Bluebird Auditions

I awoke to total darkness this morning, and by the time I got in my car, the sky was a blazing pink sunrise. I will never become a morning person, but I will admit that this morning was a treat. Newfoundland is my favourite place to drive, but Kentucky at 7 am is a close second.

I was, of course, late getting to sleep after the last night of NQC, so I got up this morning after only 4 hours sleep. But I had to get back to Nashville for our Bluebird auditions. Passing the audition will get us each a spot in the Sunday writer's night. We've been well-warned that most people have to audition more than once before getting accepted, but Gerald and I are so used to auditioning that we know not to take it personally.

In order to get the audition, we spent an hour on 3 phones, trying to get through to the Bluebird on 'call in' day. We were told the auditions were Sunday the 16th at 10:30am. A letter arrived a few days later with a full page of single-spaced instructions for the audition. The biggest detail was that we couldn't perform a full song - just a verse and a chorus, one minute in total.

I knew I'd need to pick something I can play in my sleep, given that I might be half-asleep by the time I got to the audition.

We arrived at 10:25 to see a huge line-up stretching down the block outside the Bluebird. We ended up being #75 and #76. There were too many people to fit in the club at one time, so we ended up waiting outside for the first 2 hours. That was actually one of the best parts of the audition. We got to chat with lots of people, and Gerald met a potential co-writer.

Finally, the gates opened and we were allowed to sit indoors. Imagine a room full of nervous people, each one with a guitar on their lap. The rules were reiterated for us newbies, and the auditions continued. Everyone was okay, but some people were really good. Some interesting songs (or half songs!), and some great performances.

Gerald sang his song, "All Day Long", which I just love, and he always sounds so authentic when he sings it. I did "Wedding at Cana". I think it sounded good, but I also perfomed really well and make the audience laugh, so that was very satisfying. Overall, I think we represented ourselves well.

Now we just get to sit around and wait for a Pass or Fail letter. Oh yes, and we had to bring a SASE so that they can send us our letters. Crazy, huh?

In the meantime, I'm taking a few hours to rest tomorrow, and then I'm full-swing into the CD preparation. I just feel so inspired after NQC, and I don't want to lose a bit of that energy!