Kelsea Ballerini Had a Blast Hosting ‘CMA Fest’ with Thomas Rhett

Anyone who has ever taken part in the annual CMA Music Festival in Nashville knows it’s a sprint to see all of the music acts you want to see. The same goes for artists playing the four-day festival, as they have to bounce around town from performance to performance, appearance to appearance.

This year, budding superstars Kelsea Ballerini and Thomas Rhett decided to add a little extra to their plates when they took on the roles of co-hosts for the television special CMA Fest, airing tonight on ABC. The chance to host, Ballerini shared, was an opportunity she just couldn’t turn down as it’s a far cry away from when she started playing the festival just four years ago.

“CMA Fest has been hectic because I’ve been a part of it as an artist now for four years,” Ballerini told Sounds Like Nashville and other media. “The first year was the ASCAP tent on Broadway, maybe 50 to 75 people. The second year was right after “Love Me” was out… We did the Bud Light stage outside of Bridgestone and like 4000 people came to that. And then we did the stadium last year and then the stadium and hosting this year, so I feel like every year is literally like a whirlwind different CMA Fest.”

“The reason I loved it so much,” she continued, “is because it kept me at the stadium, which means I got to watch everyone, which I didn’t get to do last year. I love being a fan, I love seeing my favorite artists and my friends do what they do. [It] was really cool to kinda get the fan tank filled this year with that. And hosting’s fun, too.”

While watching her artist friends take the stage was a highlight, getting to host with Rhett was at the top of her list. Ballerini spent much of the year opening for the “Craving You” singer on his Home Team Tour, where the two connected as friends.

“I love Thomas. He’s probably, other than Hillary [Scott], my closest artist friend. I just feel like me and him are similar and we just love music so much and we love songwriting before anything else. He loves the bells and whistles of touring and he loves an occasional beat drop. We’re just very similar in that,” she explained. “Getting to host together, when you host with someone that you’re comfortable with, you kind of banter more. You have a better energy with the person and that makes the whole thing feel better, rather than not knowing someone and just reading the prompter. I feel like that’s very stiff. I’ve done that. So it’s very fun to know him.”

Fans can catch Kelsea Ballerini and Thomas Rhett’s undeniable bond when the pair hosts CMA Fest, airing tonight at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. The special will feature performances by superstars Garth Brooks, Keith Urban, Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, Eric Church, Sam Hunt, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Brad Paisley, and Florida Georgia Line as well as collaborations between Dierks Bentley and Cole Swindell, Thomas Rhett and Maren Morris, and Darius Rucker with Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild, and much more.