Dec 8th. Toys-for-Tots Drive is a huge success!! and more trumpets!

UPCOMING SHOWS
12.15.11 - Olde Hickory Taproom (Hickory, NC)
12.16.11 - Blue Bourbon Jacks (High Point, NC)
12.17.11 - High Rock Outfitters (Lexington, NC)


Hello all you Big Love Bussin' Daddios!

We don't have much for the travel blog this week, so we'll keep it short.   One thing we really need to recognize is the amount of effort our "Love Bussers" put into the Toys-For-Tots Drive in Raleigh on Thursday night.    Thank you so much to Stacy Jones, Jenny Viars, Tori Steinberg, and Kevin and Jennifer Swenk for stepping up and helping us round up over 300 toys and $300 in cash donations.   Below are some pictures of the Marines that were at the show to help out.   We have done more charity work this holiday season than ever before and it has just made us want to do more and more.   It is true what they say: you get the most by giving.  Nursing home shows, food drives, and toy drives are just the beginning for us.   We have had so much fun with every event, and have met great people along the way.   Hopefully we will be able to double or triple our efforts in 2012.

Want to join us in Florida for a great New Years Eve Festival? Don't forget to use the promo code BIGDL11 (case sensitive)   Bond-fire music festival

Remember that we have an online sale of 20% off through our new online store!  Order by tomorrow, Thursday the 15th, to get by Christmas.

And please help us out by voting for Big Daddy Love on these end of the year polls:
WNCW Top 100 Albums of the Year
Homegrown Music Networks best album of the year. 

Tori, Jenny, and Stacy!

Marines carrying out one of many boxes of toys.

 

The Marines that came to the show to help.

One last thing that I want to mention is that we were FINALLY able to get Mr. Cass Copsey onstage with his trumpet.  We've always heard that he was a great player, but in the two years of traveling with him we had never heard him play much.  And wow, he's fantastic.   

Here is the audio of the entire show that you can download for FREE!  Enjoy!

Cass laying it down thick!

Thanks everyone! Until next time,

Brian and BDL

Lonesome Banjo Chronicles

SPREAD THE LOVE
We would LOVE for you to help us out with the street team activities. If you'd like to help promote an upcoming show, email streetteam@ufomusic.net and we will set you up with everything you need. We've got great e-flyers, widgets, and other tools you can use to help promote online, so if you've got Internet access, you can help! If you want to hang up posters, hand out flyers, and talk to real people, feel free to print up the digital posters. And of course, we'd also love your help over at the merch booth! Check out the list of places we could use help spreading the love.

12.15.11 - Olde Hickory Taproom (Hickory, NC)
12.16.11 - Blue Bourbon Jacks (High Point, NC)
12.17.11 - High Rock Outfitters (Lexington, NC)
12.30.11 - Beachside Tavern (New Smyrna Beach, FL)
01.12.12 - Martin's Downtown (Roanoke, VA)
01.13.12 - The Bus Pit (Kingsport, TN)
01.14.12 - The Pour House (Raleigh, NC)

Dec 30-Jan 4; Holiday Charity Work and Little King sized Asheville Party!

UPCOMING SHOWS
12.08.11 - The Pour House (Raleigh, NC)
12.09.11 - The Backstreet Pub (Beaufort, NC)

Howdy all you big love bussin' daddios!

This is our holiday season blog, which will concentrate on our charity efforts in addition to asking that you help us with end of the year "best of" voting, which means so much to us.  

Two polls that count a lot.  Please vote, but just as importantly, please pass these links to your friends!

WNCW Top 100 Albums of the year We are also listed in the "regional" section.

HomeGrown Music Networks best studio album of the year

We are also proud to introduce our new online store.  We are offering a holiday sale for online orders only, with 20% off our merchandise throughout December; order before December 15 for Christmas delivery.  

The holidays are about giving back, and this is turning out to be our most productive season yet.   We started with a food drive for our hometown of Sparta, NC that was very successful, and we are now looking at a toy drive for the Toys-for-Tots foundation that will culminate with our Raleigh show this Thursday evening.    You can find out more info here.  

We will be collecting toys at the Breakin' Jimmy's Martin show tonight at Foothills, as well.  Last week we were lucky enough to have an all-star jam with the best pickers in the Triad, as we were visited by Merl Johnson on fiddle, Mike Baliff on guitar and this year's Galax banjo champion, Al Lowe.  Our Wednesday night shows at Foothills Brewing have been going great.   Come out to see some great pickin'.  

On Sunday we took Breakin' Jimmy's Martin on a "holiday nursing home tour," making stops in Sparta, NC and Hillsville, Va.  

After our Sparta show

Playing in Hillsville VA.   

After our show in Hillsville.  

Our friends in Roanoke VA made a BDL tree ornament!

A highlight of the week for us was playing the Little King Records Showcase at the great Grey Eagle in Asheville, NC.   Joey did a great job of explaining what Steve "Little King" Metcalf means to all of us personally, and professionally, in our facebook fan of the week.  

But first we had to make a very important stop at Chuck E. Cheese for a big-time party (and people say we don't party! ha!).   It was John Paul Smith's 4th birthday!

The Grey Eagle show had four fantastic bands that were all very connected with each other through our past: EverGreen, AVAS, ToneBlazers, and BDL.

Our fearless photographer Jenny Viars took a great set of pictures at this show that you can find here.  But here are a few highlights.

AVAS stand for Acoustic Vibration Appreciation Society.  I first met these guys in the late 90's when we were all going to school at Appalachian State.   Here is Andy Pond, Jason Krekel, and Jay Sanders.  

The second band of the night, The ToneBlazers, featured my banjo teacher Steve Lewis.  It would be hard to find a better person on this earth than Steve, and he taught me as much about life as he did about bluegrass.  He is a 2-time national banjo champion.  The band also featured two of Joey's old bandmates.   

Here is Steve flatpicking the guitar.   

Our set felt great.  Here is Dan introducing Little King.  If you ever get a chance to meet this guy, do it!  

SETLIST for Grey Eagle

Here is EverGreen playing the great Tom Petty Song, "Mary Jane's Last Dance"  featuring Roger Padgett on Guitar!

Thanks everyone for all your support!  And keep in mind our Toy Drive for Raleigh, as well as the end of the year voting.  We will see you out on the road!


Brian and BDL
Lonesome Banjo Chronicles

SPREAD THE LOVE
We would LOVE for you to help us out with the street team activities. If you'd like to help promote an upcoming show, email streetteam@ufomusic.net and we will set you up with everything you need. We've got great e-flyers, widgets, and other tools you can use to help promote online, so if you've got Internet access, you can help! If you want to hang up posters, hand out flyers, and talk to real people, feel free to print up the digital posters. And of course, we'd also love your help over at the merch booth! Check out the list of places we could use help spreading the love.

12.08.11 - The Pour House (Raleigh, NC)
12.09.11 - The Backstreet Pub (Beaufort, NC)
12.15.11 - Olde Hickory Taproom (Hickory, NC)
12.16.11 - Blue Bourbon Jacks (High Point, NC)
12.17.11 - High Rock Outfitters (Lexington, NC)
12.30.11 - Beachside Tavern (New Smyrna Beach, FL)