The Country Music Association's three-hour special airs Aug. 3 on ABC and only ET has your backstage pass.
Get ready to go backstage with Nashville's brightest stars. Only ET was behind the scenes with Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, Thomas Rhett and more for CMA Fest. The three-hour special airs Wednesday, Aug. 3 on ABC, with real-life pals and musical collaborators Dierks Bentley and Elle King teaming up to co-host.
"She's become one of my best friends in town and she's so funny. She's rude, but respectful -- rowdy but respectful, I like to say," Bentley jokes. "She's just fun to be around so yeah, my job is just kinda be the straight guy and rein her in."
The jabs are all in good fun with these two, who worked together on Bentley's 2016 hit, "Different for Girls," and King's new single, "Worth a Shot." King's baby boy, Lucky -- who turns one next month -- makes a cameo appearance in the music video for the latter.
There was plenty of parental camaraderie off-stage at CMA Fest, with Aldean opening up to ET about tour life with his brood.
"It usually looks like a disaster when they're on the road with me," he jokes. "There's toys and stuff everywhere. But when they're not on the bus, it's actually pretty clean, I have to say."
Aldean shares two young children, son Memphis, 4, and daughter Navy, 3, with wife Brittany. He is also dad to two older daughters, Keeley, 19, and Kendall, 15, from a previous relationship. The "Amarillo Sky" singer says their family has a system down when it comes to his touring schedule.
"They get a little worn out being on the bus, so we try to bring them out at least once a month for a weekend and one week I'll go out by myself, and then one week it's just me and [Brittany]," he explains.
Meanwhile, Aldean's "If I Didn't Love You" collaborator, Underwood, may just have a set of budding entrepreneurs on her hands with sons Isaiah, 7, and Jacob, 3.
"My son's been doing chores around our farm trying to earn money, so we will pay him for his work," she tells ET. "He'll go pull weeds in my garden and stuff like that, and he has quite the hefty savings."
Meanwhile, Thomas Rhett's growing girl gang apparently has an affinity for the spotlight. The 32-year-old is a dad of four daughters: Willa Gray, 6, Ada James, 4, Lennon Love, 2, and Lillie Carolina, 8 months.
"I feel like they're at that age where they're interested in everything," Thomas Rhett says. "Willa Gray plays soccer, Lennon does gymnastics, they take horse lessons -- but when I go down to my studio to write or make music, they always follow me down there. So I know that there is some sort of interest [in music]. They always wanna be on the microphone.
"And if I'm filming, they, like, wanna hop in front of the camera," he adds, joking: "So they've got my 'Center of Attention-ness.'"
The Country Music Association's CMA Fest ABC TV performance special airs Wednesday, Aug. 3 at 9 p.m. ET.
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