Editor’s note: This post was originally published in June 2019.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Fans went wild on night three of CMA Fest at Nissan Stadium when they were surprised by Billy Ray Cyrus, Lil Nas X and Keith Urban performing the No. 1 song in the country, “Old Town Road.”
Like many of the fans in the audience, Billy Ray is one of those dreamers that was determined to make it. From homeless to “Achy Breaky Heart,” Cyrus has been shaking up the music industry for decades and breaking records along the way
He says his album “Some Gave All” spent 17 weeks in a row at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Album chart. Now he’s on a roll again at No. 1, but this time he has a rapper beside him.
Country or not, “Old Town Road” is spending its ninth week atop the Billboard Top 100.
“I love all styles of music and always have. For me, what I’m going through I contribute a lot of it to some of the guys that really became my true friends like Waylon Jennings,” Cyrus said. “You know the first time I tweeted Lil Nas back after I heard he was looking for me, I told him, ‘you know that Waylon had told me the definition of an outlaw is one who’d been outlawed and welcome to the club.'”
There have been a number of surprise performers every night at this CMA Music Festival from different genres. Rocker Joan Jett performed with Carrie Underwood on Friday night, and the pop duo The Chainsmokers played with Kelsea Ballerini the night before.
The consensus amongst the artists backstage is that music is a universal language regardless of genre.
Tim McGraw closed out night three of the CMA Music Festival.