Cowboy Hats Off To CMA Music Festival
By Chad Carlson
Published: June 24, 2008
Print    Email

“What kind of a country music fan wouldn’t love this?” exclaimed Janet McGready, a 29 year old graduate student, who traveled across the country to Nashville from her hometown of Spokane, Washington. Tens of thousands of people were in similar mindsets as they embarked from all areas of the world to take part in the biggest country event of the year. With an average daily attendance of 52,000 country music enthusiasts, the 2008 CMA Music Festival transformed the city of Nashville, Tennessee into a 4 day, all night party, welcoming people from all over the world. The festival is the largest country music party in the world for country's biggest fans. The annual event in Nashville gives country music fans access to some of the biggest stars with round-the-clock performances, celebrity appearances, fan club parties, autograph booths, photo opportunities and more.

Year after year, the folks at CMA continue to improve upon making their annual 4 day festival truly unique and the best of its kind, providing fans the perfect combination of entertainment, luxury, and freedom. For most, the thrill of this annual event is to catch their favorite country stars in ways they’ve never seen them before, including softball games, tractor pulls, and bowling competitions. From the 3rd Annual Lonestar & Friends Strike Out For the Kids bowling party to the 18th Annual City of Hope Celebrity Softball Challenge, the festival kicked into high gear on the first few days of the week, entertaining those fans who had come a few days early to take in the entire festival’s offerings. In addition to the Country Weekly Fashion Show, the events enabled fans to see top name artists including Phil Stacey, Sara Evans, Phil Vassar, Keith Anderson, and James Otto dive into new waters and interact with each other and with their fans in ways that are truly unique to this festival.

One of the highlights of “Fan Fair,” as the majority of the artists call it, is the truTV Fan Fair Exhibit Hall. Located in the Nashville Convention Center, this venue is the home of all things country for 4 days, allowing fans the opportunity to meet and interact with some of the genre’s biggest names. Within an hour and a half period of time on Thursday afternoon, it wasn't hard for fans to find some of their favorite country stars in the Convention Center for the CMA Music Festival. Alan Jackson was seen signing in his own booth, for the first time in almost 10 years, to droves of fans. Keith Anderson was found in a booth even talking on a cell phone to a fan who was unable to attend. Chart-topping sweethearts Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood each allotted the most time for meet&greets and signings; Taylor greeted fans for nearly 6 hours, while Carrie was available for autographs on two separate occasions during the festival. Other standout celebrity appearances at the Exhibit Hall included Jewel, CMT’s Lance Smith, Lady Antebellum, and pop-turned-country babe Jessica Simpson.

Certainly the headlines preceding the festival surrounded the stars on the Vault Concert Stage at LP Field, and the lineups over the 4 days deserved such attention, featuring artists Faith Hill, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Sugarland, Miranda Lambert, Randy Travis, Kenny Rogers, and Dwight Yoakum. However, it is the other venues and unique concert stages that make this event truly one of a kind. The Hard Rock Café stage, featuring chart-topper Mark Wills on Saturday, and the CMT After Hours series featured performances every night from a variety of different club and bar attractions, including Cadillac Ranch, Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, and Wildhorse Saloon. Those who were able to brave the intense heat that has become a tradition of the festival witnessed some of the standout concert sets of the week on the Greased Lightning Stage at Riverfront Park, which included performances by Jo Dee Messina, Josh Gracin, Phil Vassar, Eric Church, and Lonestar. In all, there were hundreds of artists playing in a number of venues varying from clubs and bars to amphitheatres and football stadiums, providing fans with every possible concert environment.

Other traditional favorites that returned to this year’s event included the Fun Zone, which features free giveaways, opportunities to meet NASCAR drivers, as well as a monster water slide to cool off the blistering Nashville summer afternoons. Another open-and-free to the public event was the Chevy Sports Zone, which displayed country music’s biggest superstars participating in family fun events and activities throughout the weekend. Members of the general public were encouraged to participate as well, continuing the theme of interaction and acknowledgment between artists and fans.

This year’s CMA Music Festival made its contribution to the legacy of the annual event, proving that country music is unlike any other genre in the industry. From the Meet’n’Greet sessions and autograph signings at the Convention Center to the star-filled evenings at the Vault Concert stage, “Fan Fair 2008” offered fans a diverse, hands-on perspective of the life of country music’s biggest acts, from sporting events to songwriting sessions to their concert performances. Notable for being “all about the fans,” the CMA provided country concert-goers with another splendid once in a lifetime (or once a year) event, one that shows how much the artists truly appreciate their fans, and provides them the chance to say thanks up close and personal. Here’s to CMA, to the fans, and to country music. Job well done!

 

View Comments (0)