WIDE OPEN

   So back to the story time line. After that show where we magically became headliners, it started to get crazy. From that show, we had over 100  bookings for the rest of the year. We were having to turn down more shows than we booked! We literally became a touring band overnight. Selling CD's, shirts, hats, and anything we could think of....we were a musical WalMart! The demand for shows allowed for us to buy a trailer, PA system, new instruments, ect. It was great......BUT.....I just had a feeling that there was something more.

   After a show one night, a friend who had brought us to play several times, took me aside and told me about a promoter in Nashville that put on a nationwide tour twice a year. I was kinda confused as to why he was telling me about him until he said "I am gonna call him and tell him about you".  I was thinking that it was probably going to be one of those calls where the promoter nicely explains that the tour is for national acts and maybe down the road we could do something together......that's what I get for thinking! Within 3 months, we were packing up the bus to go on our first national tour. Now let me back up for a second. I said bus......it was a church bus. No bunks, horrible seats that only people under six ft. can sit down without bashing your knees, and a not so great air conditioner. To top that off, this tour 40 or more shows, some of which, we had to drive 16 hours to get to the next stop!  We were about to get a crash course in road life!

I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I WAS COVERING UP WITH!!??

   Arriving to the first show we were not even sure where we were playing. A church? A convention center? Not so much....It was an arena! The only time I had ever been on the floor of an arena was to see WCW Monday Nitro and the Nature Boy Ric Flair.....wwwwhhhhhhooooooooooooooooooooooo! Needless to say....my butterflies we more like Japanese Hornets! How was I going to be able to get up on that huge stage and sing?? All of the lights, the huge sound system, the dressing room equip'd with a chef! I was so nervous that I had not even thought about the fact that it was only lunch time and there was no one there yet.

   Getting dressed backstage, I remember hearing this strange roar. It was kinda like when you hear a train coming but it hasn't blown the horn yet. After about 30 min it stopped, so I figured it was just pipes or  the air conditioning in the arena. We played first that night so when the stage manager came to get us we had no time to see what this was all about. We headed down the cement corridor to the curtain backstage. I could hear people but I still don't think it hit me. As they introduced us and the curtains opened I saw that the roar that I heard earlier was the crowd......all 10,000 of them!

   After I almost passed out from being so nervous, we finished the show......traveled the country......sold several thousand CD's....and had a great tour! The smallest show was about 3000 and the largest was around 15,000.  After the tour, our bookings extended farther than the Carolinas. We were traveling all up and down the East Coast and even made a road trip to South Dakota.  After all of this, I thought surely everything was going to slow down. I again was surprised to find out that there was much more to come!