CMA Music Festival

[Kim]

JUNE 6-9, 2013 ~ NASHVILLE, TN LP Field

Country's Biggest Stage

Get ready for four consecutive nights of hard-charging, mind-blowing, stadium-sized Country Music! Each night is stacked with the BEST lineups imaginable...and you never know who might drop by to surprise us all!

All CMA Music Festival Four-Day ticket-holders get STAGE-FRONT access in the Fan Photo Line!

LOCATION
LP Field, East side of the Cumberland River
Parking Passes Available

DAYS & TIMES
Thursday - Sunday
Gates open at 6:30 PM nightly

Performers so far include:

Gary Allan
Kelly Clarkson
Miranda Lambert
Blake Shelton
Keith Urban
Dierks Bentley
Florida Georgia Line
Little Big Town
Taylor Swift
Zac Brown Band
Luke Bryan
Hunter Hayes
Jake Owen
The Band Perry
Eric Church
Lady Antebellum
Brad Paisley
Carrie Underwood


© 2013Country Music Association

[Kim]

Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton & Many More Added to CMA Music Festival

By Sarah Wyland
gactv.com


CMA Music Festival has announced the lineup of artists scheduled to appear during the Nightly Concerts at LP Field in Nashville June 6-9. In addition to previously announced performers Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Lady Antebellum and Little Big Town, 14 more artists have been added.

Gary Allan, Kelly Clarkson, Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, Dierks Bentley, Florida Georgia Line, Taylor Swift, Zac Brown Band, Hunter Hayes, Jake Owen, The Band Perry, Eric Church and Brad Paisley have all been added to the lineup of the ultimate country music fan experience.

Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster at Ticketmaster.com or 1-800-745-3000. They can also purchase them by calling 1-800-CMA-FEST (262-3378). Ticket prices are based on the level of seating at LP Field for the Nightly Concerts, and range from $125 to $350 plus handling fees. A limited number of four-day parking passes for LP Field are also available.

Fans can visit CMAfest.com, the official website of CMA Music Festival, where they can sign up for the CMA Exclusive e-news, follow the CMA Facebook and Twitter feeds for more insider info and see the entire lineup of Country Music’s biggest stars as they are announced.

[Kim]

CMA Music Festival Announces Fan Fair X

By Sarah Wyland
gactv.com


X marks the spot at this year’s CMA Music Festival. AT&T® U-verse® Fan Fair X (FFX) will feature autograph signings, concerts, lifestyle exhibits, marketplace, live broadcasts, demonstrations and much more in the brand new, cutting-edge Music City Center during CMA Music Festival June 6-9 in Nashville.

“The relationship between our artists and the fans is at the very heart of what this event was founded on, and we continue to embrace that legacy with Fan Fair X,” CMA Chief Executive Officer Steve Moore said. “By moving to the Music City Center, we are able to provide more opportunities and activities to enhance this treasured experience for the fans.”

The new Fan Fair X will feature all the popular fan experiences from the past and expand to create the most ‘eXceptional, eXciting and eXtrodianary’ artist/fan encounters in CMA Music Festival’s 40+ year history. Lady Antebellum will lead the way with ‘Lady A Day at FFX.’ They’ll kick off the week by cutting the ribbon to officially open the doors on June 6. They will then perform, sign autographs, take fan questions and launch their first Ping Pong & Songs event.

“I’m looking forward to being in the new Music City Center,” Hillary Scott said. “We’re really excited to be given the opportunity to merge our Ping Pong & Songs event with Music Fest and this new fan experience CMA is creating. Now that fans from all over the country will be able to play ping pong against us, Charles and Dave are going to have to brush up on their skills! All the money we raise at our booth will go to LadyAID – it’s going to be so fun for us and for the fans!”

“I think CMA Fest is one of the best fan opportunities in music,” Dave Haywood said. “It’s the best festival that’s put on for fans to get up close with their favorite artists. It’s also cool because there are the stadium shows that have everybody in Country Music out there playing every night.”

“CMA Fest gives us a chance to connect directly with our fans in a way we don’t get to any other time of the year,” Charles Kelley said. “This year, CMA is letting us go all out, so we’re going to bring in the whole touring setup, ping pong and all, and invite as many fans as we can fit @clublabellum there at FFX!”

FFX is enhancing the fan experience by adding two new stages as well as demonstrations, events and exhibits like ‘Rockology’ which features a gallery of music memorabilia including Elvis Presley’s 1975 custom Cadillac Coupe De Ville which still retains the bullet hole from the Graceland security officer who mistakenly fired a shot into the car. With an expanded footprint, FFX affords more people the opportunity to experience the Festival in comfort and style.

FFX is free to all CMA Music Festival four-day ticket holders. Additionally, CMA is making available tickets to FFX for $10 a day; or $25 for a four-day pass to Fan Fair X. Ticket information will be posted closer to the event and will be available at CMAfest.com.

Launched in 2012 and back for 2013 is an improved online autograph drawing. The new system will be a drawing with online sign ups and advance notification. The advance sign-up system creates an equal chance for all fans to enter for their chance to win an autograph signing ticket. Of the hundreds of artists appearing in FFX, only about 10 percent of signings will require a ticket. A list of autograph sessions that require tickets and directions on how to enter will be posted May 20 at CMAfest.com.

[Kim]

May 23, 2013

CMA Music Festival Offers Hundreds of Hours of Free Live Music

By Sarah Wyland
gactv.com



The 2013 CMA Music Festival will take pace in downtown Nashville June 6-9 with no less than six free stages featuring live music throughout the day and into the evening as well as countless activities. Tickets for the Nightly Concerts at LP Field sold out a record-setting six weeks in advance of the 2013 Festival, but fans will still have many chances to catch their favorite artists at CMA Music Festival.

Performance lineups for the previously announced Chevrolet Riverfront Stage and Bud Light Stage at the Bridgestone Arena Plaza are available at CMAfest.com, but those schedules are just the beginning of what fans can expect from country music’s biggest festival. Everything from autograph signings, meet-and-greets, cell phone charging stations, product demonstrations, auctions, giveaways, and more will take place in Downtown Nashville throughout the festival. Outdoor spaces are free and open to the public.

Some of this year’s events include:

Transitions Performance Park

New in 2013, Transitions® adaptive lenses will host Transitions Performance Park, where fans can get an enhanced view of the CMA Music Festival from atop Transitions’ two-story viewing platform. Fans will be able to test Transitions products, look through customized viewfinders and star in their own professional photo shoot.

Additionally, daily concerts will take place with the Marshall Tucker Band making their first-ever CMA Music Festival appearance to kick things off on Thursday, June 6 at 11 a.m. with a performance. Other artists set for performances include Ash Bowers, Holly Williams, Due West, Danielle Peck, Julie Roberts, Jeff Bates, Kristy Lee Cook and many more.

The Buckle

The Buckle covers three blocks of Broadway and will host a variety of free performances and activities beginning with concerts presented by ASCAP on Thursday, June 6 and Sunday, June 9 from 11 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Performers include Brent Anderson, Trent Willmon, Chris Cavanaugh and many more.

June 7-8, the ABC Television Network returns to the CMA Music Festival with the ABC Summer Block Party. There will be special appearances by ABC fan favorites including Jason Thompson and Nancy Lee Grahn from General Hospital and Chef Carla Hall from The Chew, musical performances, autograph signings, games, photos, free giveaways and much more!

The Buckle will also host wall-to-wall activities including The History Channel’s Cross-Country Cookout and appearances by the stars of the network’s hit TV series Swamp People in both The History Channel and Gander Mountain booths. Fans will be able to sample food, enter to win one-of-a-kind trips, sing karaoke and visit several exhibitors.

Fan Alley

Fan Alley welcomes fans into a community where memories will be shared and friendships made. The Chevrolet Roadhouse Stage will feature daily concerts with two dozen of country’s best rising talent each day. Carolyn Dawn Johnson will kick off the performances with Tyler Barham, Weston Burt, Striking Matches, Dakota Bradley, Kingston and more also scheduled to take the stage.

BMI Tailgate Party

The BMI Tailgate Party returns for a second year. Located right off the Cumberland River outside LP Field, the stage will feature a selection of BMI’s songwriters, artists, and DJ Du warming up the audience before they enter LP Field for the Nightly Concerts. Performers at the BMI Tailgate Party include Thomas Rhett, Joel Crouse, Josh Thompson, Jon Pardi and more.

Ninth Annual CMA Music Festival Kick-Off Parade and Eighth Annual CMA Music Festival Block Party

The Ninth Annual CMA Music Festival Kick-Off Parade is set for June 5 at 11 a.m. with Kix Brooks serving as Grand Marshal. In addition to country stars and other celebrities riding in a wide variety of Chevrolet vehicles, the parade will feature the Keep the Music Playing All Stars Marching Band, which is made up of high school musicians representing several Metro Nashville Public Schools, the world-famous Budweiser Clydesdales, balloons, and more.

Following the parade, fans can gather at the Chevrolet Riverfront Stage for The Eighth Annual CMA Music Festival Block Party. The Henningsens will kick things off followed by Brazilbilly, The Lacs, The Cadillac Three, and headliner Joe Diffie. Lyndsey Highlander will perform the national anthem.

CMA Social Media Ticket Giveaways

Despite tickets to the LP Field Nightly Concert series being sold out, fans can win their way into the best seats in the house for CMA Music Festival’s star-studded showcases. Between Monday, May 27 and Friday, May 31, CMA will give away a pair of tickets each day across the organization’s social media. CMA will also run a week-long contest during the same time frame to give away 50 pairs of passes to the all-new AT&T® U-verse® Fan Fair X experience at Music City Center. Full details on how to enter can be found at Blog.CMAfest.com beginning Monday, May 27.

It all officially kicks off Thursday, June 6 with “Lady A Day at FFX” featuring Lady Antebellum performing, signing autographs, and cutting the ribbon when Fan Fair X officially opens to fans. Fan Fair X is free to four-day ticket holders and available to fans for $10 a day or $25 for four days Thursday through Sunday, June 6-9, with children 12 and younger admitted for free.

“If You See Something, Say Something” at CMA Music Festival

All of those in attendance at CMA Music Festival are asked to be vigilant in reporting suspicious behavior and situations and are encouraged to text ALERT (space) and the LOCATION of the suspicious activity to 66937. There will also be a special Festival law enforcement phone number posted throughout the event area for attendees to call to report suspicious activity. See CMAfest.com for more information.

[Kim]

CMT News

NASHVILLE SKYLINE: Welcome to Fan Fair/CMA Music Festival - Some Changes Are in Store in Nashville

June 6, 2013
Written by Chet Flippo


Welcome to Nashville, returning CMA Fest visitors and those attending for the first time. Most of us veterans here still refer to it as Fan Fair and fondly remember the old days when it was held at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds with the shows at the racetrack, the autograph sessions in the un-air-conditioned livestock barns and the Chuck Wagon Gang from Texas serving up big plates of barbecue and pouring ice tea from 55-gallon barrels. The price for those barbecue lunches was included in admission ticket prices, which was a good idea.

Those were the days of people scrambling for cover when the lightning strikes started dancing close to the racetrack grandstands -- as they always did. And it was also the days when Garth Brooks signed autographs for more than 23 hours straight. George Jones played one of the best sets I ever saw him do on that old wooden stage. And, not surprisingly, the Beach Boys played one of the best-received performances ever at Fan Fair.

Then Fan Fair proceedings moved downtown to the Tennessee Titans stadium and to the Nashville Convention Center.

And now, things are changing again, with the recent opening of the glittering and very spacious new Music City Center next to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in downtown Nashville. Many festival events are moving to the MCC, which signals yet another step in Nashville's ascent to the honest big time. I hope you have been able to figure out how to navigate the new roundabout next to the MCC.

Other changes in town include the long-overdue new Johnny Cash U.S. postage stamp, which was unveiled in a ceremony at the Ryman Auditorium on Wednesday (June 5). It's one of the most dramatic-looking stamps ever. Other country music stars featured on postage stamps include Jimmie Rodgers, Roy Acuff, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams and The Carter Family.

Also recently opened downtown is the new Johnny Cash Museum on Third Avenue South. It was developed by Cash's longtime web page designer Bill Miller, who has been collecting and curating Cash memorabilia for many years. It also contains many familiar items you may have seen at the old House of Cash in Hendersonville.

Closing downtown this week is the venerable Gruhn Guitars at 400 Broadway. George Gruhn opened up in 1970 but recently decided it was time to move out of downtown. His location right up against the raucous Lower Broad row of honky-tonks offered great visibility and foot traffic, but it was the wrong kind. His shop was constantly jammed with tourists who were only there to gawk at the high-end, vintage musical instruments, not to buy them. So he's packing up and moving south on Eighth Avenue.

Something else on display in Nashville is an increasingly visible split between former co-existing but dissimilar personalities and talents in the many forms of country music and related Americana and roots and whatever else the music is being called these days.

There's also the war between modern radio country -- also being called old rock masquerading as country -- and more traditional artists and then, of course, there's also hick-hop music. You'll see plenty of all of that on display this week.

And there was also the sight of both Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift performing recently onstage with the Rolling Stones. That gives a whole new definition to crossover country.

But then there was also the recently-taped CMT Crossroads with Jack White hosting Willie Nelson as his Third Man Records studio downtown, with Leon Russell, Norah Jones, Neil Young and others, with music ranging all across the country music spectrum.

Then we have the spectacle of Natalie Maines -- remember her? -- declaring "war on Nashville" in the pages of Rolling Stone. Apparently, Maines' war consists of angrily stamping her foot and saying, "Oh, fie!"

[Kim]

CMT News

Blake Shelton Throws No. 1 Party During 2013 CMA Music Festival - Keith Urban, Songwriters Celebrate "Over" and "Sure Be Cool If You Did"

June 7, 2013
Written by Craig Shelburne


Shortly after rehearsing for his CMA Music Festival performance at Nashville's LP Field, Blake Shelton stepped indoors for a private No. 1 party on Friday afternoon (June 7). Smiling but not saying much, Shelton was surrounded by the songwriters and publishers behind "Over" and "Sure Be Cool If You Did."

Because the songs were written by writers with different industry affiliations -- ASCAP, BMI and numerous publishing companies -- the laid-back party took place in the club level of the stadium rather than an office's headquarters on Music Row. That didn't stop executives from crossing the Cumberland River to celebrate the achievement, though. For about 40 minutes, a parade of key people toasted Shelton and the songwriters.

Special guests included Keith Urban, who owns the publishing company representing songwriter Jimmy Robbins. "Sure Be Cool If You Did" was co-written by Robbins and long-established songwriters Rodney Clawson and Chris Tompkins. It was the lead single on Shelton's current project, Based on a True Story.

Meanwhile, "Over" was written by Paul Jenkins and David Johnson. It was the fourth single from Shelton's Red River Blue album. Jenkins and Warner Bros. executive and producer Scott Hendricks both recounted how the song had been bumped from a previous project (or two) before finally making it onto a record.

When it was finally his turn to speak, Shelton thanked the writers and publishers first. Referring to the Warner Music Nashville personnel who get singles up the chart, he added, "Sometimes I think I feel like it's the promotion staffs that should be coming up here instead of me."

Addressing that team, he continued, "I tell you, man, you do everything. You do everything. Once we make the record, once they write the song, it's you guys that push it all the way up there. And Keith can tell you this: You almost feel guilty sometimes. Like tonight, I'm going to be out there on the stage, in front of all those people, soaking up all the glory. And I had the easiest part of all in this. It's all the people on this stage and half the people in this audience that really make this happen. And I love all y'all for it. Thank you."

[Kim]

CMT News

2013 CMA Music Festival: Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, Kenny Rogers, Kid Rock Surprise Fans at LP Field - Taylor Swift, Eric Church, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Zac Brown Band, Tracy Lawrence Open Nightly Concert Series

June 7, 2013
Written by Edward Morris


Fans got their money's worth -- and then some -- Thursday evening (June 6) when the 2013 CMA Music Festival staged the first of its four nightly superstar concerts at Nashville's LP Field.

In addition to the announced lineup of Taylor Swift, Eric Church, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, the Zac Brown Band and Tracy Lawrence, there were surprise appearances by Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, Kenny Rogers and Kid Rock.

The incomparable Oak Ridge Boys opened the show with a particularly soulful version of the national anthem.

Counting the time spent on set changes and taping segments for the Aug. 12 ABC-TV special that will chronicle this year's festival, the show lasted almost five hours.

In spite of predictions of rain, the weather was almost perfect, with nothing more than a stray cloud or two to keep an eye on.

Lawrence, who was celebrating his 22nd year as a festival artist, was in splendid voice. Although he has not headlined the event lately, the cheers that punctuated his performance proved that he still has a faithful fan base.

Clad in a red T-shirt, black vest and jeans and topped with his signature black cowboy hat, Lawrence opened with "Footprints in the Moon," a song of relatively recent vintage, and rolled ahead to such of his standards as "Time Marches On" and "Find Out Who Your Friends Are."

He also debuted "Stop, Drop and Roll" from his forthcoming album, Headlights, Tail Lights and Radios, set for release in August. He concluded his set with his poignant 2003 hit, "Paint Me a Birmingham," as the crowd sang along.

Thunderous drum rolls and stabbing spotlights -- both of which went on a little too long -- heralded Bryan's arrival onstage.

Wearing skin-tight denims, an equally form-fitting T-shirt and baseball cap, he bolted into "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye," accentuating his delivery with an occasional pelvic thrust that seemed to find favor among the masses.

Next came "Rain Is a Good Thing" and "Crash My Party," each one demonstrating how well Bryan has evolved as a performer.

"I want to hear the biggest damn 'BOOM BOOM' I've ever heard," he told the crowd, as his band struck the opening chords to "Drunk on You." And the audience did its best to comply.

Bryan accelerated to a series of stiff-legged jumps while belting out "I Don't Want This Night to End." But he ended the night -- at least his part of it -- with the raucous "Country Girl (Shake It for Me)," which elicited so much country-girl compliance one feared it might set off earthquake alarms.

Supremely confident -- as she had every right to be -- Swift sashayed onstage looking like a model for a World War II pinup poster. She was decked out in a white, sleeveless blouse, tight black, midthigh shorts and fire-engine red lipstick.

Without prelude, she flounced into "Love Story," striding back and forth across the stage, her face looking back coquettishly over her shoulder. Her excellent band looked just as stylish and as engaged.

"I put out an album this year," she said. "It's about falling in love and bitter, terrible breakups." To give voice to those catastrophic conditions, she sang "Red" -- into a red microphone.

Then it was back to her earlier hit, "Mean," her face an endearing mixture of mischief and triumph. She followed with the resolute "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together."

Swift told the crowd that she's often asked to sing the song she wrote at 15 and which proved to be her breakthrough to stardom.

"This song kind of reminds me of my two favorite things: Nashville and Tim McGraw," she said. She sang the opening lines of "Tim McGraw," just as a seriously tanned and buff McGraw walked onstage. The crowd went crazy.

The two performers embraced, and McGraw took the spotlight to kick off his current hit, "Highway Don't Care," which features Swift on assisting vocals. The crowd had hardly quieted down from McGraw's entrance when Urban strode out, laying down the same blistering guitar lines he plays on the record.

It was the final song of Swift's set, and it netted the three performers one of the loudest and most sustained ovations in the history of the festival.

Seeming not the least intimidated by the act he had to follow, Church swaggered onstage just after 10 p.m. and immediately marked his territory with "I'm Gettin' Stoned."

He looked comfortable in his regular costume of black shirt, jeans, ball cap, sunglasses and a red Solo cup purportedly full of Jack Daniel's whiskey.

After charging through "Keep On," Church, indeed, turned his attention to Jack Daniel's advocacy, telling the crowd he sometimes outpaced the formidable drink and that sometimes it outpaced him.

This intro led to the song "Jack Daniels," which has the woeful refrain, "Jack Daniel's kicked my ass again last night."

Church struck a more mellow tone with the nostalgic "These Boots." Responding to some hand signals from the stage, a girl in the audience handed Church one of her boots which he brandished as he paced the stage. He autographed the boot and handed it back to her.

Church wrapped up his set with "Homeboy" and "Smoke a Little Smoke." Although he's still working on his tough-guy persona -- as witnessed in his recent interview in Playboy -- Church came across as eager and generally amiable, like he was having a good time rather than bearing the entire burden of keeping country music honest.

At this point in the show, the audience was drafted into helping tape various intros for the television special, including one segment in which it was asked to cheer long and loudly for Carrie Underwood, who wasn't even in the stadium Thursday. It took nearly a half-hour slice out of the evening to get this tedious business out of the way, and it made one wonder why the crowd didn't rise up and trample its manipulators.

Lambert strode out at 11 p.m. to brighten the scene. She was slim and stunning in a bustier emblazoned with a flame design, black leather pants and black, knee-length, high-heeled boots.

Starting with "Fastest Girl in Town," she grinned and belted her way through "Baggage Claim," then slowed the pace with "Over You" and the gently embracing "All Kinds of Kinds." But it didn't take long for her to return to her combative mode with "Mama's Broken Heart" and "White Liar." She closed with the fierce revenge rocker, "Gunpowder and Lead."

Hundreds of people had left the stadium by the time the Zac Brown Band came on at 11:45 with its first hit, "Chicken Fried," but thousands remained and ready for more.

Brown, as is his habit, dazzled the audience with his maniacally fast guitar picking at the end of the song.

The band then moved on to the slow and wistful "Goodbye in Her Eyes," after which Brown enlisted the crowd in a singalong with "Jump Right In."

After the applause died down, Brown beckoned Kenny Rogers to the stage. The crowd rose with new energy to cheer the veteran performer and impending Country Music Hall of Fame inductee.

Rogers sang his classic "The Gambler" with the band backing him and Brown singing every other verse of the song, as well as harmonizing with Rogers on the chorus.

Brown resumed his set with "Day That I Die," a song he recorded with Amos Lee. "This is basically my life story," he said. The lyrics contain the line, "I believe that I was born with a song inside of me," and expresses the wish that on the day the singer dies, he'll be found "at home with a guitar in my hand."

Next came the wishful "Keep Me in Mind."

For the final performance of the evening, Brown introduced Kid Rock, who led the band in a high-spirited cover of Grand Funk Railroad's "We're an American Band."

A tired but musically fulfilled crowd headed for the parking lots at 12:20 a.m.

[Kim]

CMT News

Blake Shelton Brings the Party to 2013 CMA Music Festival -
Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Hunter Hayes Also Perform at Friday's Stadium Concert

June 8, 2013
Written by Whitney Self


Aside from the astounding presence of roughly 60,000 country music fans piled into one place and the mega-watt lineup of Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Hunter Hayes and Randy Travis, perhaps what proved to be the most exciting moment from Friday night's (June 7) concert was witnessing Blake Shelton's "Boys 'Round Here" come to life.

"Come on through the countryside, down to the riverside," the CMA entertainer of the year sang to the thousands of country music lovers who flocked from all over the world to convene at Nashville's LP Field, appropriately located only feet away from the Cumberland River.

As he sang for the boys "drinkin' that ice cold beer," the charismatic performer was met by roaring applause along with the simultaneous sights of men (and women) raising their frothy beverages in support. And when it came time for the ladies to shake their "Dixie sugar," the female fans responded by wiggling their tail feathers to the infectious beat, earning a collective whistle from the men.

Opening with his fun-loving cover of "Footloose," Shelton also performed "Mine Would Be You," a song from his most recent album, Based on a True Story. Following the tune, CEO and president of Warner Music Nashville John Esposito, interrupted the singer onstage to present him with a plaque in recognition of album sales reaching over 6 million for Shelton's Red River Blue project, also noting his current chart success.

"This calls for a drink, man!" Shelton responded, suitably cuing his next track, "Drink on It."

"Hey, do ya'll know what time it is?" he asked the crowd as the clock struck a few minutes after midnight.

"It takes a special breed of human being to stay out here this late," he yelled. "You're not just country music fans, you must be a bunch of freakin' hillbillies!" he exclaimed, launching into his tongue-in-cheek tune, "Hillbilly Bone."

"I've always wanted to sing a bone song at CMA Fest," he comically interjected before ending the night with the sweet "Honey Bee."

"I love country music, and I worship country music fans," he said, sending the party crowd off on the right note as they went in search of their nightcap more than likely located amidst the neon lights of Lower Broadway.

And though Shelton elevated the party to full throttle, the night's celebration got off to a rather slow start. Whether it was the downpour of rain shortly before the music began or the lack of recognition of the bill's first act, Dee Jay Silver, roughly only a third of the stadium seats were filled by the time Gloriana sang the national anthem and the first main act made his way onstage.

No stranger to the spotlight, Travis highlighted the hits from his extensive career catalog spanning more than 25 years. Outlasting the rain, he serenaded the festivalgoers still making their way to their seats by performing a new song, "Tonight I'm Playin' Possum," in tribute to his friend George Jones, who passed away recently.

But it was Travis' most beloved tunes that received the greatest response from fans who slowly began to fill up the stadium. Previewing his career-defining hits, the distinctive baritone singer pulled out a collection of his No. 1's including "Diggin' Up Bones," "Three Wooden Crosses," "Deeper Than the Holler," "On the Other Hand" and ending his performance with the timeless "Forever and Ever, Amen."

Sporting his signature red ball cap and fitted Rolling Stones cutoff T-shirt that effortlessly hugged all the right areas, singer-songwriter Kip Moore steered the party into overdrive with the most popular tracks from his debut album, Up All Night. Giving it the gas, he performed "Crazy One More Time," followed by the well-received Top 5 track, "Beer Money," prompting many in the crowd to raise their plastic beer bottles, sloshing their brews in the process.

Slowing it down a notch, Moore rolled into his sensual single, "Hey Pretty Girl," the perfect tune to show off not only his smoky vocals but also his handsome good looks. Magnified on the large LED screens above the stage, Moore's fetching charisma worked in tandem with the song's equally alluring lines, leaving women swooning for more as he ended his set with the infectious "Somethin' 'Bout a Truck."

From one country heartthrob to the next, platinum-selling artist and recently-announced CMT on Tour headliner Hunter Hayes showed off his electric guitar skills as he passionately performed his latest No. 1 song, "Somebody's Heartbreak."

"I just can't tell you how cool it is to be sitting in front of you at LP field,"' he exclaimed, seating himself at the large black piano onstage where he proceeded to perform "Wanted," his chief career chart-topper.

Bringing out the evening's first surprise guest, Hayes introduced pop star Jason Mraz for their newly-recorded "Everybody's Got Somebody but Me," before ending his brief set with his current single, "I Want Crazy."

Maintaining momentum, Lady Antebellum seized the moment with their appropriately titled track, "We Owned the Night." The trio's dazzling performance, consisting of tracks from their latest album, Golden, was interspersed with older hits like "I Run to You," "American Honey" and "Lookin' for a Good Time."

And judging by the thunderous applause of their six-time platinum-selling "Need You Now," an ode to a late-night, alcohol-induced hookup, it's probably safe to say a few of these concertgoers probably lived out the words as the evening progressed.

Creating a musical vortex of buoyant tunes, Little Big Town blew in next, sweeping fans to their feet with a compelling rendition of "Tornado." Wind machines added to the dramatic effect of the song as it sent member Karen Fairchild's black fringe jacket and long dark hair flapping in the wind.

Beginning their set with the poignant new single "Your Side of the Bed," the group made up of Fairchild, Jimi Westbrook, Phillip Sweet and Kimberly Schlapman performed from an elevated stage located in the middle of the crowd before making their way to the main stage.

Continuing to captivate fans, the four propelled the excitement with "Boondocks" and the their first No. 1 smash "Pontoon," inspiring many to paddle their own imaginary boats.

Little Big Town introduced special guest Sheryl Crow, who performed her newest country single, "Easy." However, it was their carefree collaboration on Crow's "I Wanna Soak Up the Sun" that created a steady stadium singalong.

And safe to say, if the second night's performances are any indication of what's to come, no matter the weather, country music fans are in for a nonstop sunny celebration in Music City.

[Kim]

For all the pictures from the different events you can check them out here