Dierks Bentley, along with Elle King and Lainey Wilson, host this year’s CMA Fest primetime television special. The three-hour show, airing Wednesday (July 19th), features amazing performances by some of today’s biggest country stars, as well as extraordinary collaborations, including Dierks, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Jordan Davis, Vince Gill, Tyler Hubbard, Little Big Town, Reba McEntire, Jon Pardi, Darius Rucker and Keith Urban. Additional performances include Elle, Lainey, Jelly Roll, Luke Combs, Dan + Shay, HARDY, Cody Johnson, Miranda Lambert, Avril Lavigne, Tim McGraw, Jo Dee Messina, Old Dominion, Carly Pearce, Jason Aldean, Ashley McBryde, Leon Bridges and Tanya Tucker.
For Dierks, CMA Fest week was one of reflecting back over his career, but also a chance for him to be a fan. “For me, it’s a magical week of reflection and being a fan. I’m playing, but also just like total fan mode,” he says. “I’ve always said I’m a fan of country music first and foremost, and this weekend is a great place to be a fan. It’s just the best of the best.”
Of his two co-hosts, Dierks had the best time working alongside them. “I get to co-host this with two of the funniest people I know – Elle King and Lainey Wilson. I mean, yes, talented beyond all talent, both incredible stylists vocally that sound like nobody else, great songwriters. You can list all that stuff. Whatever. Who cares? They’re funny. They’re so fun to be around. They make you laugh the whole time, so it doesn’t even feel like work. It just feels like this is ridiculous that I get the chance to hang out with these girls.”
Check out CMA Fest, dubbed the Music Event of the Summer, on Wednesday (July 19th) at 8pm ET/7pm CT on ABC. The special will also be available the next day on Hulu.
Alabama — “Mountain Music”
Jason Aldean — “Try That In A Small Town”
Dierks Bentley — “Gold”
Luke Bryan — “But I Got A Beer In My Hand”
Eric Church — “Smoke a Little Smoke”/ "Bad Mother Trucker”
Luke Combs — “Love You Anyway”
Dan + Shay — “Speechless”
Jordan Davis — “Buy Dirt”
Vince Gill and Luke Combs — “One More Last Chance”
HARDY — “TRUCK BED”
HARDY featuring Lainey Wilson — “wait in the truck”
Tyler Hubbard — “Dancin’ In The Country”
Jelly Roll – “Need A Favor”
Cody Johnson — “’Til You Can’t”
Cody Johnson and Reba McEntire — “Whoever’s In New England”
Elle King featuring Miranda Lambert — “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)”
Miranda Lambert and Leon Bridges — “If You Were Mine”
Miranda Lambert and Avril Lavigne — “Kerosene/Sk8er Boi”
Little Big Town — “Wine, Beer, Whiskey”
Ashley McBryde — “Light On In The Kitchen”
Tim McGraw — “Standing Room Only”
Jo Dee Messina and Carly Pearce — “I’m Alright”
Old Dominion — “Memory Lane”
Jon Pardi — “Your Heart Or Mine”
Carly Pearce — “What He Didn’t Do”
Darius Rucker — “Fires Don’t Start Themselves”
Tanya Tucker with Elle King and Lainey Wilson — “Texas (When I Die)”
Keith Urban — “Wild Hearts”
Lainey Wilson — “Watermelon Moonshine”
Darius Rucker (CMA Music Fest) OC: …awesome. :48
“Music Fest is like nothing else. I say all the time that country music is the only genre that could have something like that. It’s truly amazing, when I come that weekend, people are everywhere and they want to be your best friend. It’s always cool and I love coming here. The thing that always gets me is the show. The fact that you can get that many superstars at one show all playing for free, for the same goal, to entertain those people that are in that stadium that come here for the whole week from all over the world. They come here for one week to see country music, and it’s amazing that those artists say on Friday and Saturday night, this is country music come on out. That’s awesome.”
Dierks Bentley (CMA Fest 2023) OC: …best of the best. :48
“This is a great weekend for me, ‘cause I get to go from the Station Inn to the Stadium. I mean, I get to run my whole life in that little, you know, I started off going to watch a band play at the Station Inn back in 1994 with dreams of one day trying to make it as a country artist and nothing says country artist like playing the Stadium here in Nashville. So, it’s kind of a look back at my life in a short six-day period, and even the Hot Country Knights is like that’s to me Lower Broadway at its best…or worst. But, so it’s really, for me it’s a magical week of reflection and being a fan. I’m playing, but also just like total fan mode. I’ve always said I’m a fan of country music first and foremost, and this weekend is a great place to be a fan. It’s just the best of the best.”
Dierks Bentley (hosting CMA Fest 2023) OC: …of all time. 1:01
“Hosting the CMA Fest is the ultimate gig. It’s so fun. I mean, I’ve hosted some big awards show as well and those are great too, but this is a four-day festival, so I get to be there for four days. And which if I was doing it by myself, it would be great because you get a chance to see all your artist buddies you don’t see very often, hear great music, see the all-stars of the country music fans, people that travel from all over the world to be here and they bring the most energy. It’s the greatest fans to play in front of, BUT I get to co-host this with two of the funniest people I know – Elle King and Lainey Wilson. I mean, yes, talented beyond all talent, both incredible stylists vocally that sound like nobody else, great songwriters. You can list all that stuff. Whatever. Who cares? They’re funny. They’re so fun to be around. They make you laugh the whole time, so it doesn’t even feel like work. It just feels like this is ridiculous that I get the chance to hang out with these girls. So, yeah, we’re hosting the CMA Fest. Last year it was Elle and I; this year we’re bringing on Lainey Wilson. It’s gonna be…it’s fun. It’s going to be so much fun. I cannot wait. It’s gonna be the greatest CMA Fest of all time.”
Eric Church (CMA Music Fest) OC: …barrage of music. :32
“Well, I think it’s what makes country music unique. Find me another format that happens in, it’s just not something that happens. I think it’s because country music is the one format where the fans…the music is really about them. And we’re them; we’re not different than them. We’re not a lot of the rock stars and a lot of the other guys where they’re their own person, they’re their own agenda…they’re not like the people that are listening to them. It’s different in country, we are. We come from there, we are that. I think it’s just a great thing for them to be able to come to our town and to get just this barrage of music.”
Keith Urban (CMA Fest 2023) OC: …always need it, though. :29
“The good thing about CMA Fest is it’s historically always comes at a time when it feels like we need it the most. When we were here back in 2010 after the Nashville floods and doing a special performance, I think CMA Fest was really acknowledging what everybody had gone through and the floods, and so I think it’s such a community spirit out there, not just Nashville, but the country community coming together and celebrating life and the moment. We always need it, though.”
Luke Bryan (CMA Music Fest) OC: …for this week. :33
“It’s a great week. I truly love this week for hundreds of reasons. I always remember my first ones and starting out and doing River Stages and always dreaming of coming over here and performing at LP Field (now Nissan Stadium) and all of the stuff building the fan base early in the week. It’s an amazing week for Nashville, and it’s a great week for me. And then I get to be home and do all this stuff. It’s always been a fun week for me. A lot of my family always comes in for this week.”
Vince Gill (CMA Fest 2023) OC: …grateful. 1:03
“This is a genre of music unlike anything that I’ve ever experienced. It’s a grateful artist base. It’s grateful for the people that give us the opportunity to do what we do, you know, whether it’s at the Fairgrounds or whether it’s a bigger place. I don’t know if it ever really mattered. All those people out there that buy a ticket to come and do this whether they stand in line to get somebody’s autograph or go to a show or whatever. They’re just here because they like what we do, you know? And it feels good to let them know they’re appreciated and not be standoffish and not be that way. So, I’ve always enjoyed it. This is about my 40th year of doing anything connected with whatever they call it. (laughs) I don’t even know anymore (laughs), but it’s still the same thing. It’s just a bunch of people that loves what everybody does and man, it’s great for everybody to hang and just sitting backstage running into so and so and running into so and so, you don’t get to see them very often. So, you know grateful.”