The Year's Most Exhausting Week

The CMA MusicFest/CMT Awards and Crossroads/Darius & Friends and everything else week is here. Nothing will ever be bigger downtown than the recent NFL Draft, but CMA/Fan Fair week is draining for the Country music business and all those it touches.

Once upon a time, a few high-profile Music Row types would plan their vacation on this week. It's hard to pull that off now.

Some artists may attend a day or two at some point in the week. Few have to attend all seven days. A few work longer than just the week -- and add the heat, exhaustion, traffic and closed roads ... and you have a spread-out octopus of an event.

People with walking problems, forget about it. For a few it's "drop in and drop by and drop out." Tours are in full swing and even some competing festivals. It would be hard to grow this event.

Many have tried to come in and copy, but it truly is a unique Nashville thing. For many years the attendance was throttled at something like 13,000. It was thought that if you had more fans, it wouldn't be good for those trying to get autographs. The legendary fan events with Garth and so many others make for interesting memories. New day, new agenda.

The labels have always used the concerts as a showcase of new and old. Someone always is the break-out artist. Someone gets the buzz coming out of all this. Who will it be this year?

The ABC TV show that comes out of this event airs months later. Personally, I've never understood the logic but it fills a prime time night in late Summer for ABC. Country music gets six hours of prime time for ABC every year. That's still a big deal.

Not trying to bury the lead, but the Eric Church concert at Nissan Stadium was indeed a revival. He may still be playing as far as I know. Church is a one-of-a-kind act. He has little pieces of many folks, but he truly is a unique act. You hear his influences for sure, but he has boiled that into Music City's most underrated act. Garth is the Entertainer of the Year forever. But Eric Church would be hard to ignore in 2019. Garth is out there in some other universe. Eric Church ... who is outdoing him in this town? He's a music machine.

Nashville ASCAP's unique ambassador Ralph Murphy passed away this week. From Amazon: Murphy's Laws of Songwriting -- "The Book" arms the songwriter for success by demystifying the process and opening the door to serious professional songwriting.

Ralph helped a lot of people along the way. It sort of just worked out that way. British-born Canadian from Nashville. That's a flavor few have in their mix. I hope there is another Ralph out there to be a Ralph kind-of 16th Avenue guy. Few have the DNA but it doesn't mean others can't try.

A lot of people will bust their ass in the next few days doing what they do in the very crazy Nashville of 2019. Good health and good luck. I have to get my heart probed at Vanderbilt. I'm on injured reserve. I'll be watching from the sidelines.

One last note: See where Alex Trebek is putting a whipping on his cancer. The doctors are amazed ... 50% tumor shrinkage. How inspiring is that guy? I know we all are cheering for him.

And as a trio of Nashville songwriters once wrote ... We all need a little good news today!

Some may not even know the song ... "A Little Good News" was written by Tommy Rocco, Charlie Black and Rory Bourke; it was Anne Murray's seventh #1 hit on the Billboard Country chart in1983. Three minutes and eight seconds of joy. Go find it!