Many country stars were starstruck backstage at the Kris Kristofferson tribute show in Nashville on Wednesday night (March 16th). Actor Kevin Spacey (House of Cards, The Usual Suspects, etc.) was in attendance. Check out some of the photos below.
(Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images for Essential Broadcast Media)
This Sunday (February 7th), millions of people around the world will be tuning in to the Super Bowl (the Big Game), including some of your favorite country artists. Some will be rooting for the Denver Broncos, while others will be pulling for the Carolina Panthers to win the Big Game. Canaan Smith, Darius Rucker, Luke Bryan, Lady Antebellum, Easton Corbin and Little Big Town are definitely fans of football.
Sam Hunt will perform at the annual tailgate party preceding Sunday’s game, along with pop star Seal.
Canaan Smith (Super Bowl) OC: …It’s cool. :21
“Super Bowl’s all about pizza and commercials. You gotta sit down, you gotta drink your beer, get a little buzz. It’s pepperoni and banana peppers for me and my family. We sit down, we have a a good time, we have friends over. We have a nice TV, plenty of space. We have a good time. Usually, when it’s all said and done, we have a little dance party afterwards too. It’s cool.”
Darius Rucker (football) OC: …football season. :20
“Ever since I was five years old, I’ve loved football, and I love how physical it is. I love the chess match of the game. I love the speed of the game. I love college football, but for me watching pro football is better because the speed is so much more. For me, there’s two times a year, man — football season and waiting for football season.”
Easton Corbin (football) OC: …that’s on. :07
“That’s all that’s on the bus on the weekends. That’s it, and we’ve got three TVs on the bus, so that’s all that’s on.”
Lady A (tailgate food) OC: (Charles) …football watching. :21
HILLARY: “Honestly, chips and salsa, salsa or cheese dip or something. That’s like what I always go for. I could eat that every meal. No joke.” DAVE: “Best tailgate food is a big ole burger soaked in Dale’s sauce. That’s all you need.” HILLARY: “Or bratwurst. I forgot that. Those are good.” CHARLES: “Cold beer! A couple of little finger foods, but without cold beer, it’s not football watching.”
LBT (football story) OC: …my lip. :40
“I was the quarterback to my powder puff team. I was running the ball and I came around the corner – this was in high school – and a foreign exchange student, I think her name was Inga (KIMBERLY: “Inga.”), and I didn’t want to fumble ‘cause my brother and my dad were there, and I come from this very athletic family, so I held onto the ball. I knew I was going to go down, so I let my head hit first and I bit all the way through, but I didn’t fumble and I had a hole in my face, though. The sad thing is that it was just flag football, but I left my flags on and cleats and everything, ‘cause it looked cool, and I had blood running all down my jersey. I went to the emergency room like that, and they sewed up my lip.”
Luke Bryan (Super Bowl food) OC: …over again. :22
“Definitely Super Bowl is like the queso, the Frito Lay scoops with the Ro-tel situation. I guess it’s like, what’s the black-eyed pea stuff too? All of that, just stuff that you can sit there and have lots of sodium, and then just, it’s like Thanksgiving all over again.”
Little Big Town will perform the National Anthem and halftime show during Sunday’s NFC Championship game between the Carolina Panthers and Arizona Cardinals at Bank of America Stadium. Little Big Town, who will hit the road with Luke Bryan on the Kill the Lights Tour, are making their way up the country charts with “Pain Killer,” the title cut of their latest album.
Little Big Town will perform during this year’s Grammy Awards. The group is nominated for Best Country Album for Pain Killer, as well as Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “Girl Crush,” which is also up for Best Country Song and overall Song of the Year. The Grammys will air February 15th at 8pm ET on CBS.
Eric Church, Dierks Bentley, Lady Antebellum and Darius Rucker are among the artists slated to perform at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena March 16th to honor Kris Kristofferson. The show will be filmed for a special, The Life & Songs of Kris Kristofferson, which will be distributed worldwide. Grammy-winning producer and musician Don Was will serve as music director for the event. Willie Nelson, Trisha Yearwood and many more will also perform. Tickets go on sale Saturday (January 23rd).
Sam Hunt and Chris Stapleton will perform at Bonnaroo this year, along with Pearl Jam, Ellie Goulding, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Death Cab for Cuite, Jason Isbell and Grace Potter. The 15th anniversary of the event will take place June 9th – 12th with tickets going on sale Friday (January 22nd).
Sam Hunt and Lady Antebellum are scheduled to perform during the second annual Windy City Lake Shake festival in Chicago, June 17th – 19th. Tim McGraw, Jason Aldean, Brooks & Dunn and Thomas Rhett are also set to perform.
The members of Lady Antebellum all have families of their own, and they’re all excited to pass on their own traditions to the next generation. Charles, Dave and Hillary share their memories, traditions and favorites of the yuletide season below.
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.”
Holiday liners from UMG Nashville artists, including Alan Jackson, Billy Currington, Brothers Osborne, Canaan Smith, Clare Dunn, Darius Rucker, David Nail, Dierks Bentley, Easton Corbin, Eric Church, Eric Paslay, Gary Allan, George Strait, Jon Pardi, Josh Turner, Keith Urban, Kelleigh Bannen, Kip Moore, Lady Antebellum, Lauren Alaina, Little Big Town, Luke Bryan, Mickey, Sam Hunt, Scotty McCreery and more!
“Hi! This is Alan Jackson, and I’m wishing y’all a very Merry Christmas.”
“Hi! Billy Currington here, wishing you and your family a safe and Happy Holiday Season.”
“Hey! This is T.J., and I’m John, and we are Brothers Osborne, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”
“Hey! What’s up guys? I’m Canaan Smith, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”
“Hey! What’s up? This is Clare Dunn, hoping you have a Merry Christmas.”
“Hey y’all! What’s up? This is Darius Rucker, wishing you a Merry Christmas.”
“Hey! This is David Nail, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”
“Hey! This is Dierks Bentley, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.
“Hey everybody! It’s Dierks Bentley, wishing you a very Happy Holiday season.”
“Hey everybody! This is Easton Corbin, wishing you and your family a Happy Holidays.”
“Hey everybody! This is Easton Corbin, wishing you a Merry Christmas.”
“Hey everybody! It’s Eric Church, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”
“Hi! I’m Eric Paslay. Hope you have a Merry Christmas.”
“Hi! I’m Eric Paslay, wishing you a very Happy Holiday Season.”
“Hey! This is Gary Allan. Merry Christmas.”
“Hey everybody! This is George Strait, wishing you and your family a Happy Holiday season.”
“Hey! This is Jon Pardi, wishing you a Merry Christmas!”
“Hey! I’m Josh Turner, wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday season.”
“Hey! This is Kacey Musgraves, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”
“Hi folks, this is Keith Urban, wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas.”
“Hi everyone, this is Keith Urban, wishing you and all your family the very best this holiday season.”
“Hey y’all, it’s Kelleigh Bannen, and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas.”
“Hey guys, this is Kip Moore, wishing you a Merry Christmas.”
“Hey y’all, it’s Kip Moore. Happy Holidays!”
“Hey everybody! We’re Lady Antebellum, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”
“Hey everybody! We are Lady Antebellum. Happy Holidays.”
“Hey! This is Lauren Alaina, wishing you a Merry Christmas.”
“Hey! We’re Little Big Town, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”
“Hey! We’re Little Big Town, and we just want to say Have Yourself a Very Merry Christmas.”
“Hey! It’s Luke Bryan, wishing you a Merry Christmas.”
“Hey! It’s Luke Bryan. Happy Holidays!”
“Hey! It’s Mickey Guyton, wishing you a Merry Christmas.”
“Hey everybody! This is Sam Hunt, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”
“Hey everybody! I’m Sam Hunt. Happy Holidays!”
“Happy Holidays everyone. It’s Scotty McCreery, and go easy on that eggnog!”
Hi! This is Shania Twain, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.
“Hey! It’s Toby Keith with the gift of politically correctness. Happy Holidays. Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah, or Bah Humbug. Whatever way you celebrate, I hope it’s a good one.”
The Thanksgiving holiday tradition traces its origins to a 1621 celebration at Plymouth, in the state that’s now known as Massachusetts. The 1621 Plymouth feast and thanksgiving was prompted by a good harvest. While initially, the Plymouth colony did not have enough food to feed half of the 102 colonists, the Wampanoag Native Americans helped the Pilgrims by providing seeds and teaching them to fish. The practice of holding an annual harvest festival like this did not become a regular affair in New England until the late 1660s. People now celebrate the holiday by giving thanks for their blessings over the past year, as well as feasting on turkey and other festive goodies.
Thanksgiving Day is Thursday, November 26th, and most people will be enjoying time with their friends and families, including some of your favorite country stars, such as Alan Jackson, Brothers Osborne, Canaan Smith, Clare Dunn, Darius Rucker, David Nail, Dierks Bentley, Easton Corbin, Eric Church, Eric Paslay, Josh Turner, Kip Moore, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Mickey Guyton, Sam Hunt, Scotty McCreery and more. They share their thoughts, memories and favorite Thanksgiving dishes.
AJ (Thanksgiving) OC: …enjoy it. :19
“My favorite Thanksgiving dish would be the homemade dressin’ that we, cornbread-based kind of dressin’ that we always have with turkey. That recipe is a kind of a combination of my mama, and Denise has taken it and perfected it over the years, so that me and my children really enjoy it.”
Brothers Osborne (misfits Thanksgiving) OC: …going home. :45
“What we’ve done the past several years is because it’s so hard to go home, we would have what we call the Misfit Thanksgiving dinner, and all the people in Nashville who aren’t able to go home to their families, we would just invite them over to our house and have a big potluck style Thanksgiving dinner. We’ll take like a couple of tables and throw them together and throw some sheets on it just to make it look nice. It’s a very redneck display of like tableware, because all the plates don’t match and the forks and knives don’t match, but we don’t care. People will bring wine, and at the end of the day, we’ll probably have 12-15 people all sitting at dinner together that weren’t able to go home with their families, and just enjoy it with friends. It’s been really fun. Definitely a lot less stress than going home.”
Clare Dunn (Thanksgiving dish) OC: …like hers. :21
“I think my favorite Thanksgiving dish [is] my mom makes the best mashed potatoes in the world. I mean, they’re crazy. They’re like garlic and butter and all the good stuff, so that’s probably my favorite Thanksgiving dish. Oh, and she makes great stuffing too, and I’m not a stuffing person, but I like hers.”
Darius Rucker (favorite part of Thanksgiving) OC: …my family. :17
“My favorite part of Thanksgiving is easy – it’s food. It’s eating. It’s hanging out with family and getting some great food, ‘cause that’s really what Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving is about giving thanks for all of the great things you’ve got, and I always give thanks for the greatest thing I’ve got and that’s my family.”
Dierks Bentley (Thanksgiving must-have) OC: …for Thanksgiving. :34
“You gotta have a big turkey. Thanksgiving is not possible without a turkey. We cook it traditionally, but when we’re in, a couple of Thanksgivings ago, we were here in Nashville, we did the whole fry the turkey up, and it was great. It just tasted so good; all those juices get locked in there, and I love that too. You really can’t, to me, cook a turkey wrong. I’m gonna eat it any way, and I have over the years. Trust me, I’ve played a lot of county and state fairs, where I’ve seen gigantic turkey legs, you know, I’ve had the flat meat. I’ve done turkey every way you could do it. I’m pretty good any way you want to cook it up, but you’ve got to have a turkey for Thanksgiving.”
Easton Corbin (Thankful) OC: …what I do. :08
“Well, this year I think, as I think every year, I’m so thankful for my family and friends out there and being able to make a living at what I do.”
Eric Church (Thanksgiving) a OC: …want to do it. :23
“A couple of things. I’m thankful for my family and great health. And I’m thankful for from a career standpoint, I’m very thankful for the success we’ve had lately. I’m thankful for what the fans have done. I mean there’s a lot of stuff to be thankful for in that regard. And I’m thankful that I was given the opportunity to do it my own way. I’m thankful that I’m going to get to keep doing this and do it the way that I want to do it.”
Eric Paslay (Turkey) OC: …really does. :09
“My favorite Thanksgiving food, I think, is the tryptophan turkey, ‘cause it really puts me to sleep. No [yawn], it really does.”
Josh Turner (fave side dish) OC: …’em myself. [laughs] :24
“Uh, deviled eggs! [laughs] Where I’m from in South Carolina, I don’t think I’ve tasted a bad deviled egg. It’s like everybody has their own twist on it, but they’re all good, but I always loved it when my mama made ‘em. I’m learning as I get older, making deviled eggs is no easy task. It’s more complicated than it looks, and so that’s probably why I never made ‘em myself.” [laughs]
Kip Moore (Thanksgiving) OC: …with them. :11
“I [usually] go home for Thanksgiving. I love going home to see all them. I have five brothers and sisters and it’s a blast to go home and just catch up on their lives. I get so wrapped up in all this that I lose touch sometimes, and it’s cool to hear everything going on with them.
Lady A (Charles-Thanksgiving eating contest) OC: …five pounds! :25
“One of my most memorable Thanksgiving memories was probably the first year that me and my two brothers decided to start our annual eating contest where we ate throughout the whole day. We started that morning and weighed ourselves and at the very end of the night, we weighed ourselves out and all three of us equally gained five pounds. I wish we had a more accurate scale to decide the winner, but we all tied. Five pounds!”
Lady A (Hillary-Thanksgiving food) OC: …ever tasted. :12
“So, my favorite Thanksgiving food would have to be my grandmother’s sweet potato casserole. There’s just something she puts in it — probably all the love – that makes it better than anything I’ve ever tasted.”
LBT (Thanksgiving) 2 OC: (Kimberly) …and eat. :31
KIMBERLY: “Thanksgiving—we love Thanksgiving, ‘cause we get to be with our families and we don’t often get to spend time with our families, our extended families, until the holidays. I love being around the table with my family and talking and laughing and cooking and eating…” JIMI: “And eating and eating and eating and eating…” PHILLIP: “The laughter around the eating, the good cheer, the celebration, the music…” JIMI: “The eating, going taking a nap, then coming back and eating.” KIMBERLY: “Go to bed with a full belly, take a nap, and then get up and eat.”
Mickey Guyton (favorite Thanksgiving dish) OC: …both so much! :39
“My favorite Thanksgiving dish that has to, has to, has to be at Thanksgiving dinner is dessert. Dessert is my favorite Thanksgiving dish. I mean, it doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it’s sweet. My mom actually makes an Italian cream cake that’s absolutely awesome. It’s homemade, and the entire family, that’s the first thing to go at Thanksgiving dinner. And my Grandma D, she makes a pecan pie that is awesome. She taught me how to make them when I was little, and I just love them, and that’s the other thing that I look forward to at Thanksgiving dinner, and I love them both so much!”
Sam Hunt (Thanksgiving eats) OC: …glass of milk. :34
“When I pile my plate up, it’s mostly turkey and then I’ll put a little dressing on the side, and I’ll usually go ahead and grab my dessert on the first run [laughs] and have it ready before it all disappears. Those are the really the three things. It’s strange, but since I was very young, I’ve always loved drinking milk, my brothers too, we drank lots of milk. My cousins, who grew up down the road, they always looked at us funny when we wanted to drink milk with our Thanksgiving meal. They would have coke or whatever else. So, I still get turkey, dressing, a piece of pecan pie and a big ole glass of milk.”
Scotty McCreery (most thankful) OC: …thankful for her. :28
“[I’m] most thankful for, I’d probably say my girl back home could be. I don’t talk about her too much, because she strives to stay out of the limelight, but with a guy like me who travels as much as I do and I’m away from home, she puts up with a lot. She’s stuck by me and has been my rock, so she’s something to be thankful for every day and Thanksgiving’s just a reminder of that. Somebody like that really keeps me going in life when things get rough and tough and I get tired on the road, she just keeps me going. I’m really thankful for her.”
David Nail (Thanksgiving 2015) OC: …without a doubt. :19
“Without a doubt, the thing I’m most thankful for is the fact that we’re on the verge of, my wife and I, having not only our first child, but our first two children. We are expecting twins; should be here any minute now. So, that is definitely thing that I’m most thankful for, without a doubt.”
David Nail (Thanksgiving 2015) 2 OC: …next year. :25
“Due to the fact that we’re expecting twins, we will not be able to go back home to Missouri and visit and have Thanksgiving with my grandfather. Last Thanksgiving was the first without my grandmother, and so it was a very emotional time. But I know he understands the situation, and we will definitely be there with bells on next year.”
Canaan Smith (pumpkin pie) OC: …Thanksgiving. :14
“Pumpkin pie is where it’s at. My mom makes the best. She got it from her mom, my Nanny. It’s so good. It’s made from scratch. Everything about it, it’s just mouthwatering. I love it. I can’t get enough. If I could get fat, it’d be from pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving.”
[audio-player-5]]
“Hey! This is Clare Dunn, wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving!”
Eric Church and Chris Stapleton are among the artists paying tribute to the late John Lennon in a new AMC all-star special, Imagine: John Lennon 75th Birthday Concert, December 19th. The special, being recorded December 5th in New York City, will also include performances by Kris Kristofferson, Peter Frampton, Steven Tyler, Sheryl Crow, Train’s Pat Monahan and Aloe Blacc.
Tim McGraw performed the song “Here Tonight” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon this week. TJ and John of Brothers Osborne wrote the song.
Sam Hunt has been chosen as a curator for the fourth annual Grammy Amplifier program – an online music initiative that gives a platform to aspiring artists. Big Sean and Lzzy Hale have also been named curators for the program, which invites hopeful singers to upload their songs for consideration at www.grammyamplifier.com. Hunt, Big Sean and Hale will select three winners from the top 25 most popular submissions to win one-of-a-kind experiences that include an in-studio recording session with a Grammy Award-winning producer, an opening spot for a popular artist and/or a series of festival shows, and a music video with a notable director. “I’m honored to be part of a program where I can help elevate new and emerging talent,” Sam said in a prepared statement. “It wasn’t long ago I was an unknown artist, and I couldn’t be more grateful to the people who helped me with the tools I needed to start my career. I look forward to shining a light on these aspiring musicians.” The Grammy Amplifier program is open to submissions through December.
Little Big Town will honor rock icon Gregg Allman during the second season premiere of Nashville-based performance webcast series Skyville Live on December 11th at 8pm ET.
On Monday (November 16th), Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott will host Leadership Music’s Dale Franklin Awards honoring three music industry leaders in Nashville, including Reba.
Darius Rucker recently presented a $1 million grant from the CMA Foundation to Metro Nashville Public Schools to provide instruments and music education for more than 85,000 local students. “A defining moment in my life was when my mother gave me my first guitar – I can honestly say it completely changed my life,” says Darius. “So to know that we, as artists with CMA, are helping kids get the option for that kind of discovery is really incredible.”
Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley is just happy to be nominated in the Vocal Group of the Year category at this year’s CMA Awards. He says that he’ll never take a nomination for granted.
“There’s always going to be a new crop of groups and musicians…and there should be. That’s what the music business is about. That’s what fans want. I mean, I always want something new. I’m always craving it, and so hopefully all this stuff kind of as groups and as artists helps motivate you to be creative and come up with something unique and different,” says Charles. “So we never take it for granted because there will be a time when we won’t be in those categories and you know, so, you’re still in the game, you’re still playing on a pretty high level and so that means a lot.”
Charles, who will present an award at the CMA Awards, is currently making his way up the country charts with his debut solo single, “The Driver.”
The 49th Annual CMA Awards will be broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena Wednesday (November 4th) at 8pm ET on ABC.
Lady Antebellum (Charles happy to be nominated) OC: …means a lot. :31
“Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean you can’t take that for granted. There’s always going to be a new crop of groups and musicians that … and there should be. That’s what the music business is about. That’s what fans want. I mean, I always want something new. I’m always craving it, and so hopefully all this stuff kind of as groups and as artists helps motivate you to be creative and come up with something unique and different. So we never take it for granted because there will be a time when we won’t be in those categories and you know, so, you’re still in the game; you’re still playing on a pretty high level and so that means a lot.
Watch the ABC News special, Countdown to the CMA Awards: Country’s Greatest Crossover Hits with Robin Roberts on Monday (November 2nd) at 10pm ET on ABC. The special will feature performances and interviews with such artists as Lady Antebellum, Luke Bryan, Darius Rucker, Dierks Bentley, Sam Hunt, Keith Urban and many more.
Kacey Musgraves attended the opening soiree for actress Reese Witherspoon’s new store, Draper James, in Nashville last week. Faith Hill and Sheryl Crow were also in attendance.
Luke Bryan and Eric Church both nabbed nominations for this year’s Billboard Touring Awards. Luke’s Kick the Dust Up trek, featuring Florida Georgia Line, Randy Houser, Dustin Lynch and Thomas Rhett, is in the running for Top Package. Church was named as Breakthrough Artist, and is in the lineup as part of Kenny Chesney’s Big Revival Tour for Top Package. The 2015 Billboard Touring Awards will take place November 19th at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City.