Synchronicities

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The Universe knows how hard I’ve been working to network, make connections, learn everything that I can, and unremittingly working an excess of jobs and hours to save money for the big move to Nashville. This week, there’s been some amazing coincidences, that I truly believe is more than just happenstance. If you haven’t established yet that I’m crazy for the 8 part-time jobs that I currently juggle, well, crazy just met crazier! I have two more job interviews tomorrow (non music related)… both of which I believe were placed in my path for a reason.

One of them is a bar-tending job, which is something that I can fall back on in Nashville if I don’t land my dream music industry job right away. (I have zero previous experience, which means the bars in Nashville wouldn’t even look twice at me… but this will make it so that I DO have experience on my resume!) The other is a nannying job, which I have several of… but after speaking with the Mom on the phone, I learned that her best friend works at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville and has been in the country music industry for a long time! HOLY SERENDIPITY! What are the chances?!? Hopefully I can develop a good relationship with this family and Mom can pass along a good word for me to her BFF for when I get there.

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Sprinkling Pixie Dust & Making History

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I am SO beyond proud of this wonderful, beautiful, humble, kind, bright and shining STAR! I’ve listened to her debut album so many times that it should be a crime. I’ve wholeheartedly supported her since day 1… and now she is the FIRST debut female artist in country music history to have her first 3 singles go #1! Can’t wait to see how far her next single, “Yeah Boy” goes! I’m willing to bet it will be another #1 for her career.

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Love you. Mean it. 

 

Kelsea Ballerini Celebrates Her 23rd Birthday!

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Kelsea Ballerini woke up on Saturday morning to a decorated bus in early celebration of her 23rd birthday and she squealed with excitement. Later that night, her bandmates popped a bottle of champagne, lit her candles on birthday cupcakes, and sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to her after their show in Bristow, Virgina.

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This weekend also marked another reason for a huge celebration… her 3rd single off her debut album, “Peter Pan” HIT NUMBER ONE! All it takes is faith, trust, and a little pixie dust! Congrats, girl!

The day has just begun, and I’m sure Kelsea has something pretty big planned for today, her special day! She deserves every wonderful and amazing thing that has happened to her so far and all the success that is still to come! HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELS! ❤

Sunday Funday with BK & Chase Rice

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Brian Kelley, of Florida Georgia Line got some new ink this weekend. Chase Rice was there for some emotional support and a little liquid courage. Of course they were drinking some Old Camp Whiskey, which is Florida Georgia Line’s new brand of whiskey. (Read more about that here!) This tattoo session happened right on BK’s bus! No photos yet of the final product, but where would we all be without life/twitter updates?!

FYI, in case you didn’t know, I’ve been busy posting to my ‘POR Heartbeat blog for my radio station. I would love it if you checked out those posts! It would mean so much to me! Thanks for being a part of this journey with me!

Miranda’s Portland Stop

countryheartbeat Country Chatter

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Most of you know that Miranda Lambert’s Keeper of The Flame Tour stopped in Bangor at Darling’s Waterfront Pavilion last Sunday night. What you may not know is that her road crew stuck around Maine and spent all day Tuesday in Portland. Her road crew has their own band which likes to switch up their name between “Immnent Jamage” and “Permnent Damage“. They love Gritty’s and every time they come to Maine, they stop in and put on an impromptu show there.imminet jamage for blog

They showed up Tuesday night and started the jams around 9pm, allowing crowd participation, doing some karaoke, and basically winging it. They announced several times that they had no plan or set list, and encouraged suggestions from the crowd. Gwen Sebastian even came up and sang a powerful version of Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man”. Sebastian sings backup for Lambert on tour as well as has a blossoming musical career of her own.

For those of you driving in Portland, you may have noticed the FIVE tour busses lined up on Pearl Street. Miranda’s crew spent a couple nights at the Regency Hotel and parked their busses nearby. Bus call was at 4pm on Wednesday, with a 7pm departure time.

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Miranda’s adorable airstream (complete with it’s own twitter account!) affectionately named “Wanda The Wanderer” was also spotted in a private parking lot in Portland adjacent to where the tour busses were lined up. Supposedly Miranda had already gone back to Nashville, but no one really knows for sure!

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That (Old Camp) Whiskey Whispers Temptation In My Ear…

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Florida Georgia Line are not only sitting on a mountain of talent in terms of both songwriting and performing, but entrepreneurship also runs deep in their blood. BK and THubb have already created a name for themselves in the music and fashion industry (BK and his wife BCole have their own clothing line, Tribe Kelley!)… but now the boys have expanded to another one of their true loves… whiskey!

That’s right, you heard it hear first. FGL have been perfecting their own brand of whiskey for the past 5 years and will soon be doing a national release to stores everywhere! They’ve dubbed their brand “Old Camp Whiskey” and one of the first flavors to be released has a true Georgia feel, Peach Pecan. For those that don’t already know, Tyler Hubbard hails from Georgia, while Brian Kelley is the Florida half of the duo.

Of course, Tyler and BK love to share, so they brought out a special “radio cup” backstage for us to taste test… and this is coming from a non-whiskey drinker… it was AMAZING! Little bit of sweetness, no burn, and absolute deliciousness with both peach and pecan notes. Smooth and easy to drink! (Note: Must be of legal drinking age to consume.)

Old Camp Whiskey is gearing up for an August 2016 release nationwide! Check out their official facebook page to stay up to date on the release date!

You Should Be Here

countryheartbeat Country Chatter, Songwriting Secrets

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Last Thursday at Darlings Waterfront Pavilion, I had the opportunity to hang and chat backstage with Cole Swindell (yes, complete dream come true!). Swindell is a part of the Dig Your Roots Tour with Florida Georgia Line this summer and couldn’t be happier!

We got a bit of insiders info about his number one song, “You Should Be Here”, which Swindell says that is the song that he “came to Nashville to write” about his father who unexpectedly passed away in 2013, just as his music career was taking off. “You Should Be Here” was written with Ashley Gorley in the parking lot of Gillette Stadium in August of 2014 while Swindell was on the That’s My Kind of Night Tour with Luke Bryan. Gorley sent his daughter a text about being at such an infamous football stadium and told her simply, “you should be here.” The rest is history, and Swindell and Gorley drafted up the song right there at our very own Patriot’s stadium!

If you don’t have Swindell’s new album featuring the title track “You Should Be Here”, do yourself a favor and go pick up a copy! One of my favorite songs on the album is the first one, “Flatliner” featuring Dierks Bentley. It’s such a fun upbeat song, and I was lucky enough to hear it live for the first time on Thursday night during Cole’s set. I had to ask Cole if they had plans of releasing it as a radio single, and his response was that it’s difficult when they both come from different labels, however he loves Dierks and loves that song! Cole said he would love it if it were released as a single, but he’s not sure if it will happen. Hopefully I will be lucky enough to see them perform the duet together live one day! Have a listen for yourself!

 

Old Port Fest Was A Success!

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WPOR Staff with Brooke Eden & Drew Baldridge

I had the honor of taking photos for my station, WPOR, at this year’s Old Port Festival in Portland, Maine. The weather held out and despite it being extremely windy, it was a warm afternoon! Opening our show were local favorites, American Ride. They’re a country cover band and every song was something that you could sing along to!

Next up was Nashville newcomer, Matt Gary. He tested out some songs on us that he will be putting on his EP; we were some of the first people to hear this new music! Check out his official lyric video for “It’s On You”.

With Matt Gary!

Soon-to-be-superstar Drew Baldridge was our headliner for the show, and he put on one hell of a performance! His debut album Dirt On Us was just released a couple days before and his first single, “Dance With Ya” is currently sitting at number 45 on the media base country charts. Baldridge is an enthusiastic and energetic performer and has some dance moves that rival those of Luke Bryan.

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This is My Heartbeat Song

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POR-Heartbeat

By now, it’s well known that my heart beats for country music. It runs through my blood and nourishes my soul. I’ve been fearless in the pursuit of what sets my soul on fire, and following my heart has been the smartest move that I’ve made thus far. The amount of happiness that working in the country music industry brings me is immeasurable.

I am so thankful that a little over a year ago I was given the chance to work for my local country radio station, WPOR 101.9 on their street team! (You can read about my dreams coming true here!) Since then, being hired for the street team, I have also become the station photographer for shows and events, filling in at the front desk as a receptionist on a regular basis… and now…

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Brief Update…

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Hello again, Country Heartbeat readers! For those of you following along on my adventures, you’ve probably noticed the lack of posts this past month. I just wanted to update everyone that I am still (more than ever actually) actively pursuing my music industry career and gearing up for a VERY busy summer of concerts! I am currently juggling 9 (yes, NINE) part-time jobs at the moment and the blog has taken a bit of a backseat. I have lots of awesome things to update y’all on, if I ever get some free time to do so! Right now my focus has been on working extra hours to save for a wedding that I’m in this summer and the big move to Nashville by the end of the year.

If you want to follow along as exciting things happen, feel free to “like” my facebook page and be sure to “subscribe” to the updates, because they more than likely will not show up in your news feed! I always update on there if an artist comes into the studio or if there is a song I’ve been loving on the radio.

Until next time!