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HOW WE GOT CHOSEN FOR FARM AID 2004 (cuz you asked): We always dreamed of playing at Farm Aid. We are true believers in organic foods, family farming, alternative fuel and such, so it's a great cause to say the least. Plus, Vickie has always had a dream to sing with the great Willie Nelson. He's a real role model for us along with all of the other stars involved with Farm Aid. Well, one day while searching the internet, we stumbled upon a new web site, TalentMatch.com, which was inviting bands to submit for Farm Aid. So we joined what the heck. A few days later, we got a phone call with the news that we'd won the coveted headlining spot on the second stage! No way! What made it even sweeter is that Willie himself had to approve us, and he did! We wanted to bring a killer band with us. So we asked Fugitive Glue band member Mike Webb to play bass. He has played on many of the alt-country albums to come out of Nashville over the last 15 years including Allison Moorer, Stacey Earle, Amy Rigby, Pinmonkey, and many others. Craig Wright, the drummer from Fugitive Glue (whom we love) was already booked for another gig and was bummed he couldn't come with us. So, Mike asked drummer Rick Schell (who is best known for his efforts with Poco, Pinmonkey and Pure Prairie League) and he was available! Yay! He's awesome and one short rehearsal told us he would be perfect. DAN & VICKIE'S FARM AID RECAPS DAN: John and I talked for a few minutes about music. He's an intense man. Lucinda Williams and I joked around for a few minutes too just before the big finale, when Mike Webb (Fugitive Glue, Pinmonkey), Vickie and I sang 'Amazing Grace' alongside Neil Young, Dave Mathews, Steve Earle, Mellencamp, Willie, and Lucinda! Our lifelong idols felt like friends we'd never met before. It felt like being a family member of the Waltons, where everywhere you look you see a relative. But for the first time, we weren't just watching it, we were participating in it. In fact, on the plane to Seattle Steve Earle and I got a chance to talk about politics. That was a treat too! We had never been to the Pacific Northwest, and Seattle is a beautiful paradise. The laughter was constant all weekend as we rode the water taxi over and over just to be out on a boat on the water. Talentmatch.com got us the gig and we got a chance to really bond with those folks, too, over local beer and fresh Salmon from the Columbia River. By the time we hit the airport to come home to Nashville, we were winding down when a young man approached us. "You guys were great!" he said as if he was talking to a rock star. "I saw you at Farm Aid!" We tried to look cool, but we were grinning like fools. "Thank you," we said to the man but we were really thanking the universe. VICKIE: The highlight of course was getting up on stage for the finale to sing Amazing Grace with Willie Nelson, Steve Earle, Neil Young, Lucinda Williams, Dave Matthews, John Mellencamp, etc.! It hit me when we arrived back at home. I had another life-long wish come true! I always wanted to sing with Willie Nelson and now I have. Okay, it was in a crowd of people, but they were ALSO my idols and in front of 20,000 people! Not exactly what I pictured, but hey, I'll take it! So, this year I had two dreams come true...singing the National Anthem at the car races (in Bloomington, IN), and singing on stage with Willie! The rest of the weekend rocked also. Some guys tried to buy our "Artist" laminates from us so they could get back stage...no way, man. Our set was great and lots of folks said so and bought our CD. We even got recognized at the airport on the way home who said we rocked! Pretty cool to get recognized on the "street", man. We felt like rock stars all weekend...we even looked like rock stars...hell, we ARE rock stars!! We headlined on the 2nd stage. The rain stopped and the sun came out for us. People were diggin' it, danced and even mouthed the words to our songs during the choruses! Mike Webb and Rick Schell were the perfect guys to have along. Rick's friend who became our official roadie, THE John Gorman (aka "the") was totally cool and video taped our performance between swigs of beer. Dan and Mike and I hung out in Seattle at the pier and took water taxis back and forth across Elliot Bay. We ate fish and drank lots of local beer (well, they did cuz I quit that stuff a while back). We had all day Sunday to reflect. At one point I was sitting across from the guys leaning back in their chairs in the sun with their ultra-cool shades on and man, they looked like bonafide ROCK STARS!!! I had to bust out laughing at the whole scene, man. The guys gave me shit all weekend for being so forward as to lean in and flick a crumb off Steve Earle's face. Id' do it for any good friend! Dan and he were talking politics in line for boarding the plane at the Nashville airport when it happened. I had to do it, don't you see? How could I let him walk around like that? I did notice a momentary expression of horror on his face, but he got over it and I think it made us closer. Webb will never let me forget it. Dan and I got to say "hey" to Lucinda backstage. We've met before, so it was cool that she recognized us. She's very cool and had an awesome performance herself. Our friend, Bob Merlis, introduced us to John Mellencamp, too! Dan and John had a private moment while everyone standing around looked on wondering what the hell Dan was saying to him to make him smile so broadly. He seems like a very down to earth guy and his performance knocked me out! He just gets better and better. We walked around in Seattle a lot. Beautiful. The rain didn't matter (until after we got home and I got sick, of course). We checked out the Space Needle which made me slightly uncomfortable...too high a place to be in earthquake country. I sang on stage with Willie. I spent the entire weekend in a constant state of pure joy. I laughed more in 3 days than I have all year. On the plane flight home, a woman in the row in front of us looked back and asked, "are you a band?" It felt great to say, "yeah. We just played at Farm Aid." Vickie PHOTOS:
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