With CMA Fest coming up, Priscilla Block is taking ABC Audio on a trip down memory lane to recall her early days as an independent artist dreaming of playing the festival.

While Priscilla’s now part of the official CMA Fest lineup, this wasn’t always the case for the Raleigh, North Carolina, native, who used to employ a little trick to pretend she was part of it.

“I would put the CMA Fest logo on my in-town gigs because no one knew who I really was,” Priscilla admits with a laugh. “So I would put [up] my CMA Fest schedule and I’d be singing at like, Rippy’s or Tootsies. And then I put ‘brought to you by CMA Fest.’ So I was really faking it ’til I made it.”

Although Priscilla was “faking it,” her efforts as a relatively unknown artist in Nashville then perhaps foreshadowed her present-day reality.

“When I actually got to play CMA Fest, when I was invited to play Riverfront and then we did Nissan Stadium last year, I was like, ‘Wow, I manifested this,’ you know? And I actually had the official logo on it,” Priscilla adds.

The “Just About Over You” singer is set to return to the CMA Fest Chevy Riverfront Stage on Friday, June 9, at 10 a.m. Afterward, she’ll head over to Fan Fair X for meet-and-greets at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m., before performing at Universal Music Group Nashville’s Music Is Universal event at the Skydeck on Broadway at 11 p.m.

For more information on Priscilla’s appearances and for the full CMA Fest schedule, visit cmafest.com.

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