It was yet another “good ole time” at this year’s Country Radio Seminar in the always musical Nashville, Tennessee. The “grand event” always provides the best way to start out a music year and it did not disappoint one bit. For some of us at NMW we ventured from Los Angeles, CA into “Music City” and it was amazing to see some of the changes, especially with the new convention center and hotel that is “in the works”. There will no doubt be many changes at CRS for next year due to this new set up, so many of us were glad to be on hand for what could be the “changing of the guard”. From the time a few of us got off the plane the party pretty much started “out of the box”.

It was so great to once again meet up with many of our reporting stations. At times we can forget just how many people we work with on a day to day basis to put this little trade publication together and an event such as this serves as a reminder about just how many people we effect. There was no shortage of artists both new and established that kept us all pretty busy in the media room with interviews and photo highlights. Once again we enlisted the assistance of Buck McCoy who did a stellar job in attending to the many artists and bands that came through our New Music Weekly “media cave”. If you are an artist and you don’t see your name quite yet, we will get to all that we attended to in coming issues.

It was always a welcome towards the noon hour to take a break and attend the many luncheons that were offered. One of the highlights included the Back River Entertainment event featuring the likes of Sarah Darling, Craig Morgan and Kellie Pickler. Our photo editor/photographer Masika Swain was on hand and captured many great photos from that and many of our events and you will see many of them in this issue. None of us realized at the time that Kellie Pickler had just been added to the cast of Dancing With the Stars so the timing of having her at this event made it all equally special. All the great food and the mood at the luncheon events gave us the strength and inspiration to go back to work and meet with many more artists and bands for continued coverage.

The Grand Ole Opry made its debut at CRS 2013 and what a great move that was. It was a thrilling evening party featuring some special surprises including an unplugged performance from Brad Paisley. Vince Gil played a co-host roll and did a great job while filling us in on the fact that he was set to appear on the new hit television show Nashville that very evening. American Idol winner Scotty McCreery was on hand to perform along with Dustin Lynch, Little Big Town and other Country stars. Our favorite highlight of that event was a performance from Darius Rucker. They went on to play a video of his surprise induction onto the Country Music Hall of Fame and it was a delight to the entire crowd.

The New Faces show is always the highlight of a CRS event and this one stood on record as one of the very best. Easton Corbin brought the house down but the energy kept on going with a rocking performance from Brantley Gilbert. The lovely and talented Jana Kramer showed why she’s such a rising star. One of our favorite performances had to be Kip Moore who has been “on fire” as of late. Florida Georgia Line helped to close things out but a surprise visit from Taylor Swift brought the house down. It was only a few years back that we caught newcomer Taylor Swift at her New Faces event and look at just how far she’s come is such a short period of time. We hope you enjoy this Post CRS Issue as much as we loved putting it together for you.