Нэшвиллдегі кантри музыка фестивалі

Country music festival in Nashville, Tennessee, USA

The CMA Fest, formerly named CMA Music Festival until 2018, is a four day Music festival centered on country music, hosted each June by the Country Music Association (CMA) in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. Beginning in 1972 under the name Fan Fair, the event now draws approximately 350 artists and celebrities who hold autograph sessions and perform in concerts offered throughout the festival. Proceeds from the festival benefit music education programs in public schools through the charitable arm of CMA, the CMA Foundation.

WSM radio, coordinating with the Country Music Association (CMA), created Fan Fair in 1972 so that fans would refrain from attending the annual radio industry only convention meant more for disk jockeys and other radio dignitaries that the CMA hosted in the fall. The inaugural Fan Fair was held from April 12–15, 1972, at Nashville's Municipal Auditorium. The inaugural four day event was attended by 5,000 fans and featured 20 hours of live entertainment and 100 exhibit booths, including autograph booths. The following year, Fan Fair was moved to June in the hope of finding better weather conditions and attracting more visitors—attendance doubled to 10,000 fans. In the third year, Paul McCartney, the first non country musician in the lineup, was invited to perform, and Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner performed a duet for the last time before dissolving their partnership. By 1982, the festival was moved to the Nashville Fairgrounds, and the All American Country Games competition was added. This event, which raised money for the Tennessee Special Olympics, was canceled in 1989 to add more shows. Garth Brooks decided at the last minute to attend the 25th anniversary of the festival in 1996. He was swarmed with fans, and stayed in his booth signing autographs for 23 hours and 10 minutes without a single break. Fan Fair underwent major changes in 2001. For the first time, the event was held over a long weekend (Thursday, June 14 to Sunday, June 17) instead of during the work week. At the same time, the festival moved from its long time home at the fairgrounds to several sites clustered in downtown Nashville, including Nissan Stadium, the Nashville Convention Center, Bridgestone Arena, and Riverfront Park. The fairgrounds itself was converted to a temporary campground for attendees. Until 2001, the evening concerts were organized by record labels, with each label choosing which of its artists would be able to perform, and the length of the appearance. Beginning with Fan Fair 2001, these main concerts were grouped instead by record distribution group. This allowed for four main concerts, for Sony, WEA/EMI, UNI, and BMG.

In 2004, the CMA renamed the event to the CMA Music Festival in order to change negative perceptions, embrace the CMA brand, and expand its appeal. Also in 2004, the ABC network televised the event as a two hour special known as CMA Music Festival: Country's Night to Rock. The first special, which aired on July 14, 2004, ranked number 16 in viewers, with an estimated 9 million people tuning in. The attendance slippage was not permanent; in 2007, a record breaking crowd of 191,000 people attended the festival. In 2010 and 2011, a record 65,000 people a day were estimated to have attended ticketed and free events. Visitors came from 41 different nations, and all 50 states. In 2015 tickets sold out seven months in advance and had a record setting attendance of 87,680 fans attending the event besting 2014 by 9.6%. In 2022, the festival returned for the first time (1099 days) since closing during the COVID 19 pandemic and sold out with fans from across the US and 39 countries.