LOS ANGELES — Touted as the biggest country music fan event of the year, CMA Fest is a yearly journey to Nashville for both country enthusiasts and country musicians.
Over the span of four days, live music is showcased on stages all across the city, with each day concluding in a grand performance at Nissan Stadium, featuring a lineup of well-known artists.
This year’s Nissan Stage performers included Luke Bryan, Megan Moroney, Jason Aldean and Kelsea Ballerini, to name a few.
The top performances are featured in a new special, “CMA Fest Presented by SoFi,” which airs on June 26 on ABC, hosted by Cody Johnson and Ashley McBryde.
“I’m a little more nervous about reading that teleprompter than I am performing,” Johnson told On The Red Carpet. “Performing I could do sick, tired, it doesn’t matter. But hosting, I’m afraid I’m gonna screw it up.”
This is Johnson’s first time emceeing the event.
McBryde, who hosted last year with Jelly Roll, had some words of encouragement for her rookie partner.
“I was telling Cody you can’t get this wrong, and all we have to do is let the audience in on what we’re doing,” she said. “So, if we need to say, ‘We’re doing TV magic right now. It’s the top of the show, I realize it’s 9 p.m. and you’ve been here a couple of hours,’ you let them in on that and they’ve got your back.”
In the new episode, “On The Red Carpet at CMA Fest,” you’ll hear more from this year’s CMA Fest hosts along with Nissan Stage performers like Lainey Wilson, Darius Rucker, Dierks Bentley, Trade Adkins, Keith Urban, Zach Top and more.
“CMA Fest Presented by SoFi” airs Thursday, June 26 at 8/7c on ABC.
Watch the full episode, “On The Red Carpet at CMA Fest,” in the video player above.
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