Kelsea Ballerini Opens up About Friendship With Thomas Rhett After Hosting CMA Fest TV Special

Kelsea Ballerini and Thomas Rhett just took their third turn as hosts of the CMA Fest TV special, which premiered on Sunday night, Aug. 4. The two are friends on and off the stage, which makes their collaboration on the music special that much easier.

"We've toured together, written together, been insecure and celebrated together, had double dates, and have just become like brother and sister," Ballerini told PEOPLE. "It's really a gift to have someone in the same industry as you that you can have the real conversations with and look up to. He's a good one, and I'm super grateful for his friendship."

The two were joined for the first time by radio host Bobby Bones, who agreed to the gig only after first personally clearing it with both Ballerini and Rhett.

"Kelsea and TR are dear friends of mine," said Bones. "I pulled them both aside privately beforehand and was like 'I'm not trying to hijack your show. If you are uncomfortable with this I won't do [it].' But they were so gracious — we had a good conversation."

"We're all real-life friends," added Ballerini, "so it was nice to have some backstage time to catch up with each other."

Both Ballerini and Rhett might be seasoned veterans at hosting the TV show by now, but they admit they are fans of the music before anything else.

"My favorite part about hosting is being able to still be a fan," Ballerini offered. "Sending off some of my favorite artists to stage and then being able to stand to the side, watch them sing songs I love and grew up on, fuels my inner fangirl and really gives me perspective on how lucky I am to be both."

"It's truly just about a bunch of friends catching up and cheering each other on," added Rhett. "I think you always play a little harder and louder when you know your friends are in the wings watching your show."

Rhett, who just revealed he had a hard time keeping the fact that his wife, Lauren Akins, was pregnant a secret during CMA Fest, did acknowledge that he felt surer of himself going into the four-night event than he did in previous years.

"Every year I feel like we get more comfortable in front of a camera," Rhett told PopCulture.com and other media. I think the first couple years, we were really learning what it meant to improvise on this stuff when plans kind of change with TV, but I'm excited. We get to do it with Bobby Bones this year too and so its been really cool to get to hang with Bobby and Kelsea together."

Photo Credit: Getty Images / C Flanigan