‘CMA Summer Jam’ Special to Air in September

After country music’s biggest stars took the stage at Nashville’s outdoor Ascend Amphitheater for two nights of music on July 27 and 28, the Country Music Association has announced that the event, dubbed CMA Summer Jam, will be broadcast as a three-hour special airing on ABC on Sept. 2. In addition to the performances from Ascend Amphitheater, the special will also include performances filmed at multiple other locations around downtown Nashville.

Artists who will be featured during the special include Jimmie Allen, Gabby Barrett, Dierks Bentley, BRELAND, Brothers Osborne, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Florida Georgia Line, Mickey Guyton, HARDY, Miranda Lambert, Carly Pearce, Thomas Rhett, Darius Rucker, Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani, Cole Swindell, Carrie Underwood, Lainey Wilson and Dwight Yoakam. Bryan, Combs, Lambert, Rhett, Shelton and Underwood served as headliners over the two nights of performances, turning over the spotlight to other artists and participating in collaborations during their respective sets.

During Tuesday night’s show, Shelton duetted with wife Gwen Stefani and brought Carly Pearce on stage for her latest single, “Next Girl” while Bryan introduced Wilson, who performed her song “Things A Man Oughta Know.” Bryan also collaborated with Swindell on his recent No. 1, “Single Saturday Night.” Underwood ceded the stage to Mickey Guyton, who performed an unreleased song titled “All American,” before sharing it with Yoakam, the pair duetting on Yoakam’s hits “A Thousand Miles From Nowhere” and “Guitars, Cadillacs.”

Wednesday night started off with Lambert, who had Brothers Osborne perform their hit “Ain’t My Fault” before Bentley arrived with his latest single, “Gone,” and all four artists performed a cover of the Allman Brothers Band’s “Midnight Rider.” Rhett teamed with his friends Florida Georgia Line for the duo’s “Round Here” and brought out his soon-to-be tourmate Barrett, who performed her current single, “The Good Ones,” with husband Cade Foehner by her side on guitar. The two-night event was closed by Combs, who turned the stage over to Allen for his Brad Paisley-assisted single “Freedom Was a Highway.”

Performances from other locations included Bentley with BRELAND and HARDY sharing their new song “Beers on Me” from Bentley’s Whiskey Row bar on Broadway, Church performing on the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge overlooking the Cumberland River and Rucker set up on the outdoor stage at the city’s Fifth & Broadway complex. CMA Summer Jam will air Thursday, Sept. 2 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.