Perfect Time Tonight Wedding and Cocktail Hour

Tonight I was part of Kyle and Meggan Short's wedding and cocktail hour. It was hectic because it was in two locations and both uptown Charlotte with Friday 5:00 traffic. I got setup easily at Byron's South Side for the cocktail hour. Even though I had to lift the cart up a few steps by myself... Lynn was working at Merlefest. I left in what I thought was enough time to get to the First Methodist Church on 9th Street. Not! Bumper to bumper traffic... but I made it. Barely. I did my sound check and the organist, Don, startedOwen Poteat's BLOGletting these pipes above my guitar loose... and I mean loose! Man, they sounded awesome... deep, deep and loud... just like I like it. My part of this wedding was easy. I played and sang, "When I Say I Do" by Matthew West. I don't toot my own horn, but wow it was a breathtaking experience. That church has one of the best acoustics I've ever heard, period.

So once they said I do, I ducked out the back door of the church and scooted back to Byron's South Side to provide the music for the cocktail hour. It was an outdoor, patio, event and I played the full setup with drums and all. I started out with Cry Lonely and kept it low key until Born On a Bayou and ended with Phillip Phillips' "Home". Thank you Kyle and Meggan for choosing me for your music. On a side note, I really missed my wife tonight. We are a great team and when she's not there when I perform I realize all she actually does. She sure does much more now that she ever has and I missed her being there. Here's a link to the song I sang in the wedding:

Listen To Song Here

 

 

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Our local music stores need our help and support

Today I helped my friend, Jonathan Byrd, setup his booth at this year's Merlefest. His booth is surrounded by national big guitar vendors, with Fender all the way down one wall and Taylor right across the aisle. If you are going to Merlefest this year and you are going to buy a guitar, please support my buddy and buy your guitar from a well deserving local businessman at The Vintage Corner. Without our local owned businesses our world would be different... way too different. Good luck this weekend my friend.

 

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Great, fun show at West Wind Farm Winery in VA

I love playing at wineries and vineyards. The crowds are always so cool and attentive. I always joke that they've had the tastings and had wine with their meal... I actually start to sound pretty good and even start to look good later in the show.

The views traveling up by the New River are just spectacular. Their vineyard/winery used to be a family farm and the owner bought it from family and changed it from a working farm to a working vineyard and winery. Their story is awesome and if you get a chance you should check them out. Maybe even on June 1st... yeah that would be a good idea for sure.

Thanks for reading. Here are a few pictures from the show Saturday. Hope to see many of you again on June 1st.

 

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Wedding Weekend... two worlds are so different

My two worlds of music are so different. Rowdy concerts and street shows and formal wedding events. But, maybe they're more the same that I think. The advantage of playing 250+ shows per year is how prepared I am to perform. I can tell a big difference now in my musical performances. Like those who were are The Briar Patch last night can attest, I still screw up announcing the songs, but once the first note starts, I'm ready to go. When it all comes down to it, the music is the same, no matter what the event is. Maybe the song selections are a little different but I love playing everything on my list so I'm happy to just perform for a living.

It's time to hit the road for a 4 hour drive to the western mountains of NC. Tonight I'll be dressing up a little more and doing my best to make a rehearsal dinner party in the Highlands, NC a fun event for everyone. The groom has said they are all really pumped up for a party and to expect to stay hours later than planned. Sounds great to me! Then tomorrow I'll be dressing up a lot more... I'm back at one of my favorite wedding venues, The Esmeralda Inn in Lake Lure, NC for a wedding ceremony and reception.

So I'm sitting here thinking... my two worlds of music are different, but they are more alike than I would have believed. People just want to have fun and hear a good, unique, polished performance. Wish I could go POOF! and be in the Highlands right now, but since I can't it's time to put in a little road time.

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My Florida Snowbird Adventures Winter 2013

We have now been in the warm southwest Florida area for 3 months. We came to here to one, escape the cold in the mountains of NC and two, perform at many of the places where folks flock to escape the cold. Kind of the best of both worlds. Things are typically slow for me during the winter months so this year we decided, what the heck, let's try it.

So where have I performed for the last 3 months? January and February were spent beside the beautiful white beaches of Clearwater Beach as part of the Clearwater Beach Sunset Festival. Each night, I took my spot on the beach walk and serenaded those who began to gather each night to celebrate one of the best sunsets in the world to my music. It became a regular thing to do for many of the locals and those staying for a while. A few of the highlights for me included being interviewed by USAToday and appearing in one of their articles and meeting my buddy, Chase.

I first met him and his parents in January.Chase is 2 1/2 years old and has Down Syndrome. We fell in love with each other immediately and I found myself looking forward to seeing him running down the beach walk and standing laughing and clapping. I will miss the sunsets at Clearwater Beach but most of all I will miss my pal, Chase. In two months I never saw him when he was not smiling and happy. He has the attention span of a 2 year old and his mom spent a lot of the time chasing him in all directions... turns out he is appropriately named. Later I learned I could take a spot closer to the lifeguard building and he would be safer while visiting me... so that's where I'd set up. Lynn would stand guard over one exit and his mom the other one. His parents have taught him that if he does something good they clap... so Chase does the same. I found myself stopping in the middle of a song to clap and laugh with him. All you ever want with your music is for it to connect to folks and mean something to them. It meant a lot to Chase but Chase meant more to me. I will miss my little buddy for sure.

Around February I hooked up with the largest fresh market on the east coast, the St Petersburg Saturday Morning Fresh Market. So each Saturday I'd start singing at 9:00am until 2:00. I met so many fans and friends there and thanks to so many buying CDs my music is traveling all over the world now. I enjoyed the market scene so much Lynn and I started looking for other similar opportunities. Next came the Gulfport Tuesday Fresh Market and that led to the Gulfport Friday and Monday Art Walk, which led to the Coquina Beach Sunday Fresh Market. It happens I guess but we came here to do one thing and ended up doing something totally different. After a few weeks we found there just wasn't time to drive to Clearwater Beach everyday, so we moved to St Petersburg and made that area our home base. I made so many friends and fans at these markets and had a blast performing so much. I especially enjoyed the friendship Lynn and I created with Worden Farm, a huge organic farm in Florida. Each week they would bring over a bushel of great organic veggies that fed us almost all week. I will miss them and their really good food.

Being on the bayou in St Pete opened up the opportunity to do something else I love, fish! So after purchasing a kayak from one of the local shops I started going out everyday to try my luck at inshore Florida fishing. Here's one of the many redfish I caught. My biggest was a huge snook, pulled from the bayou not more than 200 yards from our back yard.

We also found that we, including Jake our dog, loved Fort Desoto. Here's a picture of me paddling out into the Gulf do catch a few Spanish Mackerel... yes, I said Holy Mackerel several times that day. This county park on the Gulf of Mexico is one those pristine places where you just find yourself catching your breath from the sheer beauty of what you're seeing.

We loved our time in Florida and unless plans change, which plans often do, we plan to come back again next winter. With just 2 more shows in Florida, we leave for home on Sunday morning. We miss our friends and family back in the mountains... especially our little granddaughter Carrie. Plus thanks to Heather and Joseph, we will be grandparents again in August... so another sweet grandchild may influence how much we can stand to be away from home. I have to say playing almost everyday of the week has helped me perfect what music is to me, it's allowed Lynn and I to experience the paradise that is southwestern Florida and brought us even closer together... and, it's made me realize how very, very fortunate we are and how very much we miss being home. To say life is good would be an understatement and I owe a debt of gratitude to everyone who booked me for so many shows, everyone who generously tipped, everyone who bought so many CDs and my wife, who is my loving partner in all this. Without you we could not have done this and we are extremely humbled and grateful.

Cleaning My Harps Is a Pain

One of the bad things about playing out so much is how often I have to clean my harps. A harp friend of mine suggested I use this to clean them regularly and then take them apart once per month. I tried it today. You would not believe the stuff that came out, plus it leaves a minty smell and reminds me of my late grandfather. Has anyone else tried this?

 

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Our cat, Bo, loves her personal windshield saunaa

This time next week Lynn, Jake, Bo and I will be on the road to home in NC after being away for the last 3 months. It will be sad to leave the paradise that is southwestern Florida but as Dorothy said, there's no place like home. Can't wait for so many reasons. But, Bo,the cat who hated the motorhome, loves her private sunning windshield so she may be mad for a while. See you next week NC.

 

 

 

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