If you’ve been reading our latest blog posts and following us on social media, you know that we recently completed an exciting journey! We travelled to Nashville, TN touring all the way from our home in Victoria, BC. It’s hard to pick just a few of our favourite moments, because there were so many, but here they are - our TOP 5 HIGHLIGHTS from The Road to Nashville Tour!
1. SEEING NEW PLACES
We took a long but beautiful route from Victoria to Nashville. We chose to head south to LA, then east to Nashville to avoid as much winter weather as possible and to visit family and friends along the way. We left the winter tires on Bluebell (our blue Mazda 3) just in case, but for the most part, the roads were clear and the sun kept us reapplying our SPF 80 every morning!
When we were kids, our family took a road trip from BC to the Baja Peninsula in Mexico, so we had some great memories of the beautiful Pacific Coast drive. However, there were so many new places that we got to see for the first time on this trip. You can read about our full day of fun in San Fran HERE. We also loved spending some time with the cactuses in Scottsdale, Arizona (the 25° weather in winter didn’t hurt either!)
We drove through Texas for the first time and spent a day exploring Dallas - we loved the Dallas Museum of Art and the food trucks at Klyde Warren Park!
2. MUSICAL MOMENTS
From jamming with music students in Mississippi to playing “If You’re Gonna Play in Texas” for our first-ever Texas audience, this tour was full of memorable musical moments. We couldn't have asked for a better kick-off to our tour than playing to a packed house (literally!) at Bill Lippe’s house concert series in Seattle, WA. We continued further south and played at a fun afternoon concert series in Tigard, OR, a show at the beautiful Wickenburg Ranch in Arizona and a great listening room venue in Richardson, TX.
In Columbus, Mississippi, the Columbus Arts Council presented our Classical to Country Workshop in the afternoon before our concert. Having the chance to work with local students in the towns we visit is one of our favourite things to do on tour, and we were blown away by the talent of the music students who performed in Columbus. One of the fiddlers, Aidan, joined us on stage to play a tune in our evening show, and he was amazing!
Arriving in Nashville, we played at the Canadian Standoff Showcase featuring a bunch of fantastic Canadian artists. We were also hosted by Pearls n’ Spurs Luxury Trail Rides for a house concert in Franklin. We are so grateful for the warm welcome we have received from Tennessee audiences, and we can’t wait to play more shows in our new home away from home!
3. MEMORABLE REUNIONS
Although being on the road keeps us away from many of our loved ones, it also gives us the chance to visit so many wonderful people that we might not otherwise get to see. Thanks to all of our family and friends who hosted us, surprised us at shows along the way and made us feel at home - we love you!
"The ideal is to feel at home anywhere, everywhere." Geoff Dyer
Our neighbour Fred from our hometown in Lang Bay, Powell River made us this special sign for our show in Arizona! Thanks Fred - we will never forget our Lang Bay Roots! :)
4. FINDING BALANCE
We’ve always loved travelling – being in a different city every day and meeting new people is exciting! However, it can also be challenging and exhausting to live out of a suitcase and keep a vigorous tour schedule. Our goal with every tour is to build lasting connections with our fans and presenters and to put on a show that leaves audiences feeling happy and uplifted. Maintaining a healthy and balanced lifestyle is so important to us, especially when we’re on the road. We want to be at our best for every performance, workshop and interview.
On this tour, we scheduled time for workouts and rest. It sounds simple, but as I’m sure many of you would agree, when life gets busy those are often the first two things to go! We were able to keep fit with Tone It Up workouts – check them out on YouTube if you haven’t already. We tried CrossFit for the first time with our friend Stacey in Arizona, and we went for runs at hotel gyms, on the San Francisco boardwalk and along every waterfront trail we could find in Tennessee.
5. RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS
What made our road trip even sweeter was all of the great people we met along the way. We knew our friends and family would welcome us with open arms, but we never expected to experience such kindness from complete strangers.
"Strangers are just friends waiting to happen." Rod McKuen
A waitress at Smokestack Restaurant in Thurber, TX gave us free coffees for our long drive. At a café in small town Alabama, our server added some chocolate treats to our take out order simply because we were visiting from Canada. Chimes ginger chews, one of our favourite sweet treats, even sent us some goodies in the mail to supplement our road trip supply of their delicious candies! The hospitality that we experienced on this tour was incredible. Thanks to everyone who made those 6000 kilometres so memorable!
XOXO Twin Kennedy
Special thanks to the BC Arts Council, the Province of British Columbia, and the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development for tour support. We acknowledge the support of Creative BC, financially supported by Province of British Columbia, and of 102.7 The PEAK, as administered by Music BC.
