CMA Songwriters Series Visits L.A. With Florida Georgia Line, RaeLynn, Canaan Smith

Pictured (L-R): Florida Georgia Line, RaeLynn, HARDY, Corey Crowder, Canaan Smith, and Ernest K. Photo: Caitlin Miller/CMA

The CMA visited Los Angeles Wednesday (Oct. 10) with multi-platinum superstar duo Florida Georgia Line, joined by Corey Crowder, Ernest K., HARDY, RaeLynn and Canaan Smith to meet with students from the Harmony Project followed by a sold-out CMA Songwriters Series performance at The Novo.

On Wednesday afternoon Crowder, Ernest K., HARDY, RaeLynn and Smith welcomed students from Harmony Project at The Novo for a conversation about the craft of songwriting, and FGL’s Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley surprised the group and shared their own tips on songwriting before inviting the students to watch soundcheck. Following soundcheck, the CMA Foundation and U.S. Bank surprised students with 102 new musical instruments as well as tickets to attend the CMA Songwriters Series show that evening.

Following the visit, the artists took The Novo stage to perform and share the stories behind their hits. FGL kicked off the night with their 2013 CMA Awards Single of the Year “Cruise,” as songwriters joined the duo on stage throughout the night, praising each other for their work and cracking jokes in between songs. The show wrapped with the full lineup performing FGL’s record-breaking No. 1 hit “Meant to Be,” that had the entire crowd up on their feet as Kelley addressed the students from Harmony Project in the audience and said, “Rock on. Don’t take no for an answer. Chase your dreams. If we can do this, you can too!”

Harmony Project provides tuition-free music education and social support to 3,500 youth across Los Angeles, Southern California and beyond. More than 90 percent of students in the program, which begins in elementary school, go on to graduate high school and enter college. The CMA Foundation provided a $50,000 grant to Harmony Project this year and has invested $350,000 through a five-year partnership. Additionally, U.S. Bank granted $25,000 to Harmony Project as part of its Community Possible giving platform and its Places to Play partnership with the CMA Foundation.

Photo by Dustin Downing/CMA

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Lorie Hollabaugh

Hollabaugh, a staff writer at MusicRow magazine, has over 20 years of music business experience and has written for publications including American Profile, CMA Close Up, Nashville Arts And Entertainment, The Boot and Country Weekly. She has a Broadcast Journalism and Speech Communication degree from Texas Christian University, (go Horned Frogs), and welcomes your feedback or story ideas at [email protected].

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