Capitol Records pub crawl draws 5,000, Bentley, Bryan

As a special encore at the end of his set, Bentley brought up all the Pub Crawl performers - as well as surprise musical guests Troy Gentry (of Montgomery Gentry) Mark Collie and Muzik Mafia's Two Foot Fred - for their take on the Johnny Cash classic "Folsom Prison Blues."

"It was a nice chance to come home and show people what we've been working on for the past five years," said Bentley. "It was awesome that the Nashville community and the music industry came out to support not just all of us but just to support the music in general. It was definitely a great night for me, for Capitol Records and for the entire music community."

"You know, we live in Nashville, write our music in Nashville, record our albums in Nashville - then get on a big bus to tour outside of Nashville," said Church. "This is just a great opportunity to give back to the town that gives so much to us."

Addressing the necessity of performing in the excessive August heat - the temperature hit 103 - Bryan said, "Anytime you are playing music - and fans are having a good time - it doesn't matter if it's 100 degrees or minus 100 degrees, I'll be there."

The stage featured a giant video screen where live footage of all four acts allowed all fans to see each performance.

T-shirts featuring the Capitol Pub Crawl logo - with caricature depictions of all artists participating in the event - were for sale on-site. Proceeds from the t-shirts will benefit Vanderbilt Children's Hospital; the total will be announced at a later date.

"We could not be happier with the results," said Mike Dungan, president and CEO of Capitol Records Nashville.

"Of course there were business reasons to do this, but almost immediately everyone at Capitol felt a great deal of civic pride in what we were accomplishing," added Dungan. "I am overwhelmed by the number of city leaders, members of the music community, and fans from the Nashville area who have gone out of their way to say 'thanks for doing this!'"

"The spirit of the Pub Crawl is to get music fans of America's greatest music city out to connect with the music from some of the best new artists in town," said Capitol Records Nashville's Vice President of Marketing Cindy Mabe. "This city is built on the music industry, great music, great songs and great talent. We are so excited about the talent we have, and it was great to share it with more than 5000 fans of Nashville."