Sept 5th and 6th – Day 1 and 2
Leaving on a big ol jet airliner today for Country Night Gstaad this weekend with Jo El Sonnier and his band. They are flying out of Houston and New Orleans while I am out of Nashville. Lucky me has the early departure with the 6 hour layover in Newark., where we will all meet up. My flight was on time and I had about 3 hours before the rest of the group arrived in Newark so I made my way over to the United club and set up camp.
I saw that right after all our flights took off United had computer problems and had to do a ground stop on all their flights! Thankfully it was lifted a few hours later. I texted Bobbye Sonnier, Jo El ‘s wife and manager once they landed, we had just received a text that our flight to Zurich was delayed by 30 mins. They decided to grab some food and I would met them at the gate at 5. While sitting at the gate they had to delay us another 30 so we endedd up not boarding till close to 7. Slept a little on the flight , but otherwise uneventful and landed about 1 1/2 hours later than we were scheduled.
Passport control in Zurich took forever but on the bright side, our bags were already on the belt at baggage claim when we finally made it through. Toni, our driver with the festival met us with the big tour bus and we were off for the 3 hour drive to Gstaad. We did stop at a Burger King halfway there to grab some lunch. Other than that it was a very quiet drive as we were all sleeping.
Arrived at the hotel around 3pm and got everyone checked in. We are at HUUS hotel, it is very nice but sits on the outskirts of town and is about a 15 min walk into the small town of Saneen. Dinner is not until 6pm here at the hotel so it gave everyone a few hours to freshen up and take a nap if needed. Dinner is a set menu of Salmon, Chicken and Cheesecake. All very good and the weather is just amazing. We were able to sit outside on the balcony. Back in the room by 9 and ready to crash!
Sept 7 2023 – Day 3
Wide awake at 7 am and headed down to the breakfast buffet at 8. Lobby call is 10:30 am for our day of sightseeing. Once the bus picked us up we stopped by The Alpina and picked up some of Miranda’s band and crew as well as Randall Kings entourage. John Huie from CAA and his wife are here as well as Shannon who heads up the International division at WME. Our first stop was a very old church in Gstaad where we took a quick tour then the 15 min drive to Glacier 3000. Once there we had to take cable cars to the top. One guy is afraid of heights so he just kept his head down and was relieved when we got off, unfortunately he did not realize he had to get on another one that took us to the top! Most of my guys did fine up there. Some did the skywalk, some did not go any further than the gift shop. Almost everyone did the alpine coaster!
Back at the hotel around 3pm so everyone could have a little downtime before we head out to the Sponser / Western party tonight at 6:30 pm. When the weather is nice Marcel (our promoter) likes to have the party at Gummalp. It is a beautiful area surrouned by the Alps but it is a very windy drive up the hill. The other drawback is not many cars can go all the way up so they end up dropping everyone off almost a mile away and they have to walk up the hill. Fortunately Mom had warned me about this and I let Heidi know that Jo El, Bobbye and most of my guys would not be able to walk it at their age so she made arrangements for us to be driven all the way up.
Everyone mixed and mingled outside before dinner since the weather was so nice. After Marcel said a few words, we went inside the “Barn” for dinner. They served salad then we did the dinner BBQ buffet and finished it off with a delicious dessert of berries and custard. It was also nice to be able to see Maya and Danila. I actually sat with Daniela and her husband at dinner. She interviews the Artist for the magazine and did a really nice write up on Jo El.
A little after 10, Heidi helped me arrange transportation to come up the hill so it could take us back to the hotel. We have an early day tomorrow with soundchecks and the first show!
Friday Sept 8 – Day 4
Took awhile for me to fall asleep last night even though I was so tired.. The weather is beautiful and mid 80s which is not normal this time of year and our hotel does not have air conditioning. Makes sleeping uncomfortable.
Made it downstairs around 7:30 to grab something to eat before heading over to soundcheck.
We were all in the lobby ready to go at 8:30 but there was no transportation. I called our driver and his schedule showed our pick up at 10:30, he did not have the revised schedule. Jo El plays the main stage and then he does an hour on the party stage after Miranda closes the show. We were suppose to do the party stage soundcheck from 9 to 10:30 and then the main stage soundcheck from 10:30 to 12.
Got to the venue a little after 9 and the party stage was not mic’d or any cables run. At 11 they still did not have to ready so we went over to the mainstage and did our soundcheck there. Jo El did a quick radio interview backstage and then we returned to the party stage for a quick check. Finished all by 1 and headed back to hotel. Thankfully Jo El and his band are so easy to work with they took it all in stride. I just wish I could have givien them a few more hours to sleep and not just sit at the venue for 2 hours for naught.
We all met at 6 in the hotel restaurant for dinner. Again a set menu of Risotto tonight and tiramisu for dessert. We were eating our dessert and halfway through Jo El is digging something out.. turns out it was a piece of glass in his tiramisu! So glad he caught it before it made it on his mouth!!! Told the waitress she may want to have the kitchen check the rest of the desserts!!
Our driver Marco arrived at our hotel at 8 to take us over to the venue. When we got there Randal King was performing and was able to catch the last few songs of his set. They are running a few minutes behind so our start time is now 9:25 pm instead of 9:10 pm. Again… it is very hot and no AC in the building, really worried about ALL the Artists and band having a heat stroke on stage.
Jo El had an amazing show and received a standing ovation! He is 76 years old and could run rings around me. I am just so impressed with how much he gives on stage. He is truely grateful to be here and have so much support from the audience.
I also received so many compliments on his band and their professionelism.
It took a little longer to get the stage ready for Miranda’s performance so again, we were pushed back another 15 minutes. This just means our start time on the party stage will also be pushed back.
Went out front and watched part of Miranda’s show before taking my guys over to the Party Stage area to set up. Jo El and the band kicked off at 12:30 am and gave another 100% in their performance. We finished at 1:30 am, cooled down, grabbed a quick plate of food and headed back to the hotel. Thankfully tomorrow we do not have anything until we leave at 8 for show #2.
I ran to my room, changed and got on a video call with my friends that are at the Green Hill High School football game. It is homecoming tonight and my daughter Zoe was picked as the Freshman attendant. Unfortunately Homecoming fell on the weekend I was in Switzerland 
Thankfully I have so many great friends that did everything they could to help me “be there” Love my tribe. She looked absolutey stunning! So very proud of her.
4 am now and going to try and grab a few hours of sleep!
Saturday Sept 9 – Day 5
Set my alarm for 10 am so I could grab some breakfast before the stopped serving. I don’t think I fell asleep till sometime after 4 am.
No plans today until we leave at 8 for our 2nd show. Me, Bobbye and Kevin decided to take a taxi into town and do some souvenir shopping. Kevin wants a Coo Coo Clock and Bobbye and I need to get some candy. Came back to hotel around 2pm. Took my shower and then started to pack for our trip home tomorrow.
Everyone was in the lobby and ready to got at 8pm. When we got to the venue, Randal King was finishing up and soon as I could, I checked the stage to see 2 big white fans on stage. Everyone will be so happy!
It is a sold out show tonight. Jo El took the stage around 9:25 and gave another great performance that gained him 2 standing ovations. We stayed backstage for about an hour after the show and then walked over to the party stage. Jo El kicked off around 12:25 and Heidi asked for a 45 min set instead of 60 mins. Works for us!
Finished up this set, grabbed a plate for Bobbye and Jo El to eat backstage and then Marco drove us back to he hotel. It’s almost 3 am and my alarm is set for 6 am…
Sunday Sept 10 – Day 6
My road reports are no where as interesting as Moms..
6:00 came very quickly! Everyone was checked out and loaded into the bus by 7:30 and we were on our way to Zurich airport. If it takes the 3 hours then we should be there 3 hours before our flight leaves. I think we all slept the whole way there. I definitely heard some snoring!
Our flight from Zurich to Chicago is operated on Swiss Air so we have to check in with them and the line is super long. It took almost an hour to get checked in but the agents graciously put pre board on my musicians boarding pass so they could board early and have room for their equipment.
Once checked in and through security I quickly ran over to Sprungli and grabbed chocolates. Then down to the tram to take us over to E Gates
We arrived at the gate about 20 mins before boarding started. Flight left on time and other than me spilling my water on the guy next to me, it was an uneventful flight. Slept off and on and watched a movie. Landed Chicago and although I zipped thru Global Entry, it was a long wait for our bags to come out at customs. Thankfully everything made it a nd we all had about 2 hours before our flights home. Had to say my goodbyes here as we have to go to different terminals and gates since I am flying back to Nashville and they fly back to Houston and New Orleans.
Flight out of Chicago left on time and touchdown Nashille at 9:30 pm. Mom picked me up and was able to love on my kiddo’s for a few minutes before lights out for all of us! I did get a text from Bobbye in the night, they had landed and were driving home.