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Backstage Country

GALLERY: CMA Fest 2023 Night One – Luke, Carly, And More

It’s CMA Fest week, and tonight (6/9) on the Nissan Stadium stage in Nashville, HARDY, Lainey Wilson, Keith Urban, Miranda Lambert, and more will take the stage to perform. As…

GALLERY: CMA Fest 2023 Night One - Luke, Carly, And More
Jason Kempin/Getty Images

It's CMA Fest week, and tonight (6/9) on the Nissan Stadium stage in Nashville, HARDY, Lainey Wilson, Keith Urban, Miranda Lambert, and more will take the stage to perform.

As Keith told us last year at the festival before he took the stage, "I love it! It's like summer camp. I mean, it is! It's a chance to obviously see a lot of people I don't normally see. I don't know. It's just palpable. Since Fan Fair, it's just been that sort of week-plus of energy; the town just explodes, and what it is we love about this genre and the community aspect of it. I always love it."

Last night (6/8), before he took the stage for his first solo CMA Fest performance, Tyler Hubbard told us, "It means a ton to me to have these songs connect the way they have, it's been really special. It's inspired me. It's motivated me, and it makes me want to keep doing it, and it's given me a lot of life. These songs are special, and they mean a lot. And to watch the fans sing 'em back to me at the shows and to hear their stories and to see their videos that they're making to my music, it's fulfilling as a songwriter, as an artist."

He added, "It's just what I love, and like I said, it just motivates me to keep doing this thing. I just love the connection, and that's what music does. It brings us together, and so that's why I'm honored to be a part of it."

As fans start to gather at Nissan Stadium for tonight's (6/9) show, we look back at the first night of CMA Fest 2023 at the Nashville stadium stage.

Dan +Shay - CMA Fest 2023 - Day 1

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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - JUNE 08: (L-R) Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney of Dan + Shay perform on stage during day one of CMA Fest 2023 at Nissan Stadium on June 08, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)


Dan + Shay - CMA Fest 2023 - Day 1

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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - JUNE 08: (L-R) Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney of Dan + Shay perform on stage during day one of CMA Fest 2023 at Nissan Stadium on June 08, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)


Tyler Hubbard - CMA Fest 2023 - Day 1

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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - JUNE 08: Tyler Hubbard performs on stage during day one of CMA Fest 2023 at Nissan Stadium on June 08, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)


Tyler Hubbard - CMA Fest 2023 - Day 1

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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - JUNE 08: Tyler Hubbard (R) performs on stage during day one of CMA Fest 2023 at Nissan Stadium on June 08, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)


Carly Pearce - CMA Fest 2023 - Day 1

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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - JUNE 08: Carly Pearce performs on stage during day one of CMA Fest 2023 at Nissan Stadium on June 08, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)


Carly Pearce - CMA Fest 2023 - Day 1

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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - JUNE 08: (L-R) Jo Dee Messina and Carly Pearce perform on stage during day one of CMA Fest 2023 at Nissan Stadium on June 08, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)


Luke Combs - CMA Fest 2023 - Day 1

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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - JUNE 08: Luke Combs performs on stage during day one of CMA Fest 2023 at Nissan Stadium on June 08, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)


Luke Combs - CMA Fest 2023 - Day 1

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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - JUNE 08: Luke Combs performs on stage during day one of CMA Fest 2023 at Nissan Stadium on June 08, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)


Luke Combs - Vince Gill - CMA Fest 2023 - Day 1

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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - JUNE 08: (L-R) Luke Combs and Vince Gill perform on stage during day one of CMA Fest 2023 at Nissan Stadium on June 08, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)


Jordan Davis - CMA Fest 2023 - Day 1

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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - JUNE 08: Jordan Davis performs on stage during day one of CMA Fest 2023 at Nissan Stadium on June 08, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)


Jordan Davis - CMA Fest 2023 - Day 1

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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - JUNE 08: Jordan Davis performs on stage during day one of CMA Fest 2023 at Nissan Stadium on June 08, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)


Jo Dee Messina - CMA Fest 2023 - Day 1

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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - JUNE 08: Jo Dee Messina performs on stage during day one of CMA Fest 2023 at Nissan Stadium on June 08, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)

Nancy Brooks has been working in the country music industry for almost 30 years. She has interviewed pretty much any country star you can think of. In the late 1990s, she started working with Dolly Parton. And yes, Nancy reports that Parton is as sweet as you would think. She loves her life in country music and has been backstage at every CMA Awards show since the late 1990s. Many of her stories are from her one-on-one interviews. She was there at the beginning of the incredible careers of many music superstars today, including Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Blake Shelton, and has interviewed them multiple times throughout the years.