Tammy Genovese, CEO of the Country Music Association, told Nashville’s daily newspaper The Tennessean that the crowd was up 9 percent from 2007. Pre-sales are also up for the 2009 festival. Among the performers at this year’s event were Carrie Underwood, Alan Jackson, Josh Turner and many others. Dwight Yoakam and Faith Hill also returned to perform at the festival after long absences. Final figures on the 2008 CMA Music Festival will be released soon.