CMA Festival Counter Point

There's a whole bunch of people down I24 at the Bonnaroo festival sweating in the hot sun and listening to some great music. Here in Nashful we're in the middle of the big CMA Festival. The Tennessean said earlier that 65,000 fans were expected and now some observers are saying that the number could be bigger than that.

It's hot as hell here too and the streets are blocked off and traffic is backed up all over the place. But people are having a big old time eating and drinking and listening to country music. People have come to Nashful for this event from all over the world, but most are from the States and Canada. There's no question that the CMA Fest is a good thing for the city and for country music.

But in the midst of all this hype and the coiffed and homogenized stars and the electrified and synthesized instruments and the wired and facebooked crowd it's a good time to remember how this kind of music got started. The staring point would be this guy.

Most of the greats in country music have eventually covered Jimmy Rodgers songs or done tribute albums. Here's Merle Haggard's version of one of Jimmy's best known songs, "Waiting for a Train."

And finally here's the Killer doing another old Rodgers tune, "The One Rose That's Left in My Heart."

That last song is dedicated to all the old codgers who still have that "one rose" left in their hearts. I'm one of 'em. Are you?