Nashville: I Like It. I Love It. I Want Some More of It

Despite waking up to torrential rain, crackling thunder and tornado warnings for the greater Nashville area, the first official day of the 2009 CMA Music Festival -- Thursday, June 11 -- turned out to be a great one. At least the day stages were great. As of this writing, the nighttime shows haven't happened yet.

Gretchen Wilson started off the day playing to a sea of plastic yellow ponchos in a packed Riverfront area. Within minutes, the inclement weather gave way -- first to some haze and then actual blue sky. And I know the crowd appreciated it! It wasn't long before they were downing Coors Light and Mike's Hard Lemonade -- no matter the clock hadn't struck 11:30 a.m. yet. Gretchen herself took a hefty swig of Jack Daniel's during "All Jacked Up." Perfect.

Phil Vassar was a crowd pleaser for sure. He sang all his hits, and he has plenty of them. My personal favorite is "That's When I Love You," but "Just Another Day in Paradise" is a charmer, too. And country's official piano man did them both, and a lot more.

Chuck Wicks was a surprise to me -- in a good way. He was affable and self-deprecating about his time on Dancing With the Stars, which I thoroughly enjoyed and respected. He even apologized for wearing a leotard. Ok, not really. But he did say he found a whole new appreciation for satin and lace. His high moment came when he sang "Stealing Cinderella." I think you could hear a pin drop; very impressive.

Another impressive surprise was the Randy Rogers Band. They seemed visibly uncomfortable onstage, but didn't miss the opportunity to beg the crowd to "keep country real." And they came to the side after their show to sign autographs, which always scores points.

Ashton Shepherd is just so frickin' cool, and she doesn't even try. Her effortless grace just amazes me -- as does her Alabama twang. Even though fake tans obviously surpassed fanny packs as the accessory of choice for CMA Music Fest 2009, Ashton graciously acknowledged the "girls sunning themselves in their bikinis." She is a much better person than I. And oh man, did the crowd love "Takin' Off This Pain."

James Otto is one sexy muther, let's just put that out there. And he really heated things up when he sang, "Just Got Started Lovin' You." Oooooh lordy!

I figured that was as good a time as any to leave. The sun was starting to get to me, and it was either go back to the hotel and write this down, or tuck into the Mike's Hard Lemonade. There's still along day ahead, and who likes lemonade, anyway?

Click on the playlist below to hear a few of the songs today's group of artists sang at the Riverfront in Nashville.