Have you had a chance to see the amazing "Subway Violinist" video with the two guys covering Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" that recently went viral? Well, I was just scrolling thru the Taste of Country website and I ran across it. I literally squealed outloud, "I KNOW HIM" when I saw it. True story.

I am not familiar with the other talented violinist in the video Josh Knowles, but I did recognize Rhett Price. (He is the one with the glasses.) Rhett is a Texas boy that actually used to play with the Bart Crow Band. It guess it is a small world after all.

Rhett isn't just a talented musician, he also has one heck of a back story. Rhett contacted me a little over a year ago and I have been following him on social media and keeping up with his career ever since then. I wanted to share the story that he shared with me. It is truly inspiring.

Hey Rita,

I've been playing fiddle full time with Bart Crow for a few months now.....I've been tempted to write you before, but I always felt like writing you about my own story would portray me as nothing less than utterly self evolved, quite the opposite from what I'd like you to think. I'm not sure if you'd be interested, but I think my story up till now might make for an interesting read for your followers. And if it's not something you're interested in, I COMPLETELY understand! I just think it's an interesting and still ongoing story:

I left West Texas A&M the fall of 2008, packed all my things, and flew to Atlanta to audition for the prestigious Berklee College of Music, whose alumni have been awarded over 200 Grammy Awards. I spent all the money I had on the application fee, and began selling everything I had for the plane ticket.....to make a long story short, I got accepted, worked at a restaurant for a few months doing 12 shifts a week, (only taking time off for worship band rehearsal and church sunday mornings) saving my money for an apartment in Boston. After 2 years at Berklee, all my money had been depleted and my full time Starbucks gig wasn't paying rent. Didn't matter anyway because I got fired for being late when a recording session took longer than expected. I ended up living in Boston for 6 months.......homeless. I slept on park benches, in chairs at the mall (it was kept open so people could walk through 24/7), on the front steps of apartment buildings, was forced to steal granola bars to keep myself from starving, and after a few months my buddy Chris found out and offered me the comfort of sleeping under his kitchen table, which I graciously accepted. I slept on the hard wood floor, and began playing on the streets of boston with my buddy Josh (also a violinist/fiddler), and we soon figured out how to work the crowd of tourists in the Boston Public Gardens. That is, if the Argentinean guitarist would stop threatening to break our fingers and kill us. I saved up enough money to buy a plane ticket to Austin, and on September 22nd I flew to Austin. I had no apartment, no job, and no gigs.

After a month I was starving again and seriously busted my ass to get gigs.....my first show back home in Texas (I'm originally from Midland) was in San Marcos, and I got paid a whopping $30 and two beers, but at least I could eat. I began jamming at Lucy's and hanging out with local musicians, and after being in town for 2 months, I got a facebook friend request from Bart Crow. I grew up in Texas, but I listened to blues and jazz music, so I had no idea who any Texas Country artists around today were. It was really awkward when I told a waitress I was excited about my new job with the Bart Crow Band, and then she asked for my autograph.....this is my first professional gig, and there isn't a better group of guys I could've been led to play with. Being homeless SUCKED but I won't take "no" for an answer and I'll deal with all the BS in the world until my goals are reached. On our days off, I post YouTube covers and post funny/inappropriate things on Facebook. My newest venture is making short films on my days off, in addition to covers. I'm not rich by any means, but playing music for a living and meeting the coolest fans and musicians on the earth is the most amazing experience ever. I turned 23 in March, and I really hope this wild journey I've been on these past few years continues to produce even crazier stories, for an amazing ending one day. :)

And that, in a nutshell, is my story! If you'd like to ask me questions or interview me, or just talk to me and not even blog about me at all, that's totally cool! I'm always down to meet new people! And again, please don't think that I'm being a douche and saying, "hey look at me, blog about me, I'm SO cool!" because that's not it at all......I just, idk, I think it's an interesting and inspiring story, and my main goal with my covers and all my internet BS is to encourage people to pursue their dreams regardless of their situation, like I have.

Ok that's a TON of writing and I apologize! Hopefully I'll talk to you soon! :)

Rhett 

I am just so excited for Rhett and his success that I could piddle.

If you liked the cover of the Taylor song, be sure to subscribe to Rhett's You Tube channel for more of the same. They have some aweeeeeesome videos that showcase more of their talent, including this one of the pair covering Adele's "Rolling In The Deep".

Now, when can we see these two doing the talk show circuits? Hello Ellen...are you listening?

~Rb

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