Happy 4th! (and other lovely things.)

It’s been too too long.

We spent a week or so in Nashville after traveling to camps and weddings in June.  it was nice to be home for a little while, even if it was short lived.  We’ve been writing lots and I’m excited to have some new songs for you guys at shows this fall.

Speaking of shows, you may have noticed that we have a pretty aggressive tour schedule planned for the fall.  If we want the schedule to actually work, we need your help.  You’ll notice on our tour page that most of the shows are TBA, meaning that they aren’t officially booked.  If you’d like to help us with some of those, we’d love it.  We don’t have a booking agent, or management or anything like that–we really do all of this ourselves, and with your help!  So if you know of a venue in your city or you’d like to host a house show (a concert in your living room) then shoot us an email at jt@jennyandtylermusic.com  We check that email regularly so we will read it and get back to you.   I don’t know about you, but I’m getting super excited about the fall.

Hmm…what else to tell?  We have ringtones for sale now.  You can find them in our store.

We’ve been exposed to some great music lately—Eisley–I think that’s how you spell that–being one. My sister also had me listening to Good Old War out by the pool the other day.  We’re in Dallas with my family for the 4th of July and we’ve been soaking up the sun in my parent’s pool (that’s what happens when you move out—your parents get an amazing pool.), eating lots of chocolate ice cream, and hanging out with Stewart (the one-eyed cat.).  All in all, a good time.

Well, have a happy Fourth of July. I think I’m going to have a piece of raspberry pie!

-Jenny

yay for camps.

oh my oh my oh my.

we’ve had a crazy week guys. crazy in a so-much-good-has-happened-you’re-exhausted-from-smiling-and-singing kind of week. we spent the past few days at a youth camp in jamestown, tn. jamestown is in the middle of no where and we didn’t have internet access for the duration of our stay—so sorry if you were trying to reach us and we didn’t respond. we’re just now getting caught up on emails and things like that.

camp was great. we heard some amazing stories from some missionaries in papua new guinea. i hope i spelled that correctly? and we got to work with some amazing students. we ran a songwriting workshop with some kids and they actually wrote a song! i was thrilled to see them being creative like that. and they were really pleased with the outcome. so we spent the week eating junk food, singing all day, leading worship, getting to know teenagers, and getting very little sleep. all in all, an awesome 5 days. so so so good.

now we’re in greenwood, sc for my cousins wedding. we’re currently having a little song learning cram session for the wedding reception tomorrow. that’s what happens when you plan on learning songs the week before and without anticipating a lack of internet access. you live and you learn i suppose.

anyway, just wanted to check in. we’re still alive.
-jenny

Are you in 8th grade?

So I thought I’d share a few tour stories that I may have hinted to already, but haven’t taken the time to truly narrate. I know, I know, it’s really not as cool to tell these stories after the fact, but now that we’re home, I actually have a bit more time to blog, so I’m going to.

One night while we were in Florida, we led worship and played a short set for a youth group in the Fort Myers area. Leading worship for teenagers can be interesting. Sometimes teens are really into singing and sometimes, they’re just waayyyy too cool for the whole thing. We weren’t sure what to expect but were happy to be there nonetheless and meet the kids.

Never in my life have I been so intimidated by a bunch of high schoolers. Seriously. I don’t know if I was having an off night or just experiencing an extremely high does of insecurity, but I was scared. The kids looked so old. And so cool. I wasn’t really a cool kid in high school. What I mean by that is that I was the drum major of my high school marching band. Yes, I said it. I was the head nerd. Still, I thought I was passed a lot of the inadequacy and insecurities I felt in high school. I mean, I’m an adult now, married even. (For some reason I equate married with being more of a “real” person. Which totally isn’t true.) But apparently, the kids that appear “cool” still freak me out.

After mingling with the high school kids I found myself feeling pretty nauseous (again, insecurity). I retreated to the middle school room. I sat near a group of girls and tried to talk a little. It was then that one of the girls leaned over, told me she was in 8th grade and asked, “Are you in 8th grade too?” I tried not to look appalled and said, no. She then asked, “Oh, so are you in 9th?” Now, I understand that I was in the middle school room, so she could very easily have thought that everyone there was in 6th, 7th, or 8th grade, but think about it…I’m at least 10 years older than this girl. How could she seriously have thought that we were the same age?
My self-esteem at an all time low, Tyler and I climbed the stage to lead some worship and play our songs. To my delight…some of the kids actually knew our songs…they even sang along with “Nashville”! By the end of the night I felt pretty good…I’d even forgotten about the 8th grade incident. (Not for long, clearly.)

Thinking about the whole night makes me feel pretty pathetic. That I would place my self worth in the hands of a bunch of teenagers is pretty ridiculous. How many songs have I written about this sort of thing? Yet, I still find myself concerned about what other people think. It takes time I guess. Just when I think I’m grown up I find that I still have so very much to learn.

More stories to come.
-Jenny

fashion, grooving, free ep

To those of you who signed up for the mailing list while we were touring (meaning you signed up at a show) fear not, your free EP is on it’s way. We got a little behind in adding everyone while we were on the road. If you haven’t yet, you will be getting an email with the download info within the next two days. We apologize and appreciate your patience!

In other news, Tyler and I are getting some new promo shots done this weekend! Yay! Our lovely friend Meghan (www.redmetyellow.com) will be using her extraordinary photography skills to (hopefully) make us look good. She came over this week to go over wardrobe options with me and explained that all I really have to do if I want to fit in with the fashion in Nashville is find two things that I would never wear together and put them on. Turns out she’s right. We actually made a trendy outfit out of my clothes. I was dumbfounded. Even so, after the shoot is over I’ll probably stick to my traditional jeans and a t-shirt look.

I’m sitting in our living next to Tyler doing work and listening to Foy Vance. I know, I know, I’ve plugged Foy Vance a lot, but seriously, I can’t stop listening. Right now we’re listening to his song, “Hope, Peace, & Love.” You know a song is really grooving when you look at the person sitting next to you and realize that you’re both bobbing your heads in time without even realizing it. Seriously. So good.

back to work.
-jenny

Back in Nashville…

WE ARE HOME!!!

It feels good to be here.  We’ve spent the past couple days regrouping, visiting with friends, appreciating the comfort of our own bed, COOKING!!! I know that may seem a bit strange, wouldn’t it be wonderful to not have to cook for two months?  Not so I’m afraid.  I like my kitchen.  And I really like eating.

We had a great time touring.  We enjoyed meeting so many of you!  And we hope to see you again I might add.  We’re allready gearing up for the fall.  If you would like to host a house show, let us know!  Contact us at: jt@jennyandtylermusic.com to book or help us book.

Highlights of the tour—

We played for audiences of all ages.  From first graders to 80 year olds and everything in between.  It was, shall we say, interesting? But so fun!

Tyler was able to see a bald eagle while we were in South Carolina. I, sadly, missed it.

A friend of mine commented on all of the “free food tweets” I posted.  What can I say, I like food, especially when it’s free.

Receiving a stuffed cat with a patch over it’s eye in Lynchburg.

Seeing snow covered mountains in Vermont and having our toes in the sand in Florida just weeks apart.

Windy Gap!!!

I could go on and on.  But I won’t.  But seriously, good times all around.  Thanks so much for coming out and supporting us!

-jenny (&tyler)

oh one-eyed cat.

Right now I’m sitting in Blue Ridge Lodge at Windy Gap Young Life camp in Asheville, NC.  It’s beautiful here. We’re playing music, helping with worship, and hanging out for work week 2009.  We’re staying in staff lodging–which is amazing.  Seriously. I didn’t know that young life camp was THIS nice.

A lot has happened in the past week or so.  We played a fun show in Jacksonville, FL at a place called Three Layers. The owners gave us all the food we wanted while we were there so I tried their famous three layer black and white cake.  I think it was the most delicious cake I’ve ever had.  It consisted of layers of chocolate cake and white chocolate mousse.  So so so good.  We also played a really great show in Fort Myers, FL and another in Orlando.  We had fun seeing family–some that we hadn’t seen in 10ish years.  It’s weird when you don’t see family for that long–but I guess when you’re scattered all over the country it’s bound to happen.

We spent the last 3 days in Savannah, GA before coming to Windy Gap.  We only played a show one night, so we spent the other two celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary.  It’s a little early, but we had a great free hotel room courtesy of a friend and Savannah is a gorgeous city, so we decided to make the most of it.  It was worth it!

Backtracking a bit–

Some of you may know that we had to cancel a show in Arkansas and in Austin, TX (back in April) due to illness. I had a seizure a couple weeks ago (right around those shows) and bit through my tongue pretty intensely–singing, much less talking wasn’t a fun thing for a couple days.  If you’ve listened to Season on “A Prelude” you may have picked up on my epilepsy.  I’m generally pretty open about it.  Anyway, one of the great things about the timing of the seizure was that I was able to spend a couple days recouperating at my parent’s house in Dallas—which also meant that I got to see Stewart–my ONE EYED CAT!  Here’s a picture of us spending time together.  Can you tell which eye is blind?

such a pretty kitty.

Well, I’m off to do some work.  The tour is beginning to wind down.  Crazyness!

-Jenny

A video for you…

So we like Taylor Swift…okay? We admit it. Don’t judge.

Florida sunshine.

I’m sitting at my grandma’s computer in Southwest FL. It’s beautiful outside. I’m going to the pool in a bit (I hope!) to soak up some of this sun. My grandma’s computer sounds like it’s about to take off or something…

We drove 9 1/2 ish hours yesterday. I realized this week that Tyler saw several states for the first time—Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia. I guess if you don’t have family in the deep south and you’re from the northeast you don’t make it down this way very much. It’s been hot, but beautiful.

We’ve had some crazy thins happen with our car—first, all the way back in Vermont, two little clips around the gas filter broke. I went to turn on the car and all of the gas fell out of the bottom. That was pretty crazy. The family we were staying with was very helpful in getting us to a place to have it fixed and we were on the road again within an hour and a half—I was stunned. I thought it was be a much more involved repair. In Pittsburgh we ran over a screw and had to have our tire patched—so thankful it was just a patch and that we didn’t need to buy a whole new tire. In Texas we had to have the computer reprogrammed in our car. I knew that cars had computers in them—but I’d never heard of someone having theirs reprogrammed? Anyway, we were staying with my parents so we were able to leave the car in the shop for a couple days and not need it.

In Mississippi, Tyler went to tighten a lug nut and the whole thing, including the post snapped off. It was Sunday in the South—nothing was open. We happened to drive past an auto parts store that was. Tyler thought maybe he could fix it on his own. We bought the part and Tyler started taking stuff off the wheel–soon we realized that we really didn’t know what we were doing. This guy Manuel who was working at the shop came out and started to help. After the brakes had come off the wheel he said he had to go—I looked at Tyler in panic. We both knew that if he left we would not be able to get all of the parts back on the car correctly. At this point we were set to arrive at Ole Miss 30 minutes prior to showtime–we were cutting it pretty close! Manuel decided to stay and help us put the car back together—praise the Lord! Seriously. So that was fixed. We gave Manuel some CDs. That was all he wanted.

Since then–no car troubles! Praying it stays that way.

Hopefully we’ll be posting some pictures and videos soon–sorry we’ve been slackers!
-jenny

the incredible hulk in mississippi

I’m sitting in an old friend’s apartment in Oxford, MS watching “The Incredible Hulk.”  I was really half watching up until this point, but now we’re at the what I am assuming to be ending of the movie where the hulk is trying to kill this crazy lizard type thing.  I’m hoping he wins because if not, I think everyone on this roof top is in for something terrible.  If you’ve seen the movie, I guess you’ll probably know what I mean. 

I’m really not into these super-hero movies.  But Tyler loves them, so we’re watching one for his sake tonight.  I usually get my way with romantic comedies anyway.  

Our time in Mississippi has been interesting–in a good way.  In so many ways I’m reminded of my time living down here in Ocean Springs.  We made a little visit to the old hometown.  Drove past my high school, old house, and I even got to have a tato-nut.  Tat0-nuts are the finest doughnuts ever made.  They made them from potato flour–hence the tato-nut name. When I was in high school a group of friends would meet every Thursday morning for breakfast before school.  So yummy.  

Anyway being in the land of the bayous brings back so many memories.  The hulk has won as I predicted.  I am off to bed.  Headed for Auburn, AL tomorrow.  

-jenny

Texas!

Texas has been good to us thus far!

One of my favorite things about the tour has been the opportunity to see how different the U.S. looks and feels geographically. I know, I know, the differences are kind of obvious, but experiencing the different regions of the country in such a short time frame is really quite amazing. For example, the drive through the Adirondacks in NY was beautiful, but it’s hard to believe that those mountains are part of the same country as the open landscape here in Texas. Again, maybe I’m stating the obvious, but it’s just too cool not to mention.

Texas has been good. The weather here is incredible. It’s hard to believe that a week and a half ago we were hanging out in literally freezing weather in Western NY.

On Sunday we played a show at a church in Allen, TX. The best part of the show was seeing a family that used to live in Wilmington, DE when we did! The world is so small. It never ceases to amaze me.

Speaking of the world being small—last night we played a show in Keller, TX and met a girl who said she had a friend who lived in Nashville. Her friend turned out to be Levi Weaver….our NEIGHBOR! Seriously, we live in a duplex, and Levi and his wife live on the other side of the house. What are the odds?

Tonight we’re playing at White Rock Coffee in Dallas with our friends Deawvall. If you’re in the area come out! Show starts @8pm.