An incredibly exciting opportunity to not only attend the 50th CMA Fest, but to actually be on one of the stages to help introduce the artists was a dream come true! But before I even got to the festival grounds, I received this notification on my phone…no pressure or anything.
The cool thing is, I made it early enough to see a couple of the earlier acts take the stage like Uncle Kracker and Frank Ray so I could observe and get a little lay of the land, since every festival and event is just a little different, especially when you’re changing out a bunch of equipment every 30 minutes for each artist taking the stage.
The Dr. Pepper Amp Stage, view from the back.
Hanging with Frank Ray, a former police officer turned rising Country music star!
One other really cool coincidence that happened was meeting the emcee before me at the Dr. Pepper Amp stage. Her name is Jennifer and upon introductions and telling her I work for WFMS in Indianapolis she asks, “Do you know Conner Smith?” (Conner opened up for Chase Rice at Old National Center back in March and the very next day he calls me on my cell saying, “Hey man, thanks for everything last night, here’s my number if you ever need anything.) I respond to Jennifer, “Yeah, he’s a great kid and a great performer!” and she then informs me that she is actually his mom and invited me to his set at the Chevy Riverfront Stage at 4:45…right after my duties were finished! So, of course, we had to take a selfie and send it to him.
Myself and Conner Smith’s mom, Jennifer Vickery Smith!
We’ll get back to Conner soon, but want to remind you that he is on the Luke Bryan tour coming to Ruoff August 18th!
So my duties officially begin with bringing on Kassi Ashton, who I’ve been a fan of for years since I first heard her song “California, Missouri” and even her new tempo-driven single “Drive You Out Of My Mind.” She sang her heart out and when she got off stage we had the chance to talk for a brief moment about her performance, she revealed that with the quick change around of equipment, some of the sound wasn’t working correctly in her in-ear monitors (headphones, essentially) so she wasn’t even able to hear herself sing, let alone the drums that let her keep tempo with the rest of the band! From the audience’s perspective, you couldn’t tell at all! What a pro!
Next up, Tyler Farr, who we had at 8 Seconds Saloon in February! It was great to see his set again and to hear all of the fans singing along with his hits like “Whiskey in My Water,” “A Guy Walks Into A Bar” and of course “Redneck Crazy”…but my highlight of this set was when I was introducing him, they wanted to promote one of his newer songs he has with Jelly Roll…so I had to say the name to the audience. “Country As Shit”…which, I think I was most excited about because, on the radio, I have to be careful what I say so it was kind of a rebellion!
Next, Love and Theft were ready to take the stage and with songs like “Runaway” and “Angel Eyes” the crowd was ready to sing along, but one of my favorite songs by Eric and Stephen is “Whiskey On My Breath” which is such a raw and honest song about overcoming an addiction, specifically alcoholism. Before they got into their set, I was able to bring them on as the guys were on stage and I HAD to take a video of how big the crowd was, and Stephen even peaked in a little bit of the video!
After Love and Theft, I had the honor of bringing on Rita Wilson. If you’re not familiar with her by name, you may be more familiar with movies she’s been in like “Sleepless in Seattle,” “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” “Jingle All The Way,” “Mamma Mia,” and “That Thing You Do” where she stars alongside her real-life husband Tom Hanks. Rita has a really cool song called “Little Black Dress” and has another great cover of the song “Songbird” by Fleetwood Mac that she does with Josh Groban. If you ever see me on Sleeveless Friday, you’ll notice on my right arm/upper shoulder I actually have a songbird tattoo…so that song is very special to me and their cover is amazing. Before I even get on stage, who do I see walking around kinda following the posse? Tom. Freakin’. Hanks. People are being respectful of him, and he is making sure his wife is the star of the show as he’s toting around a green backpack. And the best part is when she was finally on stage, he was sitting, looking up watching her like the star that she is! So awesome!
Tom Hanks enthralled in wife Rita Wilson’s performance!
As soon as I was able, I hoofed it down 1st Avenue in Nashville to make it to the Chevy Riverfront stage to catch Conner Smith’s show as promised and this guy was electric the entire time. He’s a star, there’s no doubt. In fact, during part of his set he jumped into the crowd and there were so many people I had to take a picture and send it to his record label rep saying, “Let’s play a game called ‘Where’s Conner?”…so I’ll let you play, too!
After the show, I was able to meet some friends I haven’t seen in about 10 years…and, wouldn’t you know it, they were sleeveless! So of course we had to take a picture to help spread the word of #SleevelessFridays but then we were able to do some exploring downtown on Broadway and it was absolute mayhem – but in the best way! So many country music fans!
#SleevelessFridayInNashville
Later in the evening my friends and I made our way to the Ascend Amphitheater to see artists like Tenille Townes, Elvie Shane, the Randy Rogers Band, Little Big Town and The Cadillac Three!
It was a fantastic day first day for me, so let’s see what day 2 will bring!
