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This weekend started out like many weekends with CMT Insider. We arrived in our location city, this time Columbia South Carolina, excited about the interview and the upcoming show we would be covering. This weekend was Kenny Chesney and the first stadium stop on his Poets and Pirates Tour. Everything was going perfectly.We had a great interview and the weather was gorgeous, despite the threat for bad weather later in the day. The stadium was empty, quiet, and full of promise. Kenny was really excited and could barely sit still in his seat as he spoke about the upcoming show. He was especially excited about the extra T-section of stage that would allow him to reach even more fans. He joked that it would be giving him quite a workout trying to cover that whole area.

Later in the day, the tailgaters started to arrive. I have never seen tailgating like this. One fan had even turned her bus into a tiki hut complete with sand. Unfortunately the skies opened up just before the stadium was set to open and dampened the tailgating fun. Everything was postponed just a bit, but the fans did eventually make their way to their rain drenched seats. Kenny fans are loyal to the core and these hard working folks weren't going to let their hard earned dollars go to waste. No one could have predicted just how hard Kenny would have to work later that night to give his fans this show.

After watching Luke Bryan, Leann Rimes, Gary Allan, and Brooks and Dunn rock the crowd, it was Kenny's turn to do what he does best. He let our cameras in on his warm up ritual. He has a vibe room set up backstage at every show and he gathers the band, friends, and family together for a big toast. His horn section played "When The Saints Go Marching In" and then it was time to hit the stage.

We could all feel the anticipation in the air. The lights dimmed and I watched from backstage as Kenny slowly rose up into the platform in the center of the stadium. At first it just seemed like he was taking his time standing up. The band kept playing and we all started to wonder why he wasn't singing yet. He managed to get a few lines out and then was silent again. It was becoming clear that he was stuck. It looked like he was struggling to free his right foot. The backstage area was quickly becoming chaotic with everyone trying to figure out exactly what was wrong and how to help him. Just then, he was able to free his foot and started singing. He sounded slightly winded but alright. We all let out a big sigh of relief and for a moment assumed it was all ok. It was only after a few minutes we realized that he was starting to limp. Anyone who knows Kenny knows that he would never let his fans see him this way if he could help it. We all knew he wouldn't be limping if he wasn't in serious pain. Then he turned his back to the audience during a guitar solo and slumped over in front of the drums. It was then that I could see clearly the pain on his face. By now there were emergency workers backstage preparing ice packs, but he kept playing. Song after song he kept going. He didn't just stand there and sing, he continued to make his way up and down the long catwalk and reach down to touch his fans while singing. I can't imagine what was going through his head, but I can only hope the adrenalin helped with the pain.

I am now back in Nashville and it is Sunday night. The last news we heard is that he was seeing a surgeon and that it was likely he had crushed bones in his foot. I am told they had to cut his boot off because of the swelling. Perhaps we will know more tomorrow about the extent of his injuries.

I have never known an artist to work harder than Kenny Chesney and seeing this show first hand just convinced me even more that he has truly earned every bit of his success. Kenny knows who he works for, but there probably wasn't a fan in that stadium that would have been angry if he had stopped playing. He could have stopped, but he didn't. Get some rest Kenny!

CMT Insider's May 3rd episode will originate from Columbia, S.C. and will include a lengthy interview with Kenny Chesney as well as exclusive footage backstage. Get show times here.

Brett McVicker is a writer for Country Fried Home Videos and Country Fried Planet.

I open a lot of Bill [Engvall]'s mail. Don't tell him that. But every once in a while I get the opportunity to really make a difference in some fan's life. Like this 8th grade boy from Alabama. Check out this letter he wrote: ______________________________________
Elberta Middle School
Jonathan XXXXX
13355 Main Street Elberta, AL 36530

March 10, 2008

Country Fried Offices
Above the Diner
U.S.A.

Dear Mr. Engvall:

Hello, my name is Jonathan XXXXX, and I am in the 8th grade at Elberta Middle School. In my English class we are learning how to write business letters. My teacher has asked us to pick our favorite television personality to write a business letter to. I chose you because I love watching your show "Country Fried Home Videos." I'm glad that you have this show because you're funny, and it's funny when people crash and stuff.

Right now I am 14 years old and I have a horse. She is 2 years old, and she is now old enough to be trained to ride. I like going mud riding and going redneck snow boarding with a lawn mower. So I'm a big redneck and cowboy.

I was wondering if I could have a couple of souvenirs for my redneck brothers and me. They also really like your show because it is awesome. Please and thank you. We would like something cowboyish and redneckish. Thank you.

Your #1 Fan,

Jonathan XXXXX
8th grade student
Elberta Middle School
________________________________________

Okay, Jonathan. I'm a big shot professional writer. So I know about these kinds of things. Your spelling and grammar were fine. But that ain't how you write a business letter at all. Here, I'll show you:

 Now THAT'S how you write a business letter.

 Brett McVicker is a writer for Country Fried Home Videos and Country Fried Planet.

A lot of the guys who work on the show also work as stand-up comedians. One of our writers, Gary Brightwell, recently did a stand up tour of some Naval bases with a group called Comics on Duty. He went to El Salvador, Honduras, the Bahamas and Guantanamo Bay.

Not only do some of these guys serve under some rough conditions, but when they finally get time to rest, there isn't much to do. Some of these bases are in pretty remote locations. So on their time off, they end up playing cards, joking around with each other, and watching plenty of TV. And not just any TV ... they watch Country Fried Home Videos. That's right. Our show.

We all got a real kick from hearing that the boys watching the Armed Forces Network can see the show. And the guys in Soto Cano base in Honduras even have a favorite video. It's "Scott Curry and his Fish n' Tips." So here you go, guys. This one's for you:

Brett McVicker is a writer for Country Fried Home Videos and Country Fried Planet.

Since we started our new show, Country Fried Planet, I've had to do plenty of studying. We pride ourselves in getting the facts right, so we painstakingly check every single piece of information about other countries before we put it on the air. Here are just a few of the things I've picked up:

• The Czech Republic has a class division - those who grow corn and those who grow wheat. They're called Wheat Czechs and Corn Czechs.
• The richest man in Brazil is a Brazillionaire.
• They don't have gravity in Australia. That's why Australians can live upside down.
• Surprisingly, they rarely drive four door cars in Sudan.
• Scotch tapes aren't any stickier than the videos we get from other countries.
• Uruguay is not just an insult.
• Taiwan and Thailand are two different names for the same island nation. The people there are called Cambodians.
• Bora Bora is actually quite exciting.
• In Saudi Arabia, they have mandatory public service. It's called Saudi-Duty Time.
• When in Rome, you should always do as the Romanians do.

And check this video out. Did you know other countries have history, too?

Brett McVicker is a writer for Country Fried Home Videos and Country Fried Planet.

Last season on Country Fried Home Videos, we got a video from a female boxer named Holly Holm. She holds a bunch of titles, and she's about as intimidating as any woman I've ever seen. I ain't afraid to admit it: if she took a swing at me I'd duck, cover, and cry like a little girl. So we got to discussing what percentage of American males she could beat up. Thirty? Fifty? Seventy-five? Listen, this girl is carved out of wood. She sure looks like she packs a mean punch. Here's the video from our show to show you what I mean:

Well, one of our writers, Calvert, wasn't as impressed as the rest of us. He thought he could last three rounds with her, no problem. We say bull. Let's do a quick tale of the tape:  

I'd like to hear some comments on this. How long would Calvert last? One Round? Ten? Should we have a doctor on hand to watch the fight? And how many guys out there think they could take Holly?
 

Brett McVicker is a writer for Country Fried Home Videos and Country Fried Planet.

A lot of people ask me how a video gets to be a Here's Your Sign winner. You might think that we watch all the videos people send us, pick the best ones, put them into a show, and pick our favorite one to win the sign. Maybe you even think that we write all the videos down on little color coded note cards, put them up on a cork board, and have enthusiastic discussions with Bill Engvall about which one is the best and why. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Actually, we use a form. Here at the Country Fried Offices, we love bureaucracy. So I thought I'd share our super secret document with you:

Does anyone in the video have a mullet?
Yes ____
No ____

How many people in the video are holding a beer?
A few.
A bunch.
Including Grandma and the baby?
Everyone.

How much of the equipment used in the videos is home rigged?
Some.
Most.
I stole it from my neighbor. Does that count?

Also indicate if any duct tape is visible on said equipment. _______

What level of pain does the person featured in the video experience?
A little scrape.
Bumps and bruises.
Annoying screams.
Yep, that's definitely broken.

Does anyone yell, "Watch this!" before attempting something unwise?
Yes.
No.
He's slurring his words, but that could be it.

How may farm animals, dangerous critters or other animals (e.g. bulls and mud-covered hunting dogs) are involved in the video?
A mess.
A heap.
A buttload.
I can't count that high.

How many teeth are people missing at the beginning of the video?
None you can see.
A few of 'em.
Most of 'em.

At the end of the video?
The same as at the beginning.
More than at the beginning.

Please estimate the total amount of property damage done: ___________

Then we tally up the total and make the decision. Simple as that.

What an incredible predicament I found myself in on the finale of Gone Country. I gotta tell you, I was actually secretly hoping that the episode where I heard the original songs for the first time that I would be able to start crossing people off the list. I liked everybody's personality and everybody was bringing something great to the table, but I was hoping that a few of them would write songs that weren't very good, and I could just cross them off the list based on the lack of greatness of the song. But then everybody wrote a viable song, in my opinion. Literally everybody. And if you know me, you know I'm a real hardcore guy when it comes to integrity of songwriting. I mean, I've made my career on songwriting, but I wasn't able to cross anybody off the list at that point, which was a little concerning to me because then I knew it was all going to boil down to the performances.

So on the finale, as I'm watching everybody perform, once again it was not extremely clear who was in the lead up until I saw Julio [Iglesias Jr.] perform. You can actually see my reaction on TV where my eyes kinda got wide and I went, "Wow." There was a palpable magnetism between Julio and that audience, and not just the women -- men and women. The whole entire place moved about three feet closer to the stage when he hit that chorus. It was the X-factor that I talked about in the final episode. I kinda laid out the criteria of what it was going to take for somebody to get that final little edge and the final little edge to me was the X-factor -- the X-factor being that thing that you can't put your finger on, but you witnessed it, you felt it, and it was real. And gotta tell you, Julio had that.

Diana DeGarmo's vocals were so incredible. Had it just been based on vocal performance, Diana would have won it hands down. She had a strong response from the audience, but it was not, in my opinion, as strong as the one Julio had. So that was one real major factor in me picking Julio. And, to be quite honest with you, the other real major factor was, I think, that Julio Iglesias Jr. brings an element to country music that does not exist -- and that being the Spanish-English element. I remember growing up in Texas and hearing Johnny Rodriguez on my radio station, and about half my friends were Spanish kids -- Mexican kids -- and their first language was Spanish. They were all my buddies. I remember Johnny Rodriguez turning them on to country music. They liked it, but it wasn't something they completely related to until they saw Johnny Rodriguez.

Well, I think, it's been 30 years since that, and I think it's time we pay attention to that audience again. I see Spanish-speaking people coming to Big & Rich shows by the hundreds and thousands, depending on the part of the country that we're in, and right now, there's nobody in our format speaking to that audience. So that was another major factor for me that I didn't think anybody else on the cast brought to the table, obviously. He is a true international artist. Anybody that knows me knows I love country music so much, I want to see it become the most popular format of music in the world. I want it to be the biggest thing in the world, and one thing we have to do to do that is to embrace artists that can help us take it around the world and that can educate the world about how great our music is. Julio is such a class act and always carries himself with integrity. Those are the factors that weighed in to me to pick him as the winner of Gone Country.

Kelli and Ron share their thoughts about their wedding day from My Big Redneck Wedding.

Kelli

My thoughts on my demo derby redneck wedding:

What can I say? It snowed, it rained, it was even 70 degrees out at times. Three weeks to get everything together. It was the best three weeks of my life. Getting to marry someone you love in a way that only two people who love each other, and love demo derbys could do. It will always be to remember for us and our friends. I had a lot of fun with planning the decorations for the wedding. It wasn't just your ordinary décor.

We had mud, we had snow, we had fun and brought our two loves together on the same day to share with the whole world and had a heck of a lot of fun doing it.

Better ½,

Kelli Sarsfield

Ron

After the cameras are gone and the show is over, I will still be with the woman that I love, and the days get longer with the snow and towing in the western Pennsylvania -- a small town of Hunter.

Having a wedding in three weeks is not an easy task let alone trying to work 24/7 on call. Building the cars and finding a caterer that won't rip you off. I almost cut off my finger off one night working in the late hours but managed to get-r-done and make my wife happy and also myself. It is something I will never forget and will always have as the best wedding that ever took place in western Pennsylvania and probably the tri-state area.

So, get your ideas together and do it your way. Have fun with your big redneck wedding, but make sure it's the one you love and don't forget to check for ticks first, and don't forget the mud and motors.

½ Junk,

Ron Sarsfield

I welcome criticism from other artists, as long as I ask for it, and I ask for it a lot. I'll go to other artists and say, "What do you think about that song I wrote? What do you think about an idea to do this, that or the other thing?" Some artists will come up and critique you without you asking them, and that can sometimes rub you the wrong way. But when the artists were working on Gone Country, it was a situation where these guys were fish out of water. They wrote a song and they had a work tape on it -- just them and a guitar or them and a piano. They really had no idea if they were close to hitting the mark or not. So for me to be able to critique those songs, I had to be able to tell them, "That part's good. That part's not. This works. That doesn't." They were wide open to it. I mean, they were soaking up everything I told them. It was a pretty big responsibility for me, though, to tell them the right thing. But it's no different then when I listen to songs that come in for records I'm going to produce or whatever. I'll listen to probably 100 songs a week from different people, and I'll know within the first 60 seconds if it's right or not.

To pair the cast members with some people who really know what they're doing, I called up a laundry list of the best songwriters in town, people I've been able to become friends with over the years. Most of them I've written with on one occasion or another, as well. And I put two writers per artist because I didn't know which artists would be good writers or not. Some of them might be great, and some of them might not be able to write at all. I teamed them up based on what I knew about their personalities and what would be the best combos. I think I matched them up pretty well because everybody wrote a great song. As far as the Nashville equation on how to write a hit song, I think I plugged them right in to that thing. It worked.

Maureen McCormick, of all people, exceeded my expectations. Now, Maureen is probably the weakest singer on the show. She's not really a vocalist or anything, but she wrote this song called "The Price I've Got to Pay for Being Me," that -- I swear to God -- is a hit song. It sounds like something Loretta Lynn would have written early on. It's just so direct -- three-chord country that just rips your heart out. When the cast heard her song, we all looked at her and went, "You've got to be kidding!" When I heard that, I said, "She went just way, way, way up on the totem pole as to who might win this show." I mean, that song is incredible.

Amber and John share their experience from My Big Redneck Wedding.

Our experience with the wedding was a great one. We had so much fun planning this and the end was all worth it. But we both have decided that we don't want to go through any of that again! Even though it was fun there was headaches too. But I swear to you if it wasn't for our families it would have never been possible. We love our families and thank them so much for everything!