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LOS ANGELES — Billed as the biggest country music fan event of the year, CMA Fest is an annual pilgrimage to Nashville for country fans and country artists.
Over four days, on stages all over town, live music is performed, with each day culminating in a huge show at Nissan Stadium featuring performances by a star-studded lineup of artists.
This year’s Nissan Stage performers included Luke Bryan, Megan Moroney, Jason Aldean and Kelsea Ballerini, to name a few.
All of the best performances are included in a new special, “CMA Fest Presented by SoFi,” airing 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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