The song was right. It's a small world after all. We have all heard of the theory of "six degrees of separation". You know; it's the one that basically says that everyone and everything is six or fewer steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person in the world. So a chain of "a friend of a friend" can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps.
Living here in Music City, USA, I think the degree of separation from country music royalty is less than six degrees. I'm talking one, two, or possibly three degrees at most...
To give you an example, Taylor Swift shops at the same TJ Maxx/ Homegoods that we do. She also has a brownstone about 5 minutes from our house, and she is seen in Downtown Franklin every so often too. Now, have we actually bumped into her yet? No, but with odds like this, I'd say it's just a matter of time. Here she is with a group of lucky fans in Downtown Franklin just a month or so ago. They are standing just outside of Binks Outfitters. We go there all the time. :)
The Judds are also frequently seen around these parts. Naomi (the mother) shops at our Trees and Trends. In fact, one year we were there buying Christmas decorations, and the cashier told us that we had just missed her. Dang! AND, daughter Ashley dines at our favorite little Mexican restaurant. I mean we are there almost every week, but we haven't actually seen her there yet. But I'm pretty sure she's not waiting in line for a table on a busy Friday night either.
Many of our buddies have run into Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban. Apparently, they are out and about often.
But, let's get to some real brushes with celebrity. Check out this chair. We found it in a local antique shop a few years back when we were redecorating our bedroom. The shop owner had literally just put it out for sale, and told us the story behind it. She scouts out shabby chic pieces of antique furniture and home decor for none other than Sheryl Crow, and this was one of the pieces she bought and was holding for her! As it turned out, Sheryl had not had a chance to come in to look through the haul they were reserving for her for a while, and she told them to go ahead and sell it. Wow! Her loss was definitely our gain. We LOVE this chair, and think the story is pretty cool too. :) By the way, that antique shop is the same one who introduced us to this awesome Halloween photo last year.
But back to our brushes with Nashville fame... Many of you will know Trace Adkins from his years on the country music trail. He is also well known for having won the most recent season of Celebrity Apprentice. However, we have a story about this country crooner too.
When Izzie the Wonder Pup first joined our family, we did our research and decided on a dog trainer for her out in the country who received all sorts of wonderful feedback. So we took our precious furball out to her farm, and soon learned that she had just finished training Trace Adkins' pups. You see, his Brentwood home (about 15 minutes from us) was destroyed in a house fire about that same time, and his pups were understandably suffering from behavior issues as a result.
You would think he would have his "people" take care of a task like transporting his dogs to training and attending the weekly "pet owner" trainings, but apparently not. Our dog trainer had the pleasure of working with Trace himself only a few weeks before our sweet Izzie started her training. Very cool!
But as it happens, John and I had our first ever encounter with a Nashville celebrity just a couple of weekends ago. And when I say "Nashville" celebrity, I mean that quite literally. We ran into one of the actors from the new television show Nashville. If you are a follower of the show, then you will recognize Eric Close as the fictional mayor of Nashville from the series. If you haven't yet seen this show, you should! - It's back for a second season this fall. But you might also recognize him from his starring role on Without a Trace. He is pictured below second from the right, along with the other men of Nashville. Now, that should be motivation enough to give this show a watch.
But back to our celebrity sighting. We were out and about in Downtown Nashville a few weekends ago, and we happened into the Station Inn, known in old Nashville for their Bluegrass tunes. There is always a line to get in and a packed house inside. Luckily we got seats and cozied in for the show just as none other than Eric Close should walk right by us on his way to order drinks. Again, you might his "people" would be doing this for him, but nope. We watched him get a couple of bottles of water and head back to his table. We didn't make a fuss but we both knew who he was. And I'm sure he saw us looking at him and whispering to each other because he smiled and nodded at us as he walked back past.
So, now I'm curious about your brushes with fame. Have you met anyone famous, or are somehow connected to someone we would all know? Let us know in the comments section below, and we will drool with envy from afar.
