AmericanaFest Day 1. Nashville, y'all!

Good morning from AmericanaFest! I'm in Nashville (MY HOUSE IS GUARDED BY THREE BIG STRONG HOUSESITTERS/HOUSEGUESTS, SO STAY AWAY STALKERS!), and I'm a nervous mess because I have to be social. The stage is just so much safer.

Here are some thoughts as I stare out at the Nashville skyline from a swanky hotel couch. My coffee table is made of a tree trunk spray painted gold because it's Westin-hip I guess.


In Nashville for the week for work — catching up with industry friends and trying to figure out how this business has changed since I squeezed out my babies. The music business is not kind to mothers, as I found out last night attempting to go to a free show in the penthouse at 8pm when I was told it was 21 and up, despite a sleeping baby on my back and a well-behaved almost-5-year-old at my side. Sigh. Good thing I was tired anyway. 





This morning I left the kids in my hotel room with a babysitter and a pile of puzzles and have camped out in the Westin Club Lounge to try to sort out my day and the hours i need childcare depending on which panels and shows I’m attending. I sat down with a cup of coffee, put my red boots on the window sill, and stared out at the ever-changing skyline of Nashville. 

The first building to catch my eye is the old train station at 10th & Broadway. It’s in the middle of Nashville, a busy area right next to an Art museum. Oddly, there is a matching building at 10th & Broadway in Louisville because, I believe it was the buildings that connected the L&N railroad line. 

The second building I’m staring down at is this wide red building directing below the hotel. It was my first stop in Nashville for my first real trip down here — back in 2006 for the semi-finals of a TV show on the USA Network called Nashville Star. It was in this building where I had my production interviews and band rehearsals for the show taping. This area of town sure has changed in 10 years, as have I. What a weird business I’m in. 
It’s funny, but all I really care about is traveling and performing for people. I hate recording. I love writing songs and sharing them with people. I love making people smile and making people think and forging connections that are real-world instead of Twitter-world and reminding people that we are all in it together, even though it seems like maybe we’re all on some weird reality show. 

Deep breaths and music, I guess. 

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