Darius 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.”

Dierks 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.”

Jordan 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.”

Josh 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.”

Keith 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.”

Luke 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.”

Sam 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.”

Tyler Hubbard (1^st 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.”