Review by Lori Simpson

Day two began with a stroll around the Fan Fair Hall.  The autograph lines were long again as fan wanted to meet Bucky Covington early and The Oak Ridge Boys later in the afternoon.  Fan could also buy clothes from the Dolly Parton boot and the Reba booth, even though neither artist attended this year.  One booth that stuck out to me was the booth introducing the Johnny Cash museum that will be opening in Downtown Nashville late the summer.  It is long past time for a museum celebrating the life of the man in black.  The museum will chronicle all the way back to Cash’s days in the military.  Do you want to know a little known fact about Johnny Cash?   While in the military cash intercepted a coded message and was the first American to learn of the death of Joseph Stalin. Enjoy, that little tidbit was free.

            While inside the Fan Fair Hall, I dropped by the Durango Acoustic Corner stage to catch some performances.  They had a great line-up for day two including Bluegrass brother and sister duo The Roys.  The line-up also consisted of Bucky Covington, who took a break from signing autographs to perform, Janie Fricke, Gwen Sebastian, Buddy Jewell, T. Graham Brown among others.

            Among the artists performing at the Bud Light stage was Eric Paslay, Exile, The McClymonts from Australia, Big Smo, and Blackberry Smoke.  There was a nice crowd all day at the Bud Light stage and it was perfectly place with its proximity to the convention center and the Fan Fair Hall.

            The Chevrolet Riverfront stage started the day with Phil Vassar who is an amazing piano player and entertainer.  Following Vassar was James Wesley and The Oak Ridge Boys.  They are a crowd favorite every time they hit the stage and talk about stage presence.  Thomas Rhett followed up The Oak Ridge Boys and then to the stage came the beautiful Jo Dee Messina, who looked great even though she just had a baby at the beginning of the year.  Then came Gloriana, David Nail, Craig Campbell and THE FARM, before Sawyer Brown closed out the stage for day two.

            All that was left was the night concerts at LP Field.  Day two saw Ronnie Milsap, Brantley Gilbert, Jake Owen, The Band Perry, Blake Shelton, and Carrie Underwood.  Gwen Sebastian and Randy Houser did acoustic performances before the night was over.

            The CMA Fest is now half over but what a good first half it was with the weather a mirror image of the day before and the music even hotter.

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