From Ozarks to Oz: The Petersens...

Summer Kicks Off with Bluegrass & BBQ Katie returned from Nicaragua, Julianne’s cast came off, Matt graduated from college, Ellen is finishing final exams, and The Petersens are ready for some BLUEGRASS! There could be no better way to kick off a summer of music than performing at Silver Dollar City’s Bluegrass & BBQ Festival. If you have never made it out to this three week bluegrass festival, you should definitely make plans to do so and see us on stage May 14th and 21st at the Boatworks Theatre. We will be performing four different sets each day at 1 PM, 2 PM, 3 PM, and 4 PM, followed by, of course, a mad dash to the Little Opry Theatre for our 5 PM show.  This endeavor will be entertainment in itself. Cheers to coffee, prayer, and speeding. #BlessGrass (Katie’s idea) Plot Twist: We Actually Leave the House this Summer Other shows outside of Branson include performing for the American Medical Association’s presidential inauguration of Dr. David Barbe in Chicago. He is an old family friend from Mountain Grove and we are honored to be included in his ceremony. We will also be playing at churches and other local events this summer (more on that here). But wait, there’s more! Another set of shows we are excited about will happen during The Petersens’ second international Ireland tour.  This July, the whole family will tour together for one week and then split for the fourth annual #sibtrip in Europe! Home Sweet Home While traveling is fun, nothing compares to the love we have for our weekend shows at the Little Opry Theatre. Our locals who come week after week are like family to us and we feel so blessed to have the opportunity to share our lives and music with them. Petersens Performing at the Little Opry Theatre Bring. It. On. Here’s to another summer of traveling, music, coffee, Jesus, and spending time with those we love most. And, of course, BLUEGRASS. Yeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaw!

The Call to Nicaragua I have been extremely blessed to have had the opportunity to spend the past three months serving in Nicaragua. I had been praying for a chance to serve in a Latin American country for several years and studied Spanish in high school and college and had been saving money in the process of waiting. Last December, I heard about the Taellor’s House internship through Denise Meyer, and after she interviewed me and told me about what we would be involved with as interns, I felt God’s confirmation specifically in three areas I had been praying for: 1) Wanting to spend time dedicated to serving others besides myself. 2) Wanting to learn how to speak Spanish fluently. 3) Wanting to explore teaching to see if I should pursue that further as a possible career option. Denise explained that I would be able to pursue all three of these things during my time here, and she was right. The Beautiful Nicaraguan People I had never been to Nicaragua before, and upon arriving on February 4th, I was immediately taken back on how beautiful the country was. However, that pales in comparison to how beautiful the people are. I have fallen in love with the warm and selfless hearts of the Nicaraguan people, and they have taught me and shown me the beauty of putting the needs and interests of others above your own. The other two girls interning with me at Taellor’s House have become two of my best friends, and we loved getting to serve together as a team. Daily Life at Taellor’s House My weekly schedule involved teaching English at Taellor’s House on Tuesday’s, Music/Dance on Thursdays, and serving with Aida and the Project Hope medical team once a week going to different villages to provide treatment to those in need. When teams were on base, I enjoyed getting to interact with them as well and was able to help build houses a couple of times! There were several good things to be involved in, but God almost immediately showed me where my heart would be most invested at: Taellor’s House. The kids won my heart over in no time at all, and God has allowed me to develop deep relationships with several of them. Words cannot describe how much I have been impacted by their love and how quick they are to trust and love on the people around them. One of my favorite parts of the day at Taellor’s House is when the gates open in the morning and they all come running in with big smiles on their faces to come up and hug you. I get sad every day when school is over and they have to go home. It’s like a part of me goes home with them and won’t come back until the next morning. The kids are always excited to learn something new and we had so much fun learning new songs and line dancing! One of my favorite memories is watching each of their faces explode with excitement as they played my ukulele and violin for the first time! They absolutely loved taking turns and singing while each of their classmates played the chords behind them. Each morning and afternoon before classes started we would have a devotional time where we sang through all of the songs we had learned followed by one of the teachers or the principle teaching from a Bible passage. The staff and teachers at Taellor’s House are some of my favorite people and closest friends I developed while in Nicaragua. They all have hearts for the Lord and genuinely cared about how I was doing every day. I felt like I had a family working alongside me each day I was there. I learned most of my Spanish just by interacting with them at mealtimes and having conversations throughout the day. Katie playing music with children at Taellor’s House Challenges and Blessings Through all the wonderful experiences I had here, there were also a lot of difficult circumstances to work through as well as unexpected situations that I had not encountered before, but I have found them to be very strong reminders for me that we live in a sinful world where nothing is perfect, and there is only one place that is. One day we will have complete perfection living in the presence of our Lord where there will be no more pain, no more injustice, and no more goodbyes. I have been praying that God would allow me to see with his eyes, listen with his ears, work with his hands, and break my heart for the things that break his, and he has been faithful to do that over and over again during my time here. I have also found that when I seem to be challenged the most in my own life, I draw nearer to God than ever before. It ends up being a sweet blessing resulting in a closer relationship with Jesus. God greatly impacted my life through living in Nicaragua for this very short period of time, and the Katie going back home is a different girl than the one that got here on February 4th. Dios le bendiga, ~Katie Petersen Katie with children at Taellor’s House

Winter Season Comes to an End It’s March!  Wow!  It’s hard to believe the winter season has come and gone. We just finished our first weekend of the regular season schedule of Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 5 PM. During January and February, we worked up a lot of new songs and even a new acapella.  The winter season was a challenge as we juggled learning the new show and adjusting to Katie’s temporary absence.  We now feel like we have found our groove with Julianne on fiddle and singing on most songs, and we have loved having Get It Mama back on stage with us. All About That Bass The first three-show weekend at the IMAX was another juggling act!  Our bass player, Eric Green, took the weekend off to be a part of College of the Ozark’s spring production, Meet Me in St. Louis. A big thanks goes out to our dear friend, Kyle Barnard, who filled in on bass Friday night. We first met Kyle when he was guitarist and lead singer for the Sherman Mountain Boys , the winning band in the 2012 Youth in Bluegrass Contest at Silver Dollar City. Saturday and Sunday was a special treat for us because our dad came back to the stage to play bass in the family band.  It was fun to perform with both of our parents again. There will always be something sweet about playing music as a family and we are so grateful to have bluegrass and gospel music to bring us all together. Spring Break! I don’t think anyone in the Petersen family knows what the word “break” actually means. While most Branson shows close down during the winter season, since 2010 we have kept playing through the winter.  We had to go to school anyway, so why not?!? One of the perks of being in school is the glorious week in March called Spring Break. Ellen is currently in graduate school at Missouri State University earning her Master of Business Administration with a graduate certificate in marketing. She will be traveling to Cuba for 10 days for her international marketing credits. As entertaining as “The Matt and Julianne Show” could be, the band as a whole vetoed that idea, so there will be no shows for the middle weekends in March while Ellen is out of country. Spring Show Schedule Our show will resume the last weekend of March and stay strong until our tour to Ireland in July. Be sure to check our Tour Dates tab to have the most up-to-date show schedule and information.

It’s Show Time! We are so excited to be back in the Little Opry Theatre after a restful winter break and have lots of things we want to update y’all with for this upcoming season. We spent a majority of our time off working on our next album (more to come on that later) and learning new songs for the show. We are bringing back several of last year’s favorite numbers like Julianne’s version of Fields of Gold, but I think you will really enjoy our new additions. The Return of Kardboard Katie A big challenge we will face this Spring is (more…)

Christmas Show Time! Christmas is in full swing in Branson and we are thrilled to join in the festivities with our bluegrass Christmas show! The first half of our show still has all the bluegrass favorites, but the second half has all new holiday material that we were thrilled to debut last Sunday. For the show, we are adding standards like Silent Night and Joy to the World as well as some great bluegrass Christmas songs like Santa Train by the great Patty Loveless. Because we will only have four Christmas shows at the Little Opry, but are adding some extra tour dates out of town in Osage Beach, Bowling Green, and Pella, Iowa.The first memories we have singing together are from when we were kids living in Florida. We used to all grab jingle bells and walk through our neighborhood and carol as a family. We still enjoy caroling and make sure to include that as a part of our Christmas festivities every year. Joy to the World As some of you know Ellen is working on her MBA at Missouri State and as a project for a management class she had the band work up Joy to the World to post on YouTube. How many people can say they played their banjo for a graduate school requirement? Music continues to open doors for us in all different walks of life and we will forever be grateful to have it as a part of our lives. We have loved adding all these classic songs to the show and hope you get the chance to come see us at the Little Opry Theatre!  

Moving on up in our Branson Show Reviews! This year we have really been working hard to promote our Branson show at the Little Opry Theatre. We are so thankful to have a steady job (as musicians that is no easy feat) and the intimacy that the Little Opry provides is a perfect fit for our bluegrass show. We were recently listed on TripAdvisor as an attraction and started out as #395 out of #384 (not even sure how that is possible haha). The last time I checked the concerts and shows category we were #61 out of #158! TripAdvisor is a great tool that allows visitors to read real Branson show reviews to make their decision on what attractions will be worth their time. We greatly appreciate everyone taking the time to rate us. The reviews are so encouraging and we love reading feedback on our show. If you haven’t already done so, click on the link below and help us out.

As many of you can imagine, us Petersen siblings stay pretty busy. Between a minimum of four shows a week, high school, college, grad school, and working at our schools (yay for free tuition and no school debt!) we don’t have a lot of time that’s not strictly scheduled out. Four years ago we started doing this thing we called the #sibtrip. The #sibtrip is a vacation for the siblings that has absolutely no agenda. We take ourhammocks, instruments, and a map and drive wherever we feel like for a week. We have ended up in Ohio for some roller coasters at Cedar Point, we have busked on the streets of (more…)