Any Way You Go You're Gonna Get There!

Everyone who knows Sloan knows that he LOVES music. Most of you know that he mostly enjoys kids/family music, and that he listens to an XM radio station called Kids Place Live. They play great fun music, and the radio is on from the moment Sloan wakes up until he goes to bed, every single day. (You may not know that Sloan's computer can also function as a remote control. Sloan is able to browse around for different music on his radio, and is a big ol' channel flipper.:-) He always goes back to Kids Place Live though.) One of the artists that Sloan hears on the radio 1-2 times an hour in the typical rotation is a musician named Billy Jonas. ALL of Billy's songs are favorites and are very well loved. Sloan has heard Billy's songs, interviews and live performances on the radio, his cds, and even on our local NPR show, The State of Things. (To get an idea of Billy's wonderful personality, soothing voice, and excellent music, we highly recommend this interview!) Billy has gotten us through many traffic jams in Washington and Atlanta as we have travelled here and there by listening to his concerts. So last spring, we were browsing around the websites of Sloan's favorite musicians to see if any of them would be playing around here. Voila! Billy Jonas was coming to Raleigh in November! We wrote it down.

Last night was finally the big night!

The venue for the show was a very unique and intimate setting at Little Lake Hill House, owned by Bett and Bill Page. We began contact with them in early October to make sure we were able to go, and Bett was so very helpful in answering all the questions we had. This was a house concert in the Page's home, where they host a whole series of concerts, and it was the best live music experience we could have. It was a smaller crowd, we didn't have to worry about the speakers being too loud, and best of all, Sloan got to meet and talk to Billy Jonas!!! We met him pretty soon after entering the house, and Sloan introduced himself and told Billy about how much he loves his music. During the show, Billy invited Sloan to play back-up bells during one of his songs, and one of the greatest things about the live show- Billy invites everyone to sing along with him, and that is one of Sloan's absolute favorite things. After the show, we had a chance to talk to Billy some more, and as you can tell from the pictures, Sloan was euphoric. Billy seemed very appreciative of Sloan's love of his music as well.

Other highlights of the night are: Our friend Sasha was able to join us. We picked him up and we all went out to dinner at the Flying Biscuit in Cameron Village before the show. Sloan got yet another very cool t-shirt with the title of this post on the front, taken from one of Billy's songs. And we also got to meet Ashley Farmer, Billy's back-up singer with the very beautiful voice.

What a night!! We can't wait to catch Billy in a live show again!

One question-Do you think they will ever come out with a Guitar Hero: Billy Jonas???? (That would be so cool.)

UPDATE: Billy featured a link to Sloan's blog on his website. Hi Billy Jonas fans! Thanks for stopping by! Billy, we will catch you again this spring in Raleigh, and perhaps Roanoke, VA. Can't wait!