Monday, March 10, 2014

A Chance Encounter and Misunderstanding

A few weeks ago I was sitting in the Terminal at Nashville International Airport waiting on my flight home.  It was a Saturday morning and I was just relaxing.  I was early for my flight and there weren't many people so there was lots of room.  I was reading a book.

After awhile people started gathering and a young lady sat down the row from me and also was reading.  Shortly afterward a young man, obviously a musician because he carried a guitar case, sat across from her and they started visiting.  Not long after another musician type sat down as well.  I spoke to the young man with the guitar and asked if he was headed to a gig somewhere.  It turned out that all of them were on their way to Dallas to play for an engagement as the band for Gwen Sebastian, a former winner of "The Voice."

I asked where they were from and it was all over.  The young lady said that she was from Springdale, Arkansas, and wondered if I knew where that was.  I said yes and named a few small towns in the area.  We struck up a brief conversation at that point.  She never mentioned her name and seemed evasive at times -- enough to really pique my curiosity.  It turned out she played fiddle and guitar and sang vocals.  If she hadn't been evasive on some of the questions, my interest would have quickly waned and I would have gone back to reading.

As we boarded the plane I pulled out my phone and did a Google search based on the clues from the conversation.  It turned out that she was Jenee Fleanor, who plays fiddle, guitar and sings back up for Blake Shelton.  That is how she ended up playing with the group for Gwen Sebastian -- Blake was busy with a new season of "The Voice" and she had some open dates and the Shelton connection got her a gig with Sebastian I guess.  She backed Blake at the 2013 ACM's....

In my focus on my Google search I didn't realize that she had sat down in the seat behind me and in doing so had glimpsed my phone with her photo on it from the search.  I guess she thought that I was stalking her although I wasn't.  I just was exercising my natural curiosity.  It wasn't long before I realized that she had changed her mind and moved to the back of the plane with the other musicians.

When we landed in Dallas I spoke to her again, by name, and apologized, saying that curiosity got the best of me.  I then wished them an enjoyable time in Grapevine at the Gaylord Texan where their engagement was.

You never know who you might meet.

Here's a sample of her music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouElhFcOxG4&list=PLtJS3g04CETYblu-pTUn-WeFKcS1309bc&feature=share


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