Kelly Clarkson Thankful

CMA Music Festival showcases country artists big and small

Slow burn: Count Jason Aldean among those well aware of and thankful for the slow build of a superstar-level career. The Georgia native ratcheted his game up over the past year, and with high-profile collaborations with Kelly Clarkson on Don't You Wanna Stay and his CMT Music Awards turn with rapper Ludacris on current single Dirt Road Anthem , Aldean appreciates the new doors opening up for him. "It's been such a gradual climb that's it's given me time to adjust to everything and be able to enjoy it and take it in," Aldean says. "It's cool that those kinds of people dig what you do enough to want to come in and be a part of it. I love trying new stuff, whether it be with somebody like Luda or Kelly Clarkson or Randy Owen from Alabama. And it's a lot easier to make it happen if they're taking your call."

Taking it all in: Singer/songwriter Sonia Leigh is in the midst of one of those decade-long "overnight success" scenarios that make for great stories. While currently identified as a Zac Brown Band protégé, whom she joined on the main stage at LP Field Thursday night, Leigh's been kicking around for as a performer since the late '90s. Sporting both a gritty attitude and winning smile, Leigh was completely open about taking in everything her first CMA Fest experience was presenting. "I'm excited and blessed and bewildered to be here," Leigh says. "Alan (Jackson) — and I learned to play guitar listening to his songs — came up and gave me a hug at soundcheck and told me he liked my record, and that is such …" She pauses. "I might cry. I'm really hoping to just get out there and kick some butt and rock the crowd and show these people that I'm here to rock 'n' roll and entertain them. I'm excited to be here."

Leaving off the parentheses : Sometimes there's danger in declarative statements when it comes to popular music. Brad Paisley knew there was risk in titling an album This Is Country Music , but cautions that in the end, it's just one person's opinion — namely, his. "I was self-conscious about making sure that if I'm going to call it This Is Country Music that it felt like it is," Paisley says of his newest collection of songs, including the current single Old Alabama , which reunites members of the seminal band Alabama. "I didn't say 'This is only country music,' or 'This was country music' or 'This will be country music.' It's more this is what it is, for me. That's sort of the parentheses that's not officially on the title … 'For Me.' It wouldn't have been nearly as cool an album title that way, but it is implied for me.

Top 100 Modern First Dance Wedding Song List – Slow Music 2011 ...

If you are looking a new list of modern track ideas for the first dance at your wedding, look no more. I know you have spent countless hours surfing through lists jam-pack loaded with Huey Lewis and Bob Seger, but you have finally found the right list. Know this.

As you already know, there are a lot of “Old Fart Wedding DJ Song Lists” littering our internet. These were seemingly written by semi-retired, gray-bearded, Grateful Dead Jerry Garcia-look-alike disc jockeys who got one gig a month and therefore had plenty of time to flood the web with their cheesy old Dirty Dancing smarmy 80′s power-ballad favorites!

Before now, in order to find good modern first dance songs ideas on “Old Fart Lists”, you had to weed through Dionne Warwick, Peter Frampton and a whole host of artists with sweet mullets who are no longer relevant in today’s pop culture. Most brides and grooms getting married today have no idea who these singers are and were probably not even alive yet when they were popular. While there are some great classics out there, this list concentrates on late ninties up until today; the slow jams that today’s bride and groom likely grew up with and listen to.

Kelly Clarkson Thankful

Thankful

Kelly Clarkson

Billboard

Billboard