Making It Happen

You Just Gotta Believe

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Shine Bright!

“How are you going to make enough money to survive? How are you going to make this happen? Where are you going to work? Do you even have a plan?”

In the words of Big Kenny (of Big & Rich):

“You just gotta believe. You come to this town and you start meeting all these people and you become inspired. Everywhere you go there’s someone who can play, someone who can write a song. You finally meet enough of them that you start to think to yourself, ‘Wow, maybe I am kind of normal after all.'”

Nashville. “It’s a crazy town full of neon dreams, everybody plays, everybody sings.”

Although I don’t have the typical musician dream, I do have a dream of working in the country music industry. I fully believe that once I am there, surrounded by the people that make this crazy passion of mine feel “normal,” that this dream is going to really take flight. Thriving most on inspiration, I am positive that, although I might feel slightly threatened by the competition at first, it’s what I truly need.

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Brothers Osborne CD Release Party!

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Did you hear that Brothers Osborne had a CD Release party at Bull Moose in Salem, New Hampshire the day before their debut album, Pawn Shop, was released?! If you weren’t one of the few lucky enough to attend, I captured the question and answer part of their acoustic performance for you guys to watch!

So technically, I was scheduled to work that Thursday, but when I found out on Tuesday morning that they would be about an hour and a half away from my house, AND there was an opportunity to meet them and get their CD before anyone else… I knew I had to go. I had to find SOME way to be there. They recently played in Portland, and sadly I had to miss the show and was very upset about it. THIS WAS MY CHANCE. Sooo… should I play hooky? Call out sick? I decided that honesty was the best policy (it usually is!) and I decided to just present the facts to my boss and see what she had to say about it. Luckily, she understands my passion/obsession for country music and networking within the industry and graciously allowed me to take the day off to go! When you truly want something guys, just have the courage to ASK!

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Reflections & What I Want In 2016

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Lately I’ve been finding myself comparing my twitter/instagram/facebook page to others in this world of country fan sites/blogs. I’m noticing how many followers they have in comparison with me, and I know this is partially due to the fact that they are on top of the latest news stories that fans want to hear. I swore in the beginning that I would not be one of those sites/blogs, whose purpose is to relay the latest gossip in the country music industry or keep fans with the most up to date information. Nothing against them, because clearly they have hundreds of thousands more followers than I do… but I want my blog, my brand, Country Heartbeat to be a bit more personal. To tell a story. MY story. I want to introduce you to this life that I lead, that yeah, happens to be immersed in country music. It’s the thing I’m most passionate about, and much to my boyfriend’s dismay, comes first above everything. I want to inspire people to chase their dreams, to step out of their comfort zone, to grab hold of something that they love and take a leap of faith, to do things they never thought they could do.

I had a talk with a close friend recently that helped me realize that out of our group of friends, or even out of the people in this local area… heck, even in all of Maine… don’t love the industry in the same way that I do. One of my best friends since early childhood, God love her, once commented on my new profile picture with Lee Brice on his tour bus and asked, “Is that your new man?”. Oh, sweet Jesus. These people around here just don’t get it.

That’s why I’ve got to get to Nashville, and soon. That’s why I love every minute of “The Week Vegas Goes Country” aka ACM week, where I can surround myself with those friends who are as passionate about country music as I am. I’ve got friends from California, South Dakota, Minnesota, Florida, Ohio… all these people come together in Vegas and are as crazy about it as I am.

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Cole Swindell Rocks The Roof off the Wolf Den

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Opening weekend for Cole Swindell’s Down Home Tour kicked off in NYC on 11/11/15. I was lucky enough (and I don’t say that lightly…) to attend his Friday night show in Uncasville, CT in the very small and intimate Wolf Den at Mohegan Sun Casino. I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard to get myself into a “first come/first seated” show with a maximum capacity of 350 people… total. For those of you who know who Cole Swindell is, you’ll know that he’s been playing sold out stadium shows with Jason Aldean and Kenny Chesney to crowds of over 50 thousand. For those of you who don’t… he is the 2015 ACM New Artist of the Year and someone whom I’ve been a fan of for at least 2.5 years now if not more! He is currently being sponsored by Monster Energy on their Outbreak Tour featuring “emerging” artists. I put that in quotes, because Cole emerged in my world well over two years ago. 2015 is the first year that the Outbreak Tour has added a “country” artist, and I’m pretty sure that they have been overwhelmed with the positive response in their choice. Cole and his Down Home Crew have been making a name for themselves in both the country music world as well as the fandoms.

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Tour Bus Hang with Lee Brice

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THROWBACK THURSDAY!

Lee Brice letting us preview some unreleased songs!

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.

Official Photo Pass!
Official Photo Pass!

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!

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“MADE” It Happen!

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Living out my DREAMS!

This blog has taken a backseat in my life for a few very good reasons that I have been wanting to share with you guys for a couple of months now! I’ve honestly been so crazy busy that I haven’t gotten the chance!

At the end of March I interviewed for a position on the Street Team at my favorite country radio station, WPOR 101.9. Out of over 150 applicants, I managed to score one the coveted spots on the small Street Team representing WPOR and all of it’s sister stations. I worked a couple of events in April, but May was the big month for me when I realized that all of my hard work and dreams were turning into reality. (You can check out the Throwback Thursday post “Tour Bus Hang with Lee Brice” for more on that day!)

new job post

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Talking Your Way Backstage

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People often wonder how I get to do all of the crazy things that I do, like attend shows for free, win contests, or hang out with/meet the artists. Most attribute it to luck. “You have the best luck out of anyone I know!” they often tell me. In reality… it isn’t luck at all. Here I am, sharing my secrets with y’all. It takes determination, a strong will, courage, confidence, and some good ol’ fashioned work! You’ve got to be willing to put in the effort if you really want something!

backstage pass

Step 1: RESEARCH

It’s all about research… you’ve gotta do a whole lot of research about the particular artist or group of the show you are going to. 99.9% of the time, I’m already following the “artist page” on twitter and instagram… but you’ve gotta break it down more than that. You need to find out all the band members names… then figure out other connections; like their tour manager, sound guy, photographer/videographer, close friends, stylists, or anyone related to the production of the tour or insiders at the venue. Also be clear of which radio station is hosting the event and make sure you are following the individual radio hosts as well as the station. (This also benefits you in case they are giving away extra tickets to the concert or Meet & Greet Passes… keep your eyes open!) Even if you already have tickets… the ones they [the radio station] give away could be seat upgrades and you could always give the extra pair to some friends. I personally do not condone reselling the extra tickets [aka scalping], but if that is something you choose to do… for the love of God, don’t jack up the price to make a hefty profit. That’s just not cool. Or fair to the person buying them. And it certainly does not benefit the artist! Don’t be greedy… it’s bad karma!

You’ve gotta start this process weeks in advance… once you can identify certain people (by “creeping” social media sites more or less) then you follow them on twitter/instagram or whatever your preferred choice of social media is. I’ve even got artists on snapchat and as facebook friends*.

*Requesting to be friends with someone in the industry on facebook is not recommended unless you personally/actually know this person. That’s really just plain creepy and stalker-ish. It might even get you blocked or reported.

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Blogging 101 Assignment: For My Dream Reader

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Several years ago, not completely thrilled with the prospect of having to work full time for the rest of my life, I remember announcing to some of my closest friends; “I wish I could just get paid to go to concerts!!!” You see, country music is my passion and live music takes me to a magical place. This is where I come alive, I become the best version of myself, and I am who I know I’m meant to be. Of course, this idea was silly and unrealistic, so I thought. Until one of my friends encouraged me to find a way to do just that…

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Is “Remix Your Future” A Legit Event?

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There’s just so much in my head and going on in my life right now, I feel like I need to write some of it down and share it with y’all!

First of all, Rodney Atkins himself favorited this tweet that I posted about my previous blog entry:

So yeah, that was a pretty cool notification to wake up to this morning! Apparently he thought that it was pretty cool that he was my first country concert.

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TBT #2 – Chris Young 4/18/13

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THROWBACK THURSDAY! 

Throwing it back this Thursday to a whole Chris Young filled day!

WHEN: April 18th, 2013
WHERE: The State Theater, Portland Maine
HOW #1: Had the day off, waited outside by his bus parked near the venue.
HOW #2: Created posters/signs and held them up in line for the WPOR “Secret Spy” to spot us. They chose a few lucky fans in line for the show to give away meet and greet passes to!

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