upDATE

Wow.  It's been awhile since we've posted anything.  My apologies to any of you sitting on the edge of your seat, waiting with bated breath for the latest After Jack news :)  We've had an extremely busy couple of months.  Really astoundingly busy considering we've only been together as a band for about two months.  I sometimes remember that fact and am just shocked at what we have accomplished (and are accomplishing) so far.  It seems like we've been at this for a lot longer...(in all the best ways).  In less than two months we have:

~Played at least one show a weekend (although sometimes up to 4!)
~Been featured on TV, Radio and in the Newspaper
~Released an EP CD
~Been selected as finalists in a national video competition (by the way, if you haven't voted for us you simply must. Hayloft Gang Contest . Follow the link and vote for our video, "My Horses Ain't Hungry".  You can vote once a day every day through Oct 24, 2011)
~We are in the process of expanding our merchandise to include stickers and shirts (look for them online or at a live show in the next week or so!)


Whew!  I'm wearing myself out all over again just remembering it all :)  Of course, none of this would have been possible without the incredible outpouring of love and support we have received from our amazing friends, family and fans.  We are so thankful for each and every one of you.  Thank you for taking this journey with us and we look forward to the amazing things coming in the next two months...and beyond...


~M

Right Time, Right Place

You know when something is just right?  All the pieces fall into place; everything clicks; you are where you are meant to be doing what you are meant to be doing.  I think I’m in that place right now.  I have wanted to be a part of a band for about as long as I can remember.  But something always seemed to get in the way:  I was too focused on something else, there weren’t other people around with the same interests or commitment, or there just wasn’t time…until now.  We’ve been at this band thing going on two weeks and it has been nothing short of incredible.  From the beginning of this process, when we asked friends and family to help us decide on a name for the band, we have had an unbelievable amount of response.  And the excitement only grew as we added more information and photos and sound clips.  We’ve had a busy couple of weeks between rehearsing every night, setting up websites, making flyers, looking for more gigs and recording songs (who knew being a rock star was such hard work!) but it has also been one of the most enjoyable processes in my life. 

Going into this weekend and our first show, I didn’t know exactly what to expect.  I was excited about our first gig and the festival in general.   I think we, the band, knew we had a good thing going, but we didn’t know how everyone else would react.  And then they did and it was beyond anything I could have hoped for.  We were offered the chance to play a second set at the festival (which we excitedly accepted).  Other musicians and fans were overwhelmingly positive in their feedback.  We listened to, met and networked with some phenomenal musicians and bands.  The organizers, staff and volunteers at the festival took excellent care of us all weekend long.  All-around it was an amazing experience and I could not imagine a better opportunity for our band to get our feet wet in the music scene. 

Coming away from the weekend, I feel even more excited about music and our band and, even better, I feel that, given the response we've received, I know this is something that we can actually do.  And we will.

-M

What does your name mean?

We’ve had an official band name for an entire weekend, and we’ve looked at it in so many fonts that the words don’t make sense anymore. Since our idea of decisiveness includes flipping a coin, we naturally depended on our facebook friends to “vote,” thus allowing us to make progress as a band without ever, in fact, having to make a choice.  We did come up with a lot of ideas: The Whethaus Rounders and the Ferrum Mountain Roadshow were in the top three, and once we got people talking and writing about these names, the hardest part wasn’t deciding what to pick, it was deciding what to give up. And of course, there were a couple of names that we loved that seemed somehow…. well, not for the public. In the end, the “official voting window” closed, After Jack had clearly led the final vote, and we three avoided the topic, promised to think about it in the morning, and went to bed.     

I think now that we have pictures and a website and 82 facebook “likes,” it feels like a reality, and we are happy with our choice. We gave a sneak preview on Friday night for Lana Whited and Katherine Grimes, who can’t be at our first show, but promised to bring pizza to a rehearsal (thanks!). Katherine said: “When it’s right, you’ll know. If you had to put it to a vote, it probably isn’t right.” At first, only hours into our new identity, we were relieved. It was like we were just given permission to be wrong and start again and keep going. But, as we allowed ourselves to think and talk in temporary terms, we all realized that we are most excited about having given ourselves permission to commit to this new project. So, we are After Jack.

And now you same people who selected our name for us want to know what it means… a question to which I don’t have a good answer. As we brainstormed, we wanted to come up with a name that meant something to the three of us, something about what ties us together, and ties us to the music that inspires us. We wanted a name that felt like it belonged here, in Ferrum, VA, in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We talked about our house, “The Whethaus,” whetstones, iron, (Ferrum), trains, mountains, kudzu, paradise trees... you get the idea. We wouldn’t even know each other, however, if it hadn’t been for the theatre, and it’s probably that experience of playing and working together that has given us enough confidence to try to make this dream a reality.

“And then there’s my boy Jack,” the narrator says in “Quar Jack,” one of our favorite Jack Tales. When we tried to narrow down what has been most special in our Ferrum experience, the Jack Tales had to top the list. Most of our friends are already very familiar with the Jack Tales, but if you don’t know what we’re talking about, look us up or come see us. Anyway, it was certainly a reference to the Jack Tales, and our work in the Jack Tale players that put Jack on the list of band name themes. Ashlee Heyward said: “Jack has been a huge part of your lives for a WHILE and now you’re moving forward. I think it’s perfect.”

So maybe the name is about what’s next for the three of us, I don’t think, as Tina Hanlon suggested, that we are trying to place Jack or any other elements of Appalachian culture or music in the past, but we do like the idea that we are trying to create something new that is inspired by tradition. I personally like the ambiguity, also, of a name without a clear meaning. Lana offered: "After Jack" can obviously mean "we are after Jack," as in "we're a' chasing that fellar." I like that, too. So I guess if you would like to know the definitive meaning of After Jack, we can put it to a vote on facebook. Thanks for all the love and support so far!

Emily 

First Entry

Welcome to After Jack’s blog! This is an exciting adventure for us and we are especially grateful to our friends for supporting us in many ways as we begin. The idea behind this blog is that we can use it as a personal forum to document our experiences or share news. We want our friends to join the journey with us and we look forward to making new friends along the way. We’ll use this blog like a journal. We hope you enjoy it.

-The Girls