Sometimes the weather’s hot (though we’re catching a break this year!), but regardless of the outside temperature, the CMA Music Festival is always one of the coolest times of the year for country artists and fans — and Carrie Underwood says that it’s the connection with the fans that makes the CMA’s annual event, and all the surrounding activities, such an amazing thing. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

• And if you’re in Music City for Music Fest this week, you can look for Carrie as part of the Friday, June 8th, line-up of performers on stage at the Nightly Concerts at LP Field! If you want to know more about the 2012 CMA Music Festival in Nashville, check out the official website, right here!
• One of Carrie’s favorite week-of-Music-Fest activities is the annual City of Hope Celebrity Softball Challenge, set for this Saturday, June 9th, at Nashville’s Greer Stadium. Carrie tells us that she loves the event not only because it indulges her competitive streak and her sense of fun, but it also lets her be one of the gang, sharing the spotlight with a bunch of other artists having fun with the fans. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• For more information on the game and how you can attend, visit this page at CityofHope.org! According to the site, last year’s game raised nearly $200,000, while in the life of the Softball Challenge, nearly $2 million has been generated to benefit the good work of City of Hope.

  Carrie Underwood talks about what makes the CMA Music Festival so special. (:32)
“The greatest thing about CMA Music Fest — the whole week — no other genre of music does this, you know? This is so unique to country music. It’s so unique to Nashville. People come from all around. I had people in my fan club party from…couple people from Australia, we had somebody from New Zealand. I’ve had people in there from Scotland before. You just…people come from all around to come here and just have fun for the week, and it is something that, you know, this kind of fan appreciation just doesn’t happen anywhere else.”

  Carrie Underwood enjoys participating in the City of Hope Celebrity Softball Challenge, an annual fundraiser during the CMA Music Festival. (:51)
“The softball game — I did miss last year’s. That was the very…that was the only one I have missed since 2005. So it’s always fun to be able to go out, and there’s so many events that do happen this week, but that one’s one that, I don’t know, I just kind of get to goof off and be around other artists. It’s not just like, you know, at the fan club it’s like me and the fan club members, and then, you know, if you’re signing at a booth, it’s like me and the fans. Like, this is a whole bunch of people, whole bunch of artists in one place at one time, like, having fun with each other, having fun with the fans, like there’s just so much more to it, and I do get competitive for sure. I want to win. And (laughs) I try to get the team to get excited, to cheer, and like, get out there and do their best. Doesn’t always pay off, but I have a good feeling this year.”