It’s that time of the year again! The 2023 CMA Fest is kicking off this week in Nashville, and the stars are coming out to perform and hangout with their fans. You can find out where your favorite artists are playing, if go to cmafest.com here.
Darius Rucker unofficially kicks off his Darius & Friends concert on Monday (June 5th) with proceeds going to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
https://twitter.com/dariusrucker/status/1665801859372572674
The Grand Ole Opry will celebrate CMA Fest in a huge way with performances by Carrie Underwood, Josh Turner, Bill Anderson and Lainey Wilson beginning Tuesday (June 6th). On Thursday (June 8th), Sam Hunt and Terri Clark will perform. On Friday (June 9th) and Saturday (June 10th), Vince Gill, Trace Adkins and more are set to perform.
The CMA Closeup Stage will feature interviews and more with the Artists of the Day — Thursday (Dierks Bentley); Friday (Reba McEntire); Saturday (Brothers Osborne); Sunday (Wynonna Judd).
Spotify is featuring performances from tons of country artists, including Jordan Davis, Dierks Bentley, Sam Hunt, Brad Paisley, Brothers Osborne, Dalton Dover, Josh Ross, Luke Grimes, Mickey Guyton and many more, at their fourth annual Spotify House located at Ole Red on Broadway in downtown Nashville beginning Thursday (June 8th).
https://twitter.com/OleRed/status/1661010487704973315
Universal Music Group Nashville will be putting on a ton of performances, as well, at the Skydeck at 5th and Broadway for more than 20 hours of live music featuring Brothers Osborne, Jordan Davis, Maddie & Tae, Luke Grimes, Priscilla Block, Travis Denning, Kylie Morgan, Caylee Hammack, Catie Offerman, Josh Ross, Kassi Ashton, Dalton Dover, Boy Named Banjo, Sam Williams and many more beginning Thursday (June 8th).
https://twitter.com/UMGNashville/status/1664645097126862848
On Wednesday (June 7th), the annual Concert for Love and Acceptance will take place at Nashville’s Wildhorse Saloon. The show will feature performances by Maddie & Tae, Terri Clark, Pam Tillis, Desmond Child and more. More information can be found at nashvillepride.org.On Wednesday (June 7th), the annual Concert for Love and Acceptance will take place at Nashville’s Wildhorse Saloon. The show will feature performances by Maddie & Tae, Terri Clark, Pam Tillis, Desmond Child and more. More information can be found at nashvillepride.org.
Whiskey Jam will take over with performances by Kassi Ashton, the Hot Country Knights, Dylan Scott and many more. They start at Losers through Wednesday (June 7th) and then move downtown from Thursday (June 8th) to Sunday (June 11th).
Maddie & Tae are throwing their fans a party on Saturday (June 10th) from 11a – 1pm. This is their first-ever fan club party at 5th & Broadway’s Skydeck.
Audio / Darius Rucker returns to the historic Ryman Auditorium on Monday (June 5th) for his annual Darius and Friends concert benefitting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He says there’s nothing like CMA Fest.
DownloadDarius Rucker (CMA Music Fest) OC: …awesome. :48
“Music Fest is like nothing else. I say all the time that country music is the only genre that could have something like that. It’s truly amazing, when I come that weekend, people are everywhere and they want to be your best friend. It’s always cool and I love coming here. The thing that always gets me is the show. The fact that you can get that many superstars at one show all playing for free, for the same goal, to entertain those people that are in that stadium that come here for the whole week from all over the world. They come here for one week to see country music, and it’s amazing that those artists say on Friday and Saturday night, this is country music come on out. That’s awesome.”
Audio / DIERKS BENTLEY, WHO WILL PERFORM AT NISSAN STADIUM ON SUNDAY (JUNE 11TH AND IS CO-HOSTING THE TELEVISED VERSION OF CMA FEST) RECALLS THE WORST THING HE'S BEEN ASKED TO SIGN.
DownloadDierks Bentley (signing a baby’s head) OC: …child’s brain. :13
“A baby’s head with a sharpie. Yeah, like a two-week old baby. I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want to do it. The woman was like, ‘Please.’ I was like, ‘Alright.’ The head at that point is so vulnerable, transparent, so I’m just hoping they didn’t get any ink in the child’s brain.”
Audio / Jordan Davis, who has multiple performances this week including on stage at Nissan Stadium Thursday night (June 8th), says he’s grateful to be a part of CMA Fest (what he calls the best music festival around).
DownloadJordan Davis (CMA Fest) OC: …this one. :56
“The role reversal of who’s traveling. Now everybody gets to come to, not just my hometown, but all the artists. We’re all pretty much based in Nashville now, and it really is the best week of the year – from fan club parties to where we can go to and either play new music or just get a chance to say thank you. The fans are why we get to do this, so any chance we get to get one-on-one time with them or take a photo, play a song, say thank you, not just me, but we all love it. And also, to be able to be home, you know Broadway has such a special place in country music, so to bring country music to that street for a week and then end it every night at the stadium with the biggest names in country music. It’s the best music festival out there, and I’m truly blessed that I get to be a part of it. So, I’m grateful for it and looking forward to this one.”
Audio / Josh Turner, who will perform at Nissan Stadium during CMA Fest on Sunday night (June 11th), talks about the weirdest thing he's signed for a fan.
DownloadJosh Turner (weirdest things he’s signed) OC: …Sharpie, though. :10
“A toothpick; an unused toothpick, let me throw that out there, an unused toothpick. It was quite challenging, actually, and it didn’t look anything like my autograph. It took a really small Sharpie, though.”
Audio / KEITH URBAN, WHO PERFORMS AT NISSAN STADIUM (HOME OF THE TENNESSEE TITANS) ON FRIDAY (JUNE 9TH), SAYS CMA MUSIC FEST IS LIKE SUMMER CAMP.
DownloadKeith Urban (CMA Music Fest) OC: …love it. :25
“I love it! It’s like summer camp. I mean, it is! It’s a chance to obviously see a lot of people I don’t normally see. I don’t know. It’s just palpable. Since Fan Fair, it’s just been that sort of week-plus of energy; the town just explodes, and what it is we love about this genre and the community aspect of it. I always love it.”
Audio / LUKE BRYAN, WHO IS SET TO PERFORM AT NISSAN STADIUM ON SUNDAY (JUNE 11TH), ENJOYS CMA MUSIC FEST WEEK.
DownloadLuke Bryan (CMA Music Fest) OC: …for this week. :33
“It’s a great week. I truly love this week for hundreds of reasons. I always remember my first ones and starting out and doing River Stages and always dreaming of coming over here and performing at LP Field (now Nissan Stadium) and all of the stuff building the fan base early in the week. It’s an amazing week for Nashville, and it’s a great week for me. And then I get to be home and do all this stuff. It’s always been a fun week for me. A lot of my family always comes in for this week.”
Audio / Sam Hunt talks about his first time at CMA Music Fest.
DownloadSam Hunt (CMA Music Fest-move to Nashville) OC: …good week for Nashville. :38
“You know, I was here several years ago for the first time for CMA Fest as a fan. I came out to the show, did the full experience, and it really was one of the big reasons I decided to move to Nashville. It kind of made the idea of being a songwriter more tangible and realistic, and also I fell in love with the city, Nashville, so I knew it’d be a place I’d be happy living, and also because of the music. So, yeah, that week here really inspired my move here, and it was a significant part of my life. But since then, I’ve been to every CMA Fest since, I think, and it’s a good week for Nashville.”
Audio / Tyler Hubbard, who is set to perform at Nissan Stadium on Thursday (June 8th), talks about his first time at CMA Music Fest.
DownloadTyler Hubbard (1st CMA Fest) OC: …a special week. :55
“The first CMA Music Fest that I remember was we were not performing. We were not invited. It was BK and I were actually working as promotional guys for Coke Zero, so we were passing out free Coke Zero in the middle of summer in downtown Nashville, burning hot, and dreaming of the year that we would be able to play a show there. Looking back, it’s been such an awesome progression to go from that to playing small stages and then playing Riverfront and then getting to play Nissan Stadium multiple times was just a dream come true. Every year we’d go back, and we’d say remember where we started over there with the Coke Zero tent? So just a lot of great memories of that week, what a special week in Nashville and a special week for not only us as artists, but for the fans too to just connect, so it’s always a special week.”
