The annual ABC-TV primetime special CMA Fest is set to return to the network on August 3rd at 8 p.m. ET for three full hours of entertainment filmed during this year's CMA Fest three-day event in Nashville in June. The special boasts 30 performances and will be co-hosted for the first time by Dierks Bentley and Elle King.
Dierks said, “I think Elle brings so much to the table. Onstage she’s just a riot and also super talented – a great combination of talent with comedic humor. A lot of spontaneous moments between the two of us and just a lot of laughs.”
Elle tells us that whether it's singing together or just hanging out, she and Dierks can't not have fun together, especially while co-hosting CMA Fest. “Anything that Dierks and I do together is fun and funny because we're just kind of, in the nicest way, idiots, in the best way. We just make each other laugh so nothing that we do feels like work. This does not feel like work. It feels like we get to go out in a stadium and introduce usually Dierks' friends. I don't know a lot of these people — like two of them — but we get to introduce them and say some funny jokes with some of the fans and get to go out there with them. It's been really cool.”
Among the performers are Jason Aldean, Kelsea Ballerini, Brothers Osborne, Kane Brown, Luke Bryan, Luke Combs, Russell Dickerson, Parker McCollum, Old Dominion, Thomas Rhett and Carrie Underwood, along with collaborations between Dierks and Billy Ray Cyrus, Wynonna Judd and Carly Pearce, Dustin Lynch and MacKenzie Porter, Cole Swindell and Lainey Wilson, Elle and Ashley McBryde, Lady A and BRELAND, and Zac Brown Band with Darius Rucker.
CMA Fest will be available on Hulu beginning on August 4th.