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We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment. ~ Hilaire Belloc
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CMA Fest 2007 Have you ever had a chance to meet one of your favorite Country Music Artists? Most call them a ‘Meet & Greet’ and unless you’re the president of a fan club or won one on a radio station, they’re hard to come by.
Meeting dozens of top
country music artists together and being able to watch them perform
up-close and on the same stage is something most fans dream of. But if
you were to travel to
Nashville Tennessee
this during June for the annual
CMA Fest,
then you would get to see Hundreds of the top performers walking around
rubbing elbows with their fans like it was normal.
Then we were sitting in a
little honky-tonk saloon like Nashville is so know for, sipping on a
cool drink when a shiny tour bus pulled in and Gary Allan walked out. I
thought there was something fishy when the place was filled with
gorgeous looking younger women in the middle of the afternoon, I knew it
couldn't have been my good looks attracting all these hotties. I guess
Gary was doing a private show for his fan club, but was happy to pose
with anyone who asked, signed many body parts and happily took pictures
with the hundreds of giggling ladies.
Each night during the four
day event, LP Field, home of the Tennessee Titans, turns into a roaring
mad house for the thousands of fans who overwhelm the city. In one night
we saw, Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, Dierks Bentley, Trace Adkins, Reba
McEntire and the oh so sexy duo, The Wreckers!! Imagine that line up,
and that was only the first night!! We were in Country Music
Heaven!
There were acoustic
sessions, Writers Nights, where some of the most successful tunesmiths
actually performed their songs that many of the top acts took to Number
1 on the charts. Imagine sitting in one of the bars, and the house band
stops playing because
Brooks & Dunn just walked in after their set at LP Field. They
kindly asked the house band if they could play for the packed
While Trace Adkins was
signing a tailgate for a local radio station, one overly excited female
fan couldn’t control herself and jumped out of line, grabbed a handful
of this 6’7” tall, certified rednecks padonka-donk, and squealed with
glee like a kid with its hand in the cookie jar. I swear I thought this
little lady made this giant of a man blush.
John Rich and Big Kenny
have written songs for almost every artist you hear on the radio today
and are changing the face of Country Music as we know it. They’re adding
Rock ‘N’ Roll, Hip-Hop and Rap along with instruments not normally found
in the classic roots of this southern music. They’ve also launched
many artists’ careers into stardom when writing hits they think fit the
artists attitude. That’s pretty hard for a little blond bombshell to do, as The Music Mafia knows how to perform to sold out shows. Miranda Lambert, with her new album Crazy Ex-Girlfriend following her first mega album, Kerosene, stunned the crowd with wild antics and one amped up performance you expect to see at a Rock ‘N’ Roll concert.
Lambert’s one song Gun
Powder & Lead, talks of standing on the front porch with her shotgun
in her hand with the taste of whiskey in her mouth after catching her
cheating boyfriend. Something tells me this daughter of two detectives
has a wild streak a mile long. If I was Blake Shelton, who is currently
dating this knock-out, I’d be careful with this one. RVing and CMA Fest If you're traveling in an RV like we did, every RV Park in and around Nashville was sold out months in advance. What we did and what I'd recommend to anyone else planning on attending is to stay about 20 minutes out of town. Most of the RV parks were charging $40 to $60 per night to stay near town. We found a nice, full service campground about 20 minutes out of town that was only $20 per night. The parking is horrendous as you would expect with this many people in the Music City. We chose to ride the motorcycle downtown, which not only saved us on gas, but we didn't have to opt for the $10 parking fees that anyone in a vehicle was paying. When you're on a budget as cheap as us, you need to save ever dollar you can.
Make sure you check out our
Our CMA Fest Gallery
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I had heard of this event many times in the past, but never thought it
would be as cool as it actually was. For my Cindy and I, who are both
huge country music fans, we’ve seen many concerts throughout the years.
But never have we been walking down the street and have Blake Shelton
walk past like it was nothing. He stopped and signed autographs for all
who asked, and was happy to pose with many of the fans who were ecstatic
to see him on the street corner filming a segment for an upcoming video.
There are multiple stages set up around the downtown area of Nashville
where many of the artists perform daily. In one day, you can see 20
different artists belt out their hits while sitting in the beautiful
city park which also overlooks the river walk. 
house and
proceeded to blow the roof off the place for the next 45 minutes. The
next night the same thing happened when Jason Aldean played for the
crowd at the 
In the four days we spent in Nashville, we met more country music
artists then I’ve seen in my entire life. This is truly a show for the
fans. Big & Rich, who have always been very giving to their fans, did
multiple signings and thanked everyone who lined up to get a picture
with this rockin’ duo. They thanked each and every fan and made sure
they knew they were the reason for their success. 
Our biggest surprise was the final nights show. I knew it would be a
good show when you have Miranda Lambert, Rodney Adkins, Taylor Swift,
Gretchen Wilson, Billy Currington, Kellie Pickler, Gretchen Wilson and
Big & Rich all on the same stage in one night. Each performer put on a
fantastic show, but in my opinion, Miranda Lambert put on a performance
to compete with Big & Rich! 