Diva NashVegas
Praise for Rachel Hauck's previous novel,
Lost in NashVegas
“Rachel Hauck not only writes a charming and humorous story, full of down-to-earth people, she writes about Nashville better than most travel guides.”
â
lifeway.com
“Packing witty dialogue, quirky characters, and a rocking “country vibe,” her story will make you laugh as it plunges you into the world of today's country music industry.”
“Thoroughly down-home delightful.”
âbest-selling author Stephanie Grace Whitson
“Move over Jennifer Weinerâa new voice has just hit town!
Lost
in NashVegas
gives us a fun peek at what it might be like to be a struggling songwriter in the heart of the South. Hauck's storytelling is a rare and luminous gift. I'm her number one fan.”
âColleen Coble, author of
Fire Dancer
“A highlight of my reading year,
Lost in NashVegas
receives . . . my highest recommendation.”
“
Lost in NashVegas
strums the heart strings with humor and a girl's search for purpose. For Robin McAfee, finding the spotlight isn't easy, but always fun.”
âDiAnn Mills, author of
Lanterns and Lace
“Fun, funny and full of good ol' country charm,
Lost in NashVegas
grabbed me on the first page and didn't let go. Pour yourself a tall glass of sweet tea, sit back in a comfortable chair, and get ready to meet one of the sassiest Southern chicks in Christian fiction. You won't be sorry!”
âVirginia Smith, author of
Just As I Am.
“Thanks to Hauck's masterful storytelling and characterization, aspiring songwriter Robin Rae McAfee from Freedom, Alabama lingers in my mind like a lifelong friend.
Lost in Nashvegas
breaks through genre lines so smoothly that anyone with a heart and a sense of humor will love this story.”
âChristine Lynxwiler, author of
Arkansas
and
the Pinky Promise Sisterhood series
“Perfect! Beautifully written with perfect Southern charm, Rachel Hauck superbly captures the world of NashVegasâthe fears, the hopes, the people, and the aspirations of a wanna-be songwriter. I found myself cheering for Robin Rae: a brave, spunky, good ol' country gal shouldering not only her dreams, but the dreams of the people she loves. Encore, Encore!”
âSusan May Warren, award-winning author of
Everything's Coming up Josey
“With a lively cast of characters and a Southern setting so real I feel like I've just returned from a visit,
Lost in NashVegas
grips the reader from start to finish, offering a fun glimpse into the world of songwriting and a storyline that's as good as warm apple pie on a lazy afternoon.”
âDiann Hunt, author of
RV There Yet?
Lost in NashVegas, an ACFW book club selection.
Diva
NashVegas
Rachel Hauck
Copyright © 2007 by Rachel Hayes Hauck
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansâelectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherâexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Viva Nashvegas
®
is a trademark registered by George Hamilton V.
Published in Nashville, Tennessee. Thomas Nelson is a trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Thomas Nelson, Inc. books may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected].
Publisher's Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Hauck, Rachel, 1960-
Diva NashVegas / Rachel Hauck.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-1-59554-191-8 (pbk.)
ISBN-10: 1-59554-191-8 (pbk.)
1. Women country musicians--Fiction. 2. Nashville (Tenn.)--Fiction. 3. Musical fiction. 4. Chick lit. I. Title.
PS3608.A866D58 2007
813'.6--dc22
2007008341
Printed in the United States of America
07 08 09 10 RRD 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Javier LaBoy, for calling me a diva.
Contents
MUSIC
1995â
Willing to Make a Change
1997â
Aubrey James
1999â
Better Left Unsaid
2001â
Dandelions & Daffodils
2003â
This Way to the Parade
2005â
Borrowed Time
2007â
At Last
BIO
At eighteen, Aubrey James, the daughter of gospel icons Ray and Myra James, rocketed to the top of country and pop charts. An overnight sensation with her first album,
Willing to Make a Change,
she quickly found the platinum road to superstardom comes at a very high price . . .
“Aubrey James is the holy grail of celebrity interviews. Whoever gets her to sit first wins.”
âBeth Rose, Inside NashVegas
On a warm June night, I stand stage left among a swirl of activityâthe
stage crew, band members, and music artists coming and goingâwaiting to go on. Closing my eyes to rehearse my entrance, I have an odd sense of suspension, for a moment unable to determine time or place.
Ladies and gentlemen, Aubrey James . . . Run out smiling. Grab the mike. Wave
and greet the fans. Hear the opening bars of “Borrowed Time.”
Done it a thousand times. All over the world. Before queens and rednecks. Tonight is no different.
Except I'm utterly exhausted.
You're the CMA Fest's closing performer, Aubrey. Don't let the fans down. Don't
do it.
Opening my eyes, I expectâI hopeâthe fans' excitement will jump-start my adrenaline, washing away the cloak of weariness.
It always has.
But tonight, the electric excitement charging the Titans Coliseum fails to touch me. My thoughts wander, and my heartbeat fires like a worn piston. Tiny beads of sweat prickle under my arms and across my forehead. I try to focus on the opening number again.
Walk out . . . Drummer counts down “Borrowed Time,” bass comes in, then the
electric. On the downbeat, I sing. Engage the crowd. Find the sweet spot.
Six months on the road with my all-girl band.
Hear the smooth call of the steel guitar, the whine of the fiddle, the exquisite, elegant
harmony of my background singers. Can do this . . . By pure grit and grind.
Come on, Aubrey.
Tonight's performance also ends my eleventh tourâsponsored by a hip new bottled-water company, FRESH!. A brilliant partnership orchestrated by my business manager. Music, I've had to learn, is as much about business as it is art.
Rolling Stone
magazine put me and the band on the cover of their January edition with the headline “Aubrey James Gets FRESH!”
The swirl of activity around me increases. Roadies and techs finalizing the stage before we go on. CMA Fest cameras moving in. The show is being taped for television.
Are there half as many people in the coliseum as there are back here?
My drummer hurries past with her cymbals and snare. “I'm late.”
“You have time,” I say, watching her step up to the drum stage. From the corner of my eyes, I spot my manager, Zach Roberts, observing me with an inquisitive expression, his arms crossed over his lean chest. “What?”
“You're sweating, and don't tell me it's the Nashville heat. You have dark, puffy eyes, a frog voice, and you're pale.”
“What's your point?”
“You're sick.”
“I'm going on, Zach.” Six months on tour, a hundred cities, can't end with a sore throat, fever, and puffy eyes. Besides, the fans deserve their final CMA Fest performance.
Zach rubs his forehead, doubt shadowing his brown eyes. “You look like a bag of bones, Aubrey. Did you lose weight on the tour?”
“Haven't you heard? It's all the rage. The Tour Diet. I'm writing a book about it this summer.” I pat his cheek. “I'm fine. Trust me.”
The stage manager passes by, flashing his palm. “Five minutes, Miss James.”
Five minutes
. Where's the familiar rush of preshow adrenaline? Without it, I'm not sure I can manufacture enough energy to carry me through the set.
Zach curves his arm around me. “This is your last performance. Then you're free as a bird for the summer.”
“Free. Right. Besides this little gig here and that little gig there. A new photo shoot for the FRESH! campaign . . .” I lower my chin and gaze at him from under my brow. “Not to mention concluding the renegotiation with SongTunes and finishing my next album, and wanting to sleep until fall.”
He smiles. “We're working with SongTunes, and if you have to cancel a few appearances to get rested, then do it. Besides, if you're sleeping, I can work with some of my other clients for a change.”
“Oh, please. I'm your favorite and you know it.”
“Some things go without saying.” He winks, but his merriment fades. “Hard tour, wasn't it?”
“Incredibly.”
“At least the tabloids have backed off.”
“For now.”
How could one tour have so much controversy? Stolen equipment and personal items like jewelry. Missing money. A bus fire. The fired bus driver, who is now threatening to sue.
Worst of all, I parted ways with my musical director, Melanie Daniels. Midtour she announced she wanted more control, more money, and a solo spotlight. We argued. She left.
Angry.
A few days later, the tour arrived in Dallas amid the swarming media. Frustrated, tired, and hurt, I just
had
to make a pithy remark about Mel to a nosey journalist, didn't I? The B-word slipped out. Along with a few other choice phrases. Once the tongue gets loose . . . This is why I
never
do interviews. Never. Words get said, ideas twisted.
My comment about Melanie leaving the band made celeb magazines and tabloid headlines around the world.
