US tour 2010

This time, I’m writing in Swedish…

Ja nu har jag ju varit hemma några veckor, men jag tänkte ändå att jag skulle ta och blogga lite om min lilla USA-turné.
Jag startade min tripp i Mississippi. Där skulle jag bla uppträda på Hard Rock Casino i Biloxi som ligger längst ner vid kusten. Riktigt vackert.
Eventet var Mississippi Grammy Show och det var jag, Cassandra Wilson, Mac McAnally, The Williams Brothers och några fler grammisvinnare som skulle uppträda.
Med mig från Sverige hade jag tre härliga dansare.
De första dagarna bestod av rep, intervjuer, poolbad och mera rep.
Orkestern… yeah säger jag bara. Det var ett fantastiskt 19-manna band bestående av stråk, blås å hela biddevitten.
Det kändes fantastiskt att musicera tillsammans med dem. Riktigt häftigt.
Det svängde nå så in i bängen!
I vanlig ordning invigde guvernören hela kalaset.
När han såg mig sa han: BeeeAtriss!! I am so glad that you are back to honor our State with your presence!! How is Caarrrl Bildt?
Oh, Sänk jo! Ajm gläd to bi her. Carl? He is fine… I guess..I think. Haven’t talked to him in a while… host.
Framträdandet gick mycket bra. Sången och dansen satt där den skulle och alla var glada å nöjda.
Och jag med!
Sen, härlig efterfest i sann glitter, glam och röda mattan-anda.


Efter efterfesten drog jag med mig Sandra (min hålla-reda-på-mig-å-ser-till-att-jag-kommer-i-tid-å-så-tjej) på ultra-amerikanska Waffle House. Yeah baby, ett riktig efterefterfesten-plejs.
Onyttigt och gott. Där satt vi i glitter-stass och allmänt bara stack ut. Gött mos.
Sen var det dax att åka upp till Jackson för fler spelningar.
Slutsålt blev det (hurra) och det gick mycket bra.

Den extra lilla twangen på denna tripp var att jag även flög över till Nashville för att skriva med lite olika låtskrivare. Dit åkte jag på egen hand och eget bevåg. Lite nervöst faktiskt.
Fixade hotell, hyrbil med gps åsså var det bara att tuta och köra.
Tänk om jag kommer känna mig helt lonely i stan och sitta å gråta ensam på nån schleten karaoke country-bar?
Så blev det inte som tur var.
Redan första dagen blev jag överöst av trevliga människor som ville visa mig stan och alla coola ställen.
Å vips så hade man tio nya vänner . Hurra.
Under veckan så träffade och skrev jag med ett gäng duktiga låtskrivare (detta hade jag bokat innan från sverige).
En snubbe hade skrivit låtar bla till Dolly Parton, Dixie chicks, Shanya Twain osv.
Då e man inte så kaxig när han ba: Well, do you have any good song ideas?
Harkel… Jäs, whåt do jo sink abaot dis? Traaala la la la la osv… Men de gillade mina idéer och vi fick ihop ett gäng låtar.
De e kul när man övervinner sina rädslor och går utanför sin lilla trygghetszon.
Jag försökte tänka att what the heck, varför skulle jag va så mycket sämre än dom? Kör på nu Bea!
Jaha, det var det. Nashville alltså.
Då var det bara New York kvar på schemat. Tjo hoo!
Där anslöt hela familjen Robertsson och tillsammans gjorde vi stan osäker. Typ .
Nu hemma. Inte så pjåkigt det heller, men inte lika spännande kanske.
Men som mamma brukar säga: Man kan inte ha kul jämt! (Nähä, vafför inte då? Bad attitude mom. Älskar dig ändå!).
Nu vill jag passa på att önska er alla en SKÖÖÖÖÖN sommar!
Hoppas vi ses där ute i solen.
Kram hela dan!

Lately…

…I’ve been doing alot of different stuff. Where should I begin?
My writing. I’ve been writing alot. Mostly songs for me and to my next album but also for other artists. That’s been keeping me real busy.
Jiihaa, it’s Fuuun, fun, fun!

Singing. Off course I’ve been singing :). Couple of weeks ago I had the honor to sing at Annexet, Golben here in Stockholm together with Jakob Stadell at the Working Life conferense. And having the awsome gospel choir By Grace backing me up, it just couldn’t go wrong.
And it didn’t 😉

Then there was the Bengt Johansson tour.
I got to sing some really great songs, meet some really nice people and see some really nice roads ;).
Bengt is a great artist and an even greater person.
We really got along great! Not to mention the band..
So I guess ”great” is the word for that tour.
Thank you Bengt for taking me with you!

Since I liked the band so much I brought the along to play with me at Underbar Bar.
A lot of people came and I sang alot of my new songs. First time live. The response was more than I could hope for.
Thank you friends and fans for your support and off course for coming to my concert!

Now I’m busy planning the US tour. I’m going in May.
Starting in Mississippi, performing at the Mississippi Grammy Event at the Hard Rock Casino in Biloxi and ending in New York.
I’ll be staying one week in Nashville as well writing.
Looking forward to that trip!

Bye for now!

Singing in the City hall

Last night I played at an award in the City hall. It was a big event and people from 20 countries. The award was held in the Golden hall.

Together with Johan Boding I sang a medley of songs from the musical Chess (songs written by Björn and Benny from ABBA). It was fuuuuun..
I wore a dress (borrowed) worth more than my entire wardrobe..

Back from an awsome week in the USA!

About two month ago I received a letter from the Governor of Mississippi.
Governor Haley Barbour. It was an invitation to come and perform at the Peavey Awards Honouring a Mississippi Grammy. What an honour!

Invited artists was R&B/Pop star Brandy, guitar icon James Burton (played with Elvis), blues legend Mavis Staples, songwriter Paul Overstreet to mention some… and me 🙂 !! It was a privilege meeting them.
Paul is such a songwriter hero! He has written songs recorded by Alison Krauss, George Jones, Randy Travis, Tanya Tucker, Kenny Chesney, Hank Williams Jr., Travis Tritt and many others. Wow…

I also had the honour to receive an award by the Governor himself!
The event was preceded by a reception at the Governor’s Mansion, hosted by the Governor and First Lady.
When we first arrived at the Mansion we mingled with the Governor and all the other performing artists.
The Mansion was beautiful…looks like The White House, but smaller. The fence that surrounds the Mansion was covered with huge banners of all the artists. Yeah :).
Then it was time to receive the award. That was a proud moment.
Thank you God for blessing me so much.

Showtime!
The event was held at the exclusive Marriott’s Windsor Ballroom in downtown Jackson.
The band was from Nashville and we got one day of rehearsal. The musicians were great! I loved playing with them.
The show went really well! I wasn’t even nervous. I guess I had too much fun to have time to be nervous.

This trip is something I always will remember. I had the best time.
We all got along great and I hope to see them all soon again!

Me and James Burton are playing together July 12 at the Countrygalan in Stockholm and July 13 in Örnsköldsvik. Looking forward to that! I had the privilege to get to know both him and his wife. They are awesome people. So don’t miss that!

Mavis Staples also invited me, Hannah and Anorah (two lovely Swedish girls that also was on this trip with me) to come to her concert in August when she is playing at Berns, Stockholm. Maybe we could do something on stage together she said. That would be awesome.

I am now back in Stockholm and last Wednesday I played in Kungsträdgården at restaurangernas dag. A crowded Kungsan, niiice.
Bye folks!

Writing

Writing, writing, writing…
This last couple of weeks I’ve been really busy being creative!
I’ve been writing almost a song per day. Weeehooo!
Hopefully some of them are good too ; )
We’ll see.

Also, Christmas Show rehearsals started.
I think it’s gonna be a great show this year!
Don’t forget to buy tickets! www.jultorpranch.se