Cate Edwards' Wedding Reception in Chapel Hill, NC

Sweetwater Junction had the privlidge to perform for the wedding reception of Cate Edwards and Trevor Upham.  Check this excerpt from ABC News:

Edwards' father John hosted Saturday evening's reception on the lawn of the family's sprawling estate outside Chapel Hill.

Cate Edwards, daughter of John Edwards and his late wife Elizabeth, marries her college beau, Dr. Trevor Upham in Chapel Hill, N.C., Oct, 22, 2011.

A musical trio entertained guests during cocktails and hors d'oeuvres of shrimp and grits, Carolina crab cakes and other Southern delicacies. After dinner, a rock-and-roll dance band hired by Upham, 30, who used to book party bands when he and Edwards were students at Princeton University, took the stage.

That was us: Brian, Walt, Chris, myself, and a drummer I had just met, Carlton Owens.  We were to meet at Brian's at 8:30 am.  This was a bit of a challenge as I had played the night before with MartaY at Padriac's.  I was slow getting out of there and probably got to sleep sometime around 3 am.  Yawn.  I left my last minute garment bag packing job for the morning, but had all everything else ready to go.  Well, I was about 6 minutes late.  Not bad.  As things go, Walt's alarm didn't wake him up, so he was meeting us in Commerce along with Carlton, who lives in Athens.  The meeting spot has become Krazy Al's Mega Music, a great spot to pick up stuff on the way to a gig!  They carry some great items.  Last time there I picked up a set of Ernie Ball 6-string Bass Strings - had to support a store that caters to my slightly esoteric needs.  They also have 3 upright basses in stock, not top of the line but very nice for the price.  I might say they sound better than mine does, acoustic wise.  I remember the guy at Rolls Music Center (my old high school/college musician buddy George should retell this one day - I'll get him to dust off the cobwebs of my brain and seek his permission for re-cyber-transmission) telling me "IT'S ONLY WOOD!" as I was naively thumpin' & pluckin' on a bass guitar - so, I always keep that in mind if I'm ever inspired to pick up a store's instrument to try it out.  Anyways, Walt made a good call to purchase an "iPod friendly" cable to play break music through the PA.  This was good because, for whatever reason, his old cable no longer worked at the soundcheck.  How is that?  A premonition, perhaps.

The drive was 6 1/2 hours of fun.  Lunch was an opportune stop for gas with a built-in Subway.  I tend to go for the 6" BMT with EVERYTHING on it (except pickles - I love pickles but not theirs).  We felt pressed for time but quickly scrambled and soon we were set up.  We saw the bluegrass trio filter through the tent and the bassist complemented me on my NS WAV.  It was small talk from across the tent as she kept on walking.  A little strange but nice.  It should have been an indication that our time for soundchecking was about to come to an end.  We did manage to get through the first dance of Wagon Wheel (nice live version from their DVD with some rather present bass and faithful harmonies).  Thanks to Walt, we sincerely tweaked the harmonies.  I did my best to catch that high one and Walt sounded great on what I always think of as the "David Crosby" middle harmony that can be hard to hear but it's essential.  That song is sure catchy, and what a story about it, how it was a Dylan demo that was unfinished demo outtake from Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid.

Our green room was the big red building, which housed a basketball court, swimming pool, rooms upstairs, and TV room for us to flop down in.  We didn't learn about this until after we had all changed our clothes in the field behind the trucks and catering tent.  We sauntered over to rest, watch some football, and wait for water and dinner to be delivered.  One of the musical highlights for me was when Walt found the piano at the far end of the basketball court and went through several differing thematic choruses of Stella by Starlight.  He has tremendous facility navigating through those changes and brought so much variety in his treatment; stride being the climax for my ears.  It was a great aside, lush piano filtered through the cavernous reverb-soaked gymnasium along with cries from the children spending their evening with us in this remote setting.  Eventually, we gathered ourselves back to the tent.  We were later fed a plate of yummy roasted chicken, collard greens, sweet potato, and mixed veggies while we stood outside waiting for the initial speeches to commence.  Walt drew up some nice set lists, which made for a well paced flow to the show.

We sounded good, and that's the great gift we can give a couple on their wedding day: music they want to hear in a sincere style.  The other dances were My Girl and How Sweet It Is.  Once the dances were done, the dance floor came to life in a way I haven't seen in a long while.  Song after song, we were a force of jukebox envy live on stage.  Folks sure love their Mustang Sally!  The floor really was packed the entire night, with protesting screams for more once we reached the end of our run.  We obliged with Billie Jean (we were instructed to stay away from the funk, but hey, it worked any ways - the King of Pop is still relevant, even as rendered through a rockin' jam band).  Then we played an encore of Wagon Wheel to send them off.  It was 12:15 am and we were done at that point.  That's always a tough call - to play more or end it as abruptly as it began - but it went well.  I feel you gotta give 'em just one more, out of good sportsmanship.  We're there, set up, they're there, wanting another hour's worth at least...  Eventually we have to say goodnight.  My P-bass sounded good and it was a pleasure to play with Carlton.  He plays with some real serious concentration, but he lays it down in a very authoritative manner.  Makes it easy for all of us.

Chris and Carlton, my buds in the back seat.

Couldn't resist catching a pic of a sign for Spencer!

John Edwards in the center.

The green room.

It was an honour to play for this event.  Well worth all of the time it took.  We were reduced to fumes and finally found a motel type place to check into for the night.  Very little sleep but a Waffle House breakfast cured our blues, and then there was Starbucks too.  Had to go there as well.  It's only money, right?  I was back in Marietta around 4ish - enough time to stop to get balloons and flowers for Sabina's birthday surprise on Monday morning.