CMA Fest- Like the Awards But With More Music

     A month ago, ABC showed its broadcast of June's CMA Music Festival: Country's Night to Rock. The event kicks off summer in Nashville with a week of events and concerts. Basically, it brings today's biggest country stars on one stage in a stadium for the coolest weekend-long country music festival.This event  began in 1972 but has taken off in the last few years as country music has become entirely more mainstream. There are various CMA events in Nashville and many opportunities for up and coming artists to show off their talents (but that's not getting airtime yet). I've been to a few CMA-sponsored songwriter events and they are fantastic and highly recommended. This link is for my video of Brett Eldredge playing a CMA event on the cusp of his first single "Don't Ya" taking over the radio. 

     CMA Fest has become a big deal in the last few years. Tickets for the 2017 fest are already on sale for next June. The T.V. airing of the concert is part of ABC's lead-off to the CMA Award nominations, which broke last week. Please note, Jason Aldean has been snubbed. Yes, this huge concert is just a halfway point in the year between CMA award shows. For November 2nd's 50th anniversary awards show, we can look forward no further than usual duo Carrie Underwood and  Brad Paisley. 

Not CMAs, but some country awards won by Dierks Bentley (c) PipPepPop

Not CMAs, but some country awards won by Dierks Bentley (c) PipPepPop

CMA Fest Best Performances:

1. Luke Bryan

Luke began shaking his booty for his new song "Move", which is always reason to celebrate. But during another song, he showed off his guitar skills only to be shown up by banjo god Keith Urban. Keith then guitar battled and jammed with Luke's band. 

2. Lady Antebellum  and Cam

Lady A has been taking a bit of a hiatus this summer while they spend time with their babies and pursue other projects, but their moving collaboration with Cam was delightful. The trio joined Cam on her ballad "Burning House" and brought tears to our eyes.

3. Carrie Underwood

Carrie greeted fans while performing this spring's "wife-turned-murderer" ditty, "Church Bells." For her newer single, she soloed on the harmonica and explained a crime for the ages in the "Chocktaw County Affair." 

4. Hank Williams Jr., Chris Janson, Justin Moore
I've seen 'Ol Bocephus before and I was not particularly excited about it. But these guys had a very upbeat (an not overly redneck) 'ole ruckus on stage with a full brass section backing them. Rolling Stone called Hank the top act to see at the fest. 

The Time I Saw Ol' Bocephus

USA's Playing House:
The Bocephus Disguise

     According to Urban Dictionary: Bocephus is a common nickname for Hank Williams Jr. Hank got the nickname from his famous father, who looked in the cradle and just called him "Bocephus." Bocephus is a common phrase airbrushed on 1984 Ford F-150s.

     I won tickets to attend the third day of a three-day country music festival in upstate New York. It happened to be on Father's day, so I got my trusty pop to be my plus one. We were hoping to arrive early afternoon after a family lunch and we would catch acts like Thompson Square and Thomas Rhett. The first two days of the festival had amazing headliner acts like Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley, and our Sunday night juggernaut, ol' Bochphus.

View from the top of the ski slope.

     A long story short, we ended op getting very lost. My GPS on the phone was picking up signals beyond 1x data,  I think guidance was likely from spaceships. When we arrived, we were able to park nearby the camping area, outside of the ski resort t for no additional fee. Other told us they had paid $30.00-$50.00 to park their cars there. The staff managed to find two more bracelets to admit us in, and into the breach we went. Thank god for real bathrooms! We were also relieved to find there was still some beer.

Ol' Junior. 

     Just in time for the last set, we struggled to make a list of songs we knew from Hank Jr. We came up with the Monday Night Football Theme and the original version of "I Fought the Law." We were treated to renditions of songs by his father and Jerry Lee Lewis, we we were very much out of sync with the rest of the crowd. There were so many mud-stricken people there, dirty and drunk from three long days of partying, and covered in terrible sunburn. Halfway into the set, dad asked I wanted to head home, and I couldn't have been happier to head back to civilization.  I can safely say I would never have enjoyed Woodstock.