Citizen Way performed at the K-LOVE Fan Awards this year.  Many of you friends have been asking about the experience and asking for photos… well today is finally the day!  Sorry for the hold up 😉

Josh, my mom, and I devoted the whole week to Nashville exploits.  The first couple of days we all paraded aroud together but before long Josh got busy with various K-LOVE Fan Awards related activities so my mom and I continued the fun just the two of us (for the full week of fun in photos and story CLICK HERE).

Time flew and suddenly we were standing outside the Ryman Auditorium.  The guys were immediately sent down the red carpet.  Though wives are welcome to walk down it was recommended we let the guys fly solo to better enhance the two sets of brothers dynamic.  So Alison and I skirted up the sidelines and waited for them at the end.  They guys were naturals – easy talkers with ready smiles.  I was a grinning fool at the back just gushing over with pride for my hardworking and completely adorable husband.  I watched as they were dragged through all the interview lines; they never missed a beat even though microphones were continuously shoved in their faces and cameras and lights constantly lingered overhead (Josh was featured on a video, CLICK HERE to see it).

I finally got to lace fingers with my hubs again and we slowly filed inside to find our seats.  We, and all the artists and their peeps, were seated on the main floor of the auditorium while all the fans packed the balcony seats – there were 1,200 seats filled by the artists, label representatives, managers, and the artists various family members and the remaining 1,800 seats were filled by all the fans.

The festivities started with a hoppin’ performance put on by Toby Mac and then the Duck Dynasty stars took the stage as our emcee’s for the evening.  The ceremony was a sort of rotation going from Ducky Dynasty, to award presenters, to interviews, to videos, to live performances and on.

Citizen Way‘s performance slot was near the beginning of the evening.  I have never been so proud in my whole life as when I watched my starry-eyed husband take the stage.  There was a moment in the show when he backed away from his microphone just to listen as the whole audience sang along – I can’t imagine how incredible it would be to not only see that load of fans but also his favorite artists singing along to their song.

Other moments in the ceremony that stand out are when For King and Country had a party on stage as they ran around crashing cymbals and jumping off pianos, when Natalie Grant brought Kari Jobe on stage with her and rocked our hearts out in worship, when K-LOVE presented an award to the brother of a crippled little girl for loving on his sister with such devotion (CLICK HERE for a highlight about that), and when they closed the night by bringing all the artists on stage to lead us in worship.

After all four hours of visual and emotional stimulation my belly was so empty my strapless dress threatened to fall down, my feet so sore I couldn’t feel my toes, and I was simply ready to crumple up and sleep but the night wasn’t over, we still had an after party to attend to.  The after party was a mingling event for the artists where there was food and live jazz music.  We made it long enough to satiate our hunger and meet a few more of Josh’s musician friends but then we snuck out and made for our sheets.

Below are some photos from Citizen Way‘s sound check at the Ryman and I included the collection of images I grabbed with my iPhone of the actual awards ceremony too.

What was one of the proudest moments in your life?

For more blog posts about Citizen Way CLICK HERE