CMT Blog: Archive

One thing is for sure -- traveling on the road is never boring. There's always an adventure just ahead. After performing to a sold out venue in Farmington Hills, Mich., we started towards the Canadian border at Port Huron. Just before reaching the border, traffic came to a stand still, due to a toxic waste spill on the interstate. Our driver, Yogi, quickly got on the CB to find out how long the wait could be. They were saying eight hours or more. Yogi positioned the bus to cross the grassy median, after closely checking the firmness, to see if we could cross. He flattened out the gas pedal and didn't let up till we made the U-turn back onto the pavement. It was a rough ride, but we were moving once again and on our way to Detroit to cross the border into Canada.

After a few questions from customs about our performance in London, Ontario, we were cleared to enter our neighboring country. The London audience was treated to an extra-special surprise when I asked for a volunteer to make a train whistle on our Jim Rushing song, "Passin' of the Train." We got much more than we bargained for, as the whistler turned out to be guitarist extraordinaire Steve Piticco. We put a guitar in his hands and Steve displayed his awesome talent for two songs with The Rage. Overnight, we once again crossed the border back into the USA, and appeared on Sunday at the Apple Blossom Festival in Winchester, Va. It was a record attendance for the bluegrass event, and I was presented with an official Apple Blossom necklace.

We arrived back in Nashville on Monday morning, to prepare for a new bus wrap. Our Martha White Bluegrass Express will receive a complete face lift this week. Check out the new bus look at a show near you, as well the history of our bus wraps since the beginning of our Martha White sponsorship on our Web site.