It was a benefit for Second Harvest and Craig Wiseman (writer of Live Like You Were Dying and tons of other great songs) was in charge and master of ceremonies. I had no idea he was such a great singer too. I was lucky enough to be on a trip organized by Craig's mother.
The concert was held in Ryman Auditorium which is like a shrine to country musicians. There were 5 stools and 5 microphones on the left side of the stage.
Craig comes out and introduces Randy Owen (be still my heat --for those of you who don't know why my heart was thumping, Randy is Alabama's lead singer.) He then introduced Tony Mullins (a kinda crazy guy with really funny songs but someone I had not known before tonight), Jeffrey Steele (whose songs were big hits and familiar to me but I'll have to look them up after I get home to remember which ones he sang. The 5th seat was occupied by Dan Huff who also produced the show. Craig sang one of his songs (can't remember which right now but I'll ask his mother ) and then Randy sang "Tennessee River". I got most of that on video too. Tony did some crazy song that I had a hard time picking up the words on and then Jeff did one of his. And then Craig introduced LIANN RIMES. She did 3 songs and then they each did another round. Then Craig said he really hated to name drop but he had a special guest. KEITH URBAN!!!! Yikesie!!! The quests were not preannounced so I was a bit in shock at this point. Unbelievable. Keith did 3 songs(will try to remember which 3 later. And then Craig told some funny stories about his mother and Craig, Randy, Tony and Jeffrey each did another song. Craig said he really didn't want to name drop again (yeah, right) but he was doing it as he introduced RICH SAMBORI and JON BON JOVI. How fanastic is this--an acoustic concert with stars that can fill stadiums!!!! By now the energy level in the auditorium was electrifying. A local choir (actually the church choir from Craig's wife church) sang Hallelluiah. Craig came out took a seat, played the opening chords and RONNIE DUNN came out to sing "Believe" accompanied by the choir. I was crying by the time they finished. It was magnificent!!!

This concert has set some new bars for gathering musical genius on one stage. It was truly magical.

I got a few good pictures but I need to learn more about my new camera as I'm not very good at zooming and focusing. Unortunatedly all of the ones of Keith Urban are blurry

Please forgive any typos as I'm still a bit overwhelmed and I'm typing this in the dark so as to not disturb by roommate. I'll be back home tonight and will try to see what I can do with the pictures.

Mar