02.16.12 - Buffalo's Cafe (Statesboro, GA)
02.17.12 - Stillwater Taproom (Augusta, GA)
02.18.12 - Encyclomedia (Atlanta, GA)
Hello, all you Big Love Bussin' Daddios!
It's been a few weeks since our last post, but trust me, we've been busy! Let me give some quick highlights of January, and then I'll talk about this past weekend (including Ziggy's and another charity event)!
January 14: The Pour House, Raleigh, NC
This was our first NC show since before Christmas, and it was great to be back!! The room was packed, and there was incredible energy all around. We remember the days of playing the Pour house when 50 or 60 people would show up, but they believed in us and kept giving us gigs there, including our "River Runs Thursdays" where we played every Thursday in January 2010. This is a perfect example of a venue and promoter supporting and growing a band, which is vital for everyone in the industry. We smashed our record attendence there with 350 people! Listen to a great recording of the show by Travis Viars here.
January 26-28: Durham, Charlotte, Asheville
It's always fun to do the NC tours, and this weekend was no exception. Great to see all of you out there dancing! A highlight of this weekend was our friend Nicky Sanders from the Steep Canyon Rangers playing the whole show with us in Asheville. He's the fiddle player on our new album, and there's even rumor that he'll be sitting in with us on Sunday at Floyd Fest! (wink wink)
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| Nicky with SCR and Steve Martin at the recent Grammy Awards |
Our weekend up in VA was fantastic. The first two venues both had record numbers for BDL shows. Both Doc Taylor's and The Otter House had been decent gigs for us with around 30 people showing up each time we played there, but for some reason the word got out and we had well over 100 people at each show singing the words and dancing. Just like in Raleigh it felt really great to see our growth rate jump by such large numbers. All of us have played music in a lot of different bands before, but none of us have ever experienced anything like this. It's amazing.
We try to eat fairly healthy on the road, but I do make the guys stop at McD's for coffee in the morning. I'll always choose a local coffee shop if I can find one, but I've found that McD's has the best coffee for the price. Gas Station coffee is terrible and Starbuck's is too expensive...it's one of those things you learn from a few years on the road. Oh, and you always travel with a travel coffee mug with a top that seals. That's a big one too.
The Otter House has tons of great bands that come through and play their venue, but they only put up certain posters on the downstairs walls of the restaurant, and we found out that we are one of the posters they've framed and put up. Now that doesn't seem like much of a big deal until you see all the great bands that didn't make it. They really like us up there!
Now that we're somewhat caught up...
February 10: Ziggy's, Winston-Salem, NC
After our fantastic experience at our CD Release Party at Ziggy's in September, we were thrilled to be back there this weekend. Ziggy's is a local institution, especially for those of us who remember the "old Ziggy's;" it's an honor to be up on that stage. Local rock band Wafer Thin opened up for us this time. We had another great turnout of over 300 people, and had a great time sharing the stage with special guests James Bernabe from Breakin' Jimmy's Martin on mandolin and Brent Buckner from Possum Jenkins on harmonica.
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| View from the back of the room, with Brent on stage |
cocoa, poured into Ziggy’s in the hands of fans and friends of Big Daddy Love. Thanks to YOUR DONATIONS of cereals and juices, many kids in need will be eating breakfasts provided by the wonderful team at Crisis Control Ministry, Inc. in Winston-Salem. A big thanks to the entire team at Crisis Control that worked with us to arrange this event, send out a press release to spread the word, and handled donations during the show, especially Judie and Corey! If you’d like to get their news about more events, how to volunteer, or donate, please visit their website at: www.crisiscontrol.org/
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| The Love Bus donation table. And this was early in the evening!
We had almost as much fun backstage as out on stage (...almost). Always good music going on, and good friends to hang out with.
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| Feeling the love in the green room. |
We always have a great time playing at the Fat Frogg, and this show was no exception. In the second set, our friend Jesse Hensley from Big Something joined us on guitar for several tunes, including "Franklin's Tower" Led Zeppelin's "Lemon Song" and "The Wall."
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| Jesse and Joey onstage at Fat Frogg |
The beginning of 2012 has shown us that all the hard work has paid off. We are seeing record numbers at all types of venues and we can't thank everyone enough for it. We couldn't do this if all of you didn't talk about us to your friends, and share our music, and bring new people to shows. We are always saying "Thank you" and there's a big reason for that: we know we couldn't do it without all of you. See you soon!
Brian and Big Daddy Love
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.
02.16.12 - Buffalo's Cafe (Statesboro, GA)
02.17.12 - Stillwater Taproom (Augusta, GA)
02.18.12 - Encyclomedia (Atlanta, GA)
02.23.12 - High Rock Outfitters (Lexington, NC)
02.24.12 - Murphy's (Boone, NC)
02.25.12 - Main Cellar City Club (Hickory, NC)
03.02.12 - Martin's Downtown Bar & Grill (Roanoke, VA)
03.03.12 - Dante's Bar (Frostburg, MD)
03.09.12 - The Double Door (Charlotte, NC)
