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