CMA Fest is no doubt one of my favorite weeks of the year. The craziness of planning everything out, the anticipation of seeing your favorite artists, the excitement of seeing friends whom you’ve met through country music. The time finally comes and you make the trek to Nashville. You brave the crowds, deal with the heat, and this year, dodge the rain. Somehow all of those things fade into the background as the music flows through downtown. Now that I’ve had a chance to recoup, allow me to share, in no particular order, some of the highlights of this year’s CMA Fest.
Artist Meet & Greets
One of the coolest aspects of CMA Fest is the meet & greets that take place at Fan Fair X. Fan Fair X goes on all four days inside the (air conditioned!) Music City Center. It is here where you’ll find several booths giving you the opportunity to meet some of country’s hottest artists.
Intimate Performances
Another awesome feature to Fan Fair X is the Close Up Stage. Some of country’s biggest stars can be seen for an intimate Q&A and acoustic performance. The seats are first come first serve, and space is limited. However, you can stand outside the railing to watch as well.
Fan Club Parties
CMA Fest has its fair share of fan club parties. I attended Cale Dodds‘ “Fan Hang” which was held at his label, Warner Music Nashville. Dodds hosted around 100 fans for his first fan party. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint! He and his band came on stage & opened it up to the crowd for requests. It was then story time with Dodds, or as he called it “Fail Dodds.” These were stories which all resulted in plenty of laughter from his fans. We were lucky enough to be the first ones to view his new video for his single “I Like Where This Is Going” (which hits radio June 17!) The final surprise was learning that his meet & greet was going to be way different than the typical smile and take a photo. We were told we would all be starring in his upcoming “Spotify Vertical Video” for his above mentioned single. Each fan was able to interact with Dodds, sing along, and become a piece of history in a music video. You can see my photo below…
The Venues
Nashville is certainly not lacking in the incredible venue category. From the stages built around downtown, to the bars on Broadway, Ascend Amphitheater, and Nissan Stadium, the options are almost overwhelming. For the second year in a row, Spotify took over Blake Shelton’s bar, Ole Red. They had an incredible lineup that was stacked every single day. Ascend Amphitheater hosted nightly concerts for the third year in a row. This was the first year those shows weren’t free, but the cost was low & well worth it for the amount of talent each night. CMA Fest can absolutely be done on a small budget!
Special Performances
The very first thing I did when I arrived to Nashville, was head straight to Acme Feed & Seed for a writer’s round with Liz Rose Music. Songwriters have my heart and I was SO looking forward to this event. This round comprised of Cameron Bedell, Alyssa Micaela, Seth Ennis, and Liz Rose. Ennis is one of my very favorites, so this was immediately added to my schedule when it was announced. I was so very excited to see Liz Rose as well. She is an incredible songwriter who wrote some songs you may have heard of, such as, “Girl Crush,” “Crazy Girl,” “Cry Pretty,” and 14 songs for Taylor Swift, including her debut single “Tim McGraw.” Needless to say, I was sitting in the presence of greatness, and she’s freaking hilarious to top it off. This was one of my very favorite events this year.
and finally…
Austin Jenckes
Austin Jenckes deserves a spotlight of his own. The former “The Voice” contestant stood out as one of the best performances of the week. As I stood there listening to his voice echo through the air, I knew I had to write specifically about his performance. I had seen Jenckes perform once before, but this time was just on another level. He played a few songs acoustically and you literally could have heard a pin drop as he took a breath between words. Not a single person in the crowd was talking. Everyone was completely silenced as we all stood in awe. Be sure to check out his new album “If You Grew Up Like I Did.”
CMA Fest is exhausting, inspiring, and there’s nothing else like it. Artists often say that country music has the best fans, and the annual pilgrimage to Nashville proves just that. For the 16th year in a row, the CMA Fest special will air on ABC so we can all re-live the fun! (August 4, 2019) Be sure to tune in, and start making plans to attend next summer!!
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