Winter /2011

Merry Christmas!

Hard to believe it’s already here but you know what they say, “Time flies when you’re having fun”, and we have had more fun this year than we probably should have! But that’s only because we have the best friends and fans in the world and you all make our job the best job in the world.

This was our busiest year EVER! We played 277 (give or take 1 or 2..I’m sure I missed something) different performances over the last 12 months from far southern Arizona in February to Kamloops British Columbia 2 weeks later and back and forth in between all year long. The Dodge van now has over 107,250 miles on it and still running strong (thanks to the many recalls!) We saw the ocean in California, Oregon and Washington, the mountains in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico, the deserts of Nevada; we drove in every kind of weather condition imaginable and we only put 21,000 miles on the van and spent 56 nights away from home-I know, I need to get a life! Not bad, huh?!? But here’s the good news=that brings our grand total of performances since we started this crazy journey back in 1995 to…drum roll please…2,839! That means we will hit the crazy number 3,000 sometime towards the middle of 2012 and I do believe there needs to be a B-I-G party for that one! Right this minute on the calendar for next year, we have 105 bookings…and we’ve only just begun! So, safe to say it’s going to be another busy year for us and we’ll be looking forward to seeing you here and there.

We’re going to try and do something different in 2012…house concerts. We’ve done a few, both co-hosted and performed at and they are so much fun, up close and personal. So if you or anyone you know would be interested in hosting a house concert, give us a call and let’s chat. Our slogan is “Have fun, Will Travel” for a reason. Or…if you’re a performer and are coming through our area and would like to do a house concert, give us a call and let’s chat. We would like to start up a series of house concerts called STAMPEDE! and Friends House Concert Series and we have great friends that are willing to work with us in putting on some great house concerts. Watch or call for details!

To answer those of you who have asked, “How’s the wrist doing” (re-cap here…I broke it in June riding a bicycle)…It’s doing GREAT! No more splint and I haven’t been back on a bike since! It’s still not fully healed…I don’t quite have full range of motion yet, but it’s close. Thanks for asking J

Thanks to the generosity of some good friends Roger Anderson and his sweet wife, Gail, I picked up another new guitar! Roger won a nice black Epiphone guitar with Brooks and Dunn’s autograph on it in a drawing at a local store several years back and since neither one of them play, they made me an offer I couldn’t refuse and it is now a part of our family. SWEET!

CD update…still working on it. Our time was really limited after I broke my wrist…limited to nothing! I didn’t want to record with a cast on and I pretty much have had to learn to play the guitar 2 different ways this year…1 with the cast on and then 1 with the cast off. But in the meantime, we’ve been playing my original songs in more venues than before and generating some real interest and we now have 2 people interested in 2 different songs that have never been recorded before. At the rate I’m going, they’ll get them recorded before I do! Please keep your fingers crossed! These songs are like my babies!! I’m not at liberty to divulge who and what songs yet but the minute I can, I will! With these 2 recording artists recording these songs, that will be 6 of my songs that have been recorded by other people...that makes us proud!

Steve has been doing some voice-over work for STRIKER Enterprises and the University of Texas. He is “the voice” of Prime Time Sports and just finished another project where they’re trying to figure out how many times you have to lift and drop a sack of potatoes to make enough energy to turn on a light. After finishing his portion, we found ourselves going through the house turning off lights, closing doors and making sure there wasn’t any water dripping anywhere! We are now energy aware…are you?!?

As we close this year out, we reflect on what is important to us and why we do what we do. We have been blessed in so many ways. Our health, our family and our friends are what count the most. We are truly blessed to have the absolute best job in the world! We have made many, many new friends that touch our lives in so many different ways. Though we have been saddened this year by the loss of some dear friends we know there is some pretty sweet music being played up in heaven and there are some pretty great people up there listening to it as well.

We wish you all the very Merriest Christmas ever and hope that the New Year will find you happy and healthy as well. See ya next year!

Happy New Year!

May the horse be with you all……

STAMPEDE!

Steve Taylor-Vocals, Bass, Chauffer, Tarzan Imitator, Sound Tech, Motel reservation getter, water boy, chicken dancer, Past-President of the WMA, Member of Board of Advisors-WMA, And now known for giving birth to an alien through his knee via C-section(dang catheter cap anyway!), pack horse, sweat hog, beer not wine kind of guy, Coyote howler, singer of German Christmas Carols, doer of amazing hat tricks, My Hero, consumer of fine foods- slimy and otherwise, new nickname – Slick and The Safest Driver in the WEST and probably the north, south and east, too

Terri Taylor-The Epiglottis Goddess-Vocals, Guitar, Spoons, Yodeler, Face player, Banker, Bookkeeper, Agent, Manager, Computer Tech, Answering Service, Scheduler, Bathroom Finder, Chief Cook and Bottle washer, Song Finder, Wardrobe Specialist, Gopher, mail clerk, speech writer( I’d like to thank the Academy…”) Tic magnet, boot hog, owner of many guitars, award winner (a plethora of ‘em now!), Willie Nelson imitator on bad days, new owner of a really cool guitar and perhaps another one on the way-you never know!, tin-grinner and changing colors monthly…(oops, that should come off….I haven’t had braces for a couple of years now and thanks to Scott Nilson and his great staff, I have a much better smile!) “There’s a place I like to go….”(that’s from the Yellowstone Song), editor, reporter, new nickname – Spike and now I have a permanent tattoo from the bruising where I broke my wrist…