**So, I realize this blog is like a month overdue but it's taken me this long to get myself together & actually write everything down. I know it's long --- but it's mainly for me to always have the memories of that great day. :)
Sarah Buxton has a song called "Crazy Dream." I'm pretty sure that title describes everything I experienced on May 27th & 28th. ).
Thursday was the Country Throwdown Concert in Charlotte that my friend Michelle & I had bought tickets for. It was already off to a great start with having 2nd row center seats. Little did we know, the day would only get even better. We both won Little Big Town Meet & Greets from their fan club. We also knew we'd have some sort of meet & greet time with Sarah Buxton & Jedd Hughes aka Buxton Hughes. Check them out. Become their friend on facebook (facebook.com/buxtonhughes). The concert was basically an all day music festival with different stages set up and 20+ artists. Other than the big names (LBT, Montgomery Gentry, Jamey Johnson, and Eric Church) all the artists did signings and pictures after their sets. It was definitely an awesome set up, especially just seeing the artists walk around enjoying each others sets.
Our first main plan for the day was to watch Emily West perform. There weren't really many people around so we just stood right at the barricade and had some fun. Michelle had met Emily before and Emily remembered her so there were plenty of great moments. If she saw us taking pictures, she would stop & pose for us. When she was finished, we headed over to the tent to meet her! While standing in line for Emily, I happened to be looking around & spotted Jedd Hughes hanging out by the Bluebird Tent. Michelle & I jumped out of line to talk to him. Once again, he knew Michelle from a few weeks before. :) It was like we were all just a group of friends -- grabbed me for a hug and referred to me as "hello, gorgeous. how are you today?" MELT MY HEART. haha. Wet let him know that we had his & Sarah's surprises and couldn't wait to give it to him. After chatting for a few minutes, we told him we'd see him shortly and went back to meet Emily. Total sweetheart! Definitely check her out!
After all that, Michelle & I got food -- lovely $13 chicken tenders & fries -- that we ate the equivalent of 1, and we staked out our front row center spot in the Bluebird Tent for Sarah & Jedd. We happened to notice someone standing next to us as we were talking. Much to our surprise, it was Sarah! Conversations, introductions, and hugs ensued!
When their set started, Sarah took tambourines and a shaker out of her backpack & Michelle jokingly asked for one. This led to Michelle playing tambourine with Sarah on "Outside My Window." A moment I'm pretty sure Michelle will never forget!
Sarah's & Jedd's set was amazing, along with newcomer Walker Hayes. I had never heard of him before but I quickly came to love him. After the set, they all hung around to meet fans, take pictures, and chat. We got in line to meet Walker & waited for Sarah and Jedd to finish meeting people so we could hand over their surprise. We had wristbands for a Sarah & Jedd meet & greet but neither of the 4 of us knew what they meant. Thankfully, Joe the tour manager, explained it to all of us. The wristbands allowed Sarah & Jedd to take us backstage and hang out with them, just as long as we were escorted by someone with an All Access Pass.
While Sarah was meeting the last few people, Michelle and I stood to the side with Jedd and started talking. Somehow, we got on the subject of Sesame Street. So random! Jedd told us that Sesame Street, of all thing things, was his introduction to bluegrass music. We told him that Sarah and him should sing on Sesame Street and he proceeded to tell us that apparently being asked to appear on the show is a huge honor. The talk of Sesame Street somehow led to Jedd telling us that he has an alter ego...and the alter ego's name is Bert. "Bert, you know, like Bert & Ernie," he said and then started singing "Rubber Ducky." It was definitely one of those "you just had to be there" moments.
After meeting the last people, Sarah and Jedd led us backstage and on to their tour bus. We were introduced to Dave Pahanish & Troy Olsen, two others who were also a part of the Bluebird Songwriter tent. Sarah grabbed us a Dr. Pepper and we sat down to chat with everyone. Dave, to put it simply, is quite entertaining. He has no filter and would pretty much say anything. He brought up quite the interesting topic of conversation and I don't think any of us had ever laughed as hard as we did then. It was hilarious - which led Sarah to call her fiancee. She made Dave tell him the whole conversation. After that little bit of hilarity was over, Sarah and Jedd were ready for their surprise. So we "unveiled" their purple wall banner. Their mouths dropped and they flipped out! Dave and Troy thought it was great as well --- Troy asked where his sign was and told us next time we needed to make him one.
Dave then suggested that Sarah and Jedd should play a song for us on the bus. In his words, " It's one thing to see someone up on a stage playing for a crowd. It's another to have them sing just for you." He's so right. Sarah & Jedd were all for it and Jedd borrowed Dave's guitar. They sang "Outside My Window" for us and Sarah danced around with the purple wall. When the jam session was finished, Sarah was still all pumped up and yelled "TWIT PIC! We need to TwitPic this!" We handed over all the cameras to Troy and he happily snapped pictures for us.
As he was taking picture, he asked Jedd "Where's your enthusiasm?" To which Jedd repiled, "What? THis is my sexy Australian face! Do you not like it?" Finally, when we got to Sarah's Twit Pic, he showed a great deal of enthusiasm. haha.
Once the picture taking had ended, Sarah and Jedd had to go do some press, so we headed out with them. At this point, it was almost time for us to go to the Little White Church for our Little Big Town Meet & Greets. While we were waiting, we spotted Emily walking around so we went to talk with her. We ended up walking around trying to help her find a beer. She invited us to go hang out backstage with her but we couldn't since our LBT m&g was about to start. She told us if she had time, she'd come back out and get us later.
We were towards the end of the line for LBT. When it was my turn, I told them how it was my first time ever seeing them in concert and I was super excited. They thanked me for coming and told me they hoped I enjoyed the show! I got hugs from everyone and stood in between the guys for my picture. The guy in charge of pictures had heard Michelle saying I was her best friend and he asked if we wanted a picture together with them after my individual one.
After that, we headed to our second row center seats (!) to catch the rest of Eric Church's set [which was awesome, by the way!] and prepare for Little Big Town. Eric Church was totally in his element, being back in NC with a crowd filled with many hometown people. Little Big Town was incredible! The girls spotted us right off the bat and smiled/waved/sang to us throughout the set. They sang three new songs from their CD coming out on August 24th: "Why Oh Why," "The Reason Why," and "Runaway Train."
After LBT's set, it was time for Sarah, Jedd, & Walker to come out on the main stage to sing while the crew changed up sets. Because they were all the way over to the right, we decided to just move over towards them since there were plenty of empty seats. Unfortunately, the security guard wouldn't let us stand there, so we ended up back at the concourse deciding what to do.
Cue Michelle coming up with an epic proposition. At the time, I didn't think anything could top the day we had just had. Little did I know what the next day had in store for us....
Part 2 of the blog coming soon. :)
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