Lady A (fake tree vs real tree) OC: (Charles) …the lights up. :47
DAVE/HILLARY: “Fake tree!”

CHARLES: “I would love to have a real tree, and we used to have it and I always wondered why I couldn’t breathe. [LAUGHS] Dave and I share, we’re allergic to everything in this world, so we have to have fake trees.”

HILLARY: “There not as messy. [CHARLES: “And who wants their house to burn down accidentally?”] They still kinda shed anyway like a real tree, but I don’t know, I just feel like the sap and everything, it gets on my floor.”

DAVE: “Which some people love! Most people … the cleanup and the smell, but for me it’s just a little too much maintenance at Christmas time. I’d rather focus on [HILLARY: “The family.”] presents, family, food [CHARLES: “And drinking.”], so then the tree just pops in the attic for good.”

HILLARY: [LAUGHS] “Pre-lit tree.”

CHARLES: “Omigosh, you’re going super laziness.”

DAVE: “You at least need to put some lights on.”

CHARLES: “At least string the lights up.”

Lady A (Hillary—tackiest ornaments) OC: …this year? [laughs] :20
“My mom, I gave her such a hard time when I was a little girl, because she went to some store and got these, it’s like snowmen with an icicle hanging down from the bottom, so I thought they were so gawdy. But you know what? Now that I’m older, I love ‘em. And if they’re not on the tree, I’m like, ‘Mama, where are they? Where are the snowmen icicle lights this year?” [laughs]

Lady A (Charles trimming the tree) OC: …she relented. :25
“My mom actually sent me some of our old ornaments that we had made and stuff. We always had the cheesiest tree (HILLARY: “Homemade…”), but I miss it. It was always so very colorful. And with my wife, she’s very stylish and chic, and so she wanted this really chic tree, and so she wanted this really chic tree, and I said, ‘Baby, I’m sorry. We’ve got to put a little color in this.’ So, I put some of my cheesy little stuff on there, and I think that’s part of Christmas. I think you have to have that, so she relented.”

LADY A (Charles-last minute shopper) OC: …last-minuter. :08
“I’m probably a last-minute shopper for sure. Hillary says she’s already been doing her Christmas shopping really early, but I would have to say I’m a last-minuter.”

Charles Kelley (Christmas memory-bike) OC: …Christmas Eve. :27
“My favorite Christmas memory – the one I remember the most is when I wrecked my bike. I had just gotten a bike for Christmas, and it had rained and I slid out and the bike handle hit me in the eye, and I got a big ole black eye. But, what I remember most more than anything, is just growing up with all of my family and waking up in the morning. Josh, my brother Josh and I were about a year and a half apart, so we were like twins growing up. We could never stay still on Christmas Eve.”

Charles Kelley (Christmas albums) OC: …Vince Gill Christmas. :20
“I love anything Vince Gill and Martina McBride. For some reason, my wife, she’s a giant, Martina McBride is what she grew up listening to Christmas. So, at our house it’s always that. My generation, I think, it was all Martina McBride and Vince Gill Christmas.”

Charles Kelley (apple cider tradition) OC: …and apples. [Hillary laughs] :18
“You know one thing that I honestly always associate Christmas with is apple cider. Hot apple cider. My mom always made it and she put in all these spices, and it always reminds me of Christmas. My mom used to also make baked apples too, which I don’t know what our obsession is with apples, but apparently we’re Christmas and apples.” [Hillary laughs]

Lady A (favorite Christmas gift) OC: (Charles) …album cover, too. :15
“My favorite Christmas gift was probably my very first guitar from my Grandpa about 15 years ago. And more recently, I got a red Gibson about 5 or 6 years ago. That red one we use on stage was given to me by my Dad for Christmas years ago.” CHARLES: “It was on our first album cover, too.”

LADY A (Christmas movies) OC: (Hillary) …Christmas Vacation. :14
CHARLES: “Favorite Christmas movie would have to be A Christmas Story! I never get tired out of it – ‘shoot your eye out’ is my favorite line.” DAVE: “National Lampoon’s…” HILLARY: “Yes! My favorite Christmas movie is – it’s close between It’s a Wonderful Life and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”

LADY A (Christmas songs) OC: (Hillary) …His Child.’ :15
CHARLES: “Favorite Christmas song for me would have to be ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.’ How ‘bout you guys?” DAVE: “My favorite Christmas song would have to be ‘We Three Kings.’” HILLARY: “One of my favorite all-time Christmas songs is one that Trisha Yearwood recorded called ‘It Wasn’t His Child.’”

Lady A (Dave-Christmas tradition) OC: …it along. :23
“I think the tradition that I would love to carry on is kind of a funny one. My dad on Christmas Eve, he would actually read the Christmas Story. Very predictable, I know, but after the Christmas Story, he would always give his famous Christmas test. He would have this long test, and he would ask us about the Wise Men and the shepherds and the entire Christmas Story. I’m gonna have to get the copy of it from him, because he never gives us the full answers. But, I’d love to get that test from him and be able to pass it along.”

Chris Stapleton (album) OC: …that’d be great. :47
“I grew up on records as a piece of work. I didn’t grow up in an age where we necessarily bought singles or just one piece of an album. I grew up on things that were albums. I hope that people go ahead and get the whole album and listen to it, take the time to listen it, and not as a passive thing, as like I’m watching television or Youtube, all these things that we have as distractions. Music to me is meant to be enjoyed in that way and you’re really supposed to dive into it. And I hope some folks can find it in their hearts to do that with this record, because I think it’s how it was meant to be used. And somewhere in there if they’re compelled to come and watch me live, that’d be great.”

Brothers Osborne (Grammys) OC: (John) …we’re asleep. [laughs] :28
TJ: “We found out that we were nominated almost the same exact way we found out we were nominated for an ACM. I woke up to like 60 text messages, and I was like, ‘Who the hell is texting me at this time of the day.’ And I looked at the phone, and everyone’s like, ‘Wake up! You were nominated for the Grammys.’” JOHN: “My wife woke me up, just like screaming, ‘Wake up! Wake up!’ I woke up in a panic. I thought the damn house was on fire. But, yeah, we hear most big news while we’re asleep.” [laughs]

Brothers Osborne (Grammys) 2 OC: (John) …by our peers. :39
TJ: “I mean, it’s crazy to be nominated for a Grammy, For the rest of our lives, we’ll always be Grammy nominated artists, you know. And hopefully, we win the category, but just simply being nominated, it’s something that a lot of musicians and songwriters and entertainers never, ever get to achieve, and so it’s, to say it’s an honor is an understatement.” JOHN: “Yeah, we’ve always taken kind of a different approach when it comes to music. And our music is not necessarily 100% conventional all the time, so the mountain for us has been a bit steeper, and this is an amazing achievement because we’re nominated and we’re being acknowledged by our peers.”

Keith Urban (J3 #1 party) OC: …does everything. :30
“For me, it was just a great song. It kinda didn’t matter how it was done, it was a great song. It was solid, great melody. Even from a singer’s standpoint, there’s certain things about rhythmic qualities of consonants and vowels and where they fall in a melody and where they fall in the rhythm that matter to me; maybe not even just matter, but they resonate with me that way. So, you can have a song that’s really well-written lyrically, but it’s not great to sing. It doesn’t sing well. It reads well, but it doesn’t sing well, and this is one of those songs that does everything.”

Charles Kelley (Grammys) OC: …this record. :57
“I actually found out about the nominations this morning. My wife woke me up. I had a whole bunch of text messages from friends and family congratulating me. I, of course, like most musicians, don’t wake up before nine o’clock. But just honestly, I have not been able to get this smile off my face today. I’m so fired up. I’m so ready for fans to hear this project. ‘The Driver’ is a song, it’s probably one of the most honest songs I’ve written in a long time, and to be able to share this moment with my buddies Dierks Bentley and Eric Paslay, means the world to me. Every time I go on social media and see the reaction and fans specifically talking about this song and how it’s speaking to them, that reminds me of why I wanted to pursue this project. I don’t know. It just means the world to me, and it means the world to me that Hillary and Dave are so supportive. They were one of my first texts this morning congratulating me. And I cannot wait for everybody to hear the rest of this record.”

Kacey Musgraves (Pageant Material) OC: …for the record. :55
“For this record, Pageant Material, it’s funny how that was one of the later songs we wrote, and I don’t go into a record, or I haven’t yet, with a theme in mind. I just like let the songs come, and somewhere along the way, they take shape on their own. That’s kind of what happened here. We gotten ‘Pageant Material,’ and at that point, I think that was the last one we wrote, that one or ‘Dime Store [Cowgirl].’ So, we had most of the songs in the batch, and I hadn’t really, I was kind of feeling a little weird ‘cause I was like I didn’t really know what it was going to be called. Same thing happened with Same Trailer…, it just kind of popped out of nowhere and late in the game. So, I was just messing around with the titles, and I just thought, ‘Pageant Material – that would be an awesome statement for the record, I think.’ It’s just kind of saying, ‘I’m not pageant material. I’m not a robot. I kind of am what I am.’ And it also has a humorous touch to it too, which I really like. And of course, I love big hair and retro styles, so I thought it was a good fit for the record.”

Charles Kelley (CMA Christmas special) OC: …pretty fun. :32
“It’s a song that’s actually off of our Christmas album. The funny thing is that Hillary is here tonight with her little sister and Mom. It’s funny — she came backstage and I was like, ‘Omigosh! You need to come up and sing with me on this.’ Her little sister, they really want to see Pentatonix as well, and I don’t know, Hillary is so supportive of what I’m doing right now. I think it’s just so cool. But yeah, this will be the first time, other than Jimmy Fallon the other night, this will be kind of the first TV performance as a solo artist, but it’s a song I know pretty well, so it should be pretty fun.”

Charles Kelley (Christmas-baby) OC: …my family. :47
“This will be my first kid. We found out we’re having a little boy, so really excited. My wife [laughs] my wife was already asking if we should get him a stocking. He doesn’t come until February, and I was like, ‘You are truly nesting on a different level right now, if you want to give the baby a stocking that isn’t here.’ I’m not sure what she decided, but I can’t wait, honestly. It’s funny, in my mind I always pictured having a little girl. I don’t know why, and now that I know it’s a boy, I’m trying to think of all the little things I can teach him and it’s gonna be interesting to see if he’s more like me or more like Cassie. It’ll be fun to see. But, definitely, Christmases for a musician are the time that you probably get the most time off and you’re at home, so that’s gonna be a time I’m sure that I cherish most with my family.”

Darius Rucker (CMA Christmas special) OC: …this year. :26
“Tonight we’re doing ‘Winter Wonderland’ and we’re doing ‘What God Wants for Christmas.’ On these shows, you want to do one of the old standards that you do, and ‘Winter Wonderland’ is such a rockin’ song. It’s perfect, and ‘What God Wants for Christmas,’ I just love that song so much. I’m so proud to be part of writing that song and part of the whole thing. Last year it was funny ‘cause we really wanted to do the Christmas show, and I think I was going to Europe or something, and I couldn’t do it. I’m really excited that I get to do that song this year.”

David Nail (CMA Christmas special) OC: …old-timers. :22
“You know this song I’m singing tonight, I’ve listened to about 43-hundred times, so right now it’s my favorite. ‘This Christmas,’ the Donny Hathaway version. But, I’m a sucker for the old-timey ones, you know, Bing Crosby [etc.]. It’s just anything old-fashioned, so I’m getting up there in age, so I’m a sucker for the old-timers.”

Mickey Guyton (CMA Christmas special) OC: …be Elsa. :09
“I’m singing ‘Do You Want to Build a Snowman, and I just said I wanted to look like a snow princess, and I wanted to wear my hair in a braid and be Elsa.”

Mickey Guyton (CMA Christmas special) 2 OC: …really, really do. :27
“It’s just really exciting. I love this song, and it’s an emotional song. It’s a story about a love between two sisters, and I just think it’s really cool that I get to sing this song. I told my sister I was doing it, and I sent her a copy and all of her kids. She’s a teacher, so all of her kids  just love this song. And everybody, as I was walked through the hall, they’re like, ‘FROZEN!,’ and I’m like, ‘That’s right.’ I love that movie. I really, really do.”

Charles Kelley (The Driver) OC: …right there. :54
“‘The Driver’ is a song I wrote with Eric Paslay and a guy named Abe Stoklasa, and ‘The Driver,’ it was an idea I had, I’ve held onto for about a year. It’s kind of about the touring experience, and it’s about the driver, the actual bus driver and these truck drivers, but they also represent the crew and everything else that it takes to put on the show. And then the second verse, Eric Paslay sings and it’s about the audience, you know, the dreamers, the believers. And then the third verse is Dierks’ verse, and it’s about the singer. So, I’d written the song, and I’d sang the last verse just as a place holder, always wanting to find the right person to sing the third verse. And I played it for Dierks, and I said, ‘Man, I’d just always had you in mind with this thing.’ The way his voice sounds, it sounds like a grizzled singer, you know? He heard it and fell in love with it and put his vocal on it, and it was just like, there was the magic right there.”