Jess and her younger sister Jen had always wanted to start an acapella group. The two girls were coached by Kim Kirkman and had been in both the Australian Youth and Girls Choir. They had been in a band in high school that had broken up when Jess finished school so they were looking to start something new. Jess had been introduced to the acapella world by a friend who loved Pentatonix and knowing that she loved country music, showed her a video of Home Free singing All About That Bass.

Instantly loving the group's cover of the song she became engulfed in other songs they had covered. At first Jen didn't like either Pentatonix or Home Free but when Jess made her listen to songs she suggested that they do something similar. No one was doing acapella covers of Australian country music artists and both girls loved Lee Kernaghan; what a perfect opportunity to start another group.

They posted ads around town that they were looking for a bass and baritone, preferably males as well as a beatboxer. One of Jen's friends contacted her with the details of Jeremy, another friend who was a baritone in their community choir and was looking to branch out into something different. The two girls arranged to meet Jeremy and listen to him sing. On meeting him they knew they wanted him to join, he was a tall good looking man who was fun and quirky with a smile that made everyone around him smile. He also had an amazing voice.

After meeting with Jeremy, Jen turned her phone back on to find a voicemail with a man introducing himself and a sample of a rhythm. They called back and asked to meet him at Gloria Jeans that afternoon. When they arrived at the cafe the only man in sight wasn't a man at all. A teenage boy sat at the little three seater table in the corner. He was obviously athletic but still boyish in looks and he was reading a Batman comic when they approached him.

"Are you Logan?" Jess asked as she pulled out a chair and sat down. The boy nodded and the sisters exchanged glances. Jen spoke what they were both thinking, "If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?"
"Seventeen, I've been beatboxing for three years now and I have wanted to join an acapella group since I started." He smiled as he answered and Jen smiled in return. They had found a beatboxer and a baritone in one day. Both girls were excited that this adventure was off to a great start.

Jess remembered a guy she used to work with who had amazing range and could hit a G1 but they knew they needed an F#1 to perform some songs. She rang Alex to ask if he could hit the note they needed and he sang while he was on the phone, hitting the low F# with ease. They now had a full acapella group and asked the three men to meet them at their place in Nabiac so that they could discuss things as a group. The two girls being huge fans of Home Free had decided that they wanted their group named The Fries because the fans of Home Free called themselves Home Fries.

When everyone was sitting on the back deck at Jess and Jen's house they pitched their ideas on names and songs to each other. They all agreed on The Fries once Jess showed everyone the videos of Home Free. They also decided to do a mix of Lee Kernaghan as well as Home Free covers. As they sat around they fiddled with the song Summer In The Country and all agreed that it had to one of their songs, after all, they were all young people who loved the country lifestyle.

They had learnt most of the songs from Home Free and ten of their favourite Lee Kernaghan songs when they approached the Nabiac Show Society to organise their first performance. The Fries were planning to record their show to upload to their YouTube channel where they had put some of their rehearsal videos and a video introducing the five of them as a group. They had a small following on YouTube but the best news was that they had been verified by Twitter.

The week before the show was hectic for the group as they finalised their set list and choreography. The day before they were making the final decision on outfits but they had previously agreed on RM boots and jeans.

The day of their first live performance arrived and as usual Jess had been up all night finalising the arrangements for sound and lighting as well as set up. The five of them arrived at the showgrounds that morning and walked around watching the events. An hour before they were set to perform The Fries were backstage going over their set list and choreography when someone called out to Jess.

"Are you guys ready to go on?" Jess turned around to see the organiser walking over to them looking at her watch. She looked flustered and was obviously all over the place with the program. Jen turned to face her and queried their time slot. The band following them had called and cancelled so the fill in session had to play. They were school students and had to be finished earlier so the program had been altered. They agreed to go on an hour earlier and then perform again later that night which Jess and Jen were thrilled about because it gave them exposure to the younger and the older people attending the show.

The day show went off a hit and the group were thrilled that they had people up dancing and singing. Some of their fans on YouTube were filming as well. When Jen was singing Honey I'm Good she dropped her microphone causing one of the speakers to blow because of the feedback. When they had finished Jess stopped the performance and in Tim Foust fashion started a Story Time. She told them of how they all got together and gave a rundown of their plans for the next month. She also told how in rehearsals Jen had dropped her microphone three times while going over that song. She then went on to talk about the group that started their whole journey.

After the night show they all sat around at Jess and Jen's place laughing about the things that had happened in the shows as well as the signing time they'd organised. They now had quite a following on Twitter and more that 1000 views on the videos of their performances that night. When Jess checked her phone she squealed and basically threw it down on the table.

The others gave her strange looks as she continued to squeal and jump around the deck. Jen was the first to catch on and pulled her phone out to check Twitter. Home Free had followed them and retweeted the clip of Story Time from their concert.

The next morning the five of them got notifications from twitter with a message from Tim Foust. Jess was hyperventilating and nearly crying as she read the message from her idol and her celebrity crush.

Hey guys. Firstly, y'all sounded amazing at your show. I particularly love the way the two female voices change Rob and Austin's parts in Feelin It. Austin said he loved Jess's voice and thought Jen was cute. Loved your Story Time, was it really us that got you guys started?

I was told by Chris to ask you to upload music videos for your Lee Kernaghan songs as well as your arrangement for She's My Ute. We all loved the country feel you bring to your show and we want to perform some Australian country music for our upcoming shows in Sydney and Melbourne.

Also I wanted to know if you guys would be interested in performing some songs with us. We want you at both our live shows and we want to make some music videos while we're out there and we'd love you to sing with us and be in the videos.

If you ever need anything, feel free to contact me on twitter or just call on 555-910-467

Cheers Tim

They all took a deep breath as they realised that after only one show, the group that was their main influence wanted them to perform live and in videos with them. Jess opened a message to reply,

Hi Tim, thanks for your message. We had a blast performing your songs and yes you really were the group that got us started. We decided on The Fries as our name because my sister and I are major Home Fries. We're actually working on a video for Beersheba and She's My Ute at the moment. We'll tag you in it on YouTube and send you the links here.

We would be honoured to perform with you guys and help with music videos. I was actually going to ask if you would be interested in featuring in our video for Dirt. I will attach the arrangement in the next message as we kind of just sang from the song itself so I'll have to work it all out. Also there is a huge country festival while you guys are over here that we're playing at and if you were interested in going to that we'd love for you to perform with us. Let us know if that's something you want to do, plus your accommodation is sorted while you're here. We've decided you should see the country here instead of just the big city and I've already been in contact with Luke and arranged it all.

Thanks Austin... I love your voice. And you made Jen blush. She has a huge crush on you.

Feel free to call either Jen on 0459453985 or myself on 0426459552.

Thanks Jess

Jess read the message to the group and hit send. What they weren't expecting was the phone call ten minutes later. Jen answered the phone and put it on speaker straight away.
"Hey Fries!" Austin yelled into the phone.
"Hi Austin, what's happening?" Jen said shaking her head as her cheeks turned bright red. They heard Tim tell Austin off for scaring the poor girl.
"Hi Tim." It was Jess' turn to blush.
"I want to reiterate what Tim said in the message, you guys were awesome. Your harmony is brilliant. It sounds like you've been performing together for years, not months. Jess, you and Jen are the perfect addition to our arrangements. It almost sounded like Rob and I singing." Austin was now serious. He handed the phone to someone and a familiar deep voice agreed with what he said.
"We're flying over early so there's no need for the arrangements to be sent in a message. Luke just told us that we are staying at your place for a month before heading down to Sydney and that you guys are going to show us the true Aussie country life. I just want to let you know that we don't want to do the overly touristy things but we do want to see this Big Banana that everyone raves about." Tim sounded like a dad when he spoke but Jess melted at the sound of his voice.
Jen laughed and when asked why she just said "BASS IN MY BUTT." They heard Austin laugh in the background and Tim tell him to shut up.

They originally thought they were talking to all five members of Home Free but it was only Austin and Tim. The phone call went on for another hour as they discussed the plans for when flights arrived and departed as well as the Armidale AgQuip show that they would now all be performing at.