Me Drumming on My Banjo

I took my finger picks off as the applause died down, and began drumming on my banjo with my hands. A hushed awe came over the audience. Meghan jumped in and drummed on her bass. Then Kendra began to drum on her guitar, then Alisa chopped on her fiddle – then my thumb pick flew off. That part wasn’t supposed to happen.
Sean came up behind me, picked it up, fumbled with it and then reached around my arms to place it back on my banjo. What a sweetheart he was to do that for me, I thought. The song ended and I picked up my pick to put it on, but it wasn’t mine! It wasn’t my Blue Chip pick. My eyes frantically searched the floor but I couldn’t find it. Then I thought, “Wait a sec, this pick I’m holding is Sean’s…” I turned to him. He had a smug little grin on his face as he began playing his banjo for the next song, and there on his thumb was my pick…
I gave him a, “Hey, you little tease. I want it back.” look. He just turned his bright blue eyes up at me and whispered, “Just one song?” Who could refuse? The next song was hard for me. His pick wasn’t anywhere near as comfortable or as full sounding as mine, but it was worth one song to see the smile on his face. Back stage I asked Sean how he’d liked using mine. He sighed, “I need to get me a Blue Chip.”
After the show, a guy walked up to me, “How much will you trade your pick for?” Another one? I thought. Wow, my pick is popular… I told him, “Oh, I can’t trade this one, but I can tell you where you can get one just like it.” “Hmmm, it’s special then, isn’t it?” He asked.
I nodded my head emphatically, “Yes it is. It’s the best sounding pick I’ve ever had. Sounds as good as a tortoise shell pick, but it lasts way longer.”
“Really?” He said, “I know it sounds good because I heard your tone when you played. You sound really good.”
It’s the Blue Chip Pick. Now that I play one, I’m hooked…

When you’ve seen more than one show of your favorite band, you call yourselves their groupies, right? So get this… two of our groupies have now seen 100 of our shows!  On that 100th show, Will and Kathy took some pictures of this momentous occasion. Take a look at our adventures that night… (AND CLICK HERE to See More of these Pics on Will and Kathy’s Blog.)

Look at those nice T-Shirts! (LT-RT: Will, Me)

Girl Power, Meghan Lifting that Heavy Speaker

Kathy's our Best Saleswoman

“What’s cabin fever in a car called?” I asked on Facebook a few days ago, “Because whatever it is, I have a serious case of it (over 40 hours of driving in 3 days)!!!”

I had some creative answers:

“Trip trauma?”
“In December it’s called Santaclaustrophobia…”
“CarFever… let mama sing you a lullaby!”
“Crazy Train”

(And my favorite)

“You have been in’car’cerated. Heh. I hope you know what that means. ”

We drove 14 hours from Nashville to Kansas. Then 21 hours to Virginia, 14 hours to Wisconsin, on to Tennessee for another 14 hours, and then 14 hours to Florida. Now we’re driving to Texas! Anyone dizzy yet?

Our producer, Paul Worley’s, eyes were closed at our meeting yesterday; his brows furrowed in concentration. Wally (his business partner) watched us with a grin as we sang them a song Kendra had co-written, “Where Do You Go (When You Can’t Go Home)”. Wally’s eyes twinkled as if he knew something I didn’t know. What was it, I wondered?

As soon as we’d ended the song, Paul said, “That’s a hit song.” (That means it’s good enough to be on the radio!)

Then he said, “There’s a difference between singing and SINGING. And that last part you’ve been exploring. You’re learning how to emote – to put emotion into your music.
“LaRae,” He turned to me, “your banjo is solid and steady. And Alisa, your fiddle has great tone! And Meghan, I love how you play that bass.”
That’s pretty satisfactory already, to hear him complement us like that, but wait- there’s more…
He stopped speaking, then looked at each of us one by one and said,
“You ladies are ready for the studio.”
I wanted to jump in the air and let out a victory shout, but I figured it might be a little awkward since I was holding a banjo, so I just grinned and listened for what Paul had to say next.

“We need to pick a date to record, a budget to work with, and we need to pick our favorite songs.”
It’s finally happening, everyone! We’re ready to record our first Country CD! The only thing we don’t have yet is the funding for everything. All my Redhead fans, come join us in this adventure! Pre-purchase our album and get your friends to buy it. With your help, we can not only record this album, but we can make it Go Platinum!

Now you can see why we love our new home…

(Click on the Photo to view Full-Size)

My sisters and I wanted something different this Christmas season. We didn’t want a mountain of gifts – we just wanted to feel the Christmas Spirit – so we devised a plan. Meghan whispered it to our younger brothers. At first they weren’t sure about it, but when we told them our ideas, their eyes grew wide with excitement. Then we all addressed our parents.
I told them, “We have an idea. Instead of getting gifts this Christmas, what if we gave gifts?”
Throughout December, we made gifts for friends, family and neighbors. We also drew names out of a hat and each of us made a gift for one member of the family.
Take a look at what we made…

Kendra’s Knit Monkey (For Ammon)

Joseph's Drawings of (LT to RT: Alisa & Meghan)

Alisa's Knit Scripture Bag (For Meghan)

Mom sewed Dad one of his favorite pair of dress pants (but I figured you wouldn’t want to see a picture of pants)

LaRae's Illustrations for Alisa's Poem (That's Me!)

This is not a gift, but it made me laugh... Ammon made a beard out of the stuffing from a box of fudge (Thanks, Billie + Lola!)

Sean's Drawing of Me (This made me cry)

Mom Sewed Each of us a Scripture Case

Joseph & Meghan Wrote Short Story Books (Like O'Henry's style)

Ammon Sewed a Pillow for Mom (He had Mom help him sew it. She Never Knew it was For Her!)

I woke up Christmas morning. There was no snow outside, but it didn’t matter to me anymore. I felt more satisfied and grateful than I ever have before. This really was the best Christmas ever!

Check out this video that a fan of ours made to help us promote “Go Platinum”!

We have a plan to Go Platinum (Sell a Million Albums) before we’ve even signed with a record label. This has been a year in the making and it’s finally released! Check it out HERE.

And here is the Store Page with the ‘Go Platinum’ packages and the Exclusive Stuff You Get at each level.

We are set up to produced by one of the top producers in the Country. We are so excited! Listen to our Music, Watch our Videos, and Jump in Now to help us Sell a Million Albums.

Please spread the word and share this with all your friends and family! With your help, We Can Do It!