June 19th and 20th gigs in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and Winfield, Kansas

Hello everyone! We just got back from a rush of a weekend! A lot of flying, and “vanning.” Other than a couple of blunders here and there as far as gear (hee hee, my bad), and a night or so of little rest, we had a great time. We left Nashville the afternoon of the 18th and flew straight into Denver. Denver airport rocks! It’s kind of space age, with a touch of European flare. We didn’t hang there long though. Being kind of sleepy from the day of travel, and ready to call it a night because we knew what lied ahead of us for the weekend, we picked up our rental van and then Eric our road manager , who’d arrived just a little bit later and were on our way to our hotel about an hour away. We got in right in time because the bottom dropped out of the clouds and it started storming! Debbie was driving and in spite of the van having a low tire she was able to pilot through the weather without a lot of trouble. Good job girl! I didn’t taste the back of a seat this time! Ha ha, long story. Anyway, we made it to our hotel, and had a 10am lobby call. We were to drive 3 hours on to “Steamboat Springs, Colorado. I always look forward to drives in such beautiful parts of the country.
We woke up, grabbed some food and were on our way. Such a beautiful trip, we passed through the pines of the Rockies, many ranches and small mining towns. The sights were breath taking. We did end up pulling into a service mart to check our tire pressure on the van. One of the tires was now low enough to set off a warning light. Eric, our chivalrous road manager and soundman ended up changing the tire. While stopped, we did take a quick opportunity to take some really beautiful pictures of the scenery.

Once the tire was changed, we were on our way once again and we arrived in Steamboat. It’s such a cool town and once again, we found ourselves wandering around and about having a hard time remembering that we were there for a gig and not a vacation. But it was so cool!! Debbie bought a couple of really neat souvenirs, Trenna bought a snazzy purse and I managed to pick up a Steamboat Colorado hoodie. The name of the club where we were playing was called “Ghost Ranch Saloon.” It had just opened and they were excited about having us there. There was a rodeo in town and we were expecting a lot of cowboys! They were so sweet as to allow us to stay in a downstairs apartment/band area. It was a really nice place and we were looking forward to playing. All was fine and dandy until we realized that my pedal board and gear got left at the airport. Doh. So while the others went to go do an awesome radio station interview with Debbie Duncan at KBCR. Thanks Debbie! The girls said you were awesome! I was taken by a sweet guy and former Army Sniper named “Justin.” He took me to a local music store, actually the same store who lended some gear for our gig already and I was able to hook up with some basic goods to go on and do the show with. My wireless unit bit the dust, so I have to wire up, but hey the show must go on! After sound check, the club treated us to a really good dinner. The steaks rocked!
After a little bit more walking around, taking in the sights and even a visit to the rodeo being held nearby, we went on around 10pm. We did a good show and all went well. Almost immediately after the show we headed back downstairs to the suite where we’d be staying and went to sleep…., well.., maybe not. The only problem with staying downstairs in a club is.., well, even though your party ends, the party upstairs continues. And then the poor bar staff having to clean up afterwards. Not much sleep to be had amongst us, we had a 5am leave time to go back to Denver and fly out. I did manage to sleep a little, I’d brought my extra heavy duty earplugs, but I could still feel the fatique the next morning. Before passing out on the van trip back to the Denver airport, I did make sure that I did stay up long enough to see the sun rise over the beautiful Colorado mountains. It was worth it!

June 20th Winfield, Kansas The “Winfield Country Roundup” opening for Ronnie Milsap

We arrived back at the Denver airport, and I was reunited with my pedal board and gear (yay!). We flew out of Denver, straight into Wichita, Kansas. We all tried to catch sleep off and on throughout the flight and on the van drive to our venue. Our hotel was close to the airport, so after tonight’s show, we all could catch up on a little bit of needed rest after the show before flying home. We dropped some of our gear off at the hotel to make room in the smaller van and we were on our way to Winfield. Weather became a concern for us. We started seeing really low hanging clouds. Clouds you never want to see, especially in Kansas! The rain came down once again and it stormed pretty fierce, but it did stop prior to arriving at the Roundup. There were several bands slated to perform prior to us, and the great Ronnie Milsap was the headliner. It wasn’t as hot outside as we’d previously thought it was going to be, but it was humid and felt “cranky” outside, with the possibility of more severe weather. The venue treated us to burgers and steaks and a really nice camper to stay and chill out in. A lot of us made ourselves comfy and caught whatever snooze time we could. We managed to get in a quick sound check and a little later we had a nice meet and greet with fans. Prior to our show, our friends at KSOK allowed me to take part in the “pre show festivities”, which involved shooting tee shirts out of a high powered air gun. I had a blast doing that! Once I got the hang of it, I had them sailing hundreds upon hundreds of feet away! We went on around 8pm and the show went really well. I couldn’t resist once again helping out with the festivities and firing tee shirts out to the crowd with the air gun. We had one heck of an autograph line afterwards and we took a lot of pictures. With our show done, it was time of us to goof off a little bit more. They had a small NASCAR racetrack set up with remote control race cars. Immediately, Eric and I were on board with that, racing around the track, slamming into each other’s car causing miniature racecar chaos. Everyone else joined in and it really got fun! The Roundup gave us some neat shirts and we did manage to catch a little bit of Ronnie Milsap’s show prior to leaving. Unfortunately, towards the middle end of his show the clouds opened up once again and a big storm made it’s way through Winfield. Ronnie ended his set early with “Smoky Mountain Rain” which was fitting with the downpour while we loaded out just as it was starting and made it out before it got too bad.
When we made it back to the hotel, we all crashed! So sleepy. Lobby call at 8am to leave, but at least it wasn’t 5am. We had a pretty painless trip home, except for poor Eric’s wallet coming up missing back in Wichita. I did pick up a “pet tornado” at the Wichita airport prior to flying out. We’re home safe now! Talk to you again soon!

Tues. June 9th Eminence, Missouri

Hi everyone! We just got back from a cool show in Eminence, Missouri for the 2009 Cross Country Trail Ride. We have done this show a couple of times before so to be back and get to perform and visit with our friends of the ride was really cool! Not to mention to take a great opportunity to pick up some cool western shirts, belts and boots at wonderful prices! I myself did partake in the huge discount sale they had going on and walked out with some really neat western shirts, and I bought my first pair of Justin “Gypsy” boots! They’re really comfy and the tops are actually pink, green and brown camo. So me! I wore them later that eve for the show and my feet thanked me.
The Cross Country Trail Ride takes place by the Jack’s Fork River. It is a weeks worth of cool music, horseback riding, taking in beautiful scenery of the Mark Twain National Forest, good food, horse shows, horse and tack sales and just a good ole’ kick butt cowboy time. Thousands show up for the event.

We arrived early Wednesday morning and pretty much had the whole morning into early afternoon to take it all in. Debbie and Trenna went horseback riding and they came back totally charged over the experience. People at the ride have always been so nice to hook us up with a couple of horses to ride whenever we’ve come out to perform and once again they did. They fitted Debbie with a Fox trotter Palomino named “Princess” and Trenna got to ride a gelding named “Jake” who was a double registered TN Walking Horse and Racing Horse/black/white/star marked like Black Beauty- both gaited horses. Princess did her own gate that was more of a “shuffle” and Jake could run walk as well as rack.
They took a beautiful trip through the Mark Twain Forrest, unfortunately some trails had been closed due to the excessive storms about three weeks ago and the high waters of the Current River. Usually you can cross the river at a fording place and hit more trails, but it was way too dangerous. Some of the trails had already had foot thick, sucking mud in some spots and limbs that had fallen that were hard to maneuver. All was well until Jake got his saddle too tight. He reared up, spayed his feet apart and rolled trying to remove his saddle. Trenna nearly escaped by jumping backwards. She was a little wary to ride him afterwards, rightly so! So they swapped horses and they were on their way. They returned the horses hot, sweaty, muddy and tired and the owners wouldn’t even let Debbie and Trenna help clean them up! Sarah did get to ride Jake as well in a cool area space they had.
After all the excitement, we had sound check and managed to get done right before the bottom fell out of the clouds shortly afterwards! It rained, and rained and rained. We were really worried that the show may get cancelled. There was a lot of lightning, and tornados hitting west of us. The opening act started a little late, but shortened their set. The weather let up and we did still get to go on and on time! We felt really welcome by everyone and it was so cool to be back at the Trail Ride. Thank you so much for having us back again!

We are now back in Nashville and we are gearing up for the world famous “CMA Festival.” From Thurs. June 11th through June 14th downtown Nashville pretty much turns into various stages of great country music entertainment. Thousands upon thousands of die hard country music fans from all over the world show up for this event ready to get autographs and see shows of their favorite country music stars and to pretty much take in the Nashville Night Life. It’s like one huge Country Music Party. We will be taking a part in the CMA Fest. We are scheduled to meet fans and and sign Saturday morning, then we hit the Sommet stage towards the early afternoon. Later that night we get to take part in another cool show at a place called “Limelight.” The radio station “KDF” will be there doing live remotes and it’s going to be one heck of a crazy time! So, we’re going to be cranking through CMA Fest weekend, but we’ll keep ya’ infoed on the happenings! Heck, if you all are not doing anything this coming week into weekend, come on out and hang!