Today's Country Tidbits

The CMA Music Festival is history for 2012, and lots of fans will make their hotel reservations for 2013 before they leave Nashville today. The event is a fan favorite, but it’s also an artist favorite. Here are thoughts from just a few who performed at the CMA Music Festival this year:

Brad Paisley on the craziest thing done by a fan: “Tattoo of your face...on a leg. The woman that did that is very sane, from what I can tell. Truthfully, she’s the nicest person you’d ever want to meet, but she walks around with my face...luckily the artist was really good. I mean it did...it looked just like an eight-by-ten of me.”

Carrie Underwood, on the weird things she gets asked to sign: “I signed a diaper once. It was not used. I’ve signed body parts but mostly any body parts was intoxicated people...it was just easier to sign instead of argue with them. Don’t you have anything else? Like a piece of paper?”

Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott and Charles Kelley on who they’d wait in line to see: “[Charles] I mean, as a fan right now I think it’s hard to beat a Luke Bryan or a Jason Aldean show. They’re such a fun...you know, they’re such fun, high energy shows. So, as a fan I would sit in line to go watch those shows, that’s for sure. [Hillary] Reba, George Strait, Trisha Yearwood...I’d love that.”

Jason Aldean on what he loves about the CMA Music Festival: “A week like this where we can show our appreciation and kind of tell them thank you in person and do some extra stuff just so they can come out and be a part of it to me is...that’s easy stuff, you know, and it’s definitely worth it. So, it’s a cool thing that the CMA does every year.”

Blake Shelton on being back in Nashville: “This is the first time I’ve been to Nashville in I don’t know when. In fact, Miranda and I combined #1 parties last week to get that celebration in we wanted to do. I’m working on the next studio album and I’ve been in the studio all this week workin’ on a Christmas record.”

Zac Brown on his plans for Nashville: “We just opened a big studio here in Nashville this last week and we’re coming to Nashville, we’re infiltrating. We’re gonna have a restaurant here and a bar here eventually.”

The Band Perry’s Kimberly and Reid on sharing news with fans last week: “[Kimberly] We revealed the name of our brand new fan club, which is called The Fans Perry. So, you’ve got The Band Perry and The Fans Perry...[Reid] Kind of a play on words there, you see that?”

Kip Moore, on meeting Willie Nelson: “I’m a massive Willie Nelson. I grew up on, ‘Red Headed Stranger’ being play nine million times in my house. My mom loved Willie, and I think my mom was so cool that all of a sudden I fell in love with Willie Nelson.”

Craig Morgan is on “Hotel Impossible” on the Travel Channel today.