Ashley McBryde returns to host ABC’s annual CMA Fest special for the second year in a row Thursday night. 

She had Jelly Roll by her side in 2024, and for 2025 it’s recent tour mate Cody Johnson.

“Ashley and I worked really well together,” Cody says. “She was one of those people that like the first time I met her, I felt like I’d known her for the last 15 years. She’s such a big personality and so good on a microphone.”

Even Ashley says she didn’t realize how much she’d love leading the show. 

“I didn’t have any idea when I took the gig the first time just how much I would enjoy it,” she reflects. “So me and Jelly Roll had a great time. I got the call, ‘Would you like to do it again this year? And your co-host will be Cody Johnson.'”

“We’ve got a great rapport,” Ashley continues. “We’re sort of like cousin-y feeling, not really brother and sister, but we appreciate what one another does and we still rib at each other a little bit. And he’s a natural.”

Amid performances from practically every country star you can imagine, Cody will do his latest hit, “The Fall,” as well as “She Hurts Like Tequila” with Carín León. Ashley debuts her new song, “Rattlesnake Preacher,” on the show.

You can tune in to watch the three-hour concert special Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. 

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