The Cool Country Music Things That Happened To Me In 2018

I SANG WITH BRYAN WHITE AT PIONEER PLACE

When I was searching for fun holiday events for you to attend, I happened to come across Bryan White's performance at Pioneer Place. I couldn't believe that Bryan White was going to be in St. Cloud! I love Bryan White. I reached out to his people to see if he'd be up for an interview. During the interview, Bryan asked me to sing a song with him. What an honor. I did just that. Bryan was SO kind and put on an unbelievable acoustic show and it was surreal. Thank you Bryan, for that incredible experience. I'll never forget it!

I TALKED WITH GARTH BROOKS AND TRISHA YEARWOOD IN DECEMBER

Everyone knows that Trisha Yearwood is probably my favorite female singer of all time. I perform quite a few of her songs in my shows. I met Trisha years ago as her drummer, Rick McClure was from West Liberty Kentucky, my ex husbands hometown. I told Garth how much of a fan I was; So thankful that he was coming to Minnesota again; and that I LOVED his wife. Garth, being Garth, asked me if I'd like to talk with Trisha. Absolutely! First of all, I can't believe we were able to talk with Garth! The fact that we got both of them?!!! Wow! Thank you Garth and Trisha! We're looking forward to Garth being in Minnesota in May.

I CUT TWO GOSPEL SONGS WITH LUKE BRYAN'S BAND MEMBERS

Sad news this year; I lost my beautiful Mother in Law, Nannie Mae Howard. The good news is the boys and I were able to visit with her this year. My Sister in Law and Niece asked me if I would play piano and sing Nannie some gospel songs. I did; and the amazing thing that happened was she sang every word right along with me. She had Alzheimer's so this was amazing. On that same trip, I met up with some old friends and asked about a young drummer that I hadn't seen in quite a few years. I found out that Kent Slucher, was now playing drums for Luke Bryan. I reached out to him on Facebook. We chatted and I found out that he was still doing session work. I told him that I wanted to record a couple songs for Nannie and asked if he might do the drums. Not only did he play drums, he got the rest of Luke Bryan's band members to play on the songs as well. What an incredible gift they gave to us.

PETE AND KELLY IN THE MORNING BEGAN IN 2018

I've got the coolest, most energetic and positive morning show partner a girl could ask for! I can't wait to see where we can go with 98.1 Minnesota's New Country adventures in 2019!

I INTERVIEWED UP AND COMING LITTLE FALLS STAR MICHAEL SHYNES

One of the most exciting interviews of the year, happened right at the end. There is a very talented artist from Little Falls named Michael Shynes, who has recently had some amazing success overseas. He gave me three of his albums and I am SO impressed. I'm looking forward to hearing more from him. He's got one of the most amazing voices I've ever heard; Sort of the sound of Ed Sheeran. He is kind; talented. He writes music; he plays music, and he's one of our own. I can't wait to see what 2019 holds for this talented artist.