Mixed Nuts

At Christmas time I was asked to sing a song for the ward Relief Society Christmas dinner. Accompanying me on the piano was a man named Richard who is a friend of one of the women in the ward. We enjoyed performing together, and he liked my singing voice, so he invited me to sing the song at his church as well. A few months ago, the opportunity was repeated when my friend Brian and I were asked to sing at another Relief Society event. This time, Richard had been asked to play dinner music after Brian's and my performance. He invited me to sing any of the songs I knew as he played, completely unrehearsed. It turned out to be a lot of fun, and we received numerous compliments.

Richard mentioned me to the leader of the jazz band he plays with, and I was invited to sing with them as their substitute lead singer. So, for the past few months I have been performing from time to time with The Mixed Nuts jazz band at various retirement communities around the valley. The challenge has been trying to quickly learn all the songs well enough to feel comfortable singing them in front of a crowd! Fortunately, I was already familiar with some. It's been a fun, new opportunity to perform with the band.

Richard also wanted to perform as a duo - just like we did at the Relief Society activity. So, he booked a gig for "The Katie Blunt Duo" at the Legacy retirement community, and we debut this Thursday night. We've been rehearsing and deciding what to wear... and I'm very excited for the chance to perform this week. I appreciate all Richard has done to encourage me and arrange opportunities for me to perform. Tune in later to find out how it goes!