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AARON BENWARD

Creator & Host, Nashville Unplugged: The Story Behind the Song

For 17 years, Aaron Benward has brought Nashville's best songwriters to the Las Vegas stage with Nashville Unplugged: The Story Behind the Song- a show built on the idea that a hit song is only half the story. The other half is what happened in the room where it happened.

Benward knows that room firsthand. He got his start as a recording artist in the 1990s, teaming up with his father, Jeoffrey Benward, to form the Christian music duo Aaron Jeoffrey, which landed ten No. 1 Billboard singles and sold over a million records. He later co-founded the country duo Blue County, whose singles "Good Little Girls" and "That's Cool" earned multiple ACM and CMA Duo of the Year nominations.

That firsthand experience as an artist is what shapes Nashville Unplugged- Benward built the show to give audiences the same access to songwriters that he once had as a peer and collaborator.

Beyond the stage, Benward is also a film and television producer. He produced the feature films Playing God and Chasing Oslo, and created the docuseries God Family Football, which will begin filming its fifth season this fall.

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THE STORY BEHIND THE SONG

NASHVILLE UNPLUGGED

Nashville Unplugged is one of the longest-running songwriter showcases in the country- a live experience where hit songwriters perform their biggest songs and share the personal stories behind them.

The show first found its home with a celebrated residency at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, followed by a residency at the Borgata in Atlantic City, and has since become a staple at the George Theater in Houston, TX. Beyond its residency stages, Nashville Unplugged has toured extensively across the country, playing casino showrooms for Harrah's and Caesars, theaters and performing arts centers nationwide, and at sea aboard Celebrity and Carnival cruise lines.

The show's appeal has also made it a sought-after experience for corporate audiences. Notably, Nashville Unplugged took the stage for Brand USA's annual event in Chicago last year, performing for a crowd of 7,000.

With nearly two decades of hit songs and firsthand stories, Nashville Unplugged continues to give audiences a front-row seat to country music’s greatest songwriting talent- night after night, city after city.