From the Designer: "Traveling from Nashville through heartaches and pain, the big loser becomes the big winner!" Players begin with 200 Happiness Points and take turns rolling dice to move their pawns around the game board. Landing on an "Emotion" or "Action" space cues the player to draw a card from the corresponding deck. The board also contains spaces such as "County Jail" or "The Brightwood" that lead to a die roll and one of six potential outcomes. These outcomes, most of the other spaces on the board, and the Emotion and Action cards contain either a happiness boost or drop and a country music cliche or song title. The rules state that "[t]he first player to lose all 200 Happiness Points is the winner, since in Country Music the 'big loser' is also the 'big winner.'"