Country Jam USA 2022 Day 1 Recap

Country Jam USA in Eau Claire, Wisconsin is back for its annual festival. The Nash News is the media partner for the event this year and could not be more excited. A day before the festivities started, we met up with some of the Country Jam USA staff who gave us a tour of the grounds. We saw amazing vendors like the famous Cheese Curd Taco; a midwestern staple. Red Bull, Tito's Vodka, and Angry Orchard had immersive set-ups for jammers to get their favorite drinks.

There were also multiple places to get an Instagrammable moment including the artsy "Nashville wings" that have the names of every artist who has played Country Jam in the past, the massive "JAM" letters, and the #RaiseYourMug beer cans.

On day 1 of the festival, The Nash News set up our booth with our new merch collection as well as or rustic, wooden backdrop with vintage records making for a great photo op.

Later on, we took a walk over to VIP to check out all the food vendors supplied by KP Catering. Another fun feature of the VIP area, was Tin Can Mobile Bar: a retro van turned into a traveling mini bar. It's actually run by a married couple who met at Country Jam USA years ago.

The music was kicked off by Eric Chesser. He sang a few covers to get the crowd going and played his romantic track, "Date Night." Our VP of Country Music Christina got to chat with Chesser after his performance about his journey as an artist and the songs he grew up on.

Big Loud's Larry Fleet was up next. His warm vocals radiated through the festival as he sang his best-known tracks "Where I Find God," "Working Man," and the title track of his lastest record, "Stack of Records."

"Buy Dirt" singer Jordan Davis stunned the crowd with his mash-up of a Dua Lipa song mixed with a Tom Petty classic. He also pulled out some '90s country as he did his own rendition of "Dust On The Bottle." He also sang his biggest hit yet, "Buy Dirt."

The headliner for day 1 was none other than Texas country music royalty Cody Johnson. Before his set, Christina got to interview the singer-songwriter to discuss Human The Double Album and recording future projects. Johnson teased two upcoming releases that he has in the works.

During his set, he performed his biggest hits and fan favorites. Things got emotional when he performed "Dear Rodeo" and he gave a moving speech about his journey as an artist before singing "On My Way to You," his first single on country radio. He closed the night out with his biggest hit yet, "'Til You Can't" and the audience couldn't get enough of it.

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