ABC.COM Debuts Online Series Featuring Country’s Top Stars Building up to ‘CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock’

Fans can get a glimpse of all the behind-the-scenes action from the 2010 CMA Music Festival on ABC.com before the three-hour special “CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock” premieres on WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 (8:00-11:00 p.m., ET) on ABC.

Beginning today through September 1, ABC.com will launch over 20 online videos featuring CMA Music Festival fan favorites Trace Adkins, Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, Laura Bell Bundy, Eric Church, Gloriana, Julianne Hough, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Jake Owen, Kellie Pickler, Darius Rucker, Blake Shelton, Josh Turner and more!

“We went to a lot of fan club parties with artists, and we spent a great deal of time filming on their buses or even at their houses to give that exclusive feeling and intimacy,” said David Beebe, ABC director of Video Production. “We talked with a wide range of artists from the names you would expect to see, and a lot of up-and-coming acts as well.”

In the video series, Bentley takes viewers into his late night fan club party; Aldean gives an exclusive look at his “huddle” with the band to get pumped up before performing at LP Field; Gloriana show off their “bus mascot” given to them by Taylor Swift; and noted practical joker Shelton makes a special “request” of Pickler to watch his dogs and his mother while he heads out to perform. In a special video where “stars give back” to the fans, viewers get to witness Laura Bell Bundy cleaning up after fans and Gloriana on janitorial duty at the Festival!

Hosted by Tim McGraw, the “CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock” television special features performances by Adkins, Aldean, Bentley, Billy Currington, Alan Jackson, Jamey Johnson, Kid Rock, Lady Antebellum, Lambert, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, McGraw, Justin Moore, Brad Paisley, Pickler, Rascal Flatts, Rucker, Shelton, Taylor Swift, Turner, Carrie Underwood, Uncle Kracker, Keith Urban, and Zac Brown Band.

The annual CMA Music Festival is unlike any other, with four days filled with more than one hundred hours of live music, 30 hours of autograph signings by Country Music’s biggest names and up and comers, hundreds of  artists and celebrities, and a party list of thousands of avid fans. This is the sixth time ABC will broadcast this special – which invites the whole country to America’s biggest Country Music bash – since the original Fan Fair(r) was launched in 1972. This year an average of 65,000 fans from every state and 26 foreign countries attended each day of CMA Music Festival, its biggest turnout yet.

“CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock” is executive-produced by Robert Deaton and directed by Gary Halvorson. The 2010 CMA Music Festival is organized and produced by the Country Music Association. “CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock” is filmed in high definition and broadcast in 720 Progressive (720P), ABC’s selected HDTV format, with 5.1 channel surround sound. This program carries a TV-PG parental guideline.