Top Stars At 2014 CMA Fest

If you love country music, the place to be this weekend is Nashville for the CMA Music Festival.  Lots of country’s top stars, plus a whole group of future stars, gathered in Music City for four days of concerts, autograph signings, and fan club parties.  Estimates are that over 100,000 people took part in some activity related to the festival, including several free stages set up downtown.  One highlight was seeing Hunter Hayes at an unannounced concert on the steps of the Symphony Center.  But it was one of many similar stories throughout the week.

The biggest stars headlined the nightly stadium shows at LP Field, located just across the river from the downtown area.  All four nights had been sold out months ago, and those with tickets weren’t disappointed.  Among the superstars: Tim McGraw with his wife Faith Hill, Miranda Lambert and her husband Blake Shelton, Keith Urban singing with Little Big Town, Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, Brad Paisley, Lady Antebellum, Zac Brown Band, Rascal Flatts, and The Band Perry.  Keith Urban described it this way: “I just love the celebration of it, the fact that you see this many artists all in one setting, and any potential collaborations as well, I always like that, when people play with others, the unexpected moments of CMA Fest.”

But there also were a number of legends at the stadium.  These are heritage artists who had played the event when it was at the nearby Tennessee State Fairgrounds 15 years ago.  The band Alabama hadn’t been to CMA Fest in 19 years, and they were struck  by  how big it’s become: “It’s much better production, and I’d say a lot more people.  It’s great to see the growth of country music.  From the fairgrounds to the stadium.” Travis Tritt was a huge star in the 90s, but has been away for a while.  “This is the first time I’ve performed here in 12 years.  Coming back after being gone so long, it’s refreshing to me to see so many great fans of country music all in the same place all at one time all focused on the fact that they’re going to see some of the greatest performers in our industry, all back to back.  I don’t think you can get a better ball of enthusiasm or excitement out of a crowd of people.  And as artists, we feed off of that.  That makes this one of the most special events that takes place in our industry and I’m proud to be part of it.”  Later that night, Travis performed with fellow Georgia native Jason Aldean.

Country’s hottest duo right now is Florida Georgia Line, and Brian Kelley said they admire the duo that was topping the charts 20 years ago: Brooks & Dunn.  “In their time, they were doing the same thing we’re doing now.  Just a different time, different technology, different influences.  Just like Johnny Cash and Hank Jr.  I think good music is good music.  We’re excited as hell to be in country music.  I don’t think we’re focused on taking it a certain place.  We’re just excited about creating music that our fans like, so they can come to our shows and watch us dance stupid and play music with our best friends on stage.  Country music to me is in the coolest spot it’s ever been.”  Tyler Hubbard offered: “Our fans are changing our lives, they’re passionate and loyal, and on weeks like this we get to give back and we’re not going 110 miles an hour so we can spend time with them.  It’s a good week, we enjoy it for sure.”

Dierks Bentley performed Thursday night, the first night of the festival, and said, “This is one of those deals where it doesn’t matter who’s on stage with you.  It’s just about the fans.  These are the all stars of country fans, the most hard core fans, who’ve traveled a long way to be here, so to be here in front of that crowd is awesome.  It doesn’t matter who you’re on stage with.  But you have 25 minutes to give everything you have to show your appreciation to those fans.”

Rascal Flatts also performed on Thursday night.  “This is the only genre where you can drive down the road from your house and have people from all over the country and all over the world in front of you.  So we go up there and sing like it’s the last time, and we’ve got four songs to do it.  Just don’t miss out on the opportunity to capitalize on the platform you’ve been given.”

 

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