For many decades, Labor Day was seen as a day for workers to voice their complaints and discuss better working conditions and pay.

U.S. Congress declared Labor Day a national holiday in 1894, and on Monday, September 7th, we will once again celebrate the people in every occupation whose work and dedication make this nation great. Labor Day in the United States is a holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September. It is a celebration of the American labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of workers.

Labor Day weekend also signals the unofficial end to summer, and many of the hottest country stars are taking a look back at some of the toughest jobs they had prior to making their mark in music or their dream job now.

AUDIO: Alan Jackson says that working man values have always been a part of his music.

AJ (working people songs) OC: … appreciate that. :28
“I’ve always written songs and recorded songs, other people’s songs, about workin’ people, and workin’, the workin’ life ’cause I mean, that’s where I’m from. I mean, I worked…I’d already had jobs and worked as a grown person before I ever even thought about bein’ in the music business, so I come from that background, and…although I hadn’t had a job in a long time (laughs), I still remember a lot about it, you know, and I remember what the lifestyle is, and I still appreciate that.”

Billy Currington recalls some of the jobs he had before landing his record deal in 2003.

Billy Currington (Labor Day) OC: …record deal. :40
“I started working like at [age] 12, landscaping. This was summer, every summers, and roofing. I started when I was about 16 roofing houses, and that was probably one of my toughest jobs because down there in south Georgia, it gets hot, so doing that every day all summer long. The pawn shop when I moved to Nashville was one of my favorites, even though it was one of my least favorites. The concrete job was my least favorite of all – six years of that, and I couldn’t take it no more. After that job, that was my turning point. Either I’m going to do something else for a living [laughs] or quit and try to really focus on music and get this record deal.”

Canaan Smith talks about the bad jobs he had before signing a publishing deal and later a record deal.

Canaan Smith (worst jobs) OC: …of that. [laughs] :54
“I’ve had some terrible jobs. I was a janitor for a while, and I mopped floors, vacuums all kinds of, picking up dog poop, taking out trash, just basically somebody’s beyatch [laughs], that was my job. I did that for two-and-a-half years before I signed a publishing deal. Before that, actually my very first job, I got fired from. It was some sort of candy/chocolate store. My mom dropped me off one time, and I went to work and I was like I think I can do this, and then two shifts later I just didn’t show up because I didn’t understand the concept of having to look at a schedule to see when you come in. I just didn’t show. I just thought they’d call me, ‘Hey, we need you to come in.’ I didn’t know. I was 15 years old, and never worked and that kind of stuff. I always cut grass when I was a kid and cleaned golf clubs – whatever I could do to make some money. But, yeah, I got fired from my first job. I’m pretty proud of that.” [laughs]

Darius Rucker recalls one of his worst jobs before turning to music.

Darius Rucker (Labor Day) OC: …pizza. :15
“I was fifteen, and I worked at a pizza place, and the guy decided that at fifteen, that I could not only clean the floors and wash the dishes, but I also had to make pizza. So, for two months, he taught me how to make pizza.”

David Nail recalls his first job at Dairy Queen.

David Nail (Labor Day) OC: …Dilly Bar. :32
“The first job that I ever had was working at Dairy Queen. One of my very best friends in the world’s mother purchased a franchise, so it was kinda a cool place to work. You put me in an ice cream place, it’s a recipe for disaster. So, Kathy Jeffers, her mother tends to tell people it was a ‘mutual separation,’ but I can vividly remember her saying that they were going to lose money if they continued to let me work, because I was eating more food than I was selling. But, it was a great two days that I spent there, and I had many a Dilly Bar.”

Dierks Bentley makes a living performing for his fans, and he can’t say enough about them.

Dierks Bentley (Labor Day) OC: …generosity. :26
“Personally, the fans give me amazement. That’s the only word to really sum it up. I look out in the crowd, you know, usually see a lot of faces and fans are cheering. I know each one of these like from the road-the signs are from California…Michelle and Kayla live up in the Ohio area. They’re all, I just see them, and I’m like, ‘Wow!,’ they’re all from different regions. You know when you’re in a different region of the country and you just see certain fans. These people are way more hard core than I am, and I’m just amazed by their generosity.”

Eric Church talks about one of his worst job.

Eric Church (Labor Day-odd jobs) OC: …bought at 2am. 1:27
“I had an awful job. I’ve had a lot of awful jobs…my worst one was when I first came to Nashville. I got a job at the Shop at Home Network. I worked midnight, graveyard, midnight to eight. That was bad enough but then I would work all night, go home, shower and then I had writing appointments all day because I was trying to get a career started. I’d go write songs and get meetings just trying to get signed. And end up getting done at 3 of 4 with all of that, I’d go home, take a shower or sleep for a little bit and then I had to be at work again at midnight. So the schedule was bad enough, however, what I had to do at the job…I sold knives from midnight to 7 or 8am. And, anytime somebody calls you at 3 or 4am and needs 200 knives for $19.95, it’s automatically an alarming situation. And I just, I was young and I’d been in a lot of these people’s shoes, I had done this…I knew they were drunk. I knew what they had done. They’d just come home from the bar, flipped on Shop at Home and said, ‘You know what? I need that.’ So the reason the job didn’t last long for me is that I was maybe the worst salesmen in history because I ended up talking a lot of these people out of it, I’d say, ‘I’ll tell you what man, go to bed, call me, I’ll be here in the morning. If you get up in the morning and want these knives you call me back.’ Because I knew what was going to happen, you know. They bought 200 knives for $19.95…first of all some of these people you didn’t know whether you should call the cops. What do you need 200 knives for? Even though I’m selling them…what do you need them for? So, it was awful doing that job. And then they got rid of me because, they were like, ‘You’re the worst. I can’t believe you’re talking people out of it.’ I was like, ‘Man I know…I’ve been there.’ [laughs] I’d want some to talk me out of buying some of the stuff I’ve bought at 2am.”

Eric Paslay talks about his first job…printing logos on fanny packs.

Eric Paslay (Labor Day) OC: …could print. :34
“My first official job was working at a screen printing place in Texas during the summer in a metal building that had no AC. We printed on fanny packs – really cool — and these other little bags. And it was eye doctors that, some company if you bought supplies through them, they’d put your logo on fanny packs for your customers to put in a drawer somewhere. Fanny packs are cool, if you like ‘em. You know, we’d like time ourselves to see how many fanny packs you could print.”

Jon Pardi talks about his worst job, which was at a grocery store.

Jon Pardi (Labor Day) OC: …so bored! :17
“The worst job I ever had was at Hometown Grocery Store. I didn’t want to work, I was 15, and I did not want to work at the grocery store. Bagging was fun, but they sent me down the aisles to pull up cans and turn ‘em around and face ‘em, and I would just get so bored!”

Kip Moore recalls his worst job…ever.

Kip Moore (Labor Day-worst job) OC: …than that. :21
“I’d have to say my worst job ever was laying sod in the south Georgia heat. There’s nothing than that, especially when somebody would think that you’re waiting for the next sod patch to be thrown to you and you got your back turned, and all of a sudden, that big ole piece of sod hits you right on the back. You got nowhere to clean up, and you’re just stuck with dirt on your back for the rest of the day. It doesn’t get any worse than that.”

Charles Kelley of Lady Antebellum tells us what he used to do to make a buck before finding success as a musician.

Lady A (Labor Day) OC: …I had a lot of crummy jobs. :31
CK “I used to…” HS: “… knock out asbestos walls.” CK: “I did that for a long time. But even before that, I used to do lawn care every summer. Oh, man, I do not miss that. Just glad those days are over. I get out here and play music for a living. It’s a lot more fun. But yeah, I used to do that, and I used to work as a bag boy at a golf course once. I did that for a couple of summers. I had a lot of crummy jobs.”

Luke Bryan talks about the different jobs he worked in and around Leesburg, Georgia, before heading to Nashville to pursue a career in music.

Luke Bryan (Labor Day-jobs) OC: …Nashville… 1:07
“At age 12 thru 13, I worked at Rubos IGA Supermarket in Leesburg, GA. I worked during the summers on Monday and Tuesday. I stocked and cleaned up the produce.  They paid me under the table…I peeled off all of the brown lettuce. Let’s see, when I was 15, I was a cashier at K-Mart for two months. I worked at K-Mart for two months, and then I reverted back to Rubos because it didn’t really make sense for me to drive all the way into Albany and work for K-Mart. The benefits were great though-you’d get an hour-long on the blue light special. So I started back at Rubos, and then I quit Rubos and worked for my Dad-just awful just driving tractors through cotton all day, and spraying pesticides that eventually would turn your hair green. And then at some point, I started playing guitar. And well, after college I went back and worked for my dad and continued to spray and haul fertilizer around. And then I moved to Nashville…”

For many decades, Labor Day was seen as a day for workers to voice their complaints and discuss better working conditions and pay.

It’s been 120 years since the U.S. Congress declared Labor Day a national holiday, and on Monday, September 2nd, we will once again celebrate the people in every occupation whose work and dedication make this nation great. 

Labor Day weekend also signals the unofficial end to summer, and many of the hottest country stars are taking a look back at some of the toughest jobs they had prior to making their mark in music or their dream job now.

AJ (working people songs) OC: … appreciate that. :28
“I’ve always written songs and recorded songs, other people’s songs, about workin’ people, and workin’, the workin’ life ’cause I mean, that’s where I’m from. I mean, I worked…I’d already had jobs and worked as a grown person before I ever even thought about bein’ in the music business, so I come from that background, and…although I hadn’t had a job in a long time (laughs), I still remember a lot about it, you know, and I remember what the lifestyle is, and I still appreciate that.”

Billy Currington (Labor Day) OC: …record deal. :40
“I started working like at [age] 12, landscaping. This was summer, every summers, and roofing. I started when I was about 16 roofing houses, and that was probably one of my toughest jobs because down there in south Georgia, it gets hot, so doing that every day all summer long. The pawn shop when I moved to Nashville was one of my favorites, even though it was one of my least favorites. The concrete job was my least favorite of all – six years of that, and I couldn’t take it no more. After that job, that was my turning point. Either I’m going to do something else for a living [laughs] or quit and try to really focus on music and get this record deal.”

Darius Rucker (Labor Day) OC: …pizza. :15
“I was fifteen, and I worked at a pizza place, and the guy decided that at fifteen, that I could not only clean the floors and wash the dishes, but I also had to make pizza. So, for two months, he taught me how to make pizza.”

David Nail (Labor Day) OC: …Dilly Bar. :32
“The first job that I ever had was working at Dairy Queen. One of my very best friends in the world’s mother purchased a franchise, so it was kinda a cool place to work. You put me in an ice cream place, it’s a recipe for disaster. So, Kathy Jeffers, her mother tends to tell people it was a ‘mutual separation,’ but I can vividly remember her saying that they were going to lose money if they continued to let me work, because I was eating more food than I was selling. But, it was a great two days that I spent there, and I had many a Dilly Bar.”

Dierks Bentley (Labor Day) OC: …generosity. :26
“Personally, the fans give me amazement. That’s the only word to really sum it up. I look out in the crowd, you know, usually see a lot of faces and fans are cheering. I know each one of these like from the road-the signs are from California…Michelle and Kayla live up in the Ohio area. They’re all, I just see them, and I’m like, ‘Wow!,’ they’re all from different regions. You know when you’re in a different region of the country and you just see certain fans. These people are way more hard core than I am, and I’m just amazed by their generosity.”

Eric Church (Labor Day-odd jobs) OC: …bought at 2am. 1:27
“I had an awful job. I’ve had a lot of awful jobs…my worst one was when I first came to Nashville. I got a job at the Shop at Home Network. I worked midnight, graveyard, midnight to eight. That was bad enough but then I would work all night, go home, shower and then I had writing appointments all day because I was trying to get a career started. I’d go write songs and get meetings just trying to get signed. And end up getting done at 3 of 4 with all of that, I’d go home, take a shower or sleep for a little bit and then I had to be at work again at midnight. So the schedule was bad enough, however, what I had to do at the job…I sold knives from midnight to 7 or 8am. And, anytime somebody calls you at 3 or 4am and needs 200 knives for $19.95, it’s automatically an alarming situation. And I just, I was young and I’d been in a lot of these people’s shoes, I had done this…I knew they were drunk. I knew what they had done. They’d just come home from the bar, flipped on Shop at Home and said, ‘You know what? I need that.’ So the reason the job didn’t last long for me is that I was maybe the worst salesmen in history because I ended up talking a lot of these people out of it, I’d say, ‘I’ll tell you what man, go to bed, call me, I’ll be here in the morning. If you get up in the morning and want these knives you call me back.’ Because I knew what was going to happen, you know. They bought 200 knives for $19.95…first of all some of these people you didn’t know whether you should call the cops. What do you need 200 knives for? Even though I’m selling them…what do you need them for? So, it was awful doing that job. And then they got rid of me because, they were like, ‘You’re the worst. I can’t believe you’re talking people out of it.’ I was like, ‘Man I know…I’ve been there.’ [laughs] I’d want some to talk me out of buying some of the stuff I’ve bought at 2am.”

Eric Paslay (Labor Day) OC: …could print. :34
“My first official job was working at a screen printing place in Texas during the summer in a metal building that had no AC. We printed on fanny packs – really cool — and these other little bags. And it was eye doctors that, some company if you bought supplies through them, they’d put your logo on fanny packs for your customers to put in a drawer somewhere. Fanny packs are cool, if you like ‘em. You know, we’d like time ourselves to see how many fanny packs you could print.”

Jon Pardi (Labor Day) OC: …so bored! :17
“The worst job I ever had was at Hometown Grocery Store. I didn’t want to work, I was 15, and I did not want to work at the grocery store. Bagging was fun, but they sent me down the aisles to pull up cans and turn ‘em around and face ‘em, and I would just get so bored!”

Keith Urban (Labor Day) OC: …great feeling. :24
“Seeing people connect to the music is the absolute, hands down, the biggest reward for me. Especially when you go to a place you’ve never been to before, and there’s all these people. I mean lots of people out there that you’ve never met a single one of them, and they’re singing to every word, and you realize that it’s not just a pretty melody, they get your songs. It’s amazing. It’s a great feeling.”  

Kip Moore (Labor Day-worst job) OC: …than that. :21
“I’d have to say my worst job ever was laying sod in the south Georgia heat. There’s nothing than that, especially when somebody would think that you’re waiting for the next sod patch to be thrown to you and you got your back turned, and all of a sudden, that big ole piece of sod hits you right on the back. You got nowhere to clean up, and you’re just stuck with dirt on your back for the rest of the day. It doesn’t get any worse than that.”

Lady A (Labor Day) OC: …I had a lot of crummy jobs. :31
CK “I used to…” HS: “… knock out asbestos walls.” CK: “I did that for a long time. But even before that, I used to do lawn care every summer. Oh, man, I do not miss that. Just glad those days are over. I get out here and play music for a living. It’s a lot more fun. But yeah, I used to do that, and I used to work as a bag boy at a golf course once. I did that for a couple of summers. I had a lot of crummy jobs.”

Luke Bryan (Labor Day-jobs) OC: …Nashville… 1:07
“At age 12 thru 13, I worked at Rubos IGA Supermarket in Leesburg, GA. I worked during the summers on Monday and Tuesday. I stocked and cleaned up the produce.  They paid me under the table…I peeled off all of the brown lettuce. Let’s see, when I was 15, I was a cashier at K-Mart for two months. I worked at K-Mart for two months, and then I reverted back to Rubos because it didn’t really make sense for me to drive all the way into Albany and work for K-Mart. The benefits were great though-you’d get an hour-long on the blue light special. So I started back at Rubos, and then I quit Rubos and worked for my Dad-just awful just driving tractors through cotton all day, and spraying pesticides that eventually would turn your hair green. And then at some point, I started playing guitar. And well, after college I went back and worked for my dad and continued to spray and haul fertilizer around. And then I moved to Nashville…”

For many decades, Labor Day was seen as a day for workers to voice their complaints and discuss better working conditions and pay.

It’s been 119 years since the U.S. Congress declared Labor Day a national holiday, and on Monday, September 2nd, we will once again celebrate the people in every occupation whose work and dedication make this nation great.

Labor Day weekend also signals the unofficial end to summer, and many of the hottest country stars are taking a look back at some of the toughest jobs they had prior to making their mark in music or their dream job now.

AJ (working people songs) OC: … appreciate that. :28
“I’ve always written songs and recorded songs, other people’s songs, about workin’ people, and workin’, the workin’ life ’cause I mean, that’s where I’m from. I mean, I worked…I’d already had jobs and worked as a grown person before I ever even thought about bein’ in the music business, so I come from that background, and…although I hadn’t had a job in a long time (laughs), I still remember a lot about it, you know, and I remember what the lifestyle is, and I still appreciate that.”

Billy Currington (Labor Day) OC: …record deal. :40
“I started working like at [age] 12, landscaping. This was summer, every summers, and roofing. I started when I was about 16 roofing houses, and that was probably one of my toughest jobs because down there in south Georgia, it gets hot, so doing that every day all summer long. The pawn shop when I moved to Nashville was one of my favorites, even though it was one of my least favorites. The concrete job was my least favorite of all – six years of that, and I couldn’t take it no more. After that job, that was my turning point. Either I’m going to do something else for a living [laughs] or quit and try to really focus on music and get this record deal.”

Darius Rucker (Labor Day) OC: …pizza. :15
“I was fifteen, and I worked at a pizza place, and the guy decided that at fifteen, that I could not only clean the floors and wash the dishes, but I also had to make pizza. So, for two months, he taught me how to make pizza.”

David Nail (Labor Day) OC: …Dilly Bar. :32
“The first job that I ever had was working at Dairy Queen. One of my very best friends in the world’s mother purchased a franchise, so it was kinda a cool place to work. You put me in an ice cream place, it’s a recipe for disaster. So, Kathy Jeffers, her mother tends to tell people it was a ‘mutual separation,’ but I can vividly remember her saying that they were going to lose money if they continued to let me work, because I was eating more food than I was selling. But, it was a great two days that I spent there, and I had many a Dilly Bar.”

Dierks Bentley (Labor Day) OC: …generosity. :26
“Personally, the fans give me amazement. That’s the only word to really sum it up. I look out in the crowd, you know, usually see a lot of faces and fans are cheering. I know each one of these like from the road-the signs are from California…Michelle and Kayla live up in the Ohio area. They’re all, I just see them, and I’m like, ‘Wow!,’ they’re all from different regions. You know when you’re in a different region of the country and you just see certain fans. These people are way more hard core than I am, and I’m just amazed by their generosity.”

Eric Church (Labor Day-odd jobs) OC: …bought at 2am. 1:27
“I had an awful job. I’ve had a lot of awful jobs…my worst one was when I first came to Nashville. I got a job at the Shop at Home Network. I worked midnight, graveyard, midnight to eight. That was bad enough but then I would work all night, go home, shower and then I had writing appointments all day because I was trying to get a career started. I’d go write songs and get meetings just trying to get signed. And end up getting done at 3 of 4 with all of that, I’d go home, take a shower or sleep for a little bit and then I had to be at work again at midnight. So the schedule was bad enough, however, what I had to do at the job…I sold knives from midnight to 7 or 8am. And, anytime somebody calls you at 3 or 4am and needs 200 knives for $19.95, it’s automatically an alarming situation. And I just, I was young and I’d been in a lot of these people’s shoes, I had done this…I knew they were drunk. I knew what they had done. They’d just come home from the bar, flipped on Shop at Home and said, ‘You know what? I need that.’ So the reason the job didn’t last long for me is that I was maybe the worst salesmen in history because I ended up talking a lot of these people out of it, I’d say, ‘I’ll tell you what man, go to bed, call me, I’ll be here in the morning. If you get up in the morning and want these knives you call me back.’ Because I knew what was going to happen, you know. They bought 200 knives for $19.95…first of all some of these people you didn’t know whether you should call the cops. What do you need 200 knives for? Even though I’m selling them…what do you need them for? So, it was awful doing that job. And then they got rid of me because, they were like, ‘You’re the worst. I can’t believe you’re talking people out of it.’ I was like, ‘Man I know…I’ve been there.’ [laughs] I’d want some to talk me out of buying some of the stuff I’ve bought at 2am.”

Eric Paslay (Labor Day) OC: …could print. :34
“My first official job was working at a screen printing place in Texas during the summer in a metal building that had no AC. We printed on fanny packs – really cool — and these other little bags. And it was eye doctors that, some company if you bought supplies through them, they’d put your logo on fanny packs for your customers to put in a drawer somewhere. Fanny packs are cool, if you like ‘em. You know, we’d like time ourselves to see how many fanny packs you could print.”

Jon Pardi (Labor Day) OC: …so bored! :17
“The worst job I ever had was at Hometown Grocery Store. I didn’t want to work, I was 15, and I did not want to work at the grocery store. Bagging was fun, but they sent me down the aisles to pull up cans and turn ‘em around and face ‘em, and I would just get so bored!”

Keith Urban (Labor Day) OC: …great feeling. :24
“Seeing people connect to the music is the absolute, hands down, the biggest reward for me. Especially when you go to a place you’ve never been to before, and there’s all these people. I mean lots of people out there that you’ve never met a single one of them, and they’re singing to every word, and you realize that it’s not just a pretty melody, they get your songs. It’s amazing. It’s a great feeling.” 

Kip Moore (Labor Day-worst job) OC: …than that. :21
“I’d have to say my worst job ever was laying sod in the south Georgia heat. There’s nothing than that, especially when somebody would think that you’re waiting for the next sod patch to be thrown to you and you got your back turned, and all of a sudden, that big ole piece of sod hits you right on the back. You got nowhere to clean up, and you’re just stuck with dirt on your back for the rest of the day. It doesn’t get any worse than that.”

Lady A (Labor Day) OC: …I had a lot of crummy jobs. :31
CK “I used to…” HS: “… knock out asbestos walls.” CK: “I did that for a long time. But even before that, I used to do lawn care every summer. Oh, man, I do not miss that. Just glad those days are over. I get out here and play music for a living. It’s a lot more fun. But yeah, I used to do that, and I used to work as a bag boy at a golf course once. I did that for a couple of summers. I had a lot of crummy jobs.”

Luke Bryan (Labor Day-jobs) OC: …Nashville… 1:07
“At age 12 thru 13, I worked at Rubos IGA Supermarket in Leesburg, GA. I worked during the summers on Monday and Tuesday. I stocked and cleaned up the produce.  They paid me under the table…I peeled off all of the brown lettuce. Let’s see, when I was 15, I was a cashier at K-Mart for two months. I worked at K-Mart for two months, and then I reverted back to Rubos because it didn’t really make sense for me to drive all the way into Albany and work for K-Mart. The benefits were great though-you’d get an hour-long on the blue light special. So I started back at Rubos, and then I quit Rubos and worked for my Dad-just awful just driving tractors through cotton all day, and spraying pesticides that eventually would turn your hair green. And then at some point, I started playing guitar. And well, after college I went back and worked for my dad and continued to spray and haul fertilizer around. And then I moved to Nashville…”

2020 will go down in history as one of the worst and most difficult years in our history. Every single person has dealt with loss, fear, uncertainty, working from home (or losing a job), rebuilding from tornadoes, fires, hurricanes, recovering from COVID-19 and much more.

For the music industry, live entertainment came to a screeching halt with production folks, crew and musicians losing their respective gigs since artists weren’t able to tour. The industry rallied and many artists pivoted and really helped us navigate through a bad year by releasing a ton of new music and performing virtual shows.

For this post, we’re revisiting some of your favorite artists’ hangover cures, which a few of us could’ve used nearly every day this year while dealing with a global pandemic. We’ve also been able to check in with a few artists about what they hope 2021 brings. One thing is for certain–we are all looking forward to shedding the horribleness of 2020, hopefully getting a fresh start in the new year AND getting through this together.

Carrie Underwood is up for Music Video of the Year for “Cry Pretty,” as well as Female Vocalist at this year’s CMA  Awards; she’s also co-hosting the awards show, as well.has having released some pretty epic videos in her career (“Before She Cheats,” “Two Black Cadillacs,” etc.), so when it came time to film the video for “Cry Pretty,” she wanted to show the juxtaposition between the public persona and the private-sometimes you’ve got to let out your emotions side of the coin.

“For me, it’s like trying to be Carrie Underwood [and] trying to be a mom, trying to be a wife, trying to keep it all together all the time. I could be having the worst day of my life, but if I have interviews to do I’ve got to put my smile on and shut that part out and go do my job. And we all do it. I don’t care what you do. Whatever you’re doing through, there’s times when you just have to emotionally shut it off and do what you’ve got to do,’ she says. “So, I feel like being trained that way, it was nice and refreshing to kind of explore the fact that sometimes you just can’t and sometimes it’s going to come out and instead of being embarrassed or instead of being ‘Oh my gosh I can’t believe all that happened’ or ‘What are people going to think of me?’ or whatever it is that you’re scared of, sometimes you just can’t keep it together and it’s okay… there’s something so strong about it. It was like owning your emotions, and there’s just something so powerful and some strength to that.”

The 52nd Annual CMA Awards, hosted by Carrie and Brad Paisley, will broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday (November 14th) at 8pm ET/PT on ABC.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR
(Award goes to Artist and Director(s))

“Babe” – Sugarland (Featuring Taylor Swift)
Director: Anthony Mandler

“Cry Pretty” – Carrie Underwood
Director: Randee St. Nicholas

“Drunk Girl” – Chris Janson
Director: Jeff Venable

“Marry Me” – Thomas Rhett
Director: TK McKamy

“Tequila” – Dan + Shay
Director: Patrick Tracy

Eric Church’s furniture line, the Highway to Home Collection, is now available at RoomsToGo, as well as other select retail outlets. The collection was inspired by Church’s love of the road and exploration of the world combined with family traditions and the comforts that allow the most important adventures to happen…the ones in our homes.

On Church’s 2006 debut album, Sinners Like Me, the man The Washington Post would later call “a born balladeer,” bore his worst fears in the lyrics of the autobiographical album cut, “What I Almost Was,” reminiscing, “Yeah, I moved on back home and came awful close / To being some son-in-law to some CEO / Coulda been a corner office, country club, suit and tie man / Answerin’ to no one but her and him.” It was an ode to the life he relinquished when choosing to pursue a career in music instead of claiming his role at the booming family furniture business in Granite Falls, N.C. Soon after his move to Music City, a certain Music Row publisher’s advice that he should “just pack it up and move back home” ultimately had the singer/songwriter questioning his decision. Church persevered, shortly thereafter landing a record deal proving the naysayer wrong. Three albums later he cemented his first of many No. 1 hits along with his first of seven GRAMMY nominations with his watershed release, Chief.

But throughout that long journey from a man with a dream to one of today’s musical superstars, Church always stayed connected to his roots. His songs often reflected his upbringing and his observations of small town life in North Carolina. Traveling the world with his own family, he discovered the need to keep the sanctity of home was very important as home had always fed his art and grounded it in reality. Through this dichotomy, the idea for a venture that would combine his family’s history in the furniture business along with his touring enterprise was born.

“Staying connected with my roots has always been important to me and Highway to Home is a natural extension of my family heritage,” says Church. “My dad was in the industry. My first job was in a furniture plant, so yes, it is in my blood. This project is truly about building a home around those experiences and memories that make up our lives.”

Highway to Home features four collections: Heartland Falls, Silverton Sound, Arrow Ridge and Hickory Canyon. Named after fictitious places that represent destinations along his journey, the collections range from a nostalgic mix of arts and crafts to urban-industrial to eclectic all with a touch of rock ‘n’ roll spirit. Highway to Home will include bedroom, dining room, occasional and upholstery pieces, as well as accent pieces that range from classic to those that are distinctly Church. Highway to Home is not a music-based collection, but instead, founded on the life experiences Church has gained as he travels from venue to venue. Just like Church’s music, the first four distinct collections of Highway to Home cannot be categorized into one style.

“Highway to Home is about the journey home—-the ultimate destination,” said Pulaski Furniture President Page Wilson, Church’s partner in this now-realized venture. “This is not necessarily about Eric’s songs or performances, but instead founded on the adventures and experiences of a traveling musician through the eyes of a creative writer as he travels the world from show to show and home again.”

Church has designated a portion of the proceeds from Highway to Home to be donated to JDRF through his Chief Cares foundation. JDRF is the leading global organization focused on type 1 diabetes research. Church, who has personal ties to diabetes through family members, is committed to combating this disease that strikes all ages.

Highway to Home is available at select retailers nationwide. For additional information, visit: ericchurch.com/highwaytohome.

About Eric Church
The two-time Country Music Association and four-time Academy of Country Music Award winner cemented his reputation as a maverick by releasing his 2015 album Mr. Misunderstood as a surprise, delivering it to fans before announcing its existence and putting it on sale. He is rising toward the peak of the country charts with “Record Year,” the second single, which Rolling Stone dubbed “the most moving moment” on the widely lauded album.

The North Carolina native’s previous album, The Outsiders debuted at No. 1 on both the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart and Top Country Albums Chart with the highest debut and sales of any release in the format that year, making Church 2014’s top-selling country music artist. The album garnered GRAMMY, CMA and ACM Album of the Year nominations and featured his No. 1 hits “Give Me Back My Hometown” and “Talladega,” as well as multiple nominee “Like A Wrecking Ball.” The Outsiders was the follow-up to Church’s Platinum-certified CHIEF, named the 2012 Album of the Year by both CMA and ACM, and GRAMMY-nominated for Best Country Album. The LP featured five Top 20 singles: “Homeboy” (certified Platinum for sales in excess of 1 million); the Top 10 “Like Jesus Does” and the Top 5 “Creepin’” (both certified Gold for sales in excess of 500,000); and two No. 1 hits “Drink in My Hand” (certified Platinum) and “Springsteen” (certified Double Platinum for sales in excess of 2 million singles). Church’s 2006 debut album, Sinners Like Me, and his sophomore album, Carolina, (2009) are both RIAA Gold certified.

Eric's furniture line "Highway to Home" is now available nationwide at @RoomsToGo. Why furniture? Watch below. pic.twitter.com/ciNYEFhBeB

— Eric Church (@ericchurch) August 3, 2016