Chely Wright's Reading, Writing and Rhythm Benefit show was held at The Wildhorse Saloon in downtown Nashville on Tuesday, June 7, 2005 at 8 PM. The doors opened at 6 PM to a huge crowd of fans anxious to get inside for one of the most anticipated events of CMA Festival week. There were approximately 500 - 600 reserved floor seats for fan club members only.
Each year that Chely has had this benefit show, she has a huge display of silent auction items on the third floor to look at and bid on. This year was no exception, with many sought after items including front row seats for the show, several autographed guitars, music, pictures, a George Strait fly away package which included airfare and tickets to a show of your choice, plasma TV, laptop computer, sound system, and many, many items too numerous to mention. This is combined with a live auction which takes place at various intervals during the show. This year, over $100,000 was raised for the RWR Foundation, which helps to promote music education in the schools and provides instruments for music programs.
By the time the show was about to begin at 8 PM, the Wildhorse was filled to capacity with a sold out house of 2000! The excitement and anticipation was building as we were told that for the very first time, the show was being broadcast LIVE on XM Radio and would be heard by thousands of people around the globe, including our troops in Iraq. The cheers nearly raised the roof! At 8 oclock, the host of the show, Brad Schmidt, who writes the Brad About You column for The Tennessean, took the stage and welcomed everyone and reminded everyone that we were making history on LIVE radio. He then introduced the first act of the evening, Craig Morgan. Craig was full of energy and sang "I'm Country," "Redneck Yacht Club," and "What I Love About Sunday," during which he came right down into the crowd walking around shaking hands. He was very well received and did a great job.
The next act to perform had the ladies screaming as Rascal Flatts took the stage. They didn't have a full band, and sat on stools with just Joe Don on guitar and Jay on his grand piano with Gary in the middle singing his heart out on "This Everyday Love." This was followed by their version of the old Beatles tune "Let It Be," then "Bless the Broken Road," "Mayberry," and "Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me." Needless to say, they were a big hit.
The next to perform was The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with Hanna McEuen, sons of two of the Dirt Band members. They sang "Something Like A Broken Road," and brought back memories to many of us with "Mr. Bojangles." That has always been my favorite NGDB song.
