2008 is starting out great so far!! Greenfield Concert Series- this was our first year to perform there. There were approx. 600 folks, they were fun to play for and we hope to return in 2009. Heritage Days in Hartford City is always a good time, just down home country folks looking to have some fun. Stars and Guitars in Rockford, IL opening for Tracy Lawrence was a blast. We always meet new fans, the production was great, the catering was incredible, I finally got to meet Becky Genoway after 4 years performing in Rockford and Tracy Lawrence’s band rocked. Wayne Co. Fair in Richmond, IN was well worth the wait of 4 years. Cook and Belle have performed at alot of Indiana fairs, but Wayne was one they hadn’t yet till now. The weather held out with no rain, we had a great time seeing new and old faces. If you happened to see our performance and liked it make sure you tell Amy and Sandy, they are the big shots on the fair board. We have 4 shows the week of the July 4th and looking so forward to them. If you plan on coming to a C&B show this week, make sure you stop and say hi.

  We’ve been on the road alot lately so I’m a little behind on the updates. July 3rd @ Grundy County Fair what can I say but awesome. Approx. 5000 folks in the grandstand to watch our show before the BIG fireworks, it is always a great turnout. We’ve seen good fireworks in the past few years, but nothing, I mean nothing compares to Grundy’s fireworks. These fireworks are off the scale incredible!!! Went from Grundy to Lakeville Festival @ Newton Park, this park is the bomb. Mr. Newton went all out when creating this park, not shy from perfection. Baseball fields, soccer fields, playground, air conditioned bathrooms w/ changing rooms. When they built this they definitely had kids in mind. Newton Park is always a great place to play and this year the new location for the stage resulting in a bigger and better crowd to perform for. Lakeville to Haynes Apperson Festival in Kokomo, what a fun time! Opening up for The Little River Band was a blast and just to watch them perform was incredible. It was the perfect night for Michelle being this was one of her favorite groups while growing up listening to music. Their musicianship was awesome to experience while the lead singer’s voice was close to perfect as you could get. We hope to go back to Celina, OH for the family picnic, being we were scheduled for Sunday not many folks came out. I think everybody was tired from the whole weekend being busy with alot of things to do, so Sunday was rest day. Howard Co. Fair, hadn’t been their for about 4 yrs. so it was nice to be back. We thought we might get rained on so we moved inside, good choice because the rain came about 30 mins. into our show. We had a great time and I think the folks that were there had fun also ( Hope we go back in 2009-hint). Shadyside Park- first time to perform in the park, the setting was beautiful. It great when folks can bring their lawnchairs or blankets and relax and listen to some good old music. It was good to see some friends we hadn’t seen for awhile, plus Matt’s, Cliff’s and Micah’s parents all got to come to this performance. LaGrange Co. Fair is another fair that we always look forward to, the folks on the fair board are really cool. They definitely go out of their way to make sure we have everything we need. This year the crowd was alittle bigger than in the past so hopefully we can build on for next year. Delaware Co. Fair- our hometown crowd. Michelle and I always look forward to this show, we don’t get to perform in our own town to often. We had approx. 600-700 folks and for the area we play that’s a great crowd. We really appreciate it when our hometown crowd comes out and supports us, it means so much to us. Steuben Co. Fair- we wanted to play outside in the open air but we were being threatened by rain, so we moved it into the Pig Arena. The floor was full of saw dust with alittle pig manure smell mixed in, but the sound was really good. The saw dust kept the sound from being real echoey. Second year to perform there and the crowd was much bigger than last year. Greg Rhodes performed with us and did a great job as usual. Cowboy Church- If you’ve never been to one, you need to experience it. The service is for 4-H kids and parents to still have worship time on Sunday without leaving the fairgrounds. We did the praise and worship music before the lesson and then after the lesson we sang some good old country music w/alittle variety. It’s really cool and fun because we set up right in the grass out in the field. The speaker this year was Mr. Coppess, his message was delivered while on a horse- very good! Marion Co. Fair- Just got back about 11:00pm, sat down and started my updates for the shows so far. This is the first year we played this fair, and are definitely going back in 2009. We had a blast and the crowd was really into our music and performance. I sang to a few folks but one in particular was off the charts, an older lady named Mary. She first of all took a taxi to the fair by herself, danced with me where she sat plus on stage, ended up on stage at the end of the night just chilling out with the band members walking around during our last few songs, very sweet lady, but found out later that she was legally blind and wore hearing aids. Thanks to Nadeen and the Marion Co. Fair board for taking a chance on us, we had a great time and look out we’re coming back in 2009.

“2007 Summer Tour”  was the best yet!

First of all we want to thank all the venues that let us be part of their event.  Starting our summer tour June 3rd with Lonestar at the Honeywell Center in Wabash, IN was incredible.  The show was a sell out and we met alot of new folks.  My favorite portion of the night was when Seth, our son, got to play drums with Lonestar on the last song.  The whole night went really well so the Honeywell Center asked us to come back and open for Craig Morgan later that month. I can’t respond on every place we performed, but I will highlight some venues.  The Strawberry Festival in Crawfordsville, IN is definitely a place you want to visit.  Strawberries, great food, and wonderful folks to perform for is what we experienced when we visited.  In late May, I got a call from a man named Ron that ran the park in Frankfort, IN., he said he wanted to try a concert series in the park throughout the summer.  I gave Ron some ideas and with his hard work the series was a success and we hope to go back in 2008.  We normally don’t perform twice in a day at different venues, but there was an exception this year. Haynes Apperson Festival, Kokomo, IN is a fun downtown festival with lots to do. We had not been there for about 4 years so it nice to be back entertaining new and familiar faces.  We performed from 4-5:30 pm and had to be at the Minnetrista Center in Muncie, IN by 7:00 pm.  In order for that to happen the city of Kokomo gave us a police escort out of town, now that was cool!  One thing I forgot to mention Michelle and I bought a new motor coach to travel in this year.  It’s really nice for everyone to ride together especially when have 8-9 folks on the road with us.  Back to the Minnetrista show, what can we say, it doesn’t get any better playing for your own hometown.  There were approx. 3,000 people that came out to support us, you don’t know how that makes us feel (IT’S AWESOME).  Well, off to Sheffield Homecoming Sheffield, IL.  This is always a fun place to play, this was our 2nd time to  perform there.  The show went great, the folks were wonderful to play for, but we never got to leave until about 2:00 am.  With a new motor coach there are alot of things you need to learn before you try all the gadgets.  5 hours from home was not the night to try using the leveling jacks.  When leveling the coach noone can come aboard or it will mess everything up.  Well, low and behold Matt our keyboard player not knowing what is going on jumps aboard.  Not knowing anything has went wrong, we go on with the show and find out later the jacks won’t retrieve.  We had about 6 men all over that coach trying to find the reset button.  Inside, outside, underneath here underneath there, nowhere to be found.  Finally our soundman said it has to be ran by a 12-volt battery for the hydraulics to run the jacks.  He tracked the wires to the front of the coach where the switch had been tripped and off we went.  So now we know where the switch is if that happens again, arriving home at 7:00 am.  Tipton County Fair Tipton, IN 3 years in a row, what can we say that speaks for itself.  They always say if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.  The Tipton Queens are my favorite memory, they sit right in the front row and I get to sing to everyone of them.  Chicago, IL- Tyson Chicken Corporate Event, July 15th, what a night.  I’ve never seen or felt so much energy from a crowd then what I felt that night.  The reason Michelle and I do what we do is because of folks like Tyson, they really showed us interest and support throughout the whole night.  I’m happy to say we will be back in 2008 with Tyson, but in Philadelphia this time.  Delaware County Fair Muncie, IN hometown crowd once again. In the past 2 years we have been rained out towards the end of the night but not this year.  We got to play our full show with no rain (Tom Rector you the MAN!!!).  In  2007 we finally got to play in Ohio;  Clermont Co., Seneca Co., Van Wert Co., and Geauga Co. Fair.  If you’ve never been to these fairs you are definitely missing out.  Ohio really knows how to put on a real country fair, what more can I say!  St. Joseph Co. Fair in South Bend, IN, our 3rd year back, awesome as usual.  The first 2 yrs. we opened for Chris Cagle and Tracy Lawrence, but this year we were the main act in the grandstand.  This year we traveled to new venues not yet explored such as: Cass Co. (Michigan), Kent Co. (Michigan), Amboys Days (Illinois).  Great fairs, all which we would love to go back to (hint-hint).  State Fairs are always a great time because there is so much more to see and do.  That brings me to the Illinois State Fair, 4 years in a row, what can we say except fantastico.  The last show of the season was Beardstown Fall Fest. Beardstown, IL.  I’ve seen small town parades before but not like this one.  2 hours of non-stop floats and stuff topped off with a concert by my favorite country group Cook and Belle w/ special guest Seth Cook.  Thousands of folks stayed after the parade to see us perform for 90 mins., we definitely want to go back in 2008.  This year was probably the best because I felt the band as a whole bonded and sounded better than we ever have as a unit.  Having everyone ride on the coach together made it feel more like a family and not only work.  In 2007 we added new band members Brad Dobbs ( our older boy)-drums, Matt Ulrich- keyboards, and Seth on background vocals.  In August 2007 we finished Seth’s new cd and I’m already tired of him selling more cds than us.  If you haven’t picked one up yet you can order one through cookandbelle@aol.com.  We will be off for a few months working on the Voices United Concert in Nov., a benefit show we’ve done for the past 4 yrs..  Seth’s debut cd release concert will be either Nov. 2nd or 9th, find more info @ myspace.com/sethcook4music.  Jan. 4th I start the fair conventions all over, can’t wait to see everyone again.  After the conventions we head down to Florida to perform 5 days at the South Florida Fair, West Palm Beach.  Michelle and I are so looking forward to these 5 days, it will be awesome.  Thanks to all who made 2007 a great year for Michelle and I and whole C&B band.  2008 will even be better!!!  Keep in touch for new updates in the future!  Do me a favor if you have bought a Cook and Belle cd and have really enjoyed it, please tell a friend and they also can have their own copy @ cookandbelle.com (merchandise page). 

Thanks again for being the best fans!!!

bret & michelle