DARRYL WORLEY

FESTIVAL COUNTRY RENDEZ-VOUS

PHOTOS

Friday, July 25 and Saturday, July 26
 Off to France with Darryl Worley and The Krew today. We are flying to Lyon, France via Detroit and Paris. This is the second year we have worked with the Country Rendez-Vous festival in Craponne. Mom was here last year with The Mavericks.
No problems checking in and flight to Detroit was on time. Right before we boarded the gate agent announced it was a full flight and some would need to gate check their carry on. Soir gate checked his guitar and Tom his backpack. When we landed in Detroit they said that the gate checked items had been checked all the way through to our final destination. Soir guitar is in a soft shell case and he was able to get the pilot to tell them to pull it off so it wasn’t destroyed by the time we got to France. Tom however was told he would have to baggage claim in Detroit and get his. He had his medicine and work visa in the carry on. So Tom and I go out of security and down to baggage claim. Finally a lady walks out with his bag and says he can only grab what he needs and then they have to put it back under the plane – he can’t take it with him!!! So he grabs his stuff and we go BACK THROUGH SECURITY and to our gate. We are still trying to figure out why we. Opulent take it with us since we had to clear security and why they didn’t tell us in Nashville that it would be checked all the way??? Delta is getting an email!!
It is a Delta flight operated by Air France from Detroit to Paris, Darryl and I are in business and he was out before we took off. The flight attendant asked me if he should wake him for dinner but thought best to just let him sleep. Landed in Paris about 30 mins early and gave us about 2 hours here before our one hour flight to Lyon. Landed and went to baggage claim where all our bags made it except Toms carry on bag that they had to put back on the plane!! Went to AF counter and filed a claim, they had actually already been notified that his bag was on flight to Paris now and it would be here by 10am tomorrow. Jeez!!
We were met by Emilie and Anis from the festival. They are both very sweet and accommodating. It was a 2 hour drive to Le Puy en Velay, where our hotel is. It only took about 30 mins before the bus was quiet and everyone was asleep. Me included.
Checked into the hotel. Dinner isn’t until 6:45 so I had time to unpack. The rooms and bed are nice but I have a small closet with a toilet in it on one side of the room and the other side is the bathroom with shower and sick. And my toilet closet has a nervous tick in it somewhere. Oh well, I can deal with it over damn French washing machines and dryers any day 🙂
Checked in with dad and the kids. All is good and kids are having fun. Meet the boys downstairs. We have a set “country” menu we can order from. Joe and I went for he salmon while the others did steak and chicken. Seems the salmon was winner tonight. Darryl’s steak was so tough he couldn’t cut it.
We have soundcheck in the morning and show tomorrow night. The venue is a 45 min drive from here or I would go out there tonight to catch William Clark Green.  We just had them in Seljord and heard they were awesome. Hopefully I can say hello tomorrow night.
Going to shut it down and hopefully go to sleep soon!
Lindsey Chance

Sunday, July 27
Crashed hard around 11pm hoping staying up would help me adjust to the time change. I must have slept pretty hard bc I woke up to go to the bathroom and I went into the shower/ sink room and stood there a moment before I realized the toilet was across the room in the other bathroom 🙂
 Saw some of the guys at breakfast and then I went back to the room and showered before leaving for the venue for soundcheck. It is a beautiful 45 min ride thru the French countryside and small towns. I loved it! We had to stop for a few mins in one town because of some sort of parade going by. Our bus driver pulled into the backstage area of the festival, now we are in a huge tour bus so you can see us coming, but we had several people that just kept on walking right in front of us, not moving. Insane!
 I met Blandine, the president of the festival and Jean who is on the committee here. They even had a bouquet of flowers for me. Everyone is so very nice and easy to work with. Soundcheck was pretty painless as we only had about 40 mins. After that we all ate and Darryl had to do a quick press conference. They said it was the most journalists to ever show up for an Artist. Oh, and the new Mayor of the town gave Darryl a medal. At 3 we went back to he hotel to have time to freshen up for the show. Left out again at 5:45 and we were back at the venue by 6:30. Everything was running on time and the crowd is around 8000
 Darryl and the band did an amazing show and the audience was enjoying it. He did 3 encores! I think that was even. Record for him. At the end of his third encore he took his camera out and video taped the audience and you can here them chanting “Darryl, Darryl” 🙂
I was worried we would go over time but the staff were ok and more than happy. Right after the show we took Darryl next door to sign autographs. They allot 20 mins but by looking at the line it was going to take a lot longer. We finally had to cut it off so Darryl could get back and eat dinner.  He did end up selling all 200 of his CDs. Yay, none to bring back.
 I was worried we would go over time but the staff were ok and more than happy. Right after the show we took Darryl next door to sign autographs. They allot 20 mins but by looking at the line it was going to take a lot longer. We finally had to cut it off so Darryl could get back and eat dinner.  He did end up selling all 200 of his CDs. Yay, none to bring back.
 Oh and I ate some cheese that is local to this region. It is made by teeny tiny insects. I only had one bite.

Monday, July 28, 2014 
Oh! Tom’s carry on bag FINALLY made it to the hotel. It had arrived Lyon yesterday morning and Air France courier service picked it up but they would not deliver on Sunday! Emilie and Anisa got on the phone with them and somehow talked them into bringing it to the hotel. It was there when we came back from the show Sunday night 🙂
Went down to breakfast around 8 and a few of the guys were in there already..we are still trying to adjust to the time change. I was able to say hello to William Clark Green and some of his band. They are leaving today for Italy. They apologized for not making it out to the show last night but they had a “long” night the night before and had to leave out early today. Very nice guys and hopefully we can work with them again.
Went back to the room and showered and about 6 of us took a walking tour of Le Puy with Barbara. She is from DC but has lived in this area for 30+ years. Very nice lady and full of information. About 30 mins into the walk it started raining. We slowly made our way up the hill to the Cathedral. I think she said it was built around 900 AD. Just amazing!! The Cathedral, Virgin Mary and a very old castle are all built on top of “hills” These “hills” use to be volcano’s…several, several, several hundred years ago.
After the Cathedral, Jeff and Tom went on to walk up to the statue of the Virgin Mary but me and rest of the guys went back to the hotel for lunch. I had a “veggie” burger on a pretzel bun. Interesting, but good. After lunch Barbara took me to a shopping mall so I could get a few souviners and then I did some window shopping on my walk back to the hotel.
Had a little time in my room until dinner at 7. Emilie, Jean and Jean-Luc are going to join us all for dinner tonight. We normally eat at the restaurant in the hotel but there was a pizza restaurant next door and Darryl and the guys were craving it. Called Emilie and she said it was fine if we all went there for dinner. Jean with the festival committee told Darryl that he was so impressed with the French journalists at the press conference yesterday bc they usually ask the same questions over and over but they didn’t with him. They were asking a variety of questions and just very interested in his answers. I can’t say enough about how sweet and personable Darryl and the guys are. I just love working with all of them. They make my job so easy!
Sat and talked with Emilie, Jean and Jean-Luc for a while in the lobby before heading up to bed. We have a 7 am lobby call to head to the airport!
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Tried to lay down around midnight and get some sleep but my mind just would not shut off! Then I was worried about waking up in time to leave. Ugh.. I think I finally fell asleep around 2 am and my alarm is set for 5:45 am 🙁
Was able to grab a quick breakfast and finish packing before checking out. Everyone was downstairs and ready to go at 7. We had a little bit of traffic and arrived Lyon around 9:30. Our flight isn’t until noon so we were ok. Got everyone checked in and left Lyon on time. It is only an hour and half flight to Amsterdam where we have a short connection for our flight to Detroit. Amsterdam is a huge airport and we had to walk and walk and walk then go through passport control before getting to our gate. Then at our gate, another passport check and security. The agent at the gate that looked at my passport did a double take and said “you have lost weight” I think it is time for a new passport picture 🙁
This flight has the new business class configuration where the window side is just one seat. So nice. Ate a little lunch and then took a 3 hour nap! We landed in Detroit on time and went down to customs. Our bags were coming out on 3 different belts so we had to run between the 3 and try to find ours…all of the arrived… except for Tom’s CHECKED bag! Can you believe this? The DL agent said we had to go ahead and clear customs and file a claim in Nashville. So…through customs and then back through security to our gate for our flight home! We boarded and were on time for take off but we just kept taxing and taxing. Darryl turned around to me and asked if we just drove around the airport in the plane? It sure felt like it! Landed in Nashville and mom was there with my kids to meet me. Oh..it was so nice to hug and squeeze and love on them. Mom was able to see Darryl and the band for a few mins also. Delta advised Tom that his checked bag was still in Amsterdam and should arrive here tomorrow. Sheesh.
So home now to unpack and repack. Headed to Seaside with the kids and mom for a few days!!
Again.. it was a First Class festival. Well organized and very nice people. I am so glad I was able to experience it. I don’t know that it would have been so nice and easy if I had been with any other band. These guys are just the best.
Lindsey Chance