Live Review and Photos: CMA Fest 2024 – Nashville – Day 1

Words and Photos – LE / PC – @insideedgephotography

LIFE MUSIC MEDIA is on the ground in Nashville, Tennessee for the 2024 CMA Fest week – bringing some highlights from the core festival events, and a taste of the myriad of other gigs, performances and experiences that see the Country Music world take over the city for a full week.

LMM were granted Media Access to the daytime events, basically everything except the main Stadium shows for the Festival proper, and our roving reporter has tried to attend as many things as is humanly possible given the variety of locations and the sheer number of performances that happen at any given time of the day or night.

WME is kicking off CMA Music Fest Week with Losers Live, a free outdoor concert series at Losers in Midtown. The live shows feature major star headliners, icons, and rising country music stars.

The series kicked off on Monday, June 3, with a bang, featuring chart-topper and Billboard-lauded “golden-voiced Mississippi native” Randy Houser. Known for his powerful vocals, Houser headlined the night with additional performances from Zach Top, newly crowned ACM Duo winner Tigerlily Gold, Mackenzie Carpenter, and The Chattahoochies, and LMM was there as our first event coverage for the festival, thanks to the awesome team at EBR Media.

Heavy rain, thunder and lightning conspired to delay the start of this outdoor event, but did not dampen the spirits of the performers or punters, and The Chattahoochies got everyone in a country party mood with their triple-female vocal harmonies! The three front-ladies Audra Mae, Summer Overstreet and Kree Harrison state boldly that they take the “O” out of Country Music – which might give you a steer as to their no-holds-barred attitude!

Next up Mackenzie Carpenter welcomed everyone with a giant “Hey Y’all!!”, and the band kicked off an energetic set. Hailing from the small town of Hull GA, Mackenzie is the spunky blonde girl-next-door that fell in love with music as a kid, writing alongside her brothers and singing in church, with an upbringing consisting of a rowdy support network, back-porch hootenannies and juicy drama. Years later, the outspoken singer-songwriter in breaking the mould for small-town women by writing and singing her truth, armed with the knowledge that everyone has a little bit of a “hot mess” in them, no matter how shiny the book cover may seem.

Tigirlily Gold took to the stage with the band playing Eye Of The Tiger and kept the crowd pumping. The soggy parking lot was filling up fast, with everyone that stayed back because of the rain now arriving in droves. The sister duo of Krista and Kendra Slaubaugh has been playing music together since they could walk, and officially formed their band in high school. Growing up, they crisscrossed the mid-west, growing a fierce fan base and selling out amphitheatres across their home-state of North Dakota. After moving to Nashville, they landed a weekly residence at Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row on lower Broadway. Playing four-hour sets, three to four nights a week, the sisters developed a performance style that’s not only captivating and fun but shows just how much entertaining is in their blood.

25-year-old ZACH TOP is reviving the spirit of ‘90s traditionalists like George Strait, Keith Whitley, and Randy Travis with classic vibes that evoke the dancehalls of Texas, the roar of the rodeo, and jukebox ballads with a cold beer in hand. There’s nothing more current than old-school country to ZACH, who grew up on a ranch in Sunnyside, Washington, and he came across like a young Brad Paisley tonight, having a heap of fun onstage with his excellent band, getting the crowd singing and dancing along.

Headliner is the awesome Randy Houser, who we have seen Down Under more than once in the past few years, showing off his powerhouse voice. He seemed to be having so much fun onstage, and brought Zach Top back onstage for an encore, during which they appeared to crack each other up more than once!

CMA Fest is officially under way! A soggy and stormy opening night, but an amazing taste of the week to come.

Words and Photos – LE / PC
@insideedgephotography

CMA Festival – https://cmafest.com

Showcase night at Loser’s Bar & Grill in Nashville

The Chattahoochies