The Best Week EVER!

Hey there everybody! I know that I promised to write more about Ruby this week but that was before I had the BEST WEEK EVER! I just have to tell you all about it! Last Saturday, on our way to the Loretta Lynn concert in Pikeville, Lisa and I stopped in at Clutts Auto Sales in Hazard (right across the street from Wal-Mart) because we were looking for a little car that is good on gas. Well, as chance would have it, we saw a cool little Toyota Corolla just sitting there…beckoning us in the warm spring sunshine. Somehow, deep down inside, I knew that we would be taking it home with us that very day.

We were walking around the Clutts Auto lot, making our way toward the Corolla, when a friendly looking face approached. It turned out that his name was Joe Howard. At first, I was a little apprehensive. After all, aren’t used-car salesmen supposed to slick and fast? I braced myself for a high-pressure sales pitch.

I was quite surprised when just the opposite occurred. Joe asked us about the car in which we were interested. We told him that we were interested in the Toyota Corolla. In a matter of minutes, we were out on Hwy. 80, speeding along and enjoying the smooth ride of the car. Joe was friendly and did not try to give us a “sales pitch.” He let us ask questions and answered them in detail. He also just chatted with us and made us feel at ease. It turns out that we share the same birthday…July 19th! How cool is that?

When we got back to the office, he left us alone to discuss the car. Well….you know what we had decided. Lisa just loved it…and so did I. Lisa and I have always been Ford people. Our friends, Rod and Corrinna Middleton of Morehead, have always been Toyota people. We knew that if we bought the Toyota Corolla that they would never let us live it down…but we didn’t care. The car was just 1 year old, it had LOW miles, and looked brand new. It had great power….lots of pick up and what I like to call “zoom factor.” We had to have it!

We told Joe that we wanted the car. We went inside their comfortable office and Joe offered us a soda while we were getting our financing taken care of. And then….it was over. Just like that…snap, bang…the car was ours. We were tickled pink. Everything went so smoothly and we felt like we were treated very well. Clutts Auto Sales even threw in brand new tires and offered to fix up a few paint chips on the back bumper (which were the only ones on it….and even they were very MINOR)! We were so tickled that we had our picture made in front of our new car with Joe Howard himself. I am including it with this article. I hope that if you are in the market for a car that you choose to go to Clutts Auto Sales. They are great! Be sure to mention that you read about it in this article! Let Joe know that we are very, very pleased with our car. We have driven it for a week….and still haven’t had to put any gas in it!

Well, we didn’t think that the evening could get any better, but then Lisa and I remembered that we had tickets to see Loretta Lynn! We parked our big, ole’ gas guzzling Explorer at Wal-Mart and took off toward Pikeville in our new car. Arriving at the East Kentucky Expo Center in Pikeville, we saw the huge crowd that had already gathered. Everyone was excited about getting to see a country music icon, but there was also a buzz about her opening act, Halfway to Hazard.

Now, I had heard about Halfway to Hazard before, but I wasn’t too familiar with them. If you don’t know about this duo, they are a couple of locals who have made it big! Halfway to Hazard is made up of Chad Warrix and David Tolliver, who were raised about 50 miles apart in an area near Hazard, Ky. Tolliver attended college in Kentucky, but Warrix moved to Nashville to study the music business at Belmont University. However, when Tolliver decided to pursue a music career, he moved to Nashville and eventually connected with Warrix. The phrase that became the name of the band is the opening lyric of "Cold," the first song they wrote together.

After their own bands dissolved, they started performing together in Nashville clubs and attracted label attention, eventually signing with Mercury Nashville. Tim McGraw and Byron Gallimore co-produced their first album, which was released in 2007. Warrix, by the way, is the son of Breathitt County’s own Lewis Henry Warrix.

Lisa and I took our seats and waited for the opening act to make their way on stage. I didn’t really know what to expect, so I was completely blown away when these two young men put on one of the best shows that I have ever heard. They didn’t use most of their band. It was just them…and their guitars. Their vocals were strong, and they really knew how to work the crowd. They sang some fantastic songs such as “Daisy” and “Devil and the Cross.” I was very impressed. I’m not a fan of country music…but that isn’t really their style. They are more of a rock-country hybrid. They play what I like to call “feel-good music” because you just can’t help but feel good when they play and sing.

After they ended their act, I was able to snag a backstage pass from Lewis Henry Warrix himself (thanks)! I knew that I had to get a picture of these guys and write about them in my article. I went back with some other lucky fans and had my picture made with them. They were very friendly and accommodating…even though they didn’t know me from Adam. I told them that I was very impressed with their music and that I would be writing about them. If you haven’t had a chance to hear them in action yet, you really need to get a copy of their CD. I saw it at Wal-Mart. Of course, you can get it just about anywhere. But face it…we all love Wal-Mart.

After talking with these guys about their success and how they were nominated for top vocal duo by the Academy of Country Music (ACM), I made my way back out front. I had almost forgotten about Loretta Lynn! I made a joke to Lisa that I had met Loretta Lynn backstage and had had my picture made with her. Lisa was about to get all jealous when I told her that I was just kidding. In all honesty, I had asked one of the security guards if I could meet Loretta Lynn, but he told me that her people were being very protective of her and were not allowing any individual photos or meeting. I understood though. After all, as I stated before, she is a country music ICON!

When Loretta Lynn took the stage, everyone went WILD! People were screaming and yelling. They were standing and clapping. Thousands of flashes were going off as people kept taking pictures of her. I’m amazed that she could even see! Of course, she is probably used to all that. She was a real pro! She just kept whipping out one song right after another.

Her concert was everything that I thought it would be. She sang all of her old hits such as “You’re Looking at Country,” “Don’t Come Home Drinking (with Loving on Your Mind),” and “You Ain’t Woman Enough to Take My Man.” It was a great concert! I think that just about every member of her family was up there! Her son and two daughters sang some songs. Her brother Herman came up and played the guitar and sang a song. Even her granddaughter sang! They all did a great job. You can tell that musical talent runs in the family. Lisa and I were very impressed.

All too soon, she sang her closing song. Of course, as you knew it would be, it was “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” Everyone went crazy with excitement. She really knew how to end her show! I am so glad that I got to see her (and Halfway to Hazard) in concert.

Well, as you can see, it was truly one of the BEST WEEKS EVER for Lisa and me. We got a great car and we met some really cool people. We heard a great duo, Halfway to Hazard, and we got to see a true living legend, Loretta Lynn. So, please forgive me for not writing about Ruby again this week. I promise that I will truly try to have a boring week this week so that I can continue the story next week.

Until then…class dismissed!