Cody Johnson CMA Fest: ‘They Are Here To Hear Country Music’

The Country Music Association has revealed performances featured in its CMA Fest primetime television special, airing Wednesday, July 19 at 8/7c on ABC and available the next day on Hulu.

Cody Johnson has two performances featured in the upcoming special, one with Reba McEntire, who surprised fans at CMA Fest in June by joining Cody on stage to sing her 1980s hit "Whoever's In New England."

Before he made his first CMA Fest main stage performance last month, Johnson talked to us backstage and shared how excited he was to play CMA Fest in such a big way. He told us, "From working hard and personally, a long hard road of playing bars and honky tonks to get to the top where I get to step on the largest stage in America with country music fans. These people aren't here to party for three days in a field; they are here to hear country music."

Cody added, "To be on this lineup, especially for the 50th anniversary for me personally, I look back on all the years of work hard and never giving up, and I said, 'Someday I'm gonna be able to play my brand of country music that sounds more traditional, has got a little cowboy in it, on a very large stage. So, it's an incredible thing. We're gonna try to burn this place down."

Hosted by Dierks Bentley, Elle King, and Lainey Wilson, the three-hour concert event features collaborations and unforgettable performances that took place during the 50th anniversary of CMA Fest just last month in Nashville. Featured "CMA Fest" performers include Alabama, Jason Aldean, Leon Bridges, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Dan + Shay, Jordan Davis, Vince Gill, HARDY, Tyler Hubbard, Jelly Roll, Miranda Lambert, Avril Lavigne.

The show will also feature performances from Little Big Town, Ashley McBryde, Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw, Jo Dee Messina, Old Dominion, Jon Pardi, Carly Pearce, Darius Rucker, Tanya Tucker, Keith Urban, and Wilson.

Cody Johnson has been making waves in country music in the last few years and has been taking home some awards including winning the Single of the Year award at the 2022 CMA Awards for his 'Till You Can't." He also won a 2023 CMT Music Award for Performance of the Year.

Cody recently announced during a CMT nominations special earlier this month, that he will be releasing a 24-track double album, titled Cody Johnson: Leather. And the new project will feature a duet with Carrie Underwood. He revealed this when he was asked what it was like to compete with Underwood for a CMT Award. "I actually just recorded a duet with her yesterday for my new album coming out. And getting to know her — man, she's such a pro and everybody that she surrounds herself with are all very professional, as well. I don't mean this to sound bad, but it's kind of hard to compete with that."

The new album will be Johnson's second consecutive double album, as his October 2021 project, Human, was also a two-disc project with 18 tracks.

As Cody continues his climb in country music, heading for superstar status, we take a look at the last couple of years of this Texas country star's life in Nashville and beyond.