“The whole fifteen, mum,”

“Well, I reckon you HAVE lived in the country. I thought maybe you was trying to hocus me again.”

My eyes were riveted to the book as I sat reading Huckleberry Finn. I studied the latter dailogue over and over, trying to make sense of his answer. If I was from the country, how come I’d never known that when cows graze on a hillside, they all face the same direction? This, I concluded, needs some thorough investigation.

At our show a few days later, I realized something: We were in the Country. I met a Sheriff (a sheriff from the country!). A perfect opportunity, I thought, as I presented to him

my question. He scratched his head and said, “I think it has something to do with the wind.” Seemed logical, I thought, so I Google’d it and found this: “‘A cow with its tail to the west, makes weather the best; A cow with its tail to the east, makes weather the least’… This New England saying has much truth in it, for an animal grazes with its tail to the wind. This is a natural instinct, so the animal may face and see an invader; and invader from the opposite side would carry out its scent to the cow, in the wind.”

Some claimed it was the wind, others the sun, but a group of scientists did an experiment of thousands of photographs and resolved that, “they align their bodies along a north-south axis, suggesting the Earth’s magnetic field is the ‘polarizing factor’… The team found that ‘whether grazing or resting, these animals face either magnetic north or south’”.

My sisters are determined to prove me wrong in this, but I have remained religiously steadfast to Huck Finn’s wisdom. As we drive from show to show, I’ll spot a herd of cows and whenever they’re grazing on a hillside, they DO face the same direction!

I’m curious… all my Redhead fans, What’s your say on it?

~LaRae

As we were setting up our sound equipment at SIR studios, Lang Bliss (Certified Live Music Producer for Tom Jackson Productions) walked into the studio. He was the man we’d been waiting for – and he had the warmest smile as he greeted each of us. He had us gather around him and told us, "It’s easy to go from a bad band to a good band. I’m going to teach you how to go from good… to great. Now, sing me a few songs as if there were 2,000 people in this room."

We did – and he listened. He wore a studious expression, his hand cupping his chin and his eyes surveying us as we smiled and moved around in our choreographed positions. When we’d finished, he was silent for a moment, then said, "There’s no doubt you all are high caliber musicians, and you’re beautiful… The only thing we gotta change is this… I think you’re used to a different type of show. You’ve been doing Theatre Productions. Now you need to learn how to do a Country Music Concert. One that’ll have your audience screaming, waving their lighters or iPhones in the air, shouting, ‘We love you, Redhead Express!’"

It was like learning how to act. He taught us how to be unpredictable, believable, and how to create powerful moments… And the whole time, he never laughed at us. He left us feeling inspired. We’re looking forward to working with Lang again soon. Will keep you posted!

Look at those nice T-Shirts! (LT-RT: Will, Me)

Girl Power, Meghan Lifting that Heavy Speaker

Kathy’s our Best Saleswoman

Laughing it Out During Sound Check

Our Post-Show Party Time. Are those Snow White’s Dwarves?

(AND CLICK HERE to See More of these Pics on Will and Kathy’s Blog.)

I had some creative answers:

"Trip trauma?"
"In December it’s called Santaclaustrophobia…"
"CarFever… let mama sing you a lullaby!"
"Crazy Train"

(And my favorite)

"You have been in’car’cerated. Heh. I hope you know what that means. "

We drove 14 hours from Nashville to Kansas. Then 21 hours to Virginia, 14 hours to Wisconsin, on to Tennessee for another 14 hours, and then 14 hours to Florida. Now we’re driving to Texas! Anyone dizzy yet?

As soon as we’d ended the song, Paul said, "That’s a hit song." (That means it’s good enough to be on the radio!)

Then he said, "There’s a difference between singing and SINGING. And that last part you’ve been exploring. You’re learning how to emote – to put emotion into your music.
"LaRae," He turned to me, "your banjo is solid and steady. And Alisa, your fiddle has great tone! And Meghan, I love how you play that bass."
That’s pretty satisfactory already, to hear him complement us like that, but wait- there’s more…
He stopped speaking, then looked at each of us one by one and said,
"You ladies are ready for the studio."
I wanted to jump in the air and let out a victory shout, but I figured it might be a little awkward since I was holding a banjo, so I just grinned and listened for what Paul had to say next.

"We need to pick a date to record, a budget to work with, and we need to pick our favorite songs."
It’s finally happening, everyone! Redhead Express is ready to record our first Country CD! The only thing we don’t have yet is the funding for everything. All my Redhead fans, come join us in this adventure! Pre-purchase our album and get your friends to buy it. With your help, we can not only record this album, but we can make it Go Platinum!

I met the girls behind the curtains as Dad announced for us to come out and sing the National Anthem.
We stepped in front and the lights flooded on us so that I couldn’t see how many people were out there. We sang our Country’s Anthem with fervor and the audience cheered. Their applause echoed across this spacious theater like… like a crowd rooting for their hockey team. We played our best we’ve ever done and then ran out to help at the cd table which, by the time I reached it, was surrounded by our audience members buying cd’s, t-shirts, sweatshirts, and the boy’s fresh homemade cookies.

Just before the second half I grabbed my camera, walked out on stage, and proudly announced, “You guys are the biggest crowd we have ever had on this Concert Series, so I would love to take a picture of you all! You ready?” They applauded excitedly and I took a step to the left, “Smile,” Snap, “Alright, I got half of you!”  I said, As I took a picture of the other half of the audience, I told them, “Now you’ll be famous, too.” So here is our famous crowd of over 1,200 people, a record for the Hibbing, MN Concert Series. There was actually a lot of people missing in these photos as they were still out buying merchandise, but you get the picture…

When my Dad heard that, he said, "That hit too close to home." He decided he needed to lose weight and fast!

He went on a 20-day cleanse "eating" only lemonade. The lemonade was made out of fresh squeezed lemon juice, pure maple syrup, and cayenne pepper. Additionally, every morning he downed a quart of Salt Water. Sounds yummy, right? All of this combined, he lost 25 lbs! Now he’s hearing, "You look incredible!" "Wow, you’ve lost a lot of weight." And from Mom, "Hey honey, come give me a kiss." The latter might make any man want to lose weight just so he could hear that again.

Two days ago, a couple gave us bags of fresh grapefruits, oranges, and lemons, all from their yard in the Rio Grande Valley, TX. When they heard that Dad was on a lemon cleanse, they hurriedly left and brought back a Ponderosa Lemon. These are no ordinary lemons (as you can see in the photos, standing next to a standard lemon). This one was the size of a cantaloupe and when we sliced into it, juice squirted out and filled the room with its citrus aroma. And it tasted so sweet; it was hard to believe this was a lemon we were eating.
The Ponderosa lemon finished off his 20-day cleanse with a smash-bang ending, leaving him thinner, more energetic, and younger looking. But from the determined smile on his face, I think this is only the beginning…