GUEST COLUMN: Notes from Nashville

In November Harriet Stewart and I (along with our label manager Steve Lockwood) flew out to Nashville, Tennessee for A Little Bit Country’s two week tour. Harriet and I had been out in 2016 when we released our successful single “Shot At Loving You” but we were totally unprepared!

Waltzing into the home of country music unannounced isn’t easy, but this time we had a plan.

With the help of independent record label, BFS Records in Thame, we managed to secure some very respectful venues to perform at, before we even left the UK.

We have found ourselves becoming a very recognisable name in Aylesbury and surrounding areas (and surprisingly in Mexico too), but this was another arena altogether.

First stop on this journey of a lifetime was 650AM WSM the home of The Grand Ole Opry.

It is one of the oldest and longest running radio stations in the world, and has been and seen the start of many a star’s career.

To put it in perspective, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Elvis Presley and Dolly Parton have all graced the stage and airways here, so this was a huge deal!

We appeared and performed live on Nashville Today, Nashville’s local radio show.

We didn’t waste any time as next up was a live performance and interview for the TV show Nashville Entertainment Weekly.

We talked about our music and the differences we faced in the UK and the USA.

Other notable performances on the tour were Bobby’s Idle Hour (which featured in ITV’s “There’s Something About Megan”), The Fillin’ Station and 2 performances at the world famous Bluebird Cafe!

We met some friends out there and made new friends and contacts too, taking in a few writing sessions, including completing three new tracks for the album that will follow “Whiskey & Wine”.

The music scene in Nashville is thriving and the level of competition is higher than anything we have seen on the circuit here, so you’d think that everyone would be clamouring over you to make a success of themselves.

In fact you couldn’t be further from the truth.

All the musicians, venues, fans and promoters seem to be prepared to do anything to help you get to where you need to be.

Their critiques are very positive and constructive, even if there is something negative to address.

It’s like everyone is part of the same team even though they are competing with each other.

This definitely makes a refreshing change.

There are many people in the UK who share this ethos but we would definitely need to up our collective game if we were to match Nashville’s love and care for the music and the musicians!

This tour had benefits far beyond that of more recognition, it placed us in the centre of peers within the country genre and allowed us to see where we are, where we are going and where we need to be - and I’m not necessarily talking geographically.

It reassured us that what we do and continually strive for is not time wasted and really is paying dividends now, and will pay even more in the future!

It was a nice end to a very busy and successful 2017 and it paves the way for an even better 2018, with a new single and UK tour coming soon and we may throw in a Nashville return for good measure.

You can find a full blog of the tour at www.albcountry.co.uk/nashville-tour and find out what is happening currently follow the band at www.facebook.com/alittlebitcountryuk