Country music icons gather in Nashville to celebrate the people, songs, and traditions that make country music great.
CMA Fest is called country music’s biggest party for a reason. The mammoth music and fan festival gathers hundreds of the genre’s most beloved musicians, songwriters and other personalities along with nearly 100,000 fans each day in downtown Nashville, where parties pour out from stages and barrooms all along Broadway and even across the river to Nissan Stadium, where star-studded performances cap off all four nights.
However, the best part of CMA Fest isn’t just the music, the location or the people, but rather that much of the action can be observed free of charge. After attending CMA Fest for the first time in 2025 as credentialed media, I made my way back to Music City this year to take in the first half of the festival without wristband access. With a half dozen free stages along with access to all the bars on Broadway, I quickly learned the lack of a credential was not going to prevent me getting my boot scootin’ boogie on.
With that in mind, continue reading to relive the best things I saw at CMA Fest, from C&I cover stars Cody Johnson and Ashley McBryde at Spotify House to a Randy Travis room naming at the Nashville Palace and the long-awaited return of Florida-Georgia Line.
Randy Travis Room Naming
Capping off two days that included the proclamation of Randy Travis Day in Tennessee and the naming of a room at the Nashville Palace in his honor, the six-time GRAMMY award winning crooner was on hand to witness a multi-genre and multi-generational lineup of artists jam to his songs at the Palace Wednesday night. Top highlights included James Dupré tackling Travis’ second ever no. 1 hit “Diggin' Up Bones”, Kylie Frey putting her own spin on “I Told You So” and a group sing on perhaps Travis’ most prominent song, “Forever And Ever, Amen” that featured the likes of Waka Flocka Flame, Drake Milligan, Walker Montgomery, Jacob Tolliver, Cassidy Daniels, James Dupré, Jeff Bates, Palmer Anthony, Dianne Sherril, Dalton Webb, Bobby Johnson, Cody Glenn Cox and others.
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Stephen Wilson Jr.
The Southern Indiana songwriter delivered introspective lyricism with sweaty, rustic guitar riffs from the banks of the Cumberland River Thursday afternoon, sending fans filling the hillside viewing area into a frenzy with songs like “Cuckoo” and “Gary”, the latter of which produced a nearly 10 minute long jam that saw Wilson Jr. venture into the crowd before eventually finding his way back on stage to close out the bonafide rock anthem.
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Cody Johnson & Ashley McBryde At Spotify House
One of the hardest rooms to get into all week at CMA Fest was Blake Shelton’s Ole Red, which was officially rebranded as Spotify House for the past seven years, and Thursday was no exception. With music kicking off with Jon Pardi and also featuring Texan Koe Wetzel, a surprise performance from Jason Aldean and evening performances from C&I cover stars Cody Johnson and Ashley McBryde as well as Jelly Roll.
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Among day one’s biggest moments were Wetzel previewing music from his album The Night Champion out June 16 like “Dollar And A Bottle” and “Hurts Like You”, Aldean bringing his dirt road anthem “Try That In A Small Town” to the bright lights of Broadway, and McBryde welcoming rock icon Melissa Etheridge to sing her hit song “I’m The Only One”.
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But the biggest surprise came when Johnson, on the heels of releasing his new record Banks Of The Trinity June 26, opted to perform his five no. 1 hits — “Til You Can’t”, “The Painter”, “Dirt Cheap”, “I’m Gonna Love You” and, just two weeks ago, “The Fall” — rather than focusing on new material. The crowd of course ate up every minute of it, even joining him in singing his first no. 1 “Til You Can’t” that left me with goosebumps.
Florida-Georgia Line Reunites
Following internet rumblings Thursday afternoon about the bro-country duo of Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley soundchecking their behemoth 2012 debut single “Cruise” inside Nissan Stadium, Florida-Georgia line made the long bubbling rumors of a reunion a reality when they took to that stage together later that night to officially close their more than four year hiatus with performances of the aforementioned “Cruise” and “Round Here”, sending the crowd into a frenzy in the process.
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Country Central Songwriter Round
Singer-songwriters Charles Wesley Godwin, Willow Avalon, Wyatt Flores and Stella Lefty convened on the Close Up Stage of CMA Fest’s Fan Fair X for a captivating songwriter round presented by Country Central. Notable performances ranged from Flores joining Godwin on “Hey There Son” from his album Christian Name out July 24, Lefty performing her song “Something To Lose” with her partner Vincent Mason, and Avalon throwing together her spicy, “Goodbye Earl” inspired single “Hypothetically Speaking”.
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PHOTOGRAPHY (header image): Courtesy CMA.
