CMT Blog: Ruth Collins

Ruth Collins of the duet Wild Honey is one of the final contestants in CMT's Can You Duet competition.

It's eleven minutes after midnight exactly three days before my birthday and I should be asleep!!! Not because it's past my bedtime, (come on I'm a musician and bedtime rarely comes before 2 am) or because I have an early day, (a day off believe it or not!!! ) but because I have bronchitis! Can you believe it?? I can't... I never get sick and Victoria (Wild of Wild Honey) is pretty much the sickest girl I know.. sorry hun, but it's true!!! This last summer she actually had bronchitis and walking pneumonia at the same time and I didn't catch it! And we were living together... crazy... so how it is that the girl that never gets sick is sick now is lost on me... Now when she is on a tv show and has the most important performances of her life coming up she gets a sickness that affects the vocal chords in a major way!!! Oh well I'm done whining... well maybe a little more.. so while all my cast mates and newly found best friends are out on the town celebrating I'm in my hotel room listening to whiskeytown (check them out!!!) and writing to you!! Actually it's not so bad. This is the first time in 2 weeks I have been alone for more time than it takes to go to the bathroom! And I'm actually very thankful. I came back to my room, brushed my teeth and took the prescription cough syrup that the doctor assured me would knock me out... and here I am.. I got the guitar out, worked on some songs that very much need to be finished but who has the time, remembered that I have no voice and decided to do something that would rest it.

So here I am, in the Opryland hotel, all alone, and I can't sleep... These past two weeks have been a whirlwind... A crazy, scary, stressful, emotional, beautiful, mind blowing two weeks... And I wouldn't change a minute... ok there was that thing about the hot tub with L.B. and Oakleaf!!! Haahaa just kidding!

Let me tell you about how life is amazing and why I really feel like ANYTHING can happen...

Victoria and I auditioned for Can You Duet and felt really good about it. Even though we were more nervous than we had ever been before and sounded worse than we ever had before, we got really great feedback from the judges... They gave us a pass to go through to the next level. Then we were told that would get a call in a few days to find out if we had made it on the show or not...

The call never came.

We were upset... We felt like this show had happened to us for a reason... I mean Vic and I met really randomly, had only been singing together for 6 months as a duo and were loving it... and then here comes a show to our town about duos??? It was too perfect. We knew it was no coincidence. So when we didn't get a call, we were disappointed. We let ourselves mope for exactly 3 hours, but then we pulled ourselves together, and got back to work. We had a few big shows coming up and a lot of stuff to get ready!

Here's the crazy part. Even though we were sad, I went to bed that night and thanked God for Can You Duet. I pretended that we got the call, and thanked God for it... I guess in my head I thought maybe I could change things and they would call the next day like it was all a mistake... I know I know...crazy right??? Well the next day came, and no call... and then next day and no call... So we moved on with our life.... UNTIL...

The next day, at about 9 am, Victoria calls me and wakes me up... Don't know why I woke up to the call, because my phone was still on silent from work the night before... but I woke up and looked at my phone and it was her... "RUTH someone from Can You Duet just called wanting to know where we were... apparently there was a meeting this morning and we missed it!"

I sat up in bed stunned... no one had ever called... Vic told me that we had to rush downtown right away... When we got there we met Garret who worked on the show... and he told us that...

THEY FORGOT TO CALL US... how crazy is that???!!!!!

We went into that meeting and they told us we made the show... The next day we moved into the Opryland hotel and started filming. And everything changed.

So here I am, two weeks later... still here. And still amazed that I get to be a part of something so huge and awesome!!! Bronchitis and all, I wouldn't change a second of this amazing adventure I've been living for the last 14 days! Don't worry, I will fill you in on everything that has happened since... But for now... I think that cough syrup might be finally kicking in!

Love,
Ruthie
(AKA Honey!!!)