via WRAL.com:
“It’s tough for us because we’re both from small towns from nowhere around L.A. We just try to stay true to ourselves, stay in our boots – that’s what I like to tell myself – and stay grounded,” McCreery said.
Ok, I know, two American Idol posts in a row. But seriously, how can you not love that quote?
Stay in those boots, Scotty and Lauren!
Sorry for disappearing on everyone! I spend so much time on my computer and online for work+work that I’m spending less and less of my personal time anywhere near either these days. I’m looking for a little more normalcy these days though, so hopefully I’ll be back to some enjoyable blogging soon!
In the meantime, I had to share a snippet from my friend Nikki’s new blog: Southern State of Mind.
Guess who is going to download this Darius Rucker song promptly? (Me!)
“You can see it in the clothes I wear you can hear it when I talk
Ball cap, boots, and jeans and a little southern drawl
I could be up in Ohio or back home in Caroline
No matter what state I’m in
I’m in a Southern state of mind“
And yes, I’m going to be a good blogging friend and encourage Nikki to not make her blog private so that way more of you fantastic readers can readily follow along with her posts. 🙂
Thursday night… be there! Only $25.00 – proceeds to visit this amazing place: http://www.ncchildrenshospital.org/
Buy tickets online at http://www.dpacnc.com/default.asp?dpac=19&objId=371.
Details:
Country for Kids concert at DPAC to benefit N.C. Children’s Hospital
Curtis Media Group announced the addition of a charity concert, dubbed ’Country for Kids,” to the ninth annual N.C. Children’s Promise Radiothon/Telethon with proceeds benefiting North Carolina Children’s Hospital.
Presented by 94.7 WQDR, Country for Kids will feature live performances from four artists, Rodney Atkins, James Otto, Clay Walker and North Carolina’s very own Jason Michael Carroll. The concert event will be the celebratory culminations of a day full of miraculous stories being broadcast live from the N.C. Children’s Hospital lobby on nearly 20 Curtis Media Group radio stations and Time Warner Cable’s News 14 Carolina as part of the N.C. Children’s Promise Radiothon/Telethon, UNC Health Care’s largest fundraising event each year.
PS: Jason Michael Carroll also has a new five song holiday album out from his very own label – Stray Records. Download it on iTunes today! (I can certainly approve the playing of his holiday music prior to Thanksgiving. ;-))
PS #2: Jason is the Grand Marshall at this year’s Raleigh Christmas Parade taking place on Saturday. Get excited!
{Image: http://www.dpacnc.com/default.asp?dpac=19&objId=371}
Went a total of four times this year – all four were fantastic, per the usual.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ncsulilwolf/sets/72157625109184059/
Tuesday: The boys wanted to go for dinner. Saw a cow utterly object (nice play on words, right?) to practicing in the show circle any longer by hopping over the fence and running out of the building… with about 10 folks chasing her. Classic! Kicking myself for being too engaged in watching the action to take a video or get a picture of this.
Thursday: We went again for dinner, dragged Little Sister along for the fun, too. It was Can Day, but we forgot to help out this great cause and just paid at the gate. (Darn it!)
Saturday: Saw Hoooootie! (Aka: Darius Rucker). One of the best country shows I’ve seen in quite some time. Included Darius songs, a Toby Keith song (“God Love Her”), a few classic country hits, and three Hootie hits. Perfection!
Sunday: Breakfast and lunch with the family – NC State fair style! Did the Turkey Shoot. I missed the entire paper target, naturally.
Got a little education in under my belt, too – courtesy of this Deep Fried (NC State Fair) blog post:
In June I told you about Letters for Lyrics from Zac Brown Band and Dodge, which was a campaign I loved in its original format then. But my friend Amber sent me a tweet today letting me know about a new component they’ve added to this campaign and I love it even more now!
via http://www.zacbrownband.com/news.html?n_id=762:
Zac Brown Band and RAM Trucks Letters for Lyrics Continues to Salute the Troops
By saluting the troops you can receive a free CD Breaking Southern Ground. This exclusive compilation, not sold in stores, features Southern Ground Artists Zac Brown Band, Sonia Leigh, Nic Cowan, and Levi Lowrey.
Here’s how it works:
• Write a letter to a soldier
• Take it to a RAM dealer
• Receive the free CDPlease help us reach our goal of sending one million letters! If you cannot make it to a RAM dealer or Zac Brown Band concert, you can write your letter online and donate your copy of the Southern Ground CD to a soldier. Every letter brings us closer to our goal of 1,000,000 letters.
While you are on the Letters for Lyrics page, watch Part IV of the exclusive film “For Those Who Serve.” The documentary follows Zac Brown Band on their April USO Tour in the Persian Gulf and features the band performing for the troops, meeting individually with the men and women overseas, and sharing their thoughts on the experience.
If your prior excuse was that you had no time to get to a Dodge dealership (or that you didn’t care to get the CD), it’s now easier than ever to participate! So… get to it! 🙂
The title of this here blog is “Growing Up Southern…”, so I assume I don’t have to preface this post with a little ditty on Dolly, right?
@Dolly_Parton: “Love is something sent from HEAVEN to worry the HELL out of you!” 🙂 – Dolly
And just in case you need a little Dolly education: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_Parton.
{Image via: http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/famecrawler/archive/2008/08/05/dolly-parton-tackles-britney-lindsay-and-miley.aspx}
The words are actually “Carolina Saturday night”, but Sunny Ledfurd sings it with a drawl. Sunny has been a fixture in the NC bar rocker scene for quite sometime (especially in Charlotte, but also in Raleigh at City Limits Saloon) and I am SO glad to hear him on XM Radio’s “Nashville” station now!
Check out the new video for “Pontoon Boat”. I would like to dedicate this to my pontoon friends…
(Above: That was the boys’ “cursed” boat via Summer 2008. They called it “cursed”, I called them “rookies”. I still love them all, though!)
(Above: The entire “Buckhead Saloon and Friends” crew celebrating Kite’s birthday out at Falls Lake… circa Summer 2008.)
My sister and I are heading to the beach this afternoon for a mini-vacay… see you suckers next week!
And PS – While pontoon boats are a NC lake fixture, I’d be lying if I said that I have not asked Nick if we can take a pontoon boat out in the ocean. 😉
I’ll be sending a handful of letters.
How about you?
Kudos to the Zac Brown Band boys for their support.
Check out the full video of “Free” which includes a longer look at their USO visit.
Renee and I are working on our game plan for tonight and it definitely includes City Limits Saloon for the Brantley Gilbert (sorry, it’s a MySpace link) show.
Brantley is one of those artists that I have the pleasure of hearing on XM Radio, but if you’re stuck listening to just local stations, you probably aren’t hearing enough of this guy! He’s got a voice that’s a little country, a little rock ‘n roll… untainted by Nashville’s increasing lean toward pop.
PS – It’s also NEB/the boyfriend’s birthday today… so happy birthday to him 🙂
PS #2 – Our local homie, Brian Davis (LIVE!), will be opening for Brantley. Now THAT’S a good lineup!
Two posts in one day? Looks like somebody (this girl right here) is back on the bloggin’ wagon!
Just a quickie for country music fans who’d like to do something to help our country neighbors in Nashville, courtesy of local country radio station 94.7 WQDR:
Stop by tonight (Thursday) 8p-10p at the Longbranch for Throwdown Thursday. $5 gets you in to see JMC perform an intimate acoustic set and the LCI truck will be there to accept item donations. Also 100% of the door goes straight to Nashville! Also have a chance to win tickets to the Country Throwdown on May 28th and we will auction off a JMC autographed Cowboy hat from the Country Connection.
Friday night JMC will be helping Marty co-host Party Radio at City Limits! The guys with LCI will be on hand with the truck for item donations and City Limits is donating $1 for everybody through the door, so let’s pack the place! Also, you have a chance to win a signed hat by JMC donated by Country Connection and qualify to win a trip to the CMT Awards!!
I will either be at Altar Ego at the NC Museum of Art or JMC’s benefit concert tonight… so many worthy events going on, so little time!
{Image: examiner article “Historic flooding a true disaster“}
