Nashville, TN. (Top40 Charts/ BGM
Music Media) - "Our first CMA
Music Festival week was a blast ... a truly eye-opening experience," admits LANTANA's
Karol Ann DeLong. It began Tuesday with a visit to Marty Stuart's "Sparkle & Twang" exhibit at the Tennessee
State Museum. At the VIP reception, they met and posed for pictures with the "Best Hair in Country Music," artist/author/photographer, Stuart. "It was so much fun to see his collection of memorabilia," says group member Dalene Richelle. "It was literally a visual lesson in the history of country music. My personal favorite was the display of the Nudie jackets suspended from the ceiling."
The head-turning, bluesy/country trio from Texas loved riding in their first-ever parade, which "officially" kicked off CMA Music Festival 2007, and drew 10,000 country music fans to downtown Nashville. Biz Haddock, Dalene and Karol Ann tossed over 500 Mardi Gras-style "Boot" beads to lucky fans from their ride - the stylish GM E85 Green and Yellow FlexFuel Truck.
Every day fans flocked to the trio's bustling "home-style" booth designed by their savvy Fan Club president, Shannon Pfeiffer. Nearly 300 LANTANA-ites registered to win one of three House Concerts that the group is giving away - with registrants representing 20 states and several foreign countries, including Australia, France and England. "I was overwhelmed by the number of fans who stood in line to meet with us personally, and get autographs and photos," says Karol Ann. "We heard so many encouraging comments about the music that we're making - and some really personal stories from fans about how our music has affected them. Biz agrees that the fans were amazing. "We signed in three other booths as well," she says. "The Mary Kay (their lip gloss is fabulous); Y'all Magazine (they gave us some cool t-shirts), and Indie Islands (they were our neighbors all week) booths."
On Friday night, LANTANA wrapped up the week as they made their festival performance debut when they rocked the Hard Rock Cafe stage during the Afterhours Kick Off Concert Series. The group fired up the crowd with songs from their BGM Records' debut, UNBRIDLED. "We even had fireworks (from LP Field) go off during our closing number," laughs Dalene. "It was an incredible night ... an incredible week for that matter. We can't wait 'til next year!"
