‘CMA Fest’ TV Special To Feature Nearly 30 Festival Performances

Eric Church performs at Nissan Stadium on Friday, June 9 during the 2017 CMA Music Festival. Photo: Natasha Moustache / CMA

Fans of CMA Music Fest can relive some of their favorite moments from this year’s festival on Aug. 16, when the CMA Fest TV special airs on ABC. The three-hour Music Event of Summer is hosted by Thomas Rhett and Kelsea Ballerini, and features a whopping 28 performances from a mix of country superstars and rising stars.

Filmed earlier this summer throughout the festival, the special features performances from stars including Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Garth Brooks, Brothers Osborne, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Dan + Shay, Brett Eldredge, Florida Georgia Line, Sam Hunt, Lady Antebellum,Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Dustin Lynch,Maren Morris, Old Dominion, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Thomas Rhett, Darius Rucker, Blake Shelton,Cole Swindell, Keith Urban, Brett Young, and Chris Young. Highlights from the show include reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year Garth Brooks making his first CMA Music Festival appearance in nearly 20 years.

The special is executive-produced by Robert Deaton.

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Lorie Hollabaugh

Hollabaugh, a staff writer at MusicRow magazine, has over 20 years of music business experience and has written for publications including American Profile, CMA Close Up, Nashville Arts And Entertainment, The Boot and Country Weekly. She has a Broadcast Journalism and Speech Communication degree from Texas Christian University, (go Horned Frogs), and welcomes your feedback or story ideas at lhollabaugh@musicrow.com.

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