GETTING READY TO BOARD THE BUS!

Years ago, when he was first starting out as a country musician, my dad Ralph Dill dreamed of owning his own bus. It wasn't that he just happened to love the idea of owning a mammoth, gas-sucking vehicle for no special reason, it was that, to him, owning a bus epitomized a personal sense of success in the music business. I mean, come on...have you seen some of the tour buses on the road these days? Most of them have more amenities than some third world countries! Luckily, for dad, it's always been about the music, not the glitzy trappings (although he's never been one to say no to a sequined cowboy shirt)....and two years ago, he bought his beloved 44-foot long, 12-passenger, MCI tour bus! It's been several months since she's been on the road, but that will change within the next few weeks as my dad and our band head off to perform at various locations throughout the South. And as much as my dad will enjoy playing those silvery pedal steel licks on stage every night, he'll be enjoying riding on his own tour bus every bit as much. Just don't expect to see him sitting behind the wheel. He hires someone else to do that. After all, it's one thing to love buses, quite another to steer them through heavy traffic!