First Professional Gig in Nashville

I am excited to share with you the experience of my first professional gig as a bass player here in Nashville. Although I have been playing for a couple different artists here and there, nothing had payed me any money, although all of it is good exposure and experience. Well I got a call during church one day, which I of course didn't answer. When I checked the message, it was a girl by the name of Erika Jo who was looking for a bass player to play a show in Arkansas that very next weekend. I called her back as soon as got her message. It had only been about 45 min since she called, but she said she had already found someone but that if it fell threw she would give me a call. BUMMER!! I felt like it had slipped through my fingers. In addition to me wanting to play a professional gig, I was really low on money, and needed something just to earn my rent. So ... I took it to prayer. And I told sarah to pray too, because she is God's favorite. I had almost given up on the thought... and I got a call on monday afternoon while i was at work. Apparently the other bass player couldn't make it to the rehearsals, so she called to offer it to me! Yes! The Lord came through once again! I told her I would absolutely do it, and i went after work and met her at a cracker barrel parking lot to pick up 2 cd's worth of music to learn for the show that weekend. She explained that the show was in Fordyce AK, we would be taking a tour bus to get there, food and beverage were taken care of, the show payed $300 and each rehearsal payed $25. I was sooo excited! but I tried to play it cool. haha!! when I got home is when it hit me... OMG... I have 26 songs to learn and memorize in 4 days!!! So I got to work... I stayed up late... drank red bulls... woke up early... putting hours of practice time in to chart and learn the music, and then get off the charts. I came to the first rehearsal pretty nervous. I got through it ok with my charts, and then went back to practicing... by the second rehearsal, I had everything pretty much nailed into place, and by the time rehearsal was over, I felt pretty confident! I didn't use any charts at the second rehearsal, and I did pretty good! I also started feeling more comfortable around the band mates, which was good, since we had quite a bit of time on a bus ahead of us. We Caravan'd to a kroger where we met and loaded the bus at around midnight on a friday night. We drove through the night, and I slept in my first tour bus bunk, hopefully the first of many! Erika Jo and I hit it off right away. I loved hanging out with her and she made me feel very welcome and comfortable. We played to set's, and apart from shorting the fuses a million times and dodging the rain... I think it went pretty well!!! then we got to eat some corn dogs and funnel cake. Can't beat that!!!! Erika and i plan to hang out and eat some sushi! although, being this far away from any ocean makes me a little nervous about sushi! Anyway, I did it. I played my first show and got payed, and met some really amazing musicians in the process. I hope it leads to more in the future!!