CMA Fest 2025 Reflection

You might be disappointed 😂

So this past week was CMA Fest in Nashville, TN.

CMA Fest started as ‘Fan Fair’ in 1972 by the Country Music Association to give fans a chance to connect with artists of the genre, and has been growing every year since.

Recently, as you probably figured, 100s of thousands of people ascend to Nashville to partake, many times at the dismay of locals.

To be completely honest with you all…I am NOT a fan of huge crowds like this. In the dead hot sun. Running back and forth to multiple stages, only to be told they’re ‘at capacity’ or the ‘influencers’ have filled up the standing room spots.

Regardless, this year, with so much going on in my life, I was only able to make it to ONE day of the performances. And it wasn’t my favorite.

No, I’m not complaining. Obviously it’s a festival and there are some things you just come to expect.

And for those of you saying I get the ‘media experience’. You’re wrong there, too. I did not apply, nor have I EVER been invited to partake in any media event or coverage, or given the opportunity to host or take part in anything special at CMA Fest since I started this brand. I honestly think CMA has wind of my ‘anti-radio’ country mantra…ha. Or I’m just not big enough to be an ‘influencer’….at least I care about the genre.

On a positive note. There were some things I enjoyed seeing on the performance side. More artists than normal, who I wouldn’t consider pop country, are getting their fair share of time at CMA.

Zach Top played the big show at Nissan. So did the Red Clay Strays.

People like Willow Avalon, Kaitlin Butts, and Giovanni and the Hired Guns nabbed spots at some of the bigger outdoor stages as well.

And the artists I did see (Willow Avalon, Braxton Keith, and Cole Goodwin) were a breath of fresh air.

However, two big things stuck out for me….

1 - The number of influencers this year was mind-blowing. Yeah, that’s a normal thing at big events, but most of the ones I see aren’t even fans of country music. They just got famous by doing dances with cowboy hats or putting together western-inspired outfits (probably without even knowing what spurs are), or they’re just big in their own right, not even associated at all with country/western anything. They get the VIP sections, to cut lines, to sit in the boxes at the big shows, not even knowing or caring about the artist, but not the true fans who followed these artists since they were playing dive bars in their hometowns. Or the ones who paid big money to still not have as good seats.

In fact, Whiskey Riff did an entire article on the same thing, where I found out that even artists’ spouses are forced to wait in lines, as some artists themselves are not given guest passes that go to influencers instead.

2 - Strict restrictions around water.

Again. I get it. Make money. Blah blah blah. But I paid $6 plus a tip at one of the stages for a shabby (less than $2 regularly) bottle of Dasani. I could take it out of that stage area…but here’s where they get you, I can’t bring it back in. Even if I bought it from there, I could PROVE I bought it from there, and could also prove it didn’t in fact have alcohol in it. Like I said, I GET regulation, trying to prevent unauthorized alcohol in and out of places. But yo…the security at that stage were horrendous. They were rude and accusatory. Yeah its Nashville, people are plastered drunk by 10 am but I wouldn’t let that, or your need to make so much money off the alcohol sales, prevent people from carrying around hydration.

Because hello…water? Come on. It’s sometimes 90+ degrees in the dead sun out there, where fans are walking from stage to stage and standing in the direct sunlight. You’re telling me I have to re-buy a new $6 bottle of water at every stage I go in and out of? Where, worst case, if I want to move stages, I have to chug the thing to get in, then if I get thirsty again at that stage, I have to buy a new one? No free water fill-up stations anywhere? There seemed to have been a few in some of the bars, but not at stages.

Seriously, make your money on the alcohol and let people have some damn water.

Either way, next year and the following years will be a toss-up on whether I even go or not. I enjoy seeing live music, but not in a highly stressful environment.

Thanks for coming to my TedTalk. Ha.

Til next week, keep country real,

Nikki