The HGTV Lodge is back for another great round of performances during CMA Fest! The HGTV Lodge always offers the hottest talent with entrance gained by winning tickets! Make sure you are signed up for Fan Access for CMA Fest. You can access it here!
Check out the lineup below!
With the ACM Party For A Cause Festival just a few short days away, I thought it might be fun to post a recap of my very first PFAC experience! Prior to the introduction of this multiple day star-studded music filled event, there were free shows on Freemont Street at night during The Week Vegas Goes Country. While those free shows continued during the 2013 ACM Week, they were discontinued the following year.
The first annual Party For A Cause Festival was hosted at The Orleans Hotel and took place Friday April 5th and Saturday April 6th, 2013. This event provided fans with an entire “ACM Experience,” as well as introducing fans to some philanthropic causes including Outnumber Hunger and the Wounded Warrior Project. The ACM Expo was free, but you had to pay to get to the festival inside to see the artists performances.
Day 1, Friday 3/5/13:
Performances by Cassadee Pope, Florida Georgia Line, Justin Moore, Brantley Gilbert, and headlining the first night was The Band Perry!
2013 was also the first year that Luke Bryan co-hosted the Awards Show with Blake Shelton, replacing his previous co-host Reba McEntire. The Academy cleverly named this duo “Bluke” and there were “Flat Blake’s” and “Flat Luke’s” passed out at the festival.
Along with this, there was also an amazing contest to win PIT TICKETS at the 48th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards!!
The First Annual Party For a Cause Festival is also where I met the owner of this website, Jencita. I had orginally found her on Twitter, met her in person in Vegas… and now, 3 years later, we will be road-tripping together to Vegas for the 4th Annual Party For A Cause Festival!
As you can see from that photo, night had fallen. I had won myself a pair of VIP bracelets to Kip Moore‘s late night performance at Freemont Street, so I had to hurry back to the hotel and change and get ready to see one of my favorite artists up close from the pit! Freemont Street was insane, so many people because there were such great artists, all performing for free! It was just a matter of how early you wanted to get there so you could be close enough to see! I definitely miss that aspect of ACM Week!
Day 2, Saturday 4/6/13
Day 2 of the party hosted Dustin Lynch, Love and Theft, Kix Brooks, Lee Brice, Hunter Hayes, Eli Young Band and headliner Dierks Bentley.
The First Annual Party For A Cause Festival was obviously such a success that they are still continuing the tradition 3 years later. If you are heading there this year, make sure to check out our Party For A Cause Survival Guide!
Which artist performance or event are you most excited for this year?! Besides the opportunity to see and meet some of my favorite artists, I’m kind of most excited for the free Red Bull as you leave the festival gates at night to give me some energy for some late night fun! It will also be my first chance to see Maren Morris, Chris Lane, Chris Janson and Granger Smith. I’m very excited to see all of them for the first time!
ACM: Vocal Group Of The Year: This award is presented to an outstanding group featuring at least one vocalist in the country music indu
stry during the prior calendar year of November 27, 2014 to November 25, 2015. The factors to be considered include, but are not limited to, success at radio, sales of pre- recorded music, success in digital media, live concert ticket sales and vocal performances.
Eli Young Band– 2011 ACM winners for Song Of The Year, Eli Young Band is nominated for Vocal Group of the Year. It is their 4th time being nominated for the honor. Mike Eli said
“We have some really cool new music coming, and this nomination is a great way to get started talking about what we have coming around the corner. We’re grateful for the nomination and can’t wait to share the new music with our fans. Vegas here we come!”
Their song “Turn It On” was the most added song to radio on march 9, 2015. They also released a duet with Andy Grammar “Honey, I’m Good.” The band has just finished recording their new album.
Little Big Town – It’s no Doubt, LBT is on fire, winning a GRAMMY for Best Country Duo/Group Performance “Girl Crush” which was released Dec 15, 2014 and went to number 1 in May 2015. They are the reigning Vocal Group of the Year and will definitely be hard to beat with all of their latest success.
Old Dominion– First time nominees, Old Dominion is nominated for both Vocal Group and New Vocal Group. Their album Meat and Candy released in November 2015 debuted at #3 on the US country chart. Their Single “Break Up With Him” reached #1 on US Country Airplay and #3 on US Country.
“As songwriters, we started playing together so our songs would be heard and people would hopefully want to cut them. So to know that as a band we have been honored by receiving this type of recognition has us all feeling incredibly grateful and truthfully, a little speechless.”
Rascal Flatts– Arguably one of the most talented and long standing acts in Country Music and one of the most snubbed. They were the ACM Top New Vocal Group in 2000. and Top Vocal Group 2002-2005. They won again 2007-2008 and haven’t won since. This is their 11th nomination for Vocal Group of the Year. If they win, this will be their eighth trophy in this category. They are the current record holders for most wins in the Vocal Group of the Year category. Their single “I Like The Sound Of That” was released in August 2015 and made it to #9 on the US Country Airplay Charts and #15 on The Us Country Charts.
http://www.zacbrownband.com/templates/default/images/banner_band.jpg
Zac Brown Band– ACM 2009 Winner for Best New Vocal Duo/Group. They have won this category in 2012. They had two #1 songs in 2015 with “Homegrown” and “Loving You Easy.” Their 3rd single “Beautiful Drug” charted at #3.
