CMT Blog: CMT on Tour

Many of today's biggest artists have been a part of the annual CMT on Tour series. Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, Sugarland and Rascal Flatts all have headlined it, and now Jason Aldean will too. He will be joined this fall by Lady Antebellum for 20 tour stops, including a few college towns. I wish shows like this would have come to my little college town of Oneonta, NY. Sure, we got Parliament Funkadelic once, but I think the faculty was more excited than we were and George Clinton sounded kind of like a grizzly bear on tranquilizers. Get tour dates.

Country radio stations often give out great prizes, and recently some fans from around the country won the opportunity to be “With the Band” and follow Little Big Town on the last leg of CMT on Tour with Sugarland and Jake Owen. “New 92” in Columbia, S.C., K102 in Minneapolis and “New Country” 100.7 in Baton Rouge, La., sent two listeners each for the experience of a lifetime.

First of all, they got spoiled. Not only did they have their own luxury bus courtesy of Gigtours, complete with satellite TV, a fully stocked bar and all the snacks one could hope for, but they also had live entertainment on board with singer-songwriter David Oakleaf. During the weekend, the group got the entire gig experience -- from eating with the crew and seeing all the activity backstage to being almost the only ones in the audience during Little Big Town’s soundcheck.

The highlight of the weekend was meeting the members of Little Big Town in person. The radio winners got more than a ten-second “get a quick autograph/smile for the camera/move along please” meet-and-greet. Instead, they chatted with Little Big Town for a while, and the band truly enjoyed the meet-and-greet as much as the fans. I've seen meet-and-greets where the artists look pained to have to meet their fans, and barely look them in the eye. So it was refreshing to see Little Big Town joking around with the fans and asking them questions instead of just going through the motions.    

The radio winners' interaction didn’t stop there. Phillip Sweet often took the time to stop and talk to the group whenever he had the chance. Jimi Westbrook hopped on the bus to say hi. Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Rhoades Schlapman saw the group at dinner and stopped for a quick chat. Even some of the Little Big Town crew took time to hang out and get to know the group. Nobody was making them do this. They all could have just walked on by these fans without a glance. Instead they treated their guests with respect, and in return, gained a lifetime of respect from these ordinary country music fans.

When it comes to their music, Little Big Town rocks the stage. And when it comes to their fans, Little Big Town gets it right.

There comes a point on every tour where everything starts to fall into place. During the first few weeks of the tour, there were plenty of nuances and surprises that I had to learn to navigate. I think it’s that way for most of the crew as well as the bands. Things are in a constant state of change and there’s very little consistency in terms of how to conquer daily challenges. I’ve learned how to do my job differently and more efficiently after having a couple weeks’ worth of experience. For instance, I now use a different strategy when preparing the photos for the meet-and-greets than I did at the beginning of the tour. That seems like a small adjustment, but it makes a huge difference in the amount of time I spend on meet-and-greets everyday. It ends up allowing me to spend additional time taking photos of the live show, which is a positive change.

The crew and the artists have also undergone some adjustments on the road. Sugarland changed their show order within a week of beginning the tour. Just last weekend, Little Big Town changed their set, too. All the changes and adjustments have made a great show into an amazing show. Change is a major part of our tour, not only in name, but also in practice. We’re constantly changing and adapting to improve the show every night. We’re also finding some consistency in our everyday lives, which is nice. And even as things are starting to fall into place, make no mistake, change will be a part of this tour until the very last date.