Sundown Heaven Town Wrap Up

The last show of the Sundown Heaven Town tour was Saturday in Houston, Texas. It seems like it came and went so fast! We had some great times, made new friends, and explored some awesome new places. 

The last part of the tour brought us through Montana, Washington, British Columbia, Arkansas and, the hottest of them all, Texas. Montana was beautiful - Steve and I did some hiking near the venue and it was toasty. Luckily the show was indoors and in the AC. The indoor shows are always nice because, unlike outdoor or early festival shows, the lights and overall atmosphere make such a difference to the concert experience for both us and the audience alike. 

While outdoor shows can be a challenge, there are always exceptions - the shows that stay with you, give you chills, and make every challenge worth it. The Watershed Festival at The Gorge in Washington was one of these shows. The stage is next to the Columbia River over looking the Columbia Gorge canyon. This has got to be the most beautiful venue in the country, hands down. I'm not going to bother trying to describe it but check out some pictures below. On top of the surreal views, everyone's sound was amazing and the crowd was second to none. 

Every moment of the Sundown Heaven Town tour was incredible. Being out with three talented and down to earth artists, with killer bands, on one of the biggest country tours this year was nothing short of an honor. Infinite thanks goes out to everyone who made it run like a well-oiled machine - everyone on the crew, the artists - I am forever grateful to have shared such an amazing time with all of you! 

It doesn't feel like the tour is over yet because we still have some dates coming up with Kip and/or Tim on the bill. Next one is in South Dakota with Kip - good times! More soon...

All Over The Place

Last Wednesday, we performed at The Grove in LA. This is a great spot for shopping, and we definitely took advantage of the huge farmers market close by. We had a nice long set and some awesome sound happening!

In the airport on the way from LA to Salt Lake City for our next show, we ran into some of the guys from the McGraw camp. They recommended a restaurant in town that they go to every year because it's just that good - and they were right! Valters Osteria is a five star Italian restaurant that took great care of us. (Check out the menu here.. Amazing!) 

Fully induced in a massive food coma, we headed to Cheyenne, Wyoming to perform at Frontier Days. This place was massive! It was said that the night broke attendance records at around 23,000. Before the show, the band spent some time in town while Cassadee had some fun horseback riding. (pic)

After the rodeo, we made our way to Albuquerque, New Mexico for another Sundown Heaven Town date. Spent the day getting supplies and running around town. We were a little worried about the weather but it ended up being beautiful out with some great views of the surrounding sky and landscape. The show was a blast, of course, and we all had a great hang afterwards. 

Monday was just about the most fun ever! We had a day off our on our way from New Mexico to Montana. We stopped in Ft. Collins, Colorado at a cabin on a KOA site where we spent the day playing mini golf, paddle boats, grilling, playing volleyball and just getting some good R&R.

Shows in Montana, Washington, Oregon and more are lined up for the weekend. It's unreal how many great memories are being made out here. So grateful for each and every moment. More soon...

Cowboy Boots & Short Shorts

We had a long festival weekend filled with music and fun! We started off at Country Jam in Wisconsin performing with Luke Bryan, Thomas Rhett, our pals in The Band Perry and others. I have to say, it's always such a pleasure to watch The Band Perry perform - their live show is constantly evolving to new levels of awesome!

3 out of the 4 shows we did were longer sets - which is always nice. Some of the shorter sets we do, while still great, come and go way too quickly. The longer ones allow us to get that much more music out there, create more of an experience for the audience and just have more fun overall. 

Next stop was the Faster Horses Music Festival in Brooklyn, Michigan. Without a doubt, this was one of the best shows of the year! The field was packed with country music fans (in the required uniform, of course ;) that were there to soak up every moment of the show - and wow, were they loud! Dan & Shay, Jana Kramer, our friends Kip Moore and Tim McGraw were also on the bill and made the whole event a blast. The backstage area was filled with fun - a pool, volleyball, corn hole, fire pit and a photo booth made for some very entertaining post-show activities!

We got back to the Sundown Heaven Town tour in Toronto on Sunday. Spending some time in the city during the day grabbing lunch and doing some shopping was a nice break in the action. It was a beautiful day and having the venue right on the water with a great sunset view was an added bonus.

We are now in LA to perform at The Grove, followed by a long run with dates in Utah, Wyoming, Montana and others. More soon...

¡Muy Bueno!

Before going into how busy, and amazing, the last couple weeks have been, I have to give a huge shout out of congrats to Cassadee on her CMT Award for Breakthrough Video of the Year!! My smile was ear to ear while watching Blake hand her the award (watch it here!). It was a great time shooting the video for Wasting All These Tears and to be a part of it is unreal - we are all still so excited! 

Right after the CMT Awards, we got to perform at CMA Fest on the riverfront in Nashville. Thankfully, the rain held up and I couldn't think of a better way to start celebrating the award win than to rock out for all of Nashville!  

After CMA Fest, we got right back on the road with Tim McGraw and had two killer weekends worth of shows with him and Kip Moore. Early one morning we stopped in to perform on Fox & Friends. It started pouring rain during the last song but the crowd came prepared and fun was had by all. Later that same day was Hartford, CT where I got to see a lot of friends and family, which is always nice after being away for long periods of time. Then we hit Philly where we got some of the best cheese steaks on the planet! (We went to Geno's but it's still hard to decide between Pat's, Jim's and Geno's cheese steaks)

From Philly, we were off to Cancun, Mexico. We performed with The Cadillac Three (these guys rock!) at The Hard Rock Hotel in Riviera Maya. This did not suck at all. We had palm trees, drinks with umbrellas, and a whole lot of beach volleyball! A long set of music while looking out over a beach full of people in the moonlight with scattered tiki torches was so beautiful - it was definitely hard to leave. From Cancun, we flew right to Virginia Beach where we picked up the Sundown Heaven Town Tour - not a bad transition at all! 

More soon...

The Year with Cassadee

This past Saturday, May 31st, marked the year anniversary of the first full-band show with Cassadee. We kicked things off at Jones Beach a year ago with Rascal Flatts on The Live & Loud Tour and it's been a whirlwind ever since! 

So much has happened in a year; we had an amazing summer tour with Rascal Flatts and The Band Perry, went on a very cool winter tour with Dean Brody, performed on The Tonight Show, The Today Show, CMT's Listen Up, America's Got Talent; even had a docu-series on CMT! The show on Saturday was the perfect way to celebrate the year milestone. We had the honor of opening for George Strait, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA. The place was massive, sound was killer and we had a huge amount of fun during our set!

Needless to say, the shows have been fantastic experiences. Just as memorable and important though, are the good times had in between; the movie nights, bike rides, bus antics, endless laughs and all the new friends made along the way. I can't begin to say how grateful I am to be a part of a team that has been having such an incredible journey. Watching someone so talented achieve all of the success that she truly deserves, is an honor. I know that the next year will bring even more good times and I very much look forward to the future!

Much more soon...

Things Are Heating Up

Weekend #2 of the Sundown Heaven Town tour hit Phoenix, Chula Vista, and Irvine. Phoenix hit a brisk 103° F on Thursday but didn't stop the crowd from getting into the set - quite the opposite! The heat had everyone in full party mode. 

Last year, we came through Chula Vista with Rascal Flatts and couldn't wait to come back. It cooled down a bit from Phoenix, was beautiful out and I did some hiking nearby - great views! One of the added bonuses of Chula Vista's Sleep Train Ampitheater is the post-show taco truck. Oh man, are these things good! Being only a mile or so away from Mexico, these bad boys are the best tacos you'll ever eat. Mmmm... 

Last night was another beautiful night. Irvine was very welcoming, and seeing all the fans in the pit singing along to all the songs won't ever get old. Like most things, it's not always easy, but playing music with good people on a beautiful night - you can't ask for much more. It's in those moments that I appreciate being out here the most.

Don't forget to keep voting for Cassadee!  More soon...

Tour Kick-Off

The first weekend of the Sundown Heaven Town tour went through Fresno, Sacramento, and Mountain View, CA. It'll take some time to meet everyone, but so far not only has everyone been very cool to hang with, but all these guys are monster musicians that put on a killer performance. It's going to be such a treat to be able to watch the show all summer long! 

Tim was kind enough to have some champagne and tour t-shirts sent to our bus to celebrate the tour kick-off. The sets have been great - crowds are super energetic, monitor mixes have been very inspiring (as always, loving my JH Audio IEMs! :) and this first round of shows set a great tone for the rest of the summer. All of team Cassadee is really excited to make this summer a fun and productive one! 

As if starting a tour with Tim McGraw wasn't exciting enough, Cassadee is also nominated for not one, but two CMT Music Awards! One for 'Female Video of the Year' and one for 'Breakthrough Video of the Year'. You can vote 3 ways: Facebook, Twitter, and an email account. Click here to vote and be sure to use all 3 ways to get Cassadee the wins! We are all so proud of Cassadee and all of the great things coming her way. 

More soon...

"On The Road Again..."

Today, we loaded up the bus and are on our way out to Fresno, CA for the first show of Tim McGraw's Sundown Heaven Town Tour. All of team Cassadee is ready to get back out on the road and make it another great summer! We're going to be all over the country - click here to see when we'll be in a city near you!

Last week, we had a show in Las Cruces, NM. Very very windy - but still a fun show, no less. Then we headed down to West Palm Beach for an acoustic show. Had some great hang time with Cass and Steve, and filled in on acoustic and vocals - had a blast! Check out my Instagram (patmccarthybass) for a short clip of a song from the set :)

From there, we shot up to Kentucky to perform with Steve Holy and Scotty McCreery. Had a great time with the Scotty McCreery camp and they put on a helluva show! Afterwards, Dan, Cass and I got to take our first helicopter ride around the city - SO MUCH FUN! Much smoother and more comfortable than I expected. Obviously, the music is what we are all passionate about, but to share all of these extra fun experiences makes each moment that much more special. 

Again, this Thursday kicks off the tour with Tim McGraw and Kip Moore! There will definitely be more to come...

What Happens In Vegas... →

 ...gets blogged about later on, of course! 

On April 4th, we flew out to Las Vegas for the ACM (Academy of Country Music) Awards Party For A Cause Festival. Justin Moore, Thomas Rhett, Florida Georgia Line and our good friends in Rascal Flatts are just some of the names that took the stage that Friday night. The view from the stage consisted of a sea of country fans singing and dancing, with the sky line of fancy Vegas hotels, and the largest ferris wheel in the US out in the distance (it was massive!). I also got to hang with Craig from Seymour Duncan, talk shop and enjoy the rest of the show. (Thanks for the great SD swag, Craig!) The concert will be televised on April 18th. Click here for broadcast details. 

The following Tuesday, we performed before the women's NCAA game. Danielle Bradberry opened up the show and the audience was pumped up for the final four game. After our set, Cassadee stayed to belt out our National Anthem right before the game - she nails it every time! 

This past Friday, we went out to the Country Thunder Festival in Florence, AZ. It was a hot one, in every sense of the phrase! We got to reunite and have some hang time with our pals from The Band Perry, who were headlining that night. Most of our short time there was spent trying to stay cool until things heated up at show time. A very roudy, country-loving, good time-having crowd made for an awesome show. We played an hour set and loved seeing everyone singing along to all the songs. Cassadee was totally in the zone, signing autographs while singing during the set! Read a review of the show here. 

Now we've got a short break in the action before heading back to the southwest. More soon... 

Headlining Weekend

This past weekend, we shot footage for a music video at The Bluestone in Columbus, Ohio. The Bluestone is an amazing room - a 115 year old church that was converted into a venue in 2010. It retained its amazing acoustics and elaborate stained glass windows - a great concert experience for the audience and performers alike. The crowd was one of the best! So loud at times that I had to turn up my monitors a bit! This was also the first show that I got to play my new Eastwood Classic 4 bass, and I am loving the tone - amazing warmth and low end from a beautiful semi-hollow body. We all, especially Cassadee, felt the love that night. Sincerest thanks to you, Columbus Ohio. The video is coming soon.. keep an eye out for it!

The last couple shows were at Clarion University and Shippensburg University. Our main man, Mr. Jim McGorman, had a 24-hour bug and was feeling very under the weather for the Clarion show. He pulled it together though, and we ended up having 2 more really great sets. All in all, it was a great headlining weekend filled with bus antics, a video shoot, birthday cake (happy birthday shout out to Dan O'neill.. Aka One Ill Dan) and best of all, 3 long sets of having fun playing music together!

In other awesome news, Cassadee's music video for "I Wish I Could Break Your Heart" (watch it here) made CMT's Top 20 Countdown! Click here to vote for it!

Vegas is coming up this weekend for our Outnumber Hunger show. More soon...

Where The Heart Is

After our show at CRS in Nashville, I headed home to the tri-state area to spend some quality time with family and friends. I got to see my mom on her birthday, visit my grandma, play some guitar with my dad and hang with some good friends that I haven't seen in a while. I am so incredibly lucky and thankful to have such an amazing support system made up of true friends and a loving family.

After some time at home, we flew out to Milwaukee, WI to play a show after a Milwaukee Admirals hockey game. Live hockey games are always fun and it was Cassadee's first hockey game ever. We watched the game right up against the glass and Cassadee even got to ride the zamboni! The show itself was a blast too - so many people singing along and still pumped up from the Admirals win. 

A couple days later, I celebrated St. Patrick's Day by going to support Cassadee in Nashville while she did an acoustic set, and the very next day at The Grand Ole Opry. We were all celebrating an awesome Opry performance as well as "Wasting All These Tears" hitting the platinum mark - congrats Cassadee!! Don't forget to check out her new single "I Wish I Could Break Your Heart". This is one of my favorites and I know it's going to be a hit as well :)

Next week we get back on the bus for shows in Columbus, OH, Clarion, PA and Shippensburg, PA. More soon...  

X-Mas in February

After returning from Canada, there wasn't a break in the action. Team Cassadee performed at the New Faces of Country Music showcase at CRS (Country Radio Seminar) alongside Brett Eldredge, Tyler Farr, Thomas Rhett and Charlie Worsham. This was a very special honor to be able to get out there and show country radio what we can do. What made the evening more special - and even more fun - was that Travis Toy and John 'Chank' Jeansonne from Rascal Flatts joined us on stage playing banjo and fiddle. These guys are phenomenal musicians and the nicest couple of guys you'll ever meet. It was such an honor to share the stage and have some fun with them - thanks guys!

Then Christmas came. I am very fortunate to be able to work with some amazing companies that produce outstanding quality products. This past week, the stars aligned and orders came in within days of each other. As soon as I got home from the Canadian tour with Cassadee and Dean, a giant package containing my new SKB bass case was waiting for me. This thing is turbo! Heavy-duty exterior with a molded interior, TSA locks and industrial strength wheels - a must. I took my first flight with it the other day to a show in New Orleans and I won't be leaving home without it! http://www.skbcases.com

A couple days later, I got a few sets of pickups from Seymour Duncan to try out. If you don't already know, Seymour Duncan is the world's leading manufacturer of high quality guitar and bass pickups. I am currently installing a set of the 'Stack JB5's on my 5 string and will soon be testing out a set of the SD 'Antiquity II's on my custom 4 string. The clarity and quality of these pickups is like no other - Huge 'Thank you' goes out to Seymour Duncan! http://www.seymourduncan.com

Last night, I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new Eastwood Classic 4 bass. It came and I haven't put it down since (except to write this, of course ;). This thing is a beauty! A couple entries ago, I wrote about our trip to Eastwood, just outside Toronto, and all the cool stuff they have. It was a tough choice between their EEB 1 and the Classic 4 - both amazing basses - but I went with the white Classic 4 and absolutely love the tone. I can't wait to get this puppy out on the road! Thank you to Peter and the rest of the team up at Eastwood Guitars! http://www.eastwoodguitars.com

Time to play with my toys. More soon... 

Music Video & The Home Stretch

Busy busy busy! We just finished a run of 6 shows in a row hitting Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, Calgary and Lethbridge (even the names of these places sound cold, right!?). The cold hasn't been affecting the crowds though - audiences have been bringing some great energy! Our show in Calgary was unforgettable. Everyone was waving, singing along, dancing, lighting the place up and the band had a blast on stage! We topped off the night with a post-show team dinner at a local Italian restaurant - Good times! 

The music video for "I Wish I Could Break Your Heart" is finally out on CMT and Vevo (click here to check it out!). We had a blast shooting it and are excited for everyone to see! Some photos from the set posted below. 

Tonight is our last show of the Canadian 'Crop Circles & Tractor Beams' tour with Dean Brody. The whole month was filled with memories and experiences that are unforgettable. Dean, his band and crew are all great guys and made us feel very welcome out here on the road. A HUGE 'thank you' goes out to all of them! Safe travels!

Also, much love goes out to Cassadee, Jim, Steve, Dan, Don and Simon - we ventured into the cold together and not only made it through, but kicked ass all along the way. Thank you for all your hard work and collective awesomeness!

We are all looking forward to getting back to the U.S. for more shows.. Nashville and New Orleans here we come! More soon... 

Goosebumps!

Knowing that we were going to be touring Canada in February, I expected it to be cold. For the first half of the tour though, we lucked out with the weather - we got some snow but the temps still remained somewhere in the teens. The past few days we've seen Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, and today, Saskatoon. During the day it's a cozy -5 and at night it has been getting down towards a brisk -25. The bus has been our best friend as anything outside can be downright painful. 

Despite the bone-chilling temps, we've been staying busy. Kingston, Ontario was a nice little town with plenty to do. We hit a local music shop, picked up some much needed cold weather gear and treated ourselves to some post-show gourmet cupcakes (so good). The next day in Hamilton, Cassadee's music director extraordinaire, Mr. James McGorman III, had found out that Weezer was performing early before sound check only minutes away from our venue. Having worked with Weezer before, he was able to hookup the entire team with tickets - Thanks, Jim!

The shows themselves have been very fun and inspiring! We've dialed in our monitor mixes, tweaked the set list and the crowds have been dancing/singing along. In Hamilton, Cassadee asked the audience to hold up lighters (or virtual lighters ;) during her song "One Song Away" - the result was beautiful! We were in a theater with two balcony levels and it felt like we were in outer space. It was an unforgettable moment for sure. It's nice to get goosebumps from something besides the cold once and a while! 

If you are on Instagram, follow me at: patmccarthybass. Twitter: @apatmccarthy

More pics and stories from the cold coming soon...

Toronto (tron-o) Adventures

For the past few days we've been staying in Toronto (pronounced "Trono" up here in Canada). Before we got here though, we had a show in Fredericton, New Brunswick that was great! Cassadee looked into the crowd, saw a little girl singing every word and decided to call her up on stage! (Watch on YouTube: http://youtu.be/rscqqzb6Ypg) I still remember all of the concert experiences that I've had, and it was always a dream to be up on stage with my idols singing/playing with them. Our Fredericton show is a memory that little girl (Rebecca) will never forget - and to be a part of that experience is priceless. 

After that we got hit with a TON of snow and headed up to Barrie, Ontario. Mr. Steve Fekete was the MVP on this one! Because of the storm, canceled flights etc.. Steve ended up driving from 2am to 8pm from Boston to Barrie in the storm just to make the show by the second song in! (We did have a back up lead guitar pro standing by - see below ;) We were all very relieved to see him walk up on stage with us safe and sound. A tip of the hat to you Steve - well done sir! 

On our day off yesterday, the band took a road trip to Georgetown, Ontario to visit the team at Eastwood Guitars. We got to test out a bunch of cool guitars and basses through some sweet amps. Click here to check out all the great stuff on the Eastwood Guitars website: http://www.eastwoodguitars.com/

Today we are headed to Oshawa, Ontario to perform. More soon...

Oh Canada!

Last night was the first night of the "Crop Circles & Tractor Beams" tour with Dean Brody! For a full list of dates, click here. We started at Mile One Stadium in Saint John's, Newfoundland and now we are headed to our second stop in Moncton, New Brunswick... on the smallest plane ever!! Just a little frightened haha. See our full route on the map below. Also, there is still time to vote for Cassadee as Taste of Country's Artist of the Year (click here to vote.. You can vote once per hour!). I'm not gonna lie.. it's a bit chilly up here - but still very beautiful. This is just the beginning of an already great trip and I couldn't have asked for better company! More soon...

The Year Ahead

Happy New Year! 2014 is going to be filled with new and exciting things. We just finished shooting Cassadee's new music video in Nashville (I can't give anything away but trust me.. It'll be worth the wait!). Cassadee is also nominated for Taste of Country's Artist of the Year! (Click here to vote!). Right now we are down in Florida for a couple shows (One in Cassadee's hometown of West Palm Beach and another in Miami with our pals in Rascal Flatts among others) We'll be soaking up as much sun as we can before heading up to Canada for our February tour with Dean Brody. That's right, February in Canada - brrrrrrrr! It's going to be a blast though and we are all getting pumped to get back out on the road. Later this year we will be opening for Tim McGraw on his "Sundown Heaven Town" tour which will hit 30 cities over the course of the summer. More updates to come - looking forward to seeing everyone at the shows!

First full-band shot of 2014!

TEAM CASSADEE!

Beyond excited to announce that I will be playing bass for Cassadee Pope this summer on tour with Rascal Flatts and The Band Perry! Click here to check out her new single "Wasting All These Tears" on iTunes: