A Much Needed Update!

I'm so bad at this thing. My dad kept a blog all through his cancer journey and updated it almost daily (http://www.bvwilliams.com/). Kudos to him. It's not the easiest thing to keep up with. I guess if I updated regularly I wouldn't end up writing novels. Oh well, lesson learned. By the way, Julie Brewer finally made me do it, so you can thank her :).

Wow, it's been 2 months since my last update. Goodness, I'll try to keep it short and sweet. Well, I've done a lot of stuff since then. The VP at Capitol Records has become a friend of mine and he hooked me up with a girl to work Country Radio Seminar (CRS) the first week of March. I volunteered almost 60 hours in 4 days. I was pooped, but it made for such a cool experience. I even got a few new friends out of it and one special friend as well! My little sister from Alpha Chi flew here for the first weekend of her Spring Break and loved it here despite the flight issues. My best friend turned 26, geez she's old. :) My cousin had a baby! I found my new Monday night hangout. Met another great new friend. Tin Pan South was held here in Nashville last week. There's a summary for those of you who could care less about the details. For the rest of you...read on.

So CRS Week 2011. It's a convention for country radio more or less. It's a 4 day event held in Nashville every year. I got to volunteer in the headquarters and do all sorts of stuff that week. The coolest part was meeting awesome people and getting to go to all of the private events during the week (hence the long hours). I would work from about 9-6 and then have an event after from 6-2. I ended up sleeping for 2 days straight when it was over. Regardless I had an AMAZING time. The first event was a Sony party with performances by Casey James and Jake Owen. (Keep in mind, I met all of these people I am about to mention throughout the week.) Wednesday was a CRS party with a private concert by Blake Shelton and "Friends". Blake brought Luke Byan, Band Perry, and Eric Church. Funniest part of the week by far, Luke Bryan during soundcheck singing Nelly. Even country singers do rap songs from time to time. After that Captiol held a party at the Hard Rock with a private show by Little Big Town, Walker Hayes, Darius Rucker, and Keith Urban. Thursday night was a Toga Party. Random, yes. Friday night was the 'big' event. It's called New Faces and people vote on who gets to play for the radio stations. This year it was Lee Brice, The Band Perry, Steel Magnolia, Josh Thompson, and Jerrod Neimann. I worked backstage for this event and had a blast. All of them were so nice and really talented. And for those of you who know my ultimate, I met Carrie. Speechless. Probably the coolest part of CRS was making new friends. One of those is Kristen. She is the graphic designer for Country Radio Broadcasters here in Nashville and to say we 'hit it off' would be an understatement. We have since made a point to get together at least once a week and I love having a girlfriend to chit chat with.

Hannah came to town for her first weekend of Spring Break and fell in love with Nashville. It was so cool to see someone else see what I've been feeling and feel the same way. She kept saying, "You look so happy here." It's been a long time since I've been truly happy and I think I'm onto something being in Nashville. It feels like home. Sorry Texas, but I don't think I'm coming back!

Last week some friends invited me out to a bar near Vanderbilt called "Winners". I've been there once but since they have started Monday night "Whiskey Jam". (My grandparents will be so thrilled to read this. No, you don't have to participate in the whiskey part of the jam. I'm a good girl!) Anyway, it's a thing that two songwriters in town started who have different singers come in each week to sing a few songs. And the best part...it's free. Monday night I saw Charles Kelley, David Nail, and Chris Young. You can't get a much better concert for free. I'll update that tomorrow depending on who shows up!

Tin Pan South is a songwriter festival held here once a year where some of the top writers get together and play in groups of 4 or 5 at different venues around town. My friends who brought me to Nashville, Jon Randall Stewart and Jessi Alexander played in a show and I got some of it on video. I'll figure out how to upload them here so you can see how incredibly talented they are. I'd love an ounce of Jessi's voice.

Well that's a decent update for a Sunday morning. I'm off to clean house and go to the grocery store. I'm hosting my first 'get-together' tonight for the Academy of Country Music Awards. (Funny thing here. Those of us in the music business get together to watch music awards like men do for superbowls. It's crazy, but I wouldn't have it any other way.) FYI you should watch tonight. Dierks Bentley is performing his new single called "Am I The Only One" which he and my friend Jon Randall wrote together and Reba is performing her new single, "When Love Gets a Hold of You" which was written by Jessi Alexander. Needless to say it's a big night in their household. Watch it and let us know what you think!

I promise to be better about this. I'll try to be weekly rather than every other month. Miss you Texans and can't wait to see you!