News from Annette & Kim

Hi Folks

May has come and gone and here we are half way through the year. We began May with a gig at the Dargaville RSA and the Westies that would be joining us on Norfolk Island. The Following weekend we were joined by The Mountain Mist Band at the 25th annual Bay of Islands Country Rock Festival. Both Annette and I remember the first years of the festival and being a part of them. Thank you, Shirley, for all your hard work over the last 25 years and to all the volunteers that have assisted you in making this a world renowned country music festival. Thank you also from Annette and myself for the certificates of appreciation for our support of the festival during the last 25 years. It has been our pleasure to be associated with this very prestigious festival, and fun too. It was a great weekend with fine weather and awesome music. Thank you to everyone that supported us and especially the amazing audience at the Paihia Pacific for the standing ovation. We were literally blown away. We could not have done it without the support of our fantastic band. Thank you Richard, Ian, Tiny and Andrew for backing us your continued support is very much appreciated. We look forward to working with The Mountain Mist Band and to seeing you all at our Kamo Club concert on the 13th of July.

Norfolk Island Festival 2014

Annette and Kim Norfolk Island NZ Showcase

On the 18th of May we flew to Norfolk Island for the 21st annual Norfolk Island Country Music Festival with a group of 47 country music fans. NICMA were also celebrating the 20th Trans-Tasman Entertainer of the Year Award. The weather for the week was the best that I can remember with the group enjoying swimming, snorkelling, fishing, golf and horse riding just to name a few of the activities available on the Island. We started the week with a welcome dinner at the Leagues Club where everyone got to meet one another. We had a few repeat offenders on board that knew the ropes and everyone got into the swing of things singing along to great music performed by local identity Lully.

Monday morning we were all up early for the half day tour. We changed it up a bit this year and did a couple of extra things on the morning tour one being an island style morning tea in the gardens of an historic island home. Annette and I entertained with a few gospel songs at Saint Barnabas Chapel. This was a very enjoyable and informative tour. Monday evening was the New Zealand Showcase which Annette was a part of. Everyone enjoyed an excellent concert from the kiwi performers.

The whole week was full of exciting activities and country music. The mini golf was a hoot and with 47 people all playing at once it was certainly challenging to organize but everyone got into the spirit of it all and just went for it. Check out the photos on our photo page.

The RSL lunch time gig was very successful and next year Terrance, the RSL manager, has invited us to do a dinner show as well which we are looking forward to. The Fish Fry was very entertaining, well I thought so, and we are both looking forward to performing “Ridin’ High” acoustically again sometime soon. Annette and I can totally recommend the Culla & Co Horse and Carriage Tour. This is an awesome Cyldesdale horse ride out to Steeles Point to enjoy the cliff top views,a cuppa and a chat with Culla himself, a local identity, who started Culla & Co in 1986.

On Friday night we joined those from the group that chose to do the Night as a Convict Dinner. We were in the company of Private Lessons, Private Parts and the Commandant aka Brant McRichie, Hayden Evans and Phillip McCrae ( Lully) respectively. Once again check out the photos on our photo page. This was a great night.

Before we knew it the week was over and at the Traditional Dinner on Saturday night we all sang a few songs together, awarded the prizes for the road sign competition and presented Des and Sharon with the signed cowboy hat.

We hope everyone got home safe and happy. We certainly look forward to having you all back in 2015 should you wish to join our tour. Registration of Interest forms will be available shortly and we get those to you one way or another. No sooner does one tour end and we are organizing the next one. Annette and I had a brilliant time with you all and hope to catch up somewhere very soon.

Until then take care and keep it country.

Best Wishes
Annette and Kim
P.S. Don’t forget our concert on Sunday 13th July 3pm-6pm at the Kamo Club with The Mountain Mist Band. We are looking forward to seeing you there.

Hi Folks

The months are racing by so we thought we would just bring you up to date on what we are doing. At present there are a couple of things we are getting ready for. One is the Bay of Islands Country Rock festival on the 9th, 10th and 11th of May. We have 4 shows to do during the weekend and will also be busking on Saturday and Sunday mornings. We are looking forward to performing with The Mountain Mist Band and to catching up with you all. The following weekend we are off to the Norfolk Island Country Music Festival with our tour group. We have a large group coming with us this year due to it being the 20th anniversary of the Trans-Tasman Entertainer of the Year Award and the 21st year of the festival itself. One of the contestants in the Trans-Tasman award, Kay Tappin, will be part of our tour group and she will be accompanied by her husband Kevin. Kay and Kevin are both long time supporters of New Zealand country music and we wish Kay the best of luck on the awards show. We will shortly be sending out welcome letters to all those joining us on our tour and look forward to meeting you all either at Auckland airport or at Norfolk Island airport depending on which flight you are on. It is going to be an awesome week.

On the 14th of June we will be one of the guest artists on Val and Ray Thurgoods 100th charity concert being held in Te Awamutu. If you are in the area make sure you keep this date free and check out the concert poster on our web site. There will be some great country acts joining us for the concert.

Our official album release concert is going to be held at the Kamo Club, Meldrum St , Whangarei on Sunday the 13th of July 3-6pm. Tickets are $15-00 each and you can get a meal afterwards for $15-00 as well so not a bad deal $30-00 for a dinner and show. Once again we will be supported by The Mountain Mist Band with sound by Dennis Pabirowski. We will be performing songs from our new album, “TRY A LITTLE KINDNESS“, as well as a few new songs and some old favourites as well.

On a final note we would like to welcome everyone that has joined our mailing list and who follow us on facebook. Thank you for your support it is very much appreciated. We apologise for not keeping as up to date as we would like to on these new fan dangled modern gidgets.

Our next gig will be on Friday the 2nd of May at the Dargaville RSA. Hope to see you there.

Take care and keep it country
Annette and Kim

Hi Folks
February was notable for two reasons. One being the release of our second duo album and the other being our trip to Australia to once again perform at the Barham Country Music Stampede. We collected our new cd “Try a Little Kindness” on the Friday before we flew out to Aussie. We had our fingers crossed that all would be correct on the cd cover. We had approved the draft copy but you are still a little nervous. Stebbings had done a great job though thanks to the good management of Hazel Lamb throughout the project. The photos Jackie and Helen had taken for the cover were great and Joanna had done an awesome job on the graphic design. The whole thing looked and sounded absolutely fabulous if I can use that term. Thanks to Mike at Manuka Studios and the excellent work done by all the musicians on the album. We are really happy with the final result. On Saturday morning we flew out to Australia.

We were met at Melbourne airport by our friends Rod and Margaret McCarthy who had kindly offered to pick us up and take us back to their place for the night before heading up to Barham. We first met Rod and Margaret in 2011 when we first went to Barham. Rod and his friend Peter make wooden toys as a hobby to sell at the markets. They are known as “The Toy Boys”. Peter and his wife Robyn would also be in Barham for the festival. Rod and Margaret took us on a walking tour of, Kyneton, the town where they live and where Rod grew up. Kyneton is an old gold mining town about an hour north of Melbourne and has a population of approx. 2500 people. It has many old buildings some made of the original blue stone that many buildings were made of back in the day.

Rod and Margaret put us up for the night and on Sunday morning we all headed up to Barham with the caravan in tow.

We arrived in Barham at about 11:00am and as we were ahead of schedule we decided to go to the caravan park and help set up the caravan and annex. The whole gang had arrived and set up. Peter and Robyn and Helen and Graeme, Margaret’s sister and her husband, were all ready for a week of dancing and country music.

Sunday afternoon, after catching up with our Aussie mum and dad, Barb and Dale Goldsmith who had travelled over from Adelaide to join us for the week and to be our transport back to Melbourne, we met up with Ruth Morpeth the festival organizer and settled into our accommodation at Christina Cottage, the same beautiful house we stayed in during our 2012 visit, and organized ourselves for the week ahead. We performed over 25 forty minute shows from Monday through until the following Sunday in the auditorium and in the coffee shop. We met a lot of artists that had not been at previous festivals. These included; The Battlers, Michael and Shaun an Uncle and nephew duo, Terry Leonard and Rick Charles both Elvis impersonators, Jono Nicholson Terry’s protégé, Matt Burke a singer/songwriter from Bendigo,Graham Hugo, Rod Williams, Justin Standley a previous Norfolk Is contestant in the Trans-Tasman and X Factor finalist and Cindy Doherty. We also caught up with some familiar faces as well; George Farnham, Kim Ritchie and husband John, Sandi Dodds, Geoff Evans, Anthony Tenace also the sound man in the auditorium again this year and Kerran and Karan from the backing band Denva who with Peter on drums did a great job of backing the artists from Friday until Sunday’s finale which was a real hoot. There were some interesting impersonations Graham Hugo as Kenny Rogers only had to take his hat off, George Farnham as himself, he got that spot on, Joyce Yates as a heavy metaler from back in the day certainly a sight to see, Joyce never fails to surprise, Sandi Dodd and Justin Standley with an awesome rendition of a collection of songs from the movie “Grease” and Annette and Kim as the legendary June Carter and Johnny Cash.We also managed to catch two great concerts during the week. On Monday night Dwayne Elix performed his one man show with tributes to Buddy Holly and Hank Williams. Dwayne is also a multi-instrumentalist and performed a banjo set but also plays guitar, mandolin, dobro and accordion. On Tuesday night our good friend Wayne Horsburgh  performed his show singing a variety of songs from Frank Ifield, Slim Whitman and Marty Robbins. This was a very polished show and very enjoyable. Wayne has spent more than 20 years performing in America including his own shows at Branson. It was great to catch up with Wayne again both he and Dwayne stayed with us at Christina Cottage.Then, before we knew it the week was over and we had to think about heading home. It was a fantastic week of singing and watching everyone enjoy themselves on the dance floor. Thank you all for your support we had a great time and look forward to seeing you all again next year.

On Monday morning we tiki toured back to Melbourne with Dale and Barb down through Maldon where we stopped for lunch. Maldon is another gold mining town from back in the day which has retained the original shop frontages. Then it was down through Castlemaine and Daylesford stopping off at Geelong beach where Annette had her first ride on a ferris wheel, check out the photos of that ride. We also stopped in to see Dale’s brother Grant and his wife Sherril before heading back to the beach for dinner and then into Melbourne to find a motel and prepare for the flight home.

We were at the airport early on Tuesday to check in, said our goodbyes with not too many tears, and headed through the gate to find our plane arriving in Auckland at about 4:00 o’clock and that was that. We were home.

Keep it Country

Annette & Kim

Hi Folks

We hope you all had a happy and safe Christmas and New Year and that you are all looking forward to 2014 and the new adventures it will bring.

Our first engagement for the New Year was the Marton Country Music festival on the 17^th, 18^th and 19^th of January. We arrived in Marton on Friday afternoon after a good trip down from Auckland. There were already over 200 mobile homes at, Wilson Park, the venue for the festival. It was pretty cold to boot but quite a few brave souls were enjoying the Friday night walk ups which we also participated in. The threat of rain held off during the whole of the weekend and Sunday was an absolute pearler of a day.

It was great to catch up with old friends and to meet some new ones as well. The two main acts for the festival were Joni Harms from the U.S. a great singer/songwriter and a very nice lady. We both highly recommend listening to some of her work. Roger Tibbs was back fresh from his tour of the Mid West States of the United States where he is doing fantastically well and in great demand. Roger has secured his own show at Branson that will run for approximately a month in late 2014. Congratulations Roger, well done. This is a major major achievement for a Kiwi artist.

Annette and I did the walk ups on Saturday and Sunday and were part of the main show on Saturday night so it was a busy weekend. In between we met a lot of fabulous folks. Thank you to Anne and Len for inviting us down. We had a great time and look forward to the 2015 festival and to seeing both on Norfolk Island in May. Also a big thank you to both bands which supported all the artists during the festival Shotgun and Pheonix.

Monday morning we were up early ready for the long trip home after a very successful weekend. Thank you to everyone that supported us and bought cds it is very much appreciated. We hope it won’t be too long before we see you again somewhere at a country music show or festival.

The following Friday we were in Orewa  to help mix our new cd “Try a Little Kindness”. But before that we decided to head down to Auckland on the Thursday evening to see Tami Neilson and her Mom and Dad in the” Neilson Family Reunion Show” at The Paddington in Parnell. We weren’t disappointed. This was a fantastic show. The Neilson’s are a very talented family, very professional in a natural sought of way and very, very funny. Both Annette and I were in tears. Check out some of their YouTube footage and you will see what we mean. They have been performing together for a long time and they have some interesting stories to tell about it. Thank you to Tami, Ron and Betty for such great entertainment and for allowing us the privilege of having our photograph taken with you all.

Friday the 24^th of January was a marathon day. We started the mixing of the songs on the new CD at 9:00am and finished at approximately 10:30pm with a couple of breaks in between but that’s over thirteen hours. Thank you to Mike for being so patient and working with us to create the sound that we wanted for this CD. We are very happy with the end result and we hope all of you out there will enjoy this album also. We’re sorry to say but the Aussies will be the first to get it as it won’t be ready until just before we head off to Barham for the Country Stampede festival on the 15^th of February. There will still be plenty available though when we get back.

We arrived back in Whangarei at about mid night on Friday with two gigs booked for the Saturday afternoon and evening so there wasn’t much time to rest. The first was a birthday party for a very good friend of ours, Bunny, at her home on Kamo Rd. We did about an hour and a half of entertaining for her family and friends and then had to head up to the Kamo Club where we had been booked for another birthday celebration. Both gigs went without a hitch and were both very enjoyable with everyone at the Kamo Club dancing the night away. We will be back there for the Dance Section Birthday celebrations on the 5th of March.

That’s about all for now we will catch up with you all at the end of February to let you know how the Barham festival went. Look out for our new CD “TRY A LITTLE KINDNESS” it will be available mid February, until then.

Take care and keep it country

Annette and Kim

Hi Folks

Well here we are again at the end of another year. We have had a busy year and 2014 is panning out to be no different. It has been an awesome year for us. The highlight definitely was our trip to America and being inducted into America’s Traditional Country Music Hall of Fame. We had the pleasure of meeting many wonderful people. We must once again thank Marlene and Gary for looking after us and Bob and Sheila for inviting us to perform at the festival. We hope to see you all again in the not too distant future.

We had 3 gigs in December to finish off the year. The first was on the 4th for the Kamo Club Dance Section Christmas break up. As we keep saying these are wonderful people to perform to. We had a lot of Christmas fun and look forward to 2014 and more dance section gigs.

We were invited to perform at the A & P show this year with The Mountain Mist Band. We had two awesome sets on the Saturday and it was great to be performing with the band again. We must thank Richard, Ian, Andrew and our stand in bass player Derek Barnston for supporting us and also our regular bass player Tiny Heathcote and the band for supporting us during the year. Thank you guys.

Our final gig was for the Kamo Club on Saturday the 21st. A large number of members turned out for the evening and it was great to see all the familiar faces and some old friends also enjoying themselves on and off the dance floor. We hope you all had an awesome night. We certainly did. Thank you to everyone that has supported us during the year. We would like to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year.

Just to bring you up to date on our new album. We have completed all the vocals, Marian has finished her fiddle work and Paddy Long will be in the studio on the 23rd of December recording the Steel tracks. Alex has the massive job of doing all the guitar work and is working his way through that at present. We will be getting together with Mike at the end of January to do the final mixing and we are very much looking forward to that.

We only have 3 songs left that require sponsorship but time is running out as we will be completing the cover graphics and art work in mid January. If you would like to know about song sponsorship please contact either of us and we will be happy to explain how it works. You can also go to our sponsorship web page and sponsor one of the songs from there.

Well, that’s about all folks once again thank you all so very much for your continued support we do appreciate it. Take care and we will see you somewhere in 2014. Our first gig will be the Marton Country Music Festival 17th till the 19th of January.

Merry Christmas and keep it country.

Annette and Kim

October began with our trip to Rotorua for the NZCMA Entertainer of the Year Awards. I had three songs in the original song section representing the NZ Star Awards, Waikati Country Music Awards and the Auckland Country Music Awards. I had a solo and two duos to perform with Annette. They were “Not The Leavin’ Kind”,” Now He’s a Drifter “ and “That’s Your Shadow Comin’ Round”. We left on Thursday afternoon with our musical director, Alex, Annette’s nephew joining us. We made our way through to Waihi where we booked into a motel and settled down for the night. On Friday morning we headed for Rotorua and to an afternoon rehearsal with the awards band, The Huckleberries, lead by Mike McCarthy with b.v’s from Echo’n’Harmony. Which went very well. This was followed by a civic reception with the mayor of Rotorua, Kevin Winters, who officially welcomed everyone to the city and wished us all the best of luck.

Saturday morning we had a bit of time to check out the lake and to head up to the gondolas where I gave Alex a ride down the luge before heading back to the motel to get ready for the show.

I have been involved in a number of these awards since 1989 and I still get nervous. A good sized crowd were very enthusiastic and appreciative to all the contestants and guest artists. Suzanne Prentice still has an incredible voice and the show was MCed by well known country artist Kylie Austin. We would like to congratulate all the contestants and the winners and wish them the best of luck for the future.

Oh, and by the way my song “Not The Leavin’ Kind” won the original song section so I was very pleased as this would probably be the last time I would be entering the awards. Annette and I would like to thank Heather and her team for looking after us so well and for putting on such a great show. Over the years both Annette and I have enjoyed meeting and being supported by many people on the awards circuit who we consider our friends. We would like to thank you all and also wish you all the very best for the future. We hope to see you at one of our concerts or at one of the Country Music Festivals we will be performing at around New Zealand, Australia or maybe even the USA.

On the 9th of October we once again performed for the Whangarei RSA Women’s Section birthday celebrations. This will be their 69th year and we had a great afternoon of singing and story telling about our trip to America. Plus one or two raffles. If they have not tired of us we may see them all next year.

On the 12th of October we were booked to play for the Whangarei Golf club who had organized a country evening for their members and the general public which was right up our alley. Eric Adams from The Sound Cave set up a stage for us and also some lighting as well which was awesome. A large crowd enjoyed a full on evening and were dancing right up until we had to finish plus a couple of songs for the road for those that didn’t want the night to end. Thank you to everyone that came along we had a blast and we hope to do it again sometime.

The month of November we had put aside to do some recording for our new duo album. We have had two awesome days with Mike McCarthy down at Manuka Studios in Orewa recording the vocals and have only two songs left to do. We would like to thank those that have so far sponsored a song on the album. Without your generous support we would not have been able to commit to this project and we are very pleased with how it is coming along. Because of your generosity and kindness towards us we came to the conclusion that fittingly the title of the new CD should be “Annette & Kim Try A Little Kindness”. We hope you will enjoy the finished CD and know that you have had a major part in it. We still have about four songs left that require sponsorship so if you or you and some friends are interested in being a part of the album please contact us or check out our web page for details on how you can become involved in helping Annette and I record this new CD. Once again thank you all for your support it is very much appreciated.

Best wishes and keeping it country

Annette and Kim

Hi Folks

Besides our trip to America we have been busy doing other things since our last newsletter update. On the 2oth of July I was in Te Awamutu for Val and Ray Thurgoods charity concert raising funds for prostate cancer. What a great show it was with a variety of artists keeping an enthusiastic audience entertained. Thank you to John King the M.D. for allowing me to play in the band when they found out they would be short a rhythm guitarist. Thank you also to Val and Ray for inviting me to perform. We look forward to being a part of any future concerts you will be running.

On the 10th of August we travelled to New Plymouth to perform for the Merrilands Country Music Club. We flew from Whangarei to New Plymouth on the Saturday morning. Well, we eventually did after the cloud cover had lifted enough from Whangarei airport and they decided that they could take off. We arrived a little later than expected but all was good. Angela met us at the airport and delivered us to the Westend Bowling Club where David Nepia had set up the sound system for us and helped out with the sound check, very professional the whole set up, thanks David. Angela then took us around to Judith’s home where we would be staying. Judith was busy organizing the most amazing roast dinner for us and a few friends before our gig started. Once fed and water we were off to the venue. What a great night we had and a great weekend as well. Thank you to everyone that came along to support us. We look forward to returning sometime in the near future. Thank you to Angela, David, Judith and the committee for all your help and for a great weekend.

The 16th of August, for those that don’t know, is the anniversary of Elvis’ death and we were booked to play at the Whangarei RSA. We could not let the evening go by without a small tribute to the King. It was an awesome night and great to see lots of people joining in on the Elvis theme especially Bill and Francis in their jumpsuits and Chris in his best Elvis getup. Look out for the photos on our website.

Following our trip to America we were off to Morrinsville on the 20th of July for the Morrinsville Country Music Clubs’ 2013 Spectacular. We were one of a number of guest artists performing on the show with special guest and m.c. Suzanne Lynch from The Chicks fame in the 60’s and 70’s. It was a fantastic show to be a part of and featured a wide variety of country talent. This included, The Heartley’s from the South Island, a talented duo who are having great success in Australia, Craig Robertson, an amazing songwriter and also my cousin who has been on the Australasian country circuit for many years, Hayley and Ryan, a brother and sister act, and Chris Holmes who has a classic country voice both these acts have a great future in country music, Peter Williamson provided a touch of traditional country and Dan Cosgrove showed why he is going to be one of New Zealand’s top country guitarists. The Johnny’s are an all female Johnny Cash tribute band and provided great entertainment once you see them you will not forget them. The backing band for the show was Bacchus with musical direction from Renny Hantler. What an awesome band to perform with. So professional and very tight, thanks guys. Once again backing vocals were provided by two talented lady’s that we always look forward to working with Sharon McIntyre and Rose Marie Hack. Congratulations to Marilyn and her team for two great shows that were both sold out. Thank you for inviting us to perform, we had a blast, and thank you to everyone that supported the shows.

That’s all the catching up to do folks. October sees us off to Rotorua for the NZCMA Entertainer of the Year Awards. We will let you know how that went next time. Until then take care and keep it country.

Best Wishes

Annette and Kim

IOWA USA

On Friday 23^rd of August 2013 we set off on our journey to America to be inducted into America’s Old Time Country Music Hall of Fame. This would take place during the 38^th Annual National OldTime Country, Bluegrass and Folk Music Festival being held at the Plymouth County Fair Grounds in Le Mars Iowa. We flew out of Auckland at 6:00am heading for Chicago via Sydney and Los Angeles and finally arriving in Sioux City at 9:30pm Friday night, their time, which would have been approx. 20 hours flying. We were doing quite well until we got to Chicago where we kind of lost track of time and missed the final connecting flight to Sioux City (oops panic stations). However, the airline people were on to it and organized overnight accommodation for us and transferred us to a flight the next day. We telephoned the people that were going to be hosting us in Le Mars to explain the situation and looked forward to meeting them on our arrival. Saturday the 24^th we arrived at Sioux City Airport to be met by Marlene and Gary Gearke our hosts for the week of the festival. We collected our luggage which had arrived the previous day and headed to Marlene and Gary’s home situated on the outskirts of Le Mars. Any apprehensions we may have had were soon dispelled on meeting this wonderful couple. They made us both feel so welcome and looked after us so well during the week that it was hard to believe that we were 13000kms away from home. We were able to chill out for a couple of days and have a look around Le Mars, the ice cream capital of the world according to the makers of Blue Bunny ice cream, and get ready for the festival to begin.

We had over a dozen shows to perform during the weeklong festival which would include the presentation of our induction certificates and also the” International Classic Country CD of the Year 2013 Award” for our duo cd “Something Between Us” from the USA Rural Roots Music Commission which was an unexpected but pleasant surprise to us both.
The festival was fantastic. A little bit hot, 35 degrees and over 90% humidity for most of the week, and a little nerve racking to begin with but everyone was so friendly and received our music so well that we both began to feel very proud and very privileged to have been nominated by Anne George and to have decided to travel to Le Mars to be a part of this great tribute to traditional American country music many in the audience finding it hard to believe that two people from a little country on the other side of the world had been so influenced by their music.
Once we began to perform it just felt as though we were meant to be there and as I mentioned earlier the people were wonderful to us. In particular we would like to thank Rick and Harriette  Anderson, and Danny and Donna Dee who supported us on stage during the week and who gave their time so willingly. We were truly blessed to have them share their wonderful talents with us. Rick was always there to play harmonica for us with Danny orHarriette playing bass. We would also like to thank Lee Muller, a very good friend of Jenny Blackadder’s, for providing lead guitar work for us and also Jacob Austin a young man who played an awesome mandolin.

The festival also featured performances by Mickey Gilley, Barbara Fairchlid and Roy Morris, Joanne Cash and her husband Dr Harry Yates , Kenny Serrat and Terry Smith. The whole week went too quickly and before we knew it we were saying goodbye to so many wonderful new friends. We hope to see you all again soon; Bobby Awe, such a gentleman, Paul Martinez,Bill Lear, Jackie Shewey, Darrel Hamilton, Dale Eichor, Boxcar Bob and his good wife Brenda, Francis Hahn, Bill Hendren and Whats her name, Michael Thoma, Storm and Snow Seymour, The Austin family, the Wilburns, Larry Harms, David Green, JeremieFaga, Frank Tuma and all those that travelled so far to support the festival and welcomed us into their world of country music. As I said before we both felt very privileged and honoured to be a part of your festival.A big thank you to Bob and Sheila Everhart for organizing such a massive event and for giving us an open invitation to return to the festival when we are able to.

We also had to say goodbye to our kiwi friends Denise and Roger Tibbs. Roger was also performing at the festival and is doing a great job. He is very popular in the Midwest United States and is having a great time touring with Mary and Tex Schutz. Roger kindly invited us to sing with him during one of his spots which was a bit of a buzz for us. We definitely hope to catch up with Roger and Denise at the Marton Country Music Festival in January 2014.

Well, the festival had come to an end and so had our time in Le Mars. We spent Labor Day holiday with Marlene and Gary and their family enjoying a lovely home cooked meal. On Tuesday they drove us down to Sioux City where we hired a car to head off and see a little bit of Iowa before we headed home. It was a very sad moment to say the least. Saying goodbye, to Marlene and Gary, was a little difficult, they had made our stay with them so enjoyable that we do look forward very much to returning in the near future.

Once Gary had directed us to the right off ramp we were on our way, a quick stop at the information centre to gather maps and brochures, and a check that we were on the right side of the road. All was good. We had decided to make our way down to Anita, where the Hall of Fame was situated, and had arranged with Bob to meet him there on the Thursday before we flew home so we had a couple of days to tiki tour around. We thought we might head for the hills, the Loess Hills that is, and a place called Preparation Canyon State Park where some of the first pioneers had arrived and discovered the vast Iowa plains.Today most of the land is planted in either corn or soy beans as far as the eye can see. Once you get into the hills it is the most beautiful countryside. We had asked Gary about wild animals that we needed to be aware of in the area and he had told us that it was notuncommon to see coyote, deer, badgers, foxes,squirrels, raccoonsand the odd story of a Moose wandering down into Iowa in the past. We were on gravel roads checking out small town America. We made our way to Missouri Valley and then west to Desoto National Wild Life Refuge with a small detour over the Missouri river and into Blair Nebraska by mistake while looking for the entrance to the refuge. There is nothing like a hundred carriage train to divert your attention. We arrived at the refuge in the late afternoon and once we had taken in the museum we drove into the refuge itself. We were just at the right time to see the deer coming out to forage near the roadsides and also caught a glimpse of the tiniest of humming birds flitting around the flowers, which was amazing to see. The day was drawing to an end so we made our way to the interstate to head south and find a place to spend the night. We settled on a small town called Shelby. We checked into the motel before heading to the truck stop and diner for dinner. The following morning after breakfast at the truck stop we took photos of the bicycles of Shelby and the main street and made for our next stop, Winterset, the birth place of John Wayne and where the movie, ”The Bridges of Madison County”, was filmed starring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood (Check out the photos on our website of this amazing town). We did the touristy things i.e. visited the house where John Wayne was born and the bronze statue where the museum is going to be built and also the many bridges of Madison County. There are 7 to be exact, including the stone bridge where they filmed the picnic scene. If you are ever in Winterset be sure to go to the Northside Café if only to sit on the same stool Clint Eastwood sat on in one of the scenes from the movie. We managed to see all the bridges bar one on the Wednesday so decided to check into a motel for the night and catch the final bridge the next day on our way over to Anita.
We arrived in Anita at approx. 11:00am Thursday and without realising it had pulled up right outside the Hall of Fame. I am not going to explain or try to describe everything Bob and Sheila have in the building. Bob did give us a tour which Annette videoed so we may have some of that on the web page in the future. Suffice to say Bob is a very knowledgeable man when it comes to traditional country music and the memorabilia that he has collected for the Hall of Fame. It was definitely worth all the travel just to visit with Bob and Sheila. We wish them all the best for the future and are proud to be members of the Hall of Fame.
Our trip was coming to an end and our final destination was Omaha, Nebraska. We arrived Thursday afternoon and once we checked into a motel again we drove into the city to look through the old market area and to have a nice meal at one of the market restaurants. Friday morning we were up early ready to find Omaha zoo or Sheplars western store whichever came first. It was Sheplars, and by the time we had finished looking through all the western gear there was little time left for the zoo. So instead we visited two locomotives gifted to Omaha city to celebrate Union Pacific’s 150^th anniversary. Check out the photos of the Big Boy steam engine and The Centennial Diesel locomotive on our web site also. From there we delivered our car back to the hire company and flew out of Omaha at 3:00pm Friday the 6^th September and via Dallas/Fort Worth and Brisbane Australia arrived back in Auckland at approx. 2:30pm Sunday the 8^th of September. What an awesome adventure.

Keeping it Country

Annette & Kim