What a whirlwind of a few weeks it’s been, and a time of many ‘firsts’. February saw us jet off to the States for the first time for a couple of weeks for a Nashville to Memphis to LA tour, then we flew straight over to beautiful WA to play Nannup Music Festival, and just last week we have been at the very awesome Blue Mountains Folk Festival and supporting country legend Nanci Griffith for her Melbourne and Sydney shows. Wow! I am loving 2010, bring on the rest of it!
Thanks to everyone who came to our shows at the festivals. What a great time we had. There’s nothing I enjoy more than having some serious laughs on stage throughout a show and that’s definitely what the last bunch of shows have been like. I’m lucky because I get to stand in the middle of Byll and Rob, who I must say I think are comedic geniuses. They would probably, actually most certainly, beg to differ on that statement and call it ridiculous, but for me, as far as the youngest sibling is concerned, they are two of the few people who can make me laugh uncontrollably and whom I’m very jealous of their wit and delivery. It’s like being in a nest for me having Josh, Byll and Rob all around. I scored a good spot in the middle. When we are doing our thing all together, it’s so easy and comfortable. Remove one of them and it feels like the mothers left the nest. I turn into an anxious little chick!
We must say a big huge thank you to Nanci for having us on her OZ tour. What a totally inspiring lady, one of the best storytellers and entertainers I’ve seen. We will be forever aspiring to have as long and as successful career as Nanci has had. We were chuffed when she generously asked us back up on stage to close the show with her singing the classic ‘Hammer Song’ which was a tune everyone could make a noise to. Look out, you might just hear that one slip into one of our future sets.. Cheers to Phil Kaufman and Thomm Jutz also who were so good to us.
We are off again to Sydney this week to do our very own show at the beautiful Raval (above The Maq Hotel) this Wednesday 24th. Would love to see all you Sydney and Blue Mountain folks there to share the evening with us.
That’s it from me.
Beth
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Home sweet home
It’s been a week since we landed after the first most fantastic, exciting and memorable tour of the States that we have had as a band, and its only taken a week, maybe less, to miss the places and the people who we met along the way more than anything. It was everything we hoped for and more, and I must say that I think we have all indulged in the idea of moving there one day.
....
We went to attend the International Folk Alliance, which was held in Memphis, Tenneesee. It was a four day conference where bands and artists from all over the place showcase to industry types and each other. The unique thing about this conference is that 95% of your showcases are held in hotel rooms and are absolutely acoustic. This was something we were feeling a bit uneasy about prior to arriving at FAI, but by the end of the conference couldn’t get enough of. We were performing 3-4 times each day during all hours (showcases ceased at 3am each morning), surviving off very little sleep and forgetting to eat a lot of the time. Our vocal chords got quite the work out indeed! Our manager, Tom Harris, did an amazing job at organising and running the Australia room which was sponsored by Sounds Australia, and hosted a bunch of extremely talented and awesome Aussie acts who we became a little family with throughout the conference. We would get up every morning (late morning), arm ourselves with postcards and business cards, sling our Little Stevies bags over our shoulders and go off to meet and greet for the rest of the day in between shows. All the shows were fantastic and awesomely attended, and on the final night we played our official showcase with a full PA to a big full room. It was an absolute blast! We met some incredible bands, saw some magical music and songwriters, made lots of American and Canadian friends and fell utterly head over heels for one band in particular, Tripping Lily - http://www.myspace.com/trippinglily - you must check them out!
....
Prior to the conference though, we spent a week in Nashville where we did a bunch of shows at venues including Norm’s River Roadhouse, The legendary Bluebird Café, The Basement and an impromtu gig at Red Rooster on the night we arrived. We were lucky enough to meet some pretty cool people who extended some pretty awesome invitations our way. First and foremost, Ray Di Pietro, who we met on the plane to Nashville who took us under his wing right from the beginning, showed us the real Nashville, took us to where the locals eat and drink and told all his friends (some very cool friends in the industry….if you know what I mean…) about this great band he had met on the plane and that they should check out our music and video’s. Needless to say, I think a few had a good laugh at our ‘Dink You’ movie. Norm, from Norm’s River Roadhouse, who gave us the best first gig of the tour, also gave us the most amazing live sound we’ve probably ever had and showed us how you’re meant to drink whisky in the States. Allen Parker, another superb sound engineer who mixed us at the Bluebird Cafe and who also works at the most beautiful studio in Nashville – Ocean Way Studios – who invited us over to have a tour of the studio big enough to fit a full orchestra and later took us out ‘honky tonking’ in the capitol of country music.
....
On our final night of the tour we stopped over in Los Angeles, walked down Hollywood Blvd, visited the stars, saw the Hollywood sign and played a show at the very cool Hotel Café. Thank you to all those people who saw us in Nashville and made the trip along again to see us in L.A. You guys totally rock!
....
It was the most wonderful 3 weeks of immercing ourselves in and discovery the quite unique country/folk music scene over there, and experiencing first hand the enthusiasm that everyone has for music. We definitely have plans to go back again in the next year as there are some exciting possibilities and opportunities in the pipeline. Will have to wait and see!
To feel like you were there, check out our 8 tour video blogs: www.thelittlestevies.com
....
Beth
....
We went to attend the International Folk Alliance, which was held in Memphis, Tenneesee. It was a four day conference where bands and artists from all over the place showcase to industry types and each other. The unique thing about this conference is that 95% of your showcases are held in hotel rooms and are absolutely acoustic. This was something we were feeling a bit uneasy about prior to arriving at FAI, but by the end of the conference couldn’t get enough of. We were performing 3-4 times each day during all hours (showcases ceased at 3am each morning), surviving off very little sleep and forgetting to eat a lot of the time. Our vocal chords got quite the work out indeed! Our manager, Tom Harris, did an amazing job at organising and running the Australia room which was sponsored by Sounds Australia, and hosted a bunch of extremely talented and awesome Aussie acts who we became a little family with throughout the conference. We would get up every morning (late morning), arm ourselves with postcards and business cards, sling our Little Stevies bags over our shoulders and go off to meet and greet for the rest of the day in between shows. All the shows were fantastic and awesomely attended, and on the final night we played our official showcase with a full PA to a big full room. It was an absolute blast! We met some incredible bands, saw some magical music and songwriters, made lots of American and Canadian friends and fell utterly head over heels for one band in particular, Tripping Lily - http://www.myspace.com/trippinglily - you must check them out!
....
Prior to the conference though, we spent a week in Nashville where we did a bunch of shows at venues including Norm’s River Roadhouse, The legendary Bluebird Café, The Basement and an impromtu gig at Red Rooster on the night we arrived. We were lucky enough to meet some pretty cool people who extended some pretty awesome invitations our way. First and foremost, Ray Di Pietro, who we met on the plane to Nashville who took us under his wing right from the beginning, showed us the real Nashville, took us to where the locals eat and drink and told all his friends (some very cool friends in the industry….if you know what I mean…) about this great band he had met on the plane and that they should check out our music and video’s. Needless to say, I think a few had a good laugh at our ‘Dink You’ movie. Norm, from Norm’s River Roadhouse, who gave us the best first gig of the tour, also gave us the most amazing live sound we’ve probably ever had and showed us how you’re meant to drink whisky in the States. Allen Parker, another superb sound engineer who mixed us at the Bluebird Cafe and who also works at the most beautiful studio in Nashville – Ocean Way Studios – who invited us over to have a tour of the studio big enough to fit a full orchestra and later took us out ‘honky tonking’ in the capitol of country music.
....
On our final night of the tour we stopped over in Los Angeles, walked down Hollywood Blvd, visited the stars, saw the Hollywood sign and played a show at the very cool Hotel Café. Thank you to all those people who saw us in Nashville and made the trip along again to see us in L.A. You guys totally rock!
....
It was the most wonderful 3 weeks of immercing ourselves in and discovery the quite unique country/folk music scene over there, and experiencing first hand the enthusiasm that everyone has for music. We definitely have plans to go back again in the next year as there are some exciting possibilities and opportunities in the pipeline. Will have to wait and see!
To feel like you were there, check out our 8 tour video blogs: www.thelittlestevies.com
....
Beth
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