About one month ago my friend and I got an email about being a seat filler for the CMT Artist Of The Year Awards. Of course, we signed up right away. I haven’t been a seat filler for any award show yet; I just turned 18 this past summer. This was going to be my big break.
We got our email saying we were in, picked up our tickets the night before and were ready for our night of fame. We didn’t think 24 hours later we’d be sitting directly next to Luke Bryan and his wife.
We bought our dresses and had our hair done, because what else would two teenage girls do for an award show? We showed up thinking we’d just be in general admission, sitting up high, and far away from our idols. However, we checked in and the casting lady was staring directly at me for about 10 minutes. I was terrified to be completely honest. She pulled me out of the crowd and said, “You.. you’re going to sit in one of the front tables.” In that moment, my life flashed before my eyes.
We were sitting at the table right next to Luke Bryan. Jason Aldean, Vince Gill, Keith Urban, Chris Stapleton, and Florida George Line were all in the same area. So yes, I was freaking out.
All of the artists performed, so I’m going to share with you some of my favorite performances of the night, starting off with Keith Urban’s stripped-down version of “Blue Ain’t Your Color.” If Keith Urban is on stage, you’re never going to be disappointed. He is the most humble, down-to-earth artist I’ve ever seen perform, and you don’t even need to meet him to see that. He always dedicates his songs to his wife, Nicole Kidman, who I think I was obsessing over more than Keith the entire night. He points to her right at the end of the song and says, “I love you, baby.”
One performance I didn’t even see coming was Philip Philips singing “Body Like A Backroad,” honoring Sam Hunt’s single because Sam couldn’t be there. I was extremely skeptical about it, hearing that he was going cover it, but it was actually one of my favorites from the night. He made the song his own and killed it. It was funky and groovy, and reflected on what we can expect in Philip’s new album coming out soon.
Lastly, my all-time favorite performance was the closing one: Jason Aldean, Keith Urban, Chris Stapleton and Little Big Town’s cover of Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down.” Jason Aldean has been performing this song paying tribute to the Las Vegas shooting victims. It gave me the chills hearing this and honestly every artist covering this song at times like these. Music does heal all. This performance just proves it.
Jason’s cover of “I Won’t Back Down” is now on iTunes supporting charity for Las Vegas victims. You can buy it here.
It was a perfect night of pretending we were famous for an hour and a half. It was like the artists were in a bubble and we had the opportunity to look in. Even though we weren’t allowed to take pictures with the artists, just having our night of acting like we were one of them was good enough for us. We couldn’t have had better seats, and because of that we’re going to have PCD (Post Concert Depression) for a long time.
Since we’re famous and all now, if you want to get in contact with us make sure you call our publicist.
When was the last time you had your night of fame?
Kelly Shea Cunningham 
This is awesome! That is Nashville for you, though. Happens all the time. Once I used to work at the movie theater and Justin Timberlake came in and bought popcorn and I just treated him like anyone else but was internally freaking out. All the stars live here. My neighbor is a publicist too for a lot of artists so I have gotten to randomly meet so many. It is quite interesting living in the “Southern L.A.”
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No way.. you know Justin’s brother goes here, right? That’s crazy!
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That sounds like an amazing experience! I was a seat filler at the CMT awards this year, it was a lot of fun!
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Oh my word that is incredible! That night will by far the highlight of your freshman year… You must have been “fan girling” harder than ever before. I have not yet had my “night of fame” but it makes me excited to think about it happening someday.. Until then I am happy to read stories like this.
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