2013 CMA Fest: Tuesday, June 4th

We started our day off at the Craig Campbell Cornhole Tournament, which he happened to win.  Think the fix was in?  You would think so, but it was his tournament and it was his game of choice, so he’s likely good enough to win the thing…read more about it here!

From there, we stopped in at several of the honkytonks along Broadway in downtown Nashville.  If you love live country music, this is the place for you!  There are at least a dozen bars that always seem to have some kind of live music going on at any given time.  Some venues have multiple levels and stages!

At Legends, we ran into a friend of ours that I met a couple of years ago in South Florida named Hali Hicks.  She is a very talented and beautiful young lady with a killer voice.  Check her out if you get a minute!

We then began our busy night by stopping in at the Stars for Second Harvest charity event hosted by hit-songwriter Craig Wiseman.  We had a chance to interview him before the show, then got to take our seats in the historic Ryman Auditorium.  Wiseman kicked the show off by inviting out his wife to say a prayer, then he sat down and played a couple of hit songs that he’s written.  Check out this list of some of the songs he’s written or co-written:  Kenny Chesney‘s “The Good Stuff,” “She’s Got It All,” and “Summertime;” Tim McGraw‘s “Live Like You Were Dying,” “Where the Green Grass Grows,” “The Cowboy In Me,” and “Everywhere;” “Something’s Gotta Give” by LeAnn Rimes, “Just Another Day in Paradise” and “A Real Love” by Phil Vassar, and many more.

Rhett Akins, who had a successful solo career before turning into a full-time songwriter then came out to join him, followed by Chris Tompkins (wrote or co-wrote Carrie Underwood‘s “Before He Cheats” and “Blown Away,” Florida Georgia Line‘s “Get Your Shine On” and more).

When it came time for them to play Blake Shelton‘s “Boys Round Here,” penned by Akins, they brought Sarah Buxton out to perform the Pistol Annies part of the song!  Unfortunately we had to leave early and missed out on seeing Ronnie Dunn, Florida Georgia Line, and Nelly perform, but by all accounts, this was one heck of a show that raised tens of thousands of dollars for Second Harvest.  Kudos to Wiseman for putting on a heck of an event!

We then moved on to the Grand Ole Opry where we witnessed another great show.  The lineup for the night included Kellie Pickler, Diamond Rio, Bill Anderson, Lennon and Maisy (the little girls from the TV show Nashville), Ricky Skaggs, Rascal Flatts, American Idol’s Kree Harrison, and Keith Urban.  Each act performed three songs, and we witnessed Keith Urban introduce Harrison for her Opry debut.  It was a great high energy show all throughout, with highlights including Kellie Pickler‘s emotional new single, “Someone Somewhere Tonight,” Bill Anderson‘s humorous “Too Country?”, the adorable shyness and awe in Lennon and Maisy’s performance, and the guitar playing of Keith Urban.

Here’s a few photos from The Grand Ole Opry.  We’ll have more up on our Facebook page in the coming days!