une 28/Shenandoah in Somerset,Ky_ Somer-Blast

J

Shenandoah rolled out of the parking lot at the wee hour of 2 thirty-ish am in the morning... making the trek to Somerset, Ky to play Somer-Blast. We had a full house onboard.. including Bart's daughter, Chelsie, Jim's gal, Donna K, Mike Folsom's friend, Greg..a photographer, Mike McGuire's nephew, Ryan and Byron Cumbie.. (to sell merchandise)... who had traveled with us regularly in years past. Great to have Byron back out again. We were packed in there like sardines...but in a good way_

We arrived in Somerset early in the morning about four hours later and parked the bus and slept in till load in. The nice folks at the venue had brought hot coffee and breakfast for us around 10 am, waiting on us at the bus door. The feast included eggs, biscuits and gravy, sausage, hash browns, milk and juice and a couple coolers full of water and various soft drinks. 

After chowing down on breakfast, we loaded in and started our soundcheck. We finished around 1:30 and they had lunch ready for us on the bus..chicken sandwiches and burgers. These folks did not want you to go hungry. We like that attitude. Soundcheck always makes us hungry. We also got a visit from our old bus driver and friend, Gary Jasper and his wife Mary. Gary drove for us for several years and it was good to see him again.

After lunch everyone but Jim Seales, Donna and Byron went back to the hotel to rest up and take showers. While at the hotel, the pretty day outside took a serious turn and a severe thunderstorm erupted. This continued till we got back to the venue around 6:45. Upon arriving, we saw many folks leaving because of the weather and they were thinking about canceling the show altogether. The stage and all of the gear had gotten pounded by the torrential rain but the crew had managed to get it covered. 

Then it was time for supper..tons of hot wings and sauce..very tasty. The sky finally cleared and the show did go on and our opening act, Cowboy Crush kicked major butt..as they always do. They truly are a great band and deserve much, much more than this biz is handing them. The crowd that we thought was not coming back..due to the earlier weather activity...did come back and many more showed up. I would say attendance was around ten thousand.

We hit the stage around 9:15 and had to check all of the gear to make sure nothing was fried because of the rain. A few bugs had to be worked though before we could actually start our show... some issues with Mike's drum module and monitor board channels going in and out...obviously water related. We made it through the show and had a very large, enthusiastic crowd that made it all worthwhile.

After the show and the autograph signing, we were all treated to a spectacular fireworks display.

We climbed aboard the "hillbilly hotel" around midnight and arrived back in Nashville around 4 am..in the pouring rain. We were all tired from a long day but it had been fun...despite the weather delays and technical problems and once again..another country music adventure had been had by all.

Down the road... Stan Munsey