CMA Music Festival...Days 2 & 3

WooWee...I'm so super sorry about the lag in posts.  First of all, CMA Fest took the best out of me and I needed some major recuperating time!  Then I have been a little busy this summer.  If I get a chance, I'll blog about all my goings-on.  But you know me so...don't hold your breath!

Okay, since when does it stay 150 degrees with 65% humidity in Nashville?  It must be the hottest, muggiest place on Earth!  It doesn't help that the streets during CMA Fest constantly look like this:

Can you say people everywhere?  EV.'RY.WHERE!!! Oh, and said people are hot and sweaty.  It's a mathematical equation that the sweatier a person is, the more likely (s)he will physically bump into you.  Needless to say, early into this Vaca we were looking into things to do INSIDE!  So, when we got the opportunity to have a private, un-advertised concert with Crystal Bowersox, we jumped on the chance!

Through the magic of Twitter, we were one of 100 lucky ones who got passes to an inside performance by "Mamasox" as she was known during her American Idol stint.  Um, hello heart...meet the new object of your affection.  I heart Crystal!  Love her!  I'm totally in lurve!  Her original songs are so raw and honest.  And, she has a cutie-patootie musician husband, to boot!  Yep, I got her autograph and a picture with her.  She is so nice, too!  She was extremely gracious.

We also hung out a lot at the world famous Tootsie's lounge, which shares an alley with this famous landmark below:

That's the Ryman Auditorium.  The tourist ingrained in me wanted (practically begged) to take a tour of the Ryman.  Instead, I took pictures of its front facade and took shots in honor of it inside Tootsies!  Again, people, I needed some serious recuperation when I got home.  A'hem.  Moving on. Here we are in Tootsies:

Above with Laura is a beautiful young woman named Jordyn Mallory.  She is even more talented than she is pretty, if you can believe that!  She is beating the streets in Nashville urging her dream into fruition.   She and Laura know each other through the power of social networking and through their shared love of country music.  Someday you will hear Jordyn Mallory on the radio and I am proud to say I heard her when. 

Now, we didn't get to spend very much time with Kylee in Tootsie's.  She was busy doing this:

Sorry for the poor photo quality.  It was like a covert operation to take iPhone pictures of the lovebirds on the sly!  Yep, she found herself a cowboy!  Actually he turned out to be a Chicago boy via San Francisco, but close enough, right?  She was over there "true-lovin'" on him for sure!  Sadly, the clock has struck midnight and we are still waiting to hear the words "Happily Ever After".  I'll keep you posted!

On to Night 2's concert we went!  On Night 2 we enjoyed a pregnant Ashton Shepherd, Dierks Bentley, and Lady Antebellum.  Um, hellooooo!  They are super-talented, but there is also a permeable CHEMISTRY among them that suggests Hillary Scott may write their lyrics from experience...I'm just sayin'...Next up was the always-on-point Sugarland, Keith Urban, and Reba.  Y'all.  Seriously.  All those amazing artists in one night?  Someone pinch me!  And this is only halfway through the weekend!

Day Three

We are definitely winding down.  We are hot and tired and now constantly hungry.  So we rolled in for lunch at Margaritaville.  Hello Margaritas!  I may replace my Crystal Bowersox love with you!

After lunch, we visited The Stage.  Sound familiar?  No?  It is the bar on Broadway where parts of the movie Country Strong was filmed. 

Leighton Meester and Garrett Hedlund in 'Country Strong'
© Screen Gems

Well, we're not movie stars, but we do feel a little country strong. So, let's mug for the camera!

The stadium was quickly filling up, so you know what that means?  Time for Concert #3!  Tonight was one of those nights where I didn't think I was super excited about the lineup.  Boy, was I wrong.  It was amazing and one I'll never forget!

We had really quick appearances by Chris Young and Danny Goeke -- both reality-turned-country music stars.  Then Little Big Town took to the stage.  Among their popular hits, they sang a countrified version of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way".  I'm in love with this song all over again!

No, I didn't make that video, but we did have really great seats--especially considering they were free!  Here's how the stage looked each night as we took our seats:

Okay, so continuing the show after that crazy-cool Little Big Town performance was Martina McBride.  Girl's got some pipes, y'all!  And she brought out a surprise guest, Lauren Alaina to duet "Dream It Anyways" with her!  The crowd went wild.  

Next was Josh Turner and guess what...he introduced a surprise guest Scotty McCreery to duet "Your Man" with him.  Hooray for the current American Idol and American Idol runner-up for both being big ol' country stars in their own right.

We were not through yet.  Night 3 was proving to be way better than I thought.  I wasn't super pumped about Trace Adkins or Rascal Flatts who were set to close the show in that order but check it out.  Trace Adkins was in the news lately because his house burned to the ground.  He brought me to tears as he thanked his fans for their love and support. With an audible lump in his throat he said “But please take that feeling of generosity and point it somewhere else. Give it to the Red Cross or somebody like that because we’re okay,” Then he sang his new single, “Just Fishin'" about a dad's love for his daughter and I thought about Bobby and Caroline the whole time.

Last but not least we heard from Rascal Flatts.  They did their obligatory "Life Is A Highway" and such, but the cool part about their show was when they performed their new single "I Won't Let Go".  Everyone had been given these little pen lights upon entering the stadium and during this song, the venue was dark except for the starry night and 50,000 twinkling little lights.  There were few dry eyes in the house.

Phew!  I'm pooped, y'all.  But we have one more day!  Stay tuned!