<p>Well, it came and went; the inaugural <strong>BlogRodeo </strong>country music collaboration event. The posts were great, the turnout was astounding and the twitter chat was a chart-topping success! No, really&#8230; we topped the Twitter Trending list for over an hour with the <a href="https://twitter.com/search/realtime?q=%23BlogRodeo&#038;src=hash" target="_blank">#BlogRodeo</a> hashtag, which is no small accomplishment for ANYONE.</p>
<p>I personally would like to thank each and every blogger, fan and artist SO MUCH for your participation! It&#8217;s easy to forget that while we work and play in our own little corners of the internet, we are still part of one very large and supportive family. I cannot WAIT to see what we accomplish in February&#8217;s BlogRodeo event.</p>
<p>Now on to the nitty gritty! At the beginning of the year we reached out to fellow bloggers and asked one simple question: <strong>What are we most excited for in 2013</strong>? The answers we got back in the form of posts on each participants&#8217; blog were as varied as the blogs themselves, so after sharing our posts, we took to Twitter to get a little more in depth on our predictions. <em>(Note: With so many people chiming in, it&#8217;s difficult to cover everything, so for the full list of BlogRodeo tweets and stats check out <a href="https://twitter.com/search/realtime?q=%23BlogRodeo&#038;src=hash" target="_blank">#BlogRodeo on Twitter</a>.)</em></p>
<h3>With over 200 unique participants posting over 1,200 tweets, and reaching almost 1.5 MILLION followers, here&#8217;s what Country Music Bloggers see happening in 2013:</h3>
<figure id="attachment_13426" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-13426" style="width: 250px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="http://www.countrymusicnewsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/TopTrending.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-13426 " style="margin: 6px; border: 3px solid black;" title="TopTrending" src="http://www.countrymusicnewsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/TopTrending-175x150.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="215" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-13426" class="wp-caption-text">#BlogRodeo Takes Over Twitter</figcaption></figure>
<p><strong>New artists to watch out for this year</strong>:<br />
<strong>Pistol Annies</strong> &#8211; While they&#8217;re not exactly new, they&#8217;re certainly establishing themselves as a full act on their own rather than a side project of the participating artists.<br />
<strong>Connor Christian </strong>&#8211; Nobody in today&#8217;s chat could deny the presence of the Connor Christian fanbase! Bloggers and country fans alike just kept slippin his name off their tongue (or tweets) like so much honey in a cloverfield.<br />
<strong>Backroad Anthem</strong> &#8211; This Ozark country favorite jumped in and participated in the BlogRodeo, did a few interviews with some of our fellow bloggers and ourselves, AND pulled off a handful of killer shows all in the last few days. Dedication and participation like that is what it&#8217;s going to take to get to the bigtime and we think these guys&#8217;ve got it!<br />
A few honorable mentions go out to <strong>Rose Falcon</strong> , <strong><a title="Kacey Musgraves" href="https://stubhub.prf.hn/click/camref:1100ljXyr/pubref:WPSMusgraves/ar:CMNBAutoLink/destination:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.stubhub.com%2Fkacey-musgraves-tickets%2F">Kacey Musgraves</a></strong>, <strong>Katie Armiger</strong>, <strong>Whitney Duncan</strong>, <strong>Thomas Rhett</strong> and <strong><a title="Tyler Farr" href="https://stubhub.prf.hn/click/camref:1100ljXyr/pubref:WPSTFarr/ar:CMNBAutoLink/destination:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.stubhub.com%2Ftyler-farr-tickets%2F">Tyler Farr</a>.</strong> It seems quite a few of these have been on the cusp of mainstream success for a while, but they&#8217;re all poised to make some big noise this year. <strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong><br />
</strong></p>
<p><strong>Hottest Headliners: </strong><br />
<strong>Kelli Pickler </strong>&#8211; Now it&#8217;s been a bit since we&#8217;ve heard anything REAL big out of little Miss Pickler, but we&#8217;re all waiting with baited breath. She&#8217;s got the talent, and the strong and loyal fanbase so we can only guess that she&#8217;s being really careful about her next move.</p>
<p><strong><a title="Randy Houser" href="https://stubhub.prf.hn/click/camref:1100ljXyr/pubref:WPSRHouser/ar:CMNBAutoLink/destination:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.stubhub.com%2Frandy-houser-tickets%2F">Randy Houser</a></strong> &#8211; <a href="http://twitter.com/CMNBlog" target="_blank">CMNBlog</a> calls <a title="Randy Houser" href="https://stubhub.prf.hn/click/camref:1100ljXyr/pubref:WPSRHouser/ar:CMNBAutoLink/destination:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.stubhub.com%2Frandy-houser-tickets%2F">Randy Houser</a>&#8217;s new album &#8220;the bomb&#8221;, while <a href="http://twitter.com/UrbanCountryNews" target="_blank">UrbanCountryNews</a> says the new project&#8217;s one to get, with the song &#8220;Like A Cowboy&#8221; being their favorite because of the great lyrics and <a href="http://twitter.com/CMTT" target="_blank">CMTT</a> Hopes it gets him the attention he deserves</p>
<p><strong><a title="Gary Allan" href="https://countrymusicontour.com/gary-allan-concert-tour-dates/">Gary Allan</a></strong> &#8211; <a href="http://twitter.com/OfficialUKCM" target="_blank">OfficialUKCM</a> Threw <a title="Gary Allan" href="https://countrymusicontour.com/gary-allan-concert-tour-dates/">Gary Allan</a>&#8217;s new release &#8220;Set You Free&#8221; into the conversation, stating &#8220;Its such a brilliant album &#8211; just got hooked from listening to first track!&#8221; while <a href="http://twitter.com/UrbanCountryNews" target="_blank">UrbanCountryNews</a> says &#8220;The whole <a title="Gary Allan" href="https://countrymusicontour.com/gary-allan-concert-tour-dates/">Gary Allan</a> record is fantastic. Early contender for my year-end favorites list!&#8221;</p>
<p>Of course much fuss was made over <a title="Luke Bryan" href="https://stubhub.prf.hn/click/camref:1100ljXyr/pubref:WPSLukeBryan/ar:CMNBAutoLink/destination:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.stubhub.com%2Fluke-bryan-tickets%2F">Luke Bryan</a>, <a title="Jason Aldean" href="https://stubhub.prf.hn/click/camref:1100ljXyr/pubref:WPSAldean/ar:CMNBAutoLink/destination:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.stubhub.com%2Fjason-aldean-tickets%2F">Jason Aldean</a>, <a title="Little Big Town" href="https://countrymusicontour.com/new-little-big-town-tour-dates/">Little Big Town</a>, and David Nail, but we&#8217;ve been sure of their star power for a while now.</p>
<p><strong>Biggest Festivals: </strong></p>
<p>The frontrunners for most anticipated festivals of the year start with the brand new <strong>Thunder On The Mountain</strong> which is hosted in the hills of the Ozark mountains here in Arkansas this coming June. We&#8217;re also excited to see how successful the <strong>Country2Country</strong> festival is at expanding Nashville&#8217;s reach across the pond.</p>
<p><strong>Sidenotes</strong>:</p>
<p>Other points that came up during the chat included the urge to keep the Americana influence right up on the surface of our new music, and the bad taste <a title="Blake Shelton" href="https://stubhub.prf.hn/click/camref:1100ljXyr/pubref:WPSBlakeS/ar:CMNBAutoLink/destination:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.stubhub.com%2Fblake-shelton-tickets%2F">Blake Shelton</a>&#8217;s recent comments on this topic left in our mouths. We also touched base on the idea that a series of Crossroads tours wouldn&#8217;t be a bad idea as long as we leave Jessica Simpson, Kid Rock &; Gwyneth Paltrow are never considered for a spot. The pairings would have to make sense.</p>
<p>Once again, thank you to everybody who participated in the posting event and #BlogRodeo Twitter Chat! Individually we are all unique and impassioned fans with a small say in supporting our favorite artists. Together WE are the middle ground where fans &; artists meet. Stay true to both &; the marketing gimmicks go by the wayside. Stay tuned for details on the next event. For the full list of BlogRodeo tweets and stats check out <a href="https://twitter.com/search/realtime?q=%23BlogRodeo&#038;src=hash" target="_blank">#BlogRodeo on Twitter</a>.</p>
<p>Cheers!<br />
~WC~</p>
<h3>Blog Rodeo Roundup: See What Everyone Else Is Saying About Country Music in 2013!</h3>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>CountryMusicTattleTale.com</strong></span>: <a href="http://countrymusictattletale.com/2013/01/22/country-music-blog-rodeo-2013-will-bring-a-new-sound-to-country-music">2013 Will Bring A New Sound to Country Music!</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>CMchatLive.com</strong></span>: <a href="http://www.cmchatlive.com/twangn-2013-insights-from-country-music-industry-experts/">2013 &#8211; Insights From Country Music Industry Experts</a>!</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>FocusOnThe615.com</strong></span>: <a href="http://focusonthe615.com/2013/01/21/2013-artists-to-watch/">Artist to Watch in 2013</a>!</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>TwangNation.com</strong></span>: <a href="http://www.twangnation.com/2013/01/22/blog-rodeo-americana-musics-influence-on-country-music/">Americana&#8217;s Influence On Country Music</a>!</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>UrbanCountryNews.com</strong></span>: <a href="http://www.urbancountrynews.com/country-music-blog-rodeo-roots-on-the-rise-the-most-exciting-music-trend-of-2013">Roots On The Rise &#8211; The Most Exciting Music Trend of 2013</a>!</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>UkCOUNTRYmusic.net</strong></span>: <a href="http://www.ukcountrymusic.net/2013/01/country-music-blog-rodeo-country2country-march-2013-a-potential-turning-point-for-us-country-music-in-the-uk/">Country2Country Festival-A Potential Turning Point for US Country Music In The Uk</a>!</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>KeepinItCountryBlog.com</strong></span>: <a href="http://www.keepinitcountryblog.com/2013/01/country-music-blog-rodeo-year-country-crossover">2013 The Year of Country Crossover</a>!</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>CountryMusicPride.com</strong></span>: <a href="http://countrymusicpride.com/Country-Music-Blog-Rodeo-Music-in-2013">Country Music In 2013</a>!</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>ForTheCountryRecord.com</strong></span>: <a href="http://forthecountryrecord.com/post/41121004217/blog-rodeo-twitter">Country Music &; Twitter</a>!</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>CountryMusicNewsBlog.com (HaleighT</strong></span>): <a href="http://www.countrymusicnewsblog.com/country-music-blog-rodeo-word-of-mouth-in-2013">Word of Mouth in 2013</a>!</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>CountryMusicNewsBlog.com (MissMolly)</strong></span>: <a href="http://www.countrymusicnewsblog.com/country-music-blog-rodeo-2013-north-of-nashville-the-ozarks-go-country">2013 North of Nashville &#8211; The Ozarks Go Country</a>!</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>CountryMusicIsLove.com</strong></span>: <a href="http://www.countrymusicislove.com/2013/01/country-music-blog-rodeo-passing-the-torch-in-2013.html">Country Artists Passing The Torch In 2013</a>!</li>
</ul>