CMA MUSIC FESTIVAL ROLLING WITH FREE PARADE AND BLOCK PARTY


CMA GETS 2012 CMA MUSIC FESTIVAL ROLLING
WITH FREE PARADE AND BLOCK PARTY WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6 IN DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE


Country Icon and Country Music Hall of Fame Member Glen Campbell
Named Grand Marshal; Little Big Town Invites Fans to Rock the River!

NASHVILLE – CMA
kick starts 2012 CMA Music Festival on
Wednesday, June 6 with The Eighth
Annual CMA Music Festival Kick-Off Parade at 11:00 AM/CT, followed by The Seventh
Annual CMA Music Festival Block Party at 12:30 PM/CT.

Country icon Glen Campbell will be the Grand
Marshal for the Parade. Campbell last performed at CMA Music Festival in 2004.
He has received two CMA Awards, including CMA Entertainer of the Year (1968) and
Male Vocalist of the Year (1968), and was inducted into the Country Music Hall
of Fame in 2005. Last year, Campbell announced he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s
disease. Since then, he released his final album, the critically-acclaimed
Ghost on the Canvas, and is in the
midst of his successful Goodbye Tour.       

“Last
year more than 16,000 fans lined Broadway for the Parade and with our beloved
Glen Campbell as Grand Marshal this year we are expecting even more people to
come out and show their support and love for this iconic Country Music figure,”
said
Sheri Warnke, CMA Senior Vice President of Communications and Marketing.

The Eighth
Annual CMA Music Festival Kick-Off Parade will launch from Tenth Avenue on Broadway
and end at Riverfront Park, site of the Chevrolet Riverfront Stage (First Avenue).
One of the most popular features of the parade is the 40 Country Music artists
riding in a wide variety of Chevrolet vehicles including vintage Corvettes.

Platinum-selling
Country group
Little Big Town has a different mode of
transportation planned for the Parade. In support of their new single “Pontoon”
each member of the group,
Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Phillip Sweet, and Jimi Westbrook, will be riding
on four different Premier pontoon boats alongside lucky fans.

“What could
we do for the fans that would be unique? Well, we can ride them around on a pontoon
at the CMA Festival Kick-Off Parade!,” said Fairchild. “After the parade we’ll
have the honor of kicking off the Block Party at the Riverfront Stage singing
‘Pontoon.’ It’s a good way to start CMA Fest, don’t you think?”

Little
Big Town will be performing as part of the LP Field Festival lineup on
Saturday, June
9
. The group has received a career total of nine CMA Award nominations to
date. The foursome recently recorded “Deep River Woman” with Lionel Richie
for his current album
Tuskegee, which hit the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Top 200 albums
chart. Little Big Town’s fifth studio album, produced by Jay Joyce, will be
released later this year and features the first single, “Pontoon,” which is
at radio now.      

With Campbell as Grand
Marshal, other artists are lining up to participate in the Parade including
Bill Anderson,
Lynn Anderson, Katie Armiger, Craig Wayne Boyd, Weston Burt, Craig Campbell, Bucky
Covington, Cowboy Troy, Ira Dean, Jaida Dreyer, Due West, Tyler Farr, Florida
Georgia Line, Flynnville Train, Colt Ford, The Grascals, Greg Hanna, Amber Hayes,
Angie Johnson,
Little Big Town, LoCash Cowboys, Rachele
Lynae, Manuel, The McClymonts, Randy Montana, Lorrie Morgan, Craig Morrison, The
Oak Ridge Boys, Chase Rice, Marlee Scott,  Matt Stillwell,  Payton Rae,
David St. Romain, The Roys, Jason Sturgeon, Trent Tomlinson, Trailer Choir,  Rhonda
Vincent,
and Corey Wagar.  

Other participants
include the world-famous Budweiser Clydesdales, BIC® Soleil Sunshine Squad, Carl
Black Chevrolet and the Luke Bryan/Eric Church 2012 Chevrolet Silverado, The 22
nd Annual City of
Hope Celebrity Softball Challenge, Cooter’s Garage General Lee, GEICO Gecko,
Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee, Gnash and the Nashville Predators Dancers and
Ice Girls, the Jelly Bean on Tour Bus, military veterans riding the Music City
Trolley, Music City Drum and Bugle Corps, a 40×60 foot American flag that will
be carried by veterans and representatives of Nashville’s Fire Department, Metro
Nashville Police Department Drill and Ceremony Team, Metro Police Mounted Unit,
Metro Police Special Operations Boat and SWAT Rescue Truck, Nashville Rollergirls,
Nashville Zoo and Twiga (the Zoo’s giraffe mascot), Operation Troop Aid, Travel
Channel’s Destination Summer Tour Bus, and more.

Making its second
appearance in the Kick-Off Parade is the Keep the Music Playing All Stars Marching
Band, which is made up of 125 students representing eight Metro Nashville Public
Schools including Antioch High School, East Literature Magnet School, Hillsboro
High School, Hunters Lane Comprehensive High School, John Overton High School,
Maplewood High School, McGavock High School, and Stratford STEM Magnet High School
playing together for the first time under the direction of Antioch High School
band director
Scott Miller, associate director Caryn Miller, and Jarrett Jones, who will be assisting with the drum line.

Since 2006,
CMA has donated half the net proceeds from the Festival to support music education
through the Keep the Music Playing program on behalf of the artists who make appearances
and perform for free.  

To date, more than $6.1 million has been donated to
purchase musical instruments and supplies, providing thousands of students in
Metro Schools with the resources and opportunities they could not have afforded
on their own, and giving many of them a strong reason to remain in school. The
total also includes a $1 million endowment gift for the Country Music Hall of
Fame and Museum’s Words & Music program, which assists language arts and
music teachers with classroom instruction in the basics of songwriting.

Following
the parade, The Seventh Annual CMA Music Festival Block Party will take place
at the Chevrolet Riverfront Stage. Free and open to the public, the concert starts
at 12:30 PM with Little Big Town kicking it off followed by
Brazilbilly, Eric
Lee Beddingfield
, and LoCash Cowboys.

The Block Party is just
the beginning, with four more days of live entertainment throughout downtown Nashville.

Featuring
concerts, autograph signings, family activities, and more, CMA Music Festival
is the Ultimate Country Music Fan Experience – a four-day celebration of America’s
music. In 2011, the event drew a record-setting 65,000 fans from all 50 states
and 26 nations and, for the second consecutive year, sold out in advance each
night at LP Field for the star-packed Nightly Concerts. According to the Nashville
Convention and Visitors Bureau, direct visitor spending generated by the Festival
totaled more than $30 million. CMA Music Festival is a four-time winner of the
International Entertainment Buyers Association’s LIVE! Award for Festival of
the Year (2004, 2006, 2008, 2010).

CMA Music Festival is organized and produced
by the Country Music Association. Fan Fair® is a registered trademark of CMA.
Chevrolet™ is the Official Ride of Country Music. American Airlines is
the Official Airline of the CMA Music Festival. BIC is an Official Partner of
the 2012 CMA Music Festival. Connect with CMA online at CMAfest.com, Facebook.com/CMA
and Twitter.com/CountryMusic.

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