Well... Kenny Chesney probably doesn't know about Rollag but his fiddle player does. I'm sure many of you knew the Hoffman family - Harry and Sybil and several probably remember their grandson Nick Hoffman. Well Nick used to play the fiddle alot up at Rollag as a kid during the day and evening. Now Nick is Kenny Chesney's lead fiddle player. Nick will be playing in the Fargo Dome April 14th with Kenny. We've got our tickets! Who know's maybe Nick will give Kenny a tour of the showgrounds when they are in town..
Funny you mention Nick and WMSTR - He and I share the same grandparents. - Yup, Nick is my cousin.. Typically when they are in town, there isnt' much time to do much aside from the show and keep going. in the 6 years we've seen him down here in the Twin Cities, he's managed to be able to meet the family once for supper and then rush back to make his responsibilities pre-show.
If you happen to have seen Will Hadden playing the fiddle https://www.musiconthehill.net/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=427, you'll see the family traits.. Fiddle in the hand, and an engineers cap. - That is another cousin picking up the musical talent in the family.
As a side-note, Nick hopes each year to be able to make it out to the hill for the show, but his concert schedule never seems to match up with WMSTR. I know he has made a few impromptu appearances on the hill during the summer if he's passing thru town, but I doubt you'll see the KC tour entourage rolling around the grounds between shows. (expo hill would be a *great* outdoor venue tho, no?)
I've been playing phone-tag with Nick over the last week. I'll be sure to mention the interest in a cameo, or maybe just Nick stopping by would be fun. - Rollag has started to turn into a Hoffman/Dachtera family reunion over the last few years bringing relatives from as far as Maine (Will Hadden)
As for handling the sound, Thanks to mother nature we have the equipment to handle a bare setup, but with 24 channels, it would be interesting, however, I don't know I'd want that status hanging over my head if I hit a wrong button
Hey all- I received a promo CD from Nick in the mail today, self titled. I've listened to it quite a bit this evening and I'm really liking it. It has some driving country rock in it, along with some bluegrass tones in it too.
Tim,
If you talk to Nick tell him that the concert in Fargo was awesome. It was sure fun to see him play again. Oh ya.. Kenny was good too.
My cousin is the VP of SonyBMG records in Nashville - that is how we got our tickets to the concert a couple of weeks ago. I asked Tommy if he knew Nick and he said he knew him well. I told Tommy to mention Rollag to Nick and Tommy replied later that they had a good laugh - gets to be a small world!
I hope Nick can find time to comeback to Rollag to visit and to play his fiddle on the stage again.
Brian
