the hills of KY are alive...with the sound of Vindell

While we didn't want to leave Chicago, time forced it upon us and we spent allllllll of Monday driving to Knoxville, TN. Each one of us drove our fair share that day and when we finally arrived in Tennessee at 1:00 am we settled into our red roof inn room and slept a few hours until an early wake up call.

We had to be at WDVX at 10:30 am with a stop at the local music store to pick up a rented trumpet for me, while mine was being over-nighted from Missouri to Lexington, KY.

We got there with time to spare, and loaded into the coffee shop/knoxville welcome center/radio station stage (people in Tennessee really know how to make efficient use of space!) Playing for live radio with a live audience was definitely a new and interesting challenge. We had to sacrifice part of the excitement we put into our live show to play/sing more accurately (and by accurately I mean..perfectly) for live radio.

We had a blast and DJ Matt Morelock was great to us. Opening band "Big Country's Empty Bottle" showed us some true country/bluegrass Tennessee music. The DJ was great and we were well received and that's all we can ask for.

After lunch in downtown Knoxville (beautiful beautiful place with beautiful people, I highly suggest it) and making some friends with locals, we headed out of town towards Lexington, KY to stay with my friend Heidi for the night.

The drive to Lexington took quite some time, but it was BEAUTIFUL, we stopped on the side of the road to take some video footage and pictures. Here's Max, me and Corey in front of some beautiful mountains:

When we finally got to Heidi's (one of my best friends from college who I haven't seen in 8 months!) she and her mother had made us an AMAZING home cooked meal.

So so so grateful. Thank you Heidi and Leanne!!!

We spent the rest of the night hanging out, taking nice walks though Lexington, KY, getting our butts kicked by Heidi in Air Hockey and playing some music.

We all slept so well and now we're just resting until our drive up to Cincinnati for tonight's show. After the show we'll be trekking back to Pittsburgh for the night to sleep in our own beds!!

We're all extremely excited.

Here's a bit of the time in Tennessee... Heads up, I've rated this PG-13 for language and sexual comments....