2024 CMA Awards Nashville

Day 1

Day 1: Monday, November 4, 2024
Meet your Trailways Travel Tour Host and Driver at the available departure location of your choice and settle in for a country music adventure of a lifetime! Enjoy the extra amenities of our motorcoach including extra leg room, reclinable leather seats, lap trays, beverage holders, an electrical outlet to keep your devices fully charged, free WiFi, a galley kitchen on board so that your host can provide you with snacks and beverages along the way and more. A break will be made for lunch, on your own, along with rest and refresh breaks to stretch your legs as needed before arriving at our overnight accommodations in Paducah, KY at the Drury Inn. Enjoy the “Kickback Reception” that is offered from 5:30 – 7:00 pm at the Drury which includes beverages of your choice along with soft drinks, a few beer, wine and cocktail selections, along with a rotating selection of food which could include chicken fingers, baked potatoes, buffalo-style chicken wings, meatballs, fresh veggies, egg rolls, garden salad, hot dogs, nachos, and more. If you wish to have more of a traditional dinner, restaurants are conveniently located near the hotel within walking distance. Relax and get a good night's sleep as tomorrow we head for Music City, Nashville, TN!

Day 2

Day 2: Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Up and at ‘em, Drury’s “Hot Quickstart Breakfast” is waiting for you! Not just eggs, but sausage, biscuits and gravy, freshly made Belgian waffles or pancakes are just a few of the tasty items you can enjoy at this morning’s buffet. Then it is time to board the motorcoach and begin your Nashville adventure.
We start with a visit to the Country Music Hall of Fame, a definite must do! They are the keeper of priceless country music treasures that you can see while on your self-guided walk through country music history, one that leads you from the earliest folk traditions to the music that thrills millions of fans yet today. Keep your eyes open, you never know who you may see while visiting! Your tour ends in the Hall of Fame Rotunda, the never-ending circle, and home of the Hall of Fame inductees.
Then it is off to have some lunch on your own along with a free afternoon to check out Lower Broadway. You will be dropped at the new Fifth & Broadway, the Assembly Food Hall high above the Ryman Auditorium with a great view of the city and all of the activity in the Honky Tonks below you. The Assembly Food Hall is a European-styled market with casual dining available both indoors and open air. With not only food but entertainment too, this venue is changing the way Nashville lives, works and plays. Enjoy premier shopping and ridiculously good food all in one place including the Apple Store, Ariat, Free People, Hattie B’s (so famous for their Nashville Hot Chicken!), Shake Shack, Slim & Husky’s and so much more. Of course as you know, there are several other options available for your lunch at your choice of the many honky-tonks located along Lower Broadway, or perhaps even Jack’s BBQ located next to The Stage with the flying neon pigs on their sign.
Later today, we will gather back together and check in to our “home-away-from-home” for the next two nights at the Holiday Inn Express Downtown, very conveniently located directly on Broadway, the heartbeat of downtown Nashville! Each evening you may also enjoy a complementary evening reception complete with live music. Take time to freshen up before we depart for an included dinner this evening at Paula Deen’s Family Kitchen offering you classic Deen Family recipes including many of their Southern-style entrees, delicious side dishes, and mouth-watering desserts in a family-style setting. Push yourself away from the table so that we can depart for a fun-filled evening with a performance at The Grand Ole Opry!
For more than 85 years, country’s best have mesmerized audiences at the Grand Ole Opry Live Radio Show, the show that made country music famous. Even throughout the pandemic the Grand Ole Opry continued with featured country guest stars playing to an empty auditorium but being broadcast live to the masses! Each Opry show features an array of performances by new stars, superstars, and legends of country music as well as great bluegrass, gospel, comedy, and more. Opry shows are never rehearsed and are never the same show twice!
The rest of the evening is at your leisure – be dropped back to the hotel for the rest of the night, or take advantage of having free time to hang out a bit longer on Lower Broadway, your hotel is only a short walk away!

Day 3

Day 3: Wednesday, November 6, 2024
Get up – today is the day you have been waiting for as tonight is the CMA’s! Enjoy breakfast at the hotel this morning before we depart for a fun Nashville Sightseeing tour with a local guide providing a tour of downtown Nashville and the many historic landmarks of “Music City”. Lunch will once more be on your own today in the heart of Lower Broadway where you can maybe catch a live performance with an up-and-coming rising star!
We will gather back together as a group and make our way over for a Guided Tour of the Ryman Auditorium! Learn the history of this famous building and if available, go backstage for a brief look into how the Stars get ready before they perform. This is contingent on whether or not they have a performance to take place that day. Known as the “Mother Church of Country Music,” the Ryman has been one of the country’s premier concert venues for more than 100 years. Established in 1892 as the Union Gospel Tabernacle, Ryman Auditorium is a national Historic Landmark and a definite “must see” for any Nashville visitor! It of course has been made the most famous as the home of the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 to 1974, and you will find out for yourself that there is more to the story of Nashville’s most recognizable icon.
Then, it is back to the hotel to get gussied up for tonight’s main event! We leave to have dinner beforehand at the Back Stage Grill, managed by the Grand Ole Opry and located on Music Valley Drive. Here they serve signature Southern cooking paired perfectly with live country music. Your love of food and music meets here in this casually cool restaurant, and who knows, your waitstaff may even jump onto the stage and perform a country favorite or two!
Next is the featured event, the Country Music Association’s 58th Annual CMA Awards! What an evening as you experience one of country music’s biggest nights in person from your reserved seat. Here country music’s newest stars and country music legends sit shoulder to shoulder – hopefully your favorite will be honored tonight! After the show, the rest of the night is yours to spend as you wish on our last night in Nashville. Just be sure you are back in time to catch the motorcoach in the morning!

Day 4

Day 4, Thursday, November 7, 2024
Start your morning off right with breakfast at the hotel before checking out and exploring just a bit more of Nashville before we depart on our journey back home.
Begin the day with a tour of the NEW Musician’s Hall of Fame & the GRAMMY Museum Gallery. This interactive facility lets you learn about every aspect of music. Play guitars, drums & keyboards. Record a Garth Brooks song, sing with Ray Charles or jam with Jimmy Jam. This Hall of Fame is the only museum that actually honors the greatest musicians of all time. While we realize it’s possible to spend days in the museum because there is so much to see, we are only taking this morning, but here’s a small taste of what you can see and do. Explore the American Sound Studio, where Elvis Presley recorded some of his biggest records such as “Suspicious Minds,” “In the Ghetto, ” and more; Guitars played on Glen Campbell’s nationally broadcast TV show and as a session musician in the early 1960; One of Jimi Hendrix’s Stratocaster guitars and the stage he performed on in Nashville at The Jolly Roger; One of James Jamerson’s Fender P-Basses; Steve Lukather’s original Les Paul guitar given to him by his father; Instruments used by Garth Brooks, Johnny Cash, Elton John, and so much more. Today we also take a tour of Nashville’s Studio B. This historic RCA Studio B was once the recording home of popular music stars such as Elvis Presley, Chet Atkins, Eddy Arnold, the Everly Brothers, Dolly Parton, and Willie Nelson. See where all of this magic came to life.
Enjoy lunch today, on your own, before we depart to overnight once more at the Drury Inn in Paducah, KY and partake in their Kickback Reception. The rest of the evening is yours to do as you wish.

Day 5

Day 5: Friday, November 8, 2024
Enjoy Drury’s hot Quickstart Breakfast this morning before we check out and make our way back home today. Board the motorcoach and settle in with your old and new friends and talk about all of the fun things you did and perhaps any country celebrities you may have gotten to see while in Nashville. We stop for rest and refresh breaks as needed as well as lunch on our way back. We are sure you will agree that this was definitely a trip to Nashville to remember forever!