CMA Music Festival is the ultimate destination for Country Music fans from around the globe, featuring non-stop concerts, autograph signings, celebrity events, and more.  In 2011, Nashville’s signature music event will celebrate 40 years of providing unique artist/fan interactions since starting as Fan Fair in 1972. Plans are underway for surprises and special events to commemorate the occasion. 

The dates for the 2011 CMA Music Festival are Thursday through Sunday, June 9-12, 2011. Four-day ticket packages will go on sale Monday, Aug. 23 at 10:00 AM/CDT.  Fans can purchase their tickets through Ticketmaster at Ticketmaster.com or 1-(800)-745-3000. They  can also purchase them through CMAfest.com or 1-(800)-CMA-FEST. Ticket prices are based on the level of seating at LP Field for the Nightly Concerts, and range from $115 to $325 plus handling fees. Since the 2010 CMA Music Festival sold out in advance, fans should order their tickets for next year now in order to reserve their place at what USA Today named “the crown jewel of Country Music festivals.”      

“We are excited to celebrate 40 years of CMA Music Festival and Fan Fair in 2011, and look forward to the fans joining us for all the fun,” said Steve Moore, CMA Chairman of the Board.  “We were fortunate that CMA Music Festival sold out completely in 2010 for the first time. Due to this strong demand, we suggest that fans buy their tickets now rather than waiting until it is too late.” 

Earlier this year, the 2010 Festival attracted more than 65,000 fans from all 50 states and 26 nations. The event was filmed for the seventh consecutive year, and will air as a three-hour special on Wednesday, Sept. 1 (8:00-11:00 PM/EDT) on the ABC Television Network. Hosted by Tim McGraw, the special will feature performances from Trace Adkins, Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Billy Currington, Alan Jackson, Jamey Johnson, Kid Rock, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, Justin Moore, Brad Paisley, Kellie Pickler, Rascal Flatts, Darius Rucker, Blake Shelton, Taylor Swift, Josh Turner, Uncle Kracker, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, and Zac Brown Band.

 For up-to-the-minute information about tickets, travel information, schedules, artists appearing at 2011 CMA Music Festival, and more, visit www.CMAfest.com. So how many of you are planning on attending the event in 2011?

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Fans can get a glimpse of all the behind the scenes action from the 2010 CMA Music Festival on ABC.com and CMAfest.com before the three-hour special “CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock” premieres on WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 (8:00-11:00 PM/ET) on the ABC Television Network.
           
Beginning today through September 1, ABC.com will launch over 20 online videos featuring CMA Music Festival fan favorites Trace Adkins, Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, Laura Bell Bundy, Eric Church, Gloriana, Julianne Hough, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Jake Owen, Kellie Pickler, Darius Rucker, Blake Shelton, Josh Turner, and more! The online videos will be added to the Festival’s official website, www.CMAfest.com, on Friday, Aug. 13.

“We went to a lot of fan club parties with artists, and we spent a great deal of time filming on their buses or even at their houses to give that exclusive feeling and intimacy,” said David Beebe ABC Director of Video Production. “We talked with a wide range of artists from the names you would expect to see and a lot of up-and-coming acts as well.”

In the video series, Bentley takes viewers into his late night fan club party; Aldean gives an exclusive look at his “huddle” with the band to get pumped up before performing at LP Field; Gloriana shows off their “bus mascot” given to them by Taylor Swift; and noted practical joker Shelton makes a special “request” of Pickler to watch his dogs and his mother while he heads out to perform. In a special video where “stars give back” to the fans, viewers get to witness Laura Bell Bundy cleaning up after fans and Gloriana on janitorial duty at the Festival!
Hosted by Tim McGraw, the “CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock” television special features performances by Trace Adkins, Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Billy Currington, Alan Jackson, Jamey Johnson, Kid Rock, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw, Justin Moore, Brad Paisley, Kellie Pickler, Rascal Flatts, Darius Rucker, Blake Shelton, Taylor Swift, Josh Turner, Carrie Underwood, Uncle Kracker, Keith Urban, and Zac Brown Band.

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Summer gets even hotter when “CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock” airs Wednesday, Sept. 1 (8:00-11:00 PM/ET) on the ABC Television Network. Singer, songwriter, actor, and 11-time CMA Award winner Tim McGraw serves as host for the annual celebration of America’s music.
The special features performances by Jason Aldean, Billy Currington, Alan Jackson, Kid Rock, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, McGraw, Justin Moore, Brad Paisley, Kellie Pickler, Rascal Flatts, Darius Rucker, Blake Shelton with Trace Adkins, Josh Turner, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, and Zac Brown Band filmed in front of a sold-out audience in June during CMA Music Festival in Nashville at LP Field, home of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans.   
One highlight of the show is a special performance by reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year Taylor Swift, who premiered her soon-to-be-released new single “Mine” for her fans at a top-secret private event in Nashville during CMA Music Festival. The song is the first single from her upcoming album Speak Now, in stores Oct. 25. 
Viewers will also enjoy two collaborative performances filmed at Fuel Bar & Nightclub in Downtown Nashville in front of a jam-packed crowd of Festival attendees. First, Dierks Bentley and Jamey Johnson join Lambert to sing “Bad Angel,” a track from Bentley’s current CD, Up on the Ridge. Later, Uncle Kracker and Kid Rock perform “Good To Be Me,” featured on Uncle Kracker’s recently released CD, Happy Hour: The South River Road Sessions.   

Offering an insider’s glimpse at the Festival, Lady Antebellum allowed cameras to follow them for a day at the event. Viewers will see the reigning CMA Vocal Group of the Year perform at their fan club party, interact with Festival attendees during an unplanned appearance in the Fan Fair Exhibit Hall, and more.    
Humorous segments involving several of the participating artists, surprise guests, and more will be featured in the special as well.
This year, CMA Music Festival served as the Grand Re-Opening of Nashville, after the city and surrounding areas experienced a devastating flood in May. The flood, the recovery efforts, and the coming together of the Nashville community to help its fellow citizens will be spotlighted in the television special. CMA is donating 50 percent of this year’s net proceeds from the Festival to the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee for flood relief. As always, the other 50 percent of net proceeds will be donated to the Nashville Alliance for Public Education through CMA’s Keep the Music Playing program to purchase instruments and supplies for music education in Metro Nashville Public Schools.
The annual CMA Music Festival is unlike any other, with four days filled with more than one hundred hours of live music, 30 hours of autograph signings by Country Music’s biggest names and up and comers, hundreds of  artists and celebrities, and a party list of thousands of avid fans. This is the sixth time ABC will broadcast this special – which invites the whole country to America’s biggest Country Music bash – since the original Fan Fair® was launched in 1972. This year an average of 65,000 fans from every state and 26 foreign countries attended each day of CMA Music Festival, its biggest turnout yet.

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