CMA Fest brings tens of thousands of Country Music fans to downtown Nashville, and while all of the official CMA Fest stages present top-tier talent, now celebrity Honky-Tonk owners are getting in on the action by hosting their own festivals during CMA Fest.
At Redneck Riviera, John Rich has brought plenty of his friends out to play, including Big Kenny to complete Big & Rich, Gretchen Wilson, Granger Smith, Daryl Worley, Thompson Square, and Natalie Stovall.
"You get a lot more intimate setting in a place like this," Stovall said of Redneck Riviera. "Sometimes the big stages, you feel like you're so far away from the fans, and I love this, the energy is just undeniable in a club like this."
Stovall is playing official CMA Fest stages, but she said the addition of all of the celebrity bars downtown is giving fans and artists even more ways to connect.
"When John Rich is your favorite artist, you can come to his bar. You might even see him, see the artists that he likes to play with," Stovall said. “It’s particularly exciting because just I’m going to get to share new music for the first time with the fans, and that right there is what CMA Fest is all about, it’s about sharing music, maybe for the first time.”
And many fans will hear artists they've never heard simply by being at CMA Fest.
"You can just kind of turn this way and you see a new band that you've never seen before," Stovall said.
While Redneck Riviera is planning their own Bash on Broadway, other Honky-Tonks are doing so as well, with Spotify hosting artists at Blake Shelton's Ole Red, special artists playing at Dierks Bentley's Whiskey Row, and artists expected to take the stage at FGL House, Jason Aldean's Kitchen & Rooftop Bar, AJ's, Margaritaville, and many others.
CMA Fest officially kicks off on Thursday, and this year, there will be new security measures in place, including a clear bag policy, which is used for many major sporting events including Titans games at Nissan Stadium.
That clear bag policy will be in effect for all CMA Fest stages, which includes the Riverfront Stage, HGTV Lodge, and the shows at Nissan Stadium.
