A History; A Family
I play music. I raise babies. Although I hate to perpetuate sterotypes, I often find myself barefoot in the kitchen…occasionally while pregnant. I grew up in the mountains of Northeastern Washington, with the Columbia river running through my yard. As a kid I toured around the continent with my mom, dad, and 6 siblings, performing for all kinds of audiences in all sorts of venues.
When I was 18, my brother Luke Bulla and I loaded up his Mitsubishi Eclipse and left our little town for the bright lights of Nashville. 2 weeks later he had a gig playing with Ricky Skaggs, and I had a couple gigs: part time sales associate at both Garden Botanika AND Pier One. Eventually I found legitimate musician’s work and found my place in the Nashville scene playing with artists like Paul Brewster, Chris and Sally Jones, Ron Block, Paul Overstreet, Sara Evans, Sara Watkins, and Pat Flynn, along with starting a band with Luke and joining the houseband for the TV show Nashville Star.
A couple years later I was road weary and a little disillusioned, when the lost (or so I’d thought) love of my life, Caleb Mannan, came riding into town and asked me to marry him. I said yes, and we rode off into the sunset. Literally. Aside from a brief detour to Central Michigan, we’ve been back in Washington ever since. I write songs about my story and the stories of other American families, some of which have been recorded by John Cowan and Sara Watkins. I now have a captive audience of 3 (my babies), and I do, as did Loretta Lynn in days of yore, line them up on the couch and make them listen to my songs.
