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.
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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!
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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.
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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!
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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
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Beth
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