Stephanie Urbina Jones – Country Night Gstaad – Gstaad, Switzerland

After a few days off in Oslo I fly to Zurich tonight and then on to Gstaad for the Country Night Gstaad Festival this weekend. We have Stephanie on it this year, but Mark Chesnutt, Rhonda Vincent and Mo Pitney are also on the line up so it will be a great festival and looking forward to seeing everyone.

Flight left Oslo on time and I landed in Zurich at 10:00 pm. My hotel is the Radisson connected to the airport so not a very long walk over. It is a very cool hotel. Sad I will only be here for less than 10 hours 🙁

Had to be up by 7 to get ready and go back over to the airport to meet the bus driver. I was suppose to take the train to Gstaad today but when Mark Chesnutt’s band had to reschedule their flights it worked to where I would just ride the bus to Gstaad with them.

I found Toni, our driver and he told me that 7 of Mark’s guys missed the connection in Newark and would not be arriving until 11:45 AM, but Slim and Todd made it on time from Dallas..and 2 of Rhonda Vincents musicians made it in. Marks guys landed around 11 – less 1 bag 🙁

Finally on the road to Gstaad about 12:30. It is a 3 hour drive with the construction and cattle in the road!

Toni dropped me off at my hotel and Stephanie and her guys had just arrived from Italy and Germany. The hotel is very nice, just remodeled. Heidi, who has been my main contact for this festival met me at the hotel and said hello to Stephanie and the band. Very sweet lady.

Stephanie and her band did a quick rehearsal downstairs while I unpacked and met with Albi for about an hour. I will see him again tonight at the welcome party.

This festival holds a welcome party the night before the first show. It is to welcome the Artist and say thank you to all the Sponsors. We have dinner and drinks and The Deslondes played for awhile.

We arrived at 8 and Marcel was their to greet everyone. Gave him a hug and introduced Stephanie and the band to him. He is such a sweet guy. I was also happy to see Iris here. She is the promoter for the Interlaken festival here in June. She and Mom have been friends for a long time and I enjoy having a chance to catch up with her.

It was great catching up with the people I have meet through the years but haven’t seen in a while.

After dinner Marcel introduced the Artists and then brought out a Birthday cake for Mark. He handed the microphone to Stephanie and she sang a little Happy Birthday tune for him.

We stayed till about 11 and then caught a ride back to our hotel. Tomorrow is sound check and the first show!

Night Night

Lindsey

Today is sound check and the first show. Woke up at 6 and decided that was still to early to get up so laid back down for another 2 hours 🙂 The hotel has a really great breakfast buffet and I definitely over indulged in the croissants available. Stephanie’s drummer, Stefano, and bass player, Roberto are from Italy and her keyboard player, Greg, is living in Germany. They along with Patterson are so nice and I have enjoyed getting to know them on this trip. I think Stefano has run into more people he knows than I have! We left at 1:45 to go over to sound check. We are the last ones to sound check since we are the first ones up. Mo Pitney and his band were finishing up when we got there. Man…he has a great voice. Our sound check took right around an hour and then we all went back to the hotel to freshen up before having to leave in an hour to go back to the venue. Showtime is 6:00 pm The venue is a big tent connected to a “dance hall” the stage is under the tent and the dance hall has vendors and food. We all arrived at 5:15 and took the stage right on time. Stephanie had a good crowd and more people were coming in as she played. She definitely brought her Latino sound to the people of Switzerland and they loved it. We all decided to stay tonight to see everyone perform since we have such an early bus call on Sunday and won’t stay long after tomorrow nights show. Mo Pitney and his band went on next and just impressed everyone. He has a great traditional sound. There was an hour intermission after his show and I was able to catch up with some of my friends here that I haven’t seen in awhile. Rhonda Vincent went on next – she did her acoustic set. I think all the Artists and musicians went out into the audience to see her show – I think she even brought some of my musicians to tears with her performance 🙂 Mark Chesnutt went on last. I went out and watched most of his show. Just love him and his guys. We wrapped up a little after midnight and they took us over to the dance hall to have something to eat. We all ate pretty quick and then were ready to head back to the hotel. It’s 2 am and I am off to bed! Lindsey

Up at 8 and got ready, walked over for breakfast and then decided to walk into town for a bit. It is suppose to rain so hoping I can get a little sightseeing in before it starts. Our hotel is on top of the hill so going into town was fine.. downhill. Did a little shopping at the local grocery store and took some pics before making the trek back up the hill to the hotel 🙁 We were going to leave at 5 for the venue but Stephanie wanted to go over a little earlier and run through a song with the band so we left at 4:15 so they would have about 30 mins before doors opened to rehearse. Stephanie went on right at 6 and had another great show. I think better than last night. The crowd really enjoyed it. She went out and signed autographs again. I was also able to see some old friends that were here tonight. We left after Mo performed so we could grab dinner at the hotel then try and pack and catch a few Z’s before our 4:00 am ride to Zurich airport! We have truly enjoyed being here and Stephanie and her guys were honored to play this festival. Everyone has been so accommodating and nice. Plus I got to see so many friends. Hope to be back again soon!

xoxo Lindsey