One Helluva Ride - Part Four
Waking up after the Josie Music Awards on Monday mission number one was getting Boo Boo to the airport to catch his flight home. We had made arrangements with Dave who we had hung out with the night before for Boo Boo to catch a ride with him as he was heading there himself. I had made plans to meet with my good friends Tyler and Mae Herwig to capture content in downtown Nashville that day.
Tyler is an incredible singer/songwriter who was nominated for 5 Josie Music Awards on the weekend and his beautiful wife Maegan has become a dear friend to my wife and I over the last year. We made arrangements to meet at the bus then grab an Uber to some spots they had picked out to shoot content for Tyler's upcoming singles. I am beyond grateful for these few hours spent with my friends observing them working and even helping to shoot some of it. Check out Tyler Herwig on his website.
I am incredibly proud of this power couple and all that they have achieved since meeting them in 2024. We first met at the Midwest Country Music Organization Award Show where Tyler was nominated for New Artist of the Year and sat down with us for an interview at jam night. His story, his performance, and his powerful testimony instantly drew me to him and the commitment to his family while maintaining a career in the music industry was inspiring for me as I began a new career in supporting independent artists like him. Getting to know them in the year since through more podcast interviews, calls with Mae in The Wellness Company, and even a visit to their home in Minnesota has been a blessing. Watching the Herwig family grow with the addition of a baby brother for their daughter and having the great joy of meeting them both is a treasure to me. Our friendship is dear to me and to have this day in Nashville spent doing what we all love will be something I cherish for the rest of my life.
Tyler, Mae, Dave and Boo Boo all made it to their flights later that day on time and headed to their respective homes while I settled into a new paradigm post JMA's in Nashville. I was contacted by Greg Holt who I had not seen in over a decade and made plans to visit with him later that evening. We met at Nashville Palace then made our way to Scoreboard for a fantastic barbecue meal. It was awesome spending time with catching up with Greg who is an extremely accomplished musician with a career spanning 3 decades and a list of top tier artists he has played with a mile long. After supper I made my way back to the bus where I thought my fun for the evening was over. I was wrong.
I was awoken in the middle of the night by Opryland security knocking on the doors and windows of the bus. We were misinformed when purchasing the pass in the parking lot about the conditions of the pass. It was unacceptable to sleep on the bus and the parking lot was only for use by guests of the hotel. The Opryland Resort hotel rooms go for over $500 per night and on the night in question they were already sold out anyway. I was put in a position where I either had to learn how to drive the bus or it was going to be towed away at our expense. As you can tell by the photo I added Bus Driver to my list of duties and got the job done. It was a short move back to the Opry Mills Mall parking lot from where we had previously moved the bus just days earlier. Trust me when I tell you that you couldn't make this stuff up if you tried. Once parked I settled back in for some sleep after a good laugh of course.
