Saturday, September 28, 2006

Jenna Wyatt, Rocker, Dressage Trainer, Returns to the East Coast

PhelpsPhotos Rocks Out in Nashville at a Nick Lachey Concert

When the Nick Lachey “What’s Left of Me” Tour came to Nashville, the band’s tour bus headed for dressage rider/trainer and singer/songwriter Jenna Wyatt‘s Farm just outside of town after their performance at the Ryman Theater. That’s because her husband drummer Derek Wyatt is playing in the band. “We brought in some trail horses and four wheelers for the guys to just relax and have a good time before heading off to their next date in Louisville.” said Jenna who has a full time dressage training operation there.

Together for over 10 years, Jenna and her husband were reunited in Nashville after a 5 week separation. Derek Wyatt has been the drummer on the Kelly Clarkson tour, which now on a break. He has also played for Clay Aiken, Nick Carter, and the country band Little Big Town. He has performed on every TV show from Jay Leno and Good Morning America, to the Grammy's and the MTV awards. Jenna now has a great team with her helping with the horses and the property which will allow her to fly to LA and Las Vegas, to join her husband while on tour with Lachey.

Wyatt has recently returned to her southern roots after several years in California, purchasing a farm just outside of the music capitol of Nashville, Tennessee. She made her east coast return at Dressage at Devon on her own Nairobi, and graciously agreed to sing the National Anthem Saturday night before the featured Grand Prix Freestyle Class.

Her earthy powerful rendition took the audience by surprise, and brought goose bumps to the crowd. Wyatt, who trained with Robert Dover when she was in Florida, plans on heading further south back to Wellington when the holidays are over.

DressageDaily’s Mary Phelps and Hubby JJ. Hathaway got a chance to rock out in Nashville with media passes for the concert. JJ was flying out early the next day to LA to drive Tami Hoag’s truck and trailer to Florida, and the Jenna and Derek invited them to the concert.

“I am breaking in my new Canon Mark II DS camera.” said Phelps. “It is amazing, shooting a 16 mg file. It handled the theater lighting beautifully. This sort of work is way easier than shooting Dressage. It doesn’t hurt that Nick Lachey is a real cutie too, we had a lot of fun.”

"I will confess, we didn't stay all night, or party with the band, because JJ's flight was at 6AM, but I was able to get some wonderful concert shots, and we found that Nashville is an easy drive from our place in Kentucky. It was great meeting Derek after knowing Jenna all these years. He is an amazing drummer, the concert was great and Lachey is a wonderful entertainer. I'm going to get his CD to keep me company on the long drive to Florida after the holidays!"

Click here for a Nick Lachey Concert Slide Show
Jenna Rocks at USET Dressage Fundraiser