Taylor Swift Trip Leaves Me Wanting More Nashville [VIDEO INTERVIEW] [PICTURES]

There is no doubt that my recent trip to Nashville for the 'Red' CD Release World Wide Broadcast was one of the coolest trips I have done; but not just because Taylor Swift was there.  It was truly the whole 'Nashville' experience thanks to Big Machine Records. 

What an experience. You couldn't go anywhere in Nashville without being reminded of it's heritage. Country music plays through speakers at street corners while waiting for lights to change, country music play in the elevators of every building, inside the elevators and even the 'points of interest' type of sings are shaped as guitar pics.

The broadcast itself was just amazing in the entire set up. 72 radio stations from all across the world had shown up, each with it's own specific booth from which to broadcast from.  We literally weren't told where the location was until broadcast time and even then we only knew when the shuttle buses stopped (at the Pinnacle building) and dumped us out.

The record label had rented out the 21st floor where we all met Thursday for an orientation and to go check out our broadcast booths and get a feel for things. About 6pm the cocktail party started and everything was red. Cosmopolitans and Killians Red flowed freeley and more Papa Johns pizza you could eat in a lifetime in every style.

Mid evening we all moved down to the 14th floor, which had been rented as well for the occasion, for the big meet and greet dinner with Taylor Swift. Full catered meals with 5 different choices (all you can eat) and had the entire floor set up with swanky furniture, carpet and the whole 9 yards. We schmoozed around, ate and drank and ended the evening with a tour of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the new Taylor Swift wing they are adding.

I decided to walk back to the hotel at the end of the evening and one thing I realized as I checked out the local Honky Tonks was that there a lot of lucky musicians touring with big bands because most of the ones I saw in these small bars were amazing and better than a lot we see and hear with big record deals. Timing, Timing, Timing.

Friday's broadcast mostly went off without a hitch although I totally blew it on the interview.  We were allowed 5 minutes but when the stopwatch started, I was so fixated on  getting questions in that time seemed to have stopped and I actually had about 90 seconds left.  Man, I could have asked 2 more questions. I have never been in a situation where 3 minutes seemed like 10. It's hard to explain but when it's "your turn" it all happens in the blink of an eye as video camera's roll and dozens surround your booth and the last thing on my mind was where the "stop watch lady" was.  In fact, you can see me glance away once as I made an attempt at locating her.  I will probably forever regret not being more vigilante but it is what it is and I did my best and we got r done.

And when was the last time you could order a pizza and the #1 selling album in the country? Exactly, never. Now you can order a pizza pie from Papa John's and get the Red CD delivered right to your door.

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