Nashville Wrap-Up: I've Got the Post-CMA Blues

Just put my feet back on terra firma after a hectic plane trip back from Nashville. But the hassles of missing luggage, serious turbulence in and out of Houston (where I changed planes) and over-packed carriers have done nothing to dull the glow of my trip to the CMA Awards. And you know, I miss Nashville already!

My first big event was a lunch that Universal threw for a large group of (mostly) country radio programmers in town for the awards. It was a nice way for the label to introduce us to some of their new signings, namely Randy Houser and Jonathan Singleton. Kevin Costner was also there, but he didn't play for us. Have you checked out Randy's "Anything Goes" yet? Pretty awesome. You will be able to find his new album in Rhapsody on November 18. Jonathan Singleton, you may not have heard of before, but I am sure you heard Gary Allan's hit "Watching Airplanes," which is a Singleton-penned beauty and if the performance Tuesday afternoon was anything to go by, there are plenty more moving songs where that one came from.

One of the highlights of the trip was going to Dierks Bentley's property just outside Nashville near Leiper's Fork. He recently purchased a number of acres there, but hasn't yet built anything on it. So when we arrived, we sort of thought we might be crashing some other 'do' because nothing was marked like "Bentley's Triple Bar Ranch" or something like that. But we walked to a little tent and were picked up by a truck and driven up a hill. When we finally got level, we could see a huge bonfire in the near distance and a tent with lights on just beyond that.

We were greeted and told to go in the tent for dinner and drinks and keep warm by the bonfire. So we did.

They made this stuff called Lynchberg Lemonade, which was Jack Daniels (Lynchburg, Tennessee is where Jack is made) and lemonade. Well, we had to try it, right?

Label Relations Manager Dave Krinsky helping himself to this delicious concoction.

The whole time, Dierks mingled with the crowd – about 100 people – until it was time for him to get up on a makeshift stage and welcome everyone.  He told us he just mastered his new album four days ago (expected release is February 2009!), and he was going to play it for us and he hoped we liked it. It's hard to listen – really listen – to something at an event like that, but it seemed a mostly rockin' album with a lot of fast, uptempo numbers. Which is good. I think there have been enough sappy ballads released in 2008 to last a lifetime. Or at least until 2010.

Dierks hanging out with some of the Rhapsody crew.

Okay, all that is fine and good, but you want to know about the CMA awards, right?

We came to Nashville without tickets to the show itself, and that was fine 'cause we were going to the after parties, and I mean, that's where the free booze is, so all was well. But at the last minute, I got a pair of tickets from "Saint" Brad at Capitol Records.

And man – these seats were rocking! Look how close we were to the stage!

There were lots of highlights about the ceremony itself. I loved being able to see  the big-named artists getting walked down to the "good" seats during the commercial breaks. We'd be talking and then out of nowhere the Eagles would walk past.

It's also funny how you'd just look into the crowd and it would dawn on you that that was Trace Adkins. And he was sitting behind George Strait. Who was across the aisle from Lady Antebellum. Just from a stargazing point of view, that was a lot of fun.

And during the commercial breaks, they would play "vintage" clips of classic artists such as Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Tom T Hall, Charlie Pride, etc. It was amazing! And I don't know if that's something that's always done, or they just did it this year to school all the "Gone Country" type artists. Either way, I loved it.

Hey – did you see Kellie Pickler's black leather outfit? Wow! Meee-ow!

(And ... you're welcome)

One of the biggest and best surprises of the night was Lady Antebellum winning New Artist of the Year. I have to say, there were a lot of talented newcomers up for the award (which hopefully bodes well for the future of country music), but if you read the piece on the CMAs that CMT's Todd Hedrick and I did earlier in the week, you know that Lady A were my personal faves. Super cool for them to win it!

Another nice surprise was George Strait's two awards for Single of the Year ("I Saw God Today") and Album of the Year (Troubadour). My friends at CMT tell me those two awards put George on top as the all-time award-winning artist in the history of the Country Music Association. He knocked off Brooks and Dunne and now has won more awards than anyone – super cool. There is a reason why they call him "King" George, you know.

Fast-forward to the after parties. And there were a lot of them for the Rhapsody gang to crash! The Big Machine party was actually in one of the suites at the Sommet Center, where the ceremony took place. Since it was closest, that was our first stop. And everyone else had the same idea 'cause it was packed when we got there. Big Machine's newest signing, the fabulous Reba McEntire, arrived shortly after we did and set the room buzzing! She is so well-loved by her country music brethren! It was really too crowded to be comfortable there, so we left some of the Rhapsody gang there and hit the road. We should have stayed because they got to meet Taylor Swift!

Courtesy of Tim Quirk's Blackberry.

We went to the Universal party after that, and I have to admit, I went on a bit of a Shania Twain stalking mission. She was supposed to have been there, but I didn't see her. I did, however, see Biggest Loser contestant (and Universal's next, um, big thing) Dan Evans. If you watched the show, you will know who he is when I tell you he was the blonde guy who kind of looked like Cousin Oliver on The Brady Bunch. Oh, yes. The light goes on.

The Sony/BMG party proved fruitful for a number of reasons: first and foremost, I got to ditch my heels in favor of some Margaritaville flip-flops. What a relief it is! And anytime there's an opportunity to trade drinking beer for drinking margaritas, I'm there! Plus, when it came to celebs, how could you beat Kenny "Entertainer of the Year" Chesney. (Thank you Dave and Heather!) Kenny tells me he hopes to do another tour like his Pirates & Poets tour, where he took out a whole ensemble of opening acts. Sounds good to me!

Our final stop was the Capitol Records party. And while I did miss seeing Keith Urban, I did manage to introduce myself to Dave Heywood of Lady Antebellum. He was elated at the Best New Artist win and was having a good time celebrating it at the party. Darius Rucker was also hanging out and enjoying the evening as were Little Big Town, Eric Church and hilarious hunk Luke Bryan. Have you seen the video for "Country Man?" You gotta check that out.

2008 CMA Award winners:

Entertainer of the Year: Kenny Chesney
Male Vocalist of the Year: Brad paisley
Famale Vocalist of the Year: Carrie Underwood
New Artist of the Year: lady Antebellum
Vocal Group: rascal Flatts
Vocal Duo: Sugarland
Single of the Year: George Strait - "I Saw God Today"
Album of the Year: George Strait - Troubadour
Song of the Year: Sugarland - "Stay"