“The Wheel” Hits the Airwaves

My cell phone rang Wednesday morning, and my heart just about jumped out of my chest when I picked it up.  My cousin Barb was shouting on the other end of the line “It’s your song!  They’re playing your song on the radio!”  In the background I could hear a loud, static-filled version of my debut single “The Wheel” – but it was music to my ears! Barb had been listening non-stop to her local radio station up in Tillsonburg, Ontario since my song was released on Tuesday – and many of my fans, friends and family are continuing to keep watch this week, sending requests to their local country stations and keeping me posted on facebook and myspace with the results….”I just heard it in Vancouver while I was driving home in my truck”…”I sent a request to the folks at the station in Toronto and they said they are adding it to their playlist next week”…I have to say, you guys have been fantastic!  I even managed to listen to the last few bars of the song here in Nashville, straight from Manitoulin Island, Ontario via streaming internet radio, thanks to a well-timed facebook tip from a fan who was listening.  How cool is that?

I’ve heard my songs playing on the radio before – but always sung by other artists.  The first song of my own that I ever heard was Sara Evans’ recording of “Saints & Angels”.  I was driving down a back road in Mount Juliet, Tennessee when it came on one of the big Nashville country stations, and I just about had a heart attack.  I cranked the volume knob up as loud as it would go!  I didn’t realize how fast I was driving until halfway through the song, when I saw the blue lights flashing behind me in my rearview mirror.  (If you’ve ever lived in Mount Juliet, you won’t find that surprising – they don’t like their speeders there.)  I pulled over to the side of the road and rolled down my window, and when the police officer walked up to my car I said “THAT’S MY SONG!!!  THAT’S MY SONG PLAYING ON THE RADIO!!!”  He just looked at me and drawled, with a thick southern accent, “Lahcense and registraytion please ma’am.”  Didn’t blink an eye.  Sent me to traffic school, too!  (Did I mention I was going REALLY fast?)

I’m heading up to Ontario in a few days to do a bunch of private showcases and radio visits, and with “The Wheel” already getting added to the playlists of major stations like JRFM Vancouver, Country 95.3 Hamilton, BX93 London and KICX 96 Orillia, hopefully it won’t be long until I get to hear it in person.  That is going to be a seriously cool moment.  In fact, just for the safety of my fellow Canadians I should probably refrain from getting behind the wheel of a vehicle while I’m up there.

I’m off to pack my bags…stay tuned and I will keep you posted with lots of diary entries, videos and twitter status updates!  (If you aren’t signed up on Twitter yet, you might want to click on the link on this page and check it out – it’s a very cool way to subscribe to real-time status updates.)