THROWBACK THURSDAY!

May 16th, 2015

Today was the day that I realized that my dreams were starting to come true. Today marked a very important day in the history of my future career in the country music industry. I was able to obtain an official photo pass (aka special access to the stage for the first 3 full songs) to photograph Lee Brice at his show on the Maine State Pier in Portland. I’ve always photographed every concert that I’ve ever been to, but point and shoot camera photos do NOT compare to a SLR with a long zoom lens! Photography has always been a passion of mine, and combining that with country music basically makes me one of the happiest girls alive.

The radio station that I work for, WPOR 101.9, gave two lucky listeners the opportunity to “hang” with Lee Brice on his tour bus before the show. Obviously a photographer needed to be there to cover the event 😉 and that was ME! This amazing opportunity left me basically speechless. (No, really, I didn’t say more than two words on his bus… I think I said “Thank You” after taking a photo with him and that was about it!) You couldn’t wipe the smile from my face if you tried!

Lee was supposed to perform us a few acoustic songs, but was having trouble with his vocal chords and needed to rest them before his performance later in the evening. Which ended up being a great excuse for him to let us listen to some demo’s of new unreleased songs! My absolute favorite was ‘Til Summer’s Gone which is actually a track off a mix-tape that he let those in attendance at his fan club party during CMA Fest hear. I’m ALL about those songs about a summer romance!

“‘Til Summer’s Gone brings us back to the Lee with whom we are familiar, as he belts and bellows in perfect pitch about a fling that will come to an end with the change of the seasons. Finding it difficult to come to grips with letting go of someone he cares about, despite the June through September confines that were placed on the relationship, Lee begs to freeze frame this time in his life so he can avoid the inevitable.”

-Courtesy of Nashville Gab 7/22/15

Lee told us stories about his first love, whom he wrote More Than Memory about, and how the one and only time that he has seen her since their breakup was when she was in the audience at one of his shows and how much that affected him. He gave us insight on his songwriting and choosing songs that he didn’t write, like I Drive Your Truck, but he decided to cut because of how deeply the lyrics resonated with him.

Nick The Intern, from WPOR’s Morning Crew, noticed that Lee happened to have a GIANT bottle of Jack Daniels on his bus and requested to do a shot of it with him!

Lee told us a story about how he got the bottle while on his first cruise and smuggled it back to the US in his luggage. He’s been refilling it since then! He poured himself and Nick a shot of JD and then told the rest of us that he wanted to make something special for the rest of us.

This “something special” was created by Luke Bryan, and Luke made it for Lee when he suggested they tour together. Lee referred to it almost like a “diet” shot, and joked about that’s how Luke keeps up his figure. It was a mixture of a diet raspberry lemonade and some vodka. So not only did I get to hang out on Lee Brice’s tour bus… but I also got to take a shot with him!

Lee is one of the most down to Earth and laid back artists that I have ever met. He’s such a “chill” guy and this is what I loved most about this entire experience. He welcomed us into his “home”, told us stories, talked about life, was very hospitable, let us listen to some new tunes, and this is definitely something that I will never forget. It was the day that I realized all of the incredible opportunities that were going to continue to come my way with this dream job! I am so unbelievably thankful to WPOR and Portland Radio Group for welcoming me into the radio industry and offering me a position with their Street Team. DREAMS DO COME TRUE, GUYS!

Discover your passions. Put your heart and soul into all that you do. Dream. Chase those dreams. Put in the work, hard work. Leap bounds out of your comfort zone. Make things happen. Be persistent. Stay positive. KEEP ON DREAMING EVEN IF IT BREAKS YOUR HEART. One day, you will catch those dreams and find that all you’ve ever wished and prayed for has started to come true.  Lots of Love, Jess

To see the photos that I took from the show, visit Lee Brice on the Maine State Pier!

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