The Intern Perspective

Hello XM Nation! My name is Jason and I’m just starting with the XM team in Nashville as a summer intern. In fact, my first day at XM was the kick off to our CMA fest coverage. While I was a bit nervous to start at such a busy time, I dove right in and it has been an incredible week.

Being raised in the countryside of Maryland, I have always been surrounded by country music but I have never experienced the music like I have this week in Nashville. On every corner downtown there is live music, good food, or some other form of entertainment. If you’ve been listening to any XM's CMA Music Fest coverage this week you understand how much great music there is in Music City this week.

One of my favorite events so far this week was the Chely Wright Reading, Writing & Rhythm Benefit concert. We brought this event to you LIVE Tuesday night and will be replaying it again Sunday and Monday. The line up was outstanding - if you haven’t heard it yet try to catch it later this weekend. I never realized Kellie Pickler was such a great performer. She really put all of her emotion into her performance of "I Wonder". But then she turned right back around and brought the tempo up and the crowd on their feet for "Red High Heels". Emerson Drive received a much deserved standing ovation after playing this weeks #1 song "Moments". Tanya Tucker made a surprise appearance and played some of her classic singles such as "Delta Dawn". Chely Wright closed the show and played her entertaining song "Positive and Hopeful" that you wont hear on any of her albums just yet.

XM Radio has been broadcasting so many awesome fan club parties this week and I have been excited to attend all of them. This year we have also had some XM bags and gear to give away at most of the events. I have met so many XM subscribers this week and it has been great to hear all your comments. The fan club parties are always a really good way to connect with the artists and their dedicated fans. Since the fan club parties are in venues much smaller then the typical big city arenas and stadiums, the artists are able to open up more and have the fans interact with them on stage. Phil Vassar, who is a big XM Radio fan, was excited to have us once again broadcast his fan club show on Highway 16. He invited the XM crew onto his tour bus and we were able to sit down and talk with him for a few minutes before he went on stage. He was an exceptionally nice guy and was very excited about the show. He played an awesome set that included a mix of his older and new material. I had always enjoyed hearing Phill Vasser on Highway 16 but I now can appreciate his vocal talent even more after seeing him live. If possible, I recommend trying to catch the replay of his fan club party on Monday.

CMA fest is far from over and we have a great 3 days left of coverage on XM. So far, I hope you have enjoyed our coverage. I have enjoyed helping to bring all the great music from CMA fest to you on XM Satellite Radio.

Producer J.'s Note: Can you imagine packing up and moving to a city where you know no one, including the people you're going to be working for, whom you've heard on the radio but never met? Now imagine you're doing that on the busiest week of the year for those people. And then throw 40,000 hot, sweaty, slightly inebriated country music fans into that mix! That's what Jason faced this week, and he's been awesome. One of his biggest jobs has been making sure that everyone who wanted one got an XM bag - all of which he unpacked and stuffed with brochures. If you leave Nashville without an XM bag this week, it's certainly not from Jason's lack of trying!