Today started with helping Dave navigate the Tornado Warning in the area. He was traveling with the trailer with 60mph winds in the area. Fortunately he made it in without issue.
We were really unsure what the day would bring. Steve didn't receive many details so we weren't sure what to expect. We all headed downtown to see how it would all work out. We got to the Bluegrass Inn to see Aaron Kelly performing. He is a 16yr old boy with a nice voice. Rumor was that he has already been selected for the next American Idol show. We'll have to keep an eye out for him next year. He was done right at 2pm so we had to rush to get everything setup. The stage was very small for a 7 piece band so we were packed in pretty tight. There was a very basic sound system so we had to quickly decide what would be powered through the PA.
Tammy Malone was our guest vocalist for the day. We went through her songs and had to do some improvising as she pulled out a few things we didn't expect, but it was all good.
I know I sound partial, but after walking around the strip a few times I just didn't hear any bands who were doing music like we were doing. This seemed to be confirmed as slowly people started to peek their heads into the door and enter the club to listen to us. We got a great reaction from the crowd and made a little money in tips. Overall, it was a good performance dispite the rush required to get us setup and going. Now that we had done it, we knew we would be more efficient on Friday.
The most notable things from Thursday's performance were the visits from Wank and O'Brien from HANK FM to check out the show and the appearance of of Mark Johnson. If you look on our CD, many of the songs were either written or co-written by Mark. This was his first chance to hear his songs played live. He had a good time and we were really happy to see him and get to perform the songs he had written. For me, personally, that was the best part of Thursday's performance.
After dinner, we took off around the strip to see what was going on. We ended up spending most of our time at Robert's Western World. There was a group playing called the Don Kelley Band. This band included Dave Roe (bassist for Johnny Cash), and a tremendous young guitarist named JD Simo. You can see them on YouTube. We also saw Tommy Tutone at Tootsies...you know...Jenny, Jenny...8675309.
After that, most of us called it a night. We knew that Friday would be a really long day so we didn't stay out too late. One pleasant surprise was a phone call from Tom telling us he would be down to play on Friday. That was really great news!
Monday, June 15, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Wednesday - Getting To Town
All of us, except Dave, headed down to Nashville on Wednesday. Dave will be in on Thursday morning. Everyone got in late except for Tracy and myself. We were in town about 2pm so that gave us an opportunity to have a look around.
Down on Broadway, there were a sea of people watching the free outdoor concerts and walking in and out of all the venues. You can literally hear music every step of the way down Broadway. Getting to Broadway and finding reasonable parking wasn't really that difficult. We found $4 parking just two blocks away.
We were able to catch Rodney Atkins do his outdoor concert to a very happy crowd. As a musician, you could tell the ear monitor system was driving him nuts but sure 95% of people had no idea.
We walked over to the Bluegrass Inn to see where we would be playing this week. It's a small stage but shouldn't be a problem for us. We walked in and out of every venue to get a taste of the music being played. I like to see what's going on. Most of our time was spent at Robert's Western Wear. There was a little group in there fronted by the lead singer of a band called BR549 that some of you may remember. In my opinion, it was the best music on the strip in the late afternoon. BR549 was the house band at Roberts back before they got their recording contract.
We were back to the hotel by about 10:30 and called it an early night. Looking forward to seeing what Thursday holds for us.
Down on Broadway, there were a sea of people watching the free outdoor concerts and walking in and out of all the venues. You can literally hear music every step of the way down Broadway. Getting to Broadway and finding reasonable parking wasn't really that difficult. We found $4 parking just two blocks away.
We were able to catch Rodney Atkins do his outdoor concert to a very happy crowd. As a musician, you could tell the ear monitor system was driving him nuts but sure 95% of people had no idea.
We walked over to the Bluegrass Inn to see where we would be playing this week. It's a small stage but shouldn't be a problem for us. We walked in and out of every venue to get a taste of the music being played. I like to see what's going on. Most of our time was spent at Robert's Western Wear. There was a little group in there fronted by the lead singer of a band called BR549 that some of you may remember. In my opinion, it was the best music on the strip in the late afternoon. BR549 was the house band at Roberts back before they got their recording contract.
We were back to the hotel by about 10:30 and called it an early night. Looking forward to seeing what Thursday holds for us.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Final Prep
Tonight we went through our final preparations for Nashville. We are really excited for the trip. If you are going, please note that we will have a booth in the convention center on Friday only. That's not a bad thing as that gives us Thursday to prepare for our first show at The Bluegrass Inn.
Weather channel is showing rain for each day so make sure you bring your umbrellas if you plan to attend.
What more is there to say? Nashville, here we come! Looking forward to a great time!
Weather channel is showing rain for each day so make sure you bring your umbrellas if you plan to attend.
What more is there to say? Nashville, here we come! Looking forward to a great time!
Prep Continues
Sunday afternoon we got together and continued to work on the songs we may need to play for guest artists at Fanfest. While they aren't songs you would normally hear from Small Town, it's not a bad thing for us to stretch ourselves a little. We pretty much have the charts down so now it's just a matter of getting more comfortable with each song.
Our reservations are set and we're getting anxious to hit the road to Nashville. At last look, the weather appears to include rain and storms each day. That will be a little bit of a bummer for walking around but then may also help us to have a full house for our Thurs and Fri performances.
One more rehearsal to go before we make the trip.
Our reservations are set and we're getting anxious to hit the road to Nashville. At last look, the weather appears to include rain and storms each day. That will be a little bit of a bummer for walking around but then may also help us to have a full house for our Thurs and Fri performances.
One more rehearsal to go before we make the trip.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
The Preparation Begins
Tonight we started working on music for guests artists. When we play at the Bluegrass Inn, there is a chance that a few artists may sit in for a song or two. The most notable of these may be Lynn Anderson. She is a country legend who has won numerous awards. Most of you probably know the song, "Rose Garden". You can find out more about her from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Anderson.
So, needless to say, we are staying very busy preparing for our trip. We're still working on getting lodging and other details. We get more excited for the trip every day. It looks like Tom will have to stay home for this one as he has work commitments. We have all really had to make adjustments to get away for a Wed, Thurs and Friday.
Still a couple of rehearsals left before we head down. Lots to do with learning more than 10 songs to support guest artists in Nashville plus polish our show for the Strawberry Festival on Saturday.
Thanks for reading. We'll continue to keep you all informed.
So, needless to say, we are staying very busy preparing for our trip. We're still working on getting lodging and other details. We get more excited for the trip every day. It looks like Tom will have to stay home for this one as he has work commitments. We have all really had to make adjustments to get away for a Wed, Thurs and Friday.
Still a couple of rehearsals left before we head down. Lots to do with learning more than 10 songs to support guest artists in Nashville plus polish our show for the Strawberry Festival on Saturday.
Thanks for reading. We'll continue to keep you all informed.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Welcome!!
Welcome to THE place to follow everything going on with Steve Trent and Small Town over the next week and a half as we prepare and then travel to Nashville, TN to be a part of CMA Fanfest. I will be attempting to post frequent updates to the blog to keep the fans "in the know" on everything that is going on.
This will be my first time actually administrating a blog so I plan to have fun with it. I will try to keep fans informed of everything we are doing so you can feel like you are right there with us!
The cool thing about this blog is that it can be updated via text messaging so I will use this to try and provide almost real-time info on what's going on from preparation to the trip down to time in the convention center to our performances at the Blugrass Inn to our nights out meeting other people.
So, stay tuned and thanks so much for all your support of the band!
This will be my first time actually administrating a blog so I plan to have fun with it. I will try to keep fans informed of everything we are doing so you can feel like you are right there with us!
The cool thing about this blog is that it can be updated via text messaging so I will use this to try and provide almost real-time info on what's going on from preparation to the trip down to time in the convention center to our performances at the Blugrass Inn to our nights out meeting other people.
So, stay tuned and thanks so much for all your support of the band!
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