iReports: Best of the Fest

Wednesday, June 10

CMA Music Festival Gets In Gear With Kick-Off Parade and Block Party

Eighteen musicians stood in the courtyard before Nashville’s First Baptist Church. Dressed in crisp white slacks and red jackets, members of the Music City Drum and Bugle Corps were very slowly mimicking the movement of archers, drawing back on an imaginary string while inhaling and then exhaling as they let go.

This exercise, called the "breathing gym," is standard practice among musicians who play in marching brass ensembles. As minutes passed, led by Executive Director Keith Hill, they moved slowly through other regimens, blowing soundlessly through their horns and gradually working toward warming up with long notes and slow scales.

On this muggy afternoon, the group wanted to make an especially strong impression as the lead ensemble in the CMA Music Festival Kick-Off Parade, a highlight of the day before the official launch of CMA Music Festival.

Meanwhile, around the corner and a block down Sixth Avenue, Country artists clustered inside a Sommet Center lounge, waiting to be escorted through the multi-level garage into the vehicles supplied by Carl Black Chevrolet as well as members of the Nashville Corvette Club, who had volunteered to chauffeur celebrities in their beloved convertibles.

Standing alongside his jet-black Corvette C4, Ron Compton recalled his experiences as a Kick-Off Parade driver, with passengers in years past that included Two Foot Fred, Chris Young and, this year, Collin Raye – but no women.

"I keep hoping," he said, with a laugh. "That’s why I keep coming back."

The fans keep coming back too. Approximately 3,000 of them, as estimated by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, lined the route down Broadway. "We just love Country Music," said Ken Friss, in town from Kingston, NY with his wife Ruth Ann. "And it’s so much fun coming here. I enjoy meeting the friends we’ve made here – and in 15 years, we’ve met a lot of people. We’ve already run into about 12 of them so far."

A half block to the east, near Sommet Plaza, another New York couple celebrated their first visit to the Festival. Paul and Michelle Jenkins, from Canastota, near Syracuse, treated each other to the experience as a 25th wedding anniversary. "I grew up with Country Music," he explained. "My father played it. My brother and I had a Country band through high school. So it’s kind of a dream to be here."

Before long, spectators and participants got what they all wanted: a spectacular procession through Downtown Nashville, with both sides smiling, waving and tightening that bond that exists between the creative and fan communities in Country Music. As the Music City Drum and Bugle Corps blared through "Strike Up the Band," the cars and trucks rolled. Rodney Atkins and his family perched on the back of a red Silverado, their legs dangling over the street. Behind them came Lo-Cash Cowboys, tossing soft, spongy baseballs; Sean Patrick McGraw, signing and handing out photos; The Oak Ridge Boys in back of a black Silverado, with Joe Bonsall gleefully filming the fans as they filmed him back; Sammy Kershaw flinging Mardi Gras beads; and dozens more, from Ronald McDonald to Championship Bull Riding stars, Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee and six leather-vested members of the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association on window-rattling Harleys.

The end of the parade signaled the beginning of the CMA Music Festival Block Party, starting around 3 PM on Sommet Center Plaza and winding late into the evening. Storme Warren joined Jon Anthony to offer live coverage over Sirius XM on "The Highway." Artists took their turns before the crowd and then joined the radio hosts beneath the awning over their broadcast platform next to the stage.

From the rooftop of Rippy’s Bar & Grill across Sixth Avenue to the fans that pressed against the metal barriers before the stage, this was a party in every sense of the word. Certainly Jason Michael Carroll got into the spirit during his set, when he brought his young son out to join his band. With a tiny toy guitar around his neck, J.W. Carroll worked the crowd and during a guitar solo joined his father, who counted down from four. On zero, they turned together toward the audience, tongues sticking out, eyes popping wide and fingers splaying like a crazy frame around cartoon caricatures.

But perhaps the best evidence of Country’s power occurred during the last number in Trent Tomlinson’s set. As he tore into "Country Is My Rock," a woman stepped up to William Hutton, 40, of Philadelphia, Penn., to ask him to dance. Hutton, who was in Nashville receiving treatment on an ailing knee, stood up from his wheelchair for the first time in weeks, took his partner’s hands and began cavorting – carefully but joyfully – as spectators cheered him on.

Call it getting in the spirit of the moment. Better yet, call it Country.

-- Bob Doerschuk

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CMA Music Festival Artists Speak through Premiere Radio Networks

The Nashville Convention Center quiet early on Wednesday, June 10. But through the stillness a buzz of conversation emanated from the Media Wing on the second floor.

There, in Rooms 205 and 206, some of the artists performing at CMA Music Festival sat in sleek black-and-chrome chairs and fielded questions from on-air personalities from 20 major-market radio stations, all of them broadcasting live during morning drive time back home.

Premiere Radio Network has offered this service at CMA Music Festival as well as the CMA Awards since 2000. It is, in effect, the ultimate radio tour, in which artists travel no more than a few steps at a time to address fans throughout the United States.

At around 7 AM on this particular morning, Jack Ingram was at speaking to listeners over KMPS-Seattle. A few tables further, Jonathan Singleton was the guest of the moment on "The Wank & O’Brien Show" over WLHK-Indianapolis. Dr. Don of WYCD-Detroit wrapped up his time with Darryl Worley, who added his name to the autographs on the station’s cardboard display card. And at WUBL-Atlanta’s setup, Blake Shelton struggled to keep from laughing while playing mandolin and singing the station’s jingle.

Premiere begins preparing for the CMA Festival in January each year, by confirming arrangements with radio stations, lining up furniture and breakfast buffet food and eventually recruiting a team of 40 to 50 talent escorts. All in all, about 75 Premiere staffers get involved with the project, including 25 working on site in Nashville Wednesday through Friday, with the first artists arriving at 5:45 AM and the last round starting at 8:45.

But for the radio personnel in from out of town, the fun began on Tuesday night, when Premiere conducted its annual orientation at its Convention Center facility. "And then Reba McEntire came in," said Ilycia Deitch Chiaromonte, Senior Director of Events, Premiere Radio Networks. "She was our surprise guest. We had a press conference setup, and the stations were able to ask questions and get some audio in the can to use at 3 o’clock in the morning. After that, we played Reba’s CD, hung around and enjoyed ourselves."

-- Bob Doerschuk