Reasons why CMA Fest week was awesome:

1. It started with a parade of musicians sitting on top of pretty Corvettes, or in my case, standing on a big, white Chevy truck. And NOT falling over.

2. During that parade, it rained. Yet people still stood on the sidewalk in ponchos, waved, smiled, yelled, and took pictures...because country music fans are hardcore.

3. I shot guns at flying clay targets and hit one. (I'll leave out the fact that Jim Catino from Sony helped me hit it. As far as anyone knows, it was ALL on my own...) There are pictures in the 2010 album. I really enjoyed it, too. Is that bad?

4. While signing at the Opry booth, everyone would squint at the sign and say, "who is Jordyn Shellhart?" in hushed tones. My manager got an hours worth of people in line by pulling aside everyone that passed telling them my life story. It was really impressive.

5. I got to have my first fan party with Chuck Wicks, Emma Jacobs, and Kate and Kacey which was unbelievably cool.

6. A group of girls at the fan party came with shirts that spelled out ♥-J-O-R-D-Y-N-♥ when standing in order.

7. The Grand Ole Opry "In The Know" show was secret artists, one of which was me, and so a bunch of people showed up for a show at which they had no idea who was playing. They didn't know who I was when I came out, so it was like golf claps. They're all thinking, "THIS is the secret artist?" But it turned out to be so much fun, and I signed after and met so many cool people...they warmed up by the end of the first song ;)

8. The Band Perry was one of the other artists at that show. I absolutely love them. 

9. I played two sets with a full band for the first time since I was 13. One of those 2 sets was at the Wildhorse...I've always wanted to play there. So cool.

10. At that Wildhorse show, the line of people at the front of the stage were singing every word to every song. It could not have been cooler.

11. People line-danced to my music. Some of them were drunk and yelling really loudly. I almost started laughing in the middle of my song, but I refrained.

12. Evan Farmer from CMT watched my set, and afterwards told me that he was the Nick Carter of the boy band 2gether. So naturally, I went home and youtubed them. This is what I found: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc9Xyvvfm4I. May have changed my life a little bit.

The not-so-awesome parts of CMA Fest:

1. Chuck Wicks told me riding in the back of a golf cart was "fun." When I almost fell on my face in the middle of the street after the driver gunned it, he said, "that's why it's fun. Keeps you on your toes."

2. During the parade, my mouth started twitching and I had pretty much no control over it for a moment. I don't think we're supposed to smile that much for an extended period of time.

3. Dani Flowers, her brother, her niece and nephew, and I stood downtown in a torrential downpour with an umbrella that had absolutely no impact on rain hurling at us from all directions. Then, two teenage boys decided to join us under our already too small umbrella and asked if Dani's 4-year-old niece was my daughter. I don't mean to sound rude...but do you think he was really dumb, or just unobservant?

4. It was hot. All the time. So hot.

5. The guns at the CMA Clay Shoot were too heavy for me to hold, so I had to have someone helping me (because I'm unbelievably strong...like iron man wearing make-up). Plus, the kick just about knocked me over every time, so that person also had to hold me up when I pulled the trigger. GAC was filming the clay shoot and they asked to film me shooting the gun. So of course Chuck had to do all the work for me, it was caught on camera, and it was slightly embarrassing. 

6. The gun bruised my shoulder and I couldn't carry my guitar the day after because I was sore. 

7. Ty from The Bachelorette came to the fan party and the Wildhorse show, and both times he was mauled on the way there. I felt a little bad when he showed up out of breath and sweaty. But mostly it was funny, and re-instilled my belief that he's a good friend ;)

But the short version of my CMA Fest week is this: It was so much fun. I laughed a lot, met a lot of cool people, listened to great music, and played music, which is always the best feeling in the world.

And I just have to say...country music fans are unlike any other fans. I've come to many CMA Fests in the past, and every year it either rains or is like 400 degrees (or in this case, both). But you know what? It never stops people from lining up to meet their favorite artists or watching awesome shows. Such dedication. I am SO proud to call myself a country artist, and even more so to call myself a country fan.

To everyone I got to meet this week --- I LOVE YOU! Thank you for coming to say hi, buying my album, listening to me play, etc. I really really really really love you.

 

See you next year?

Infinite x's and o's,

Jordyn