Jelly Roll, Ashley McBryde To Host CMA Fest Special
The Country Music Association announced today (6/3) that the CMA Fest TV special will air Tuesday, June 25, at 8/7c on ABC and stream the next day on Hulu.
Jelly Roll and Ashley McBryde will host the three-hour primetime concert special, which is set to film in Nashville during the 51st CMA Fest later this week.
The CMA Fest television special will feature never-before-seen performances and surprise collaborations from country music’s biggest names. Performances will be revealed soon.
Last year, Jelly Roll revealed that during his first performance at CMA Fest at Nissan Stadium in June, which was televised as a TV special on ABC, he was “trembling.”
Jelly posted a video clip of the performance on his Instagram. He wrote in a lengthy caption, “If you listen closely, you can hear my voice shaking the first half of the song— I was trembling; I was so nervous. 65,000 people in my hometown stadium- the same stadium my father took me to every Sunday for Titans games. The same stadium I’ve been taking my daughter to since she was a baby.”
He continued, “Thank you, CMA Fest, for letting me be a part of your 50th anniversary. I have literally been going to ‘Fan Fair’ since I was a child. This night was unbelievable… to hear 65k people [sing] ‘and God, I need a Favor’ in unison like one voice.”
Jelly concluded, “Just when I thought things couldn’t get any wilder, y’all continue to amaze me. Thank y’all – this has been an unreal year.”
See that post here.
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The country star won an ACM award with Lainey Wison for their duet “Save Me” last month (5/16).
Before the show, Jelly chatted about how hard it was for him to write and share the song with people. He said, “‘Save Me.’ Man, was that one. I had trouble playing it in a room for people for like 3-4 weeks after I recorded it.”
He added, “Like, I couldn’t listen to it with them, you know what I mean? And so, singing it was really rough.”
Jelly went on to say that the song literally saved him. In his acceptance speech at the show, he said from the podium, “I’m gonna try not to get emotional, but seriously, this song saved me. I was in a dark place. I wrote it from my soul. I knew people would connect with it.”
He continued, tears in his eyes, “This song is a triple-platinum record. I wrote it with a high school friend—we never thought we’d be songwriters. I never thought I’d be standing here. I thought I would die or go to jail, and I’m standing here an ACM Award winner.”
