WOW!  CMA Fest! WOW!  For us it was a full week of excitment, country music, friends and fun.  CMA Fest also meant that my inbox was ignored greatly.  There were some days that I don’t think I even checked my email due to exhaustion.  So here it is…. a few things that were overlooked in my inbox from last week:

Participating in his first-ever CMA Music Fest, country music’s most giving and charitable newcomer, Matt Gary, joined an assortment of recording artists and entertainers on Sunday, June 14, 2009 to support the Starkey Hearing Foundation at the Hearing Mission as the organization gifted more than 100 Nashville-area children with digital hearing instruments.

Matt Gary stepped in to lend a helping hand making introductions, offering words of encouragement and posing with children for photos. Each attending child was fitted with a device valued at $6,000-plus.

“I am glad to have been part of such a worthwhile cause,” Matt expressed. “I enjoy helping children more than anything and giving them the ability to hear their parents’ voices, the sounds of nature and the music the world has to offer was a heart-moving honor.”

CMA Music Festival hit an all-time high attendance record in 2009 despite a downturn in the economy and a general decline in festival attendance across the nation with a 7.2 percent increase over 2008 during the four-day Festival, Thursday through Sunday, June 11-14, in Downtown Nashville.

“Even with gasoline prices more than $2 a gallon and weak economic conditions around the country, we saw increases in our attendance from local and regional residents,” said CMA Chief Executive Officer Tammy Genovese. “We believe that is due in large part to a strong regional advertising push, the addition of free concerts, the popularity of our artists, and the entertainment value of the nightly shows at LP Field.”

The average daily attendance in 2009 was 56,000. By comparison, in 2008 the average daily attendance was 52,000.

After storms cancelled his show @CMA fest ,on 4 hrs sleep, a hellish day of travel & a show in Boston, Jimmy Wayne gives his fans a good night kiss! This was the last in a (as usual) series of pics — that resulted in interesting comments from the fans — that Jimmy tweeted through the day. Check out Jimmy’s Twitter page at: http://twitter.com/jimmywayne. Thanks to our reader Brandi B. for emailing us the info on Jimmy.

Can I tell you how excited I am that “Toes” is Zac Brown Band’s new single! AND can I tell you how excited I am that they are giving us a sneak peak at the video! SOOOOOOOOOO – so excited!

Country Girl wants you to be a Tattle Tale! Have you been to a country concert lately? Run into a country artist while out on the town? We want to hear all about your country music news and entertainment. Email me at countrygirl@countrymusictattletale.com.