By OnMilwaukee Staff Writers   Published Jun 06, 2006 at 9:23 AM

This year Milwaukeeans won’t be the only ones enjoying the Big Gig. Officials at Milwaukee World Festival, Inc. announced that Summerfest has committed to a major partnership with Country Music Television (CMT), America’s No. 1 country music network.

CMT is bringing a full-scale production crew to Summerfest '06 to shoot and produce "Toyota Presents CMT at Summerfest 2006" concert series, which will be filmed June 30-July 2.

The concert series, produced at the Harley-Davidson Roadhouse, features three one-hour concert television specials highlighting different headliners, including Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hank Williams, Jr. and Dierks Bentley.

The broadcast programs will premier July 14-16 and run multiple times. In addition, the "CMT Top 20 Countdown," with host Lance Smith, will be filmed from the Summerfest grounds. In total, the partnership will deliver over 36 hours of national airtime, all originated at and featuring Summerfest.