve Pleshe. We had the pleasure of meeting John Garabo and interviewing with him on the morning show. We hit it off with him wonderfully on the air and we kept him guessing at what we were going to do next to either make him blush or leave him speechless. We got to talking with him and we learned that there was this popular food item called “Tri Tips,” which are indigenous to that section of the country and that it was a type of briscuit sandwich-more on that later. We were priveleged to play a few songs acoustically and we had some calls come in. John loved the sound of the fiddle. Thanks Jody, Steve, John and Katrina for your time!

We were now on our way to go visit a long time supporter of our group “KJUG” in Viasalia, Ca.
We remembered the studio from a few years back, and it’s coolness factor with all of the antique radios displayed throughout the station. We met up with Adam Jeffries, Jenna Jackson and the rest of the crew at KJUG and did an acoustic show for them. We had a really good time! They turned us on to a place called “Big Bubba’s Bad To The Bone BBQ,” where they told us we could get some of those Tri Tips we mentioned earlier...and we did! I will say that the Oriental Salad that I had rocked and I ate every bite! Thanks KJUG for the cool recommendation!

After that visit and picking up a to go lunch from Big Bubba’s, we were on our way to KUZZ in Bakersfield, Ca. to see Evan Bridwell and Donna James. When we got there, Evan and Donna came on the bus and visited with us. They’ve known us for a few years as well and it was nice to catch up with them. They as well have been keeping up with us and our endeavors and were eager to hear about our goings on. We took the opportunity to play for them and they expressed intrest in having us back to come and play at the “Buck Owens Crystal Palace.” How cool would that be?! We hope to do that soon!

We’re now on our way to Phoenix, Az. to stay the night. We’re playing a show at “Country Thunder” tomorrow outside of Phoenix in Florence, Az. We’re extremely excited to be going there! It’ll also be our first “official gig” with our new drummer girl, Kim Trammel. Looking forward to doing a full on live show and rocking the house. The temperature is supposed to be pretty comfortable.., we hope! Right now, we’re heading through Barstow, and it is extremely windy right now. You can really feel it tugging on the bus. It’s also tossing up a lot of dirt and sand. We got off the bus to go get a sandwich and we all received a mouth and eye full of dirt and grit. Hopefully it’ll tame down a little and give our bus driver a break. We should get into Phoenix at midnight. Talk to you later!