ABC’s annual “CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night To Rock” special airs at 8PM ET on Wednesday, August 3.
While filming the special at this year’s CMA Music Festival, ABC production staff sat down with various superstar performers. Those interviewed include co-hosts/performers Thomas Rhett and Brett Eldredge and performers Luke Bryan, Carrie Underwood, Chris Stapleton, Miranda Lambert, Dierks Bentley, Elle King, Little Big Town, Rascal Flatts, Maren Morris, and Kelsea Ballerini.
Wednesday, ABC made numerous soundbites available to the media. Select comments are featured below:
Brett Eldredge on hosting with Thomas Rhett
I love Thomas Rhett. Like, today, we went boxing. We hang out off-stage, we hang out on-stage, it’s a feeling of – it’s good to work with your buddy. I don’t want to go work with somebody I don’t like, and I certainly like this guy. It’s just been a great experience, and I hope for years to come we can do a lot of things like this and continue to kind of share this journey together and climb up together and play on many stages and host and do everything. we’re going to do something crazy every year.
Thomas Rhett on hosting with Brett Eldredge
It’s nice to be able to host a show with a friend. Me and Brett Eldredge are hosting this year. It was nice to be passed the torch by Little Big Town. [I’ve] been watching the last couple years, and they did such a killer job. We’re just trying to fill some shoes, and to already have an organic relationship with the guy you’re hosting with makes it very easy. We get out there and basically just be idiots for four straight days. It’s been a blast.
Luke Bryan on the magic of performing at the CMA Music Festival
This time of year at CMA Music Fest, you always know as an artist that the most hardcore, diehard fans are in Nashville. So when you try whatever songs that are your big hits, and you watch the whole stadium come alive; it’s so powerful and so inspiring – it’s what I live for as an artist. That moment to walk out on stage, I’ve had a song out on the charts for a couple months, and the next thing you know I get to play it in front of this crowd, and watch them react, and all the flash bulbs go off. It’s pretty magical.
Carrie Underwood on a highlight of the CMA Music Festival
The stadium, of course, is absolutely incredible, and there’s just so much energy, and the crowd is just crazy, and it’s awesome…but we [also] have our fan club party every year, which is really cool. I play out at the Opry usually, and I just get to say hi, and they – some of those people have been in the fan club, been with me for ten years, we celebrated our tenth year this year – it’s just like wow, been there since the beginning. So that’s something that’s really cool, to say thank you.
Chris Stapleton on performing at the CMA Music Festival amid his breakthrough as a performer
It’s a wonderful thing. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with a lot of great artists, and songwriters, and publishers, and record labels, and managers, and all the folks that work in and around the business. So, to publicly get that kind of support is a wonderful thing. I’ve always had it – just not in front of the TV camera. I’ve been real fortune for a lot of years.
Miranda Lambert on the country music fans at CMA Fest
This is our time to celebrate the fans — all the support they give us all year. For country music as a whole and as artists, individually. They’re the reason we have jobs. They’re the reason we get to go out on tours, and put out records. They come from all over the country to this one place for this week to celebrate — in Music City. It’s really cool, it’s sort of like everybody wants the same thing this week, and that’s to just love music, and love what we do, and what we’ve built as a family. They give to us, we give to them, and it’s a beautiful thing.
Dierks Bentley on the experience of playing the CMA Music Festival
There’s nothing like playing the CMA Music Fest. It’s just one of those gigs that just stands out over any other gig over the rest of the year. I kind of refer to this as the Thanksgiving holiday for us country singers. We get a chance to go out there and say ‘thank you’ to as many country music fans as you can say thank you to at one time – there’s like 80,000 people out there in person. These are the most dedicated of the dedicated. They travel from all over the world to be here…I love being part of it, it’s the most special gig of the entire year.
Elle King on playing the CMA Music Festival
I’m very, very nervous and excited. I hope people sing along with me and Dierks tonight. I hope I don’t mess up. It’s a beautiful feeling – it’s a connection, and that’s what’s amazing without shows. You can’t have a show without an audience. It’s a really beautiful, magical thing.
Little Big Town on country fans — and the CMA Music Festival audience
Karen: They really are the most loyal, enthusiastic fans that anyone could ever hope for. They give us a career – this is my favorite night of the year. I love and look forward to walking out on this stage every night, because the energy is palpable.
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Kimberly: [CMA Fest] is like the greatest concentration of country music fans.
Phillip: They’re from everywhere.
Karen (jokingly): It’s like an average night for Luke Bryan. But it’s a super cool night for us. He sings to that many people almost every night.
Rascal Flatts on performing with Maren Morris
Jay: We love Maren, she’s awesome. I remember I got her album in advance from Randy Goodman, the [CEO] over at Sony. There are so many great songs on that record; we’re thrilled that she wanted to come out with us.
Maren Morris on performing with Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts asked if I would sing with them here at Nissan Stadium, and I just – I’ve been a fan of theirs for so long, I remember loving “Prayin’ For Daylight.” So singing with them on stage now, doing soundcheck today was definitely crazy. Standing on that stage and looking at how many seats there are in that stadium. It’s definitely going to be the biggest crowd I’ve ever sung in front of. It’s a little nerve-wracking but exciting.
Kelsea Ballerini on her first CMA Fest
I remember the first time I got to go to CMA Fest — my mom surprised me with tickets for Christmas one year. Even just waiting those few months between Christmas and CMA Fest, I remember just being so anxious and excited. That was the year I stood in line to meet Taylor Swift and Lady Antebellum. I’ll just never forget – you get thirty seconds with your favorite artist, and it matters. It’s important. And it’s exciting for us too – as an artist now – to be able to see those fans and just be able to thank them in person for everything that they’ve done that year for us.
