Bobby Bones talks about humble beginnings ahead of CMAs

The finishing touches are being put on the 53rd Annual CMA Awards in Nashville that will air Wednesday night.

Bobby Bones, who hosts a nationally-syndicated country music radio show, will be one of the presenters.

Viewers can stream "On The Red Carpet at the CMA Awards" beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT at OnTheRedCarpet.com.
Live coverage airs on ABC at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT | 6:30 p.m. CT. The 2019 CMA Awards will air Wednesday, Nov. 13 at 8 p.m. ET/PT | 7 p.m. CT on ABC.

On Tuesday, he sat down with ABC11's Gloria Rodriguez to discuss how he got to where he is now.

"We're lucky that we have a lot of great listeners, including our listeners in Raleigh, that whenever an award comes up, we're excited to be nominated," he said. "We're always shocked when we win."

Bobby won Season 27 of Dancing with the Stars with partner Sharna Burgess.

He's returning as an in-house mentor on American Idol.

Bobby comes from humble beginnings -- growing up in rural Arkansas.

"A lot of people will ask me, 'hey how did you come from a welfare mom and no dad. What was the deal for you?' For me, it was being able to see a few steps ahead and it was putting in the work," he said. "Education, to me, was big deal. I went to a school-We didn't have a good education where I was from. But I invested my own time in learning."

He's written about the failures he's turned into successes in his two New York Times bestselling books.

"Early on, I think I had nine radio stations tell me no they didn't want to hire me at all," he said. "From the most basic part of my career, which is radio, I wasn't good at it for a long time."

A lot has changed since then and he's now very much in demand.

"My life is pretty nutty now. Forever I just was not the kid who was cool, wasn't the guy who was cool," he said. "In the last couple of years, I've been able to take the audience of the show and together we've been able to do a lot of cool things."

Bobby is part of an ABC News Special airing Tuesday night on ABC11. Robin Roberts sits down with country music legend Dolly Parton at 10 p.m.

The Bobby Bones Show won a CMA for National Broadcast Personality of the Year.