Bobby Bones Is ‘Pretty Pumped’ to Be Hosting CMA Fest TV Special (Exclusive)

Bobby Bones is already the host of his award-winning iHeartRadio The Bobby Bones Show, as well as serves as a mentor on American Idol, but he will soon be known for another event as well. The 39-year-old will join Thomas Rhett and Kelsea Ballerini for the first time to co-host the annual CMA Fest TV special, airing on Sunday, Aug. 4.

“It’s me, Thomas Rhett, and Kelsea Ballerini,” Bones told PopCulture.com. “We’re hosting. It’s gonna be on ABC in August. So, it’s fantastic they brought me on. I’m pretty pumped.”

Bones hints a few other things are happening in the future for him too, which he can’t divulge quite yet.

“I’ve got some cool stuff coming up too, which is fun,” Bones hinted. “Nobody in my whole life ever thought I was cool, and they still don’t think I’m cool, but they’re like, ‘Huh, how does he keep getting jobs? Maybe we should look at him.’ So it’s been a fun time for me.”

Bones’ life and career is currently on display in the American Currents exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame, but he still refutes the suggestion that he is famous.

“I don’t think that’s the case,” the reigning Dancing With the Stars champ maintained. “I think I’ve done a few things. I don’t even know what fame is anymore … I can walk down the street and nobody cares. Especially if I take my glasses off, even my friends don’t know who I am. All I know is I’m lucky enough to create in a lot of different ways. If it’s being on tour all year last year, doing stand-up, or if it’s being on Idol this year full-time, or even, I wrote a second book [Fail Until You Don’t: Fight. Grind. Repeat], and oddly enough, it sold really well.”

Bones grew up in an impoverished small town in Arkansas, to a single mother who battled alcoholism her whole life. His humble beginnings, even at an early age, inspired him to reach for far beyond his immediate surroundings.

“When I was five, this was the goal,” Bones admitted. “But now that it’s happening, I don’t know that ‘surreal’ is the word, but it feels like it all shouldn’t be happening all at once. You work so hard for it, and then when it finally does start to happen, you go, ‘Wow, I can’t believe it’s all happening right now. Last year was a good year. A lot of things started falling into place last year. Hopefully this year will kind of do the same.”

The CMA Fest TV special airs on Sunday, Aug. 4, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Photo Credit: Getty Images / Jeff Kravitz