Universal Universal Music Group Nashville Pressroom

Country Music’s biggest names celebrate the holidays with an encore presentation of “CMA Country Christmas,” airing this Thursday, Dec. 21st at 9/8c on ABC.

The eighth annual “CMA Country Christmas” returns with first-time host and iconic entertainer Reba McEntire and features two hours of festive performances from Nashville’s famed Grand Ole Opry House by Luke Bryan, CB30, Dan + Shay, Brett Eldredge, Alan Jackson, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Dustin Lynch, Kelsea Ballerini, Reba, CeCe Winans, Trisha Yearwood and Chris Young. Don’t miss fantastic collaborations by Ballerini and Reba, Little Big Town and Reba, and Jackson and Young.

Visit CMApress.com for artist interviews and performance clips. For more information, visit CMAChristmas.com and follow us on Twitter @Countrymusic.

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, which will include Dave Haywood’s new addition due any minute, as well as Hillary Scott’s twin daughters due in February. Charles Kelley, Dave and Hillary share their memories, traditions and favorites of the yuletide season below.

The trio is making their way up the country charts with their latest hit, “Heart Break.”

Keith Urban and his family, including wife Nicole Kidman and daughters Sunday and Faith, are enjoying their annual holiday Down Under, visiting family and hitting the beach, which is what he did on Christmas when he was a kid.

“We had great Christmases growing up. I really, really enjoyed them,” says Keith. “Mostly, we’d go to the beach, you know, ’cause there it’s summertime. Load up the station wagon and head off to the beach.”

He’s expected to return following Christmas to get ready for his second headlining gig on New Year’s Eve in Nashville.

Keith is making his way up the country charts with his latest single, “Female.”

Last month, he took home three big awards at the 2017 American Music Awards, including Favorite Male Country Artist, Favorite Country Album for Ripcord and Favorite Country Song for “Blue Ain’t Your Color.”

Lady Antebellum, Chris Stapleton and Little Big Town will be featured on the new compilation, 2018 GRAMMY Nominees album, which will be released January 12th. Hits by Kenny Chesney, Thomas Rhett, Bruno Mars, Kelly Clarkson, P!nk and Kendrick Lamar are also included on the collection.

A portion of album proceeds benefit the year-round work of the GRAMMY Museum and MusiCares—two charitable organizations founded by the Recording Academy that focus on music education programs and critical assistance for music people in need.

The 60th Annual GRAMMY Awards, which will be hosted by James Corden, will air live from New York City’s Madison Square Garden January 28th beginning at 7:30pm ET on CBS.

2018 GRAMMY Nominees Album Track List:

1. BRUNO MARS
   “24K Magic”
   Record Of The Year
   Album Of The Year
2. KELLY CLARKSON
   “Love So Soft”
   Best Pop Solo Performance
3. LUIS FONSI & DADDY YANKEE FEAT. JUSTIN BIEBER
   “Despacito” (Remix)
   Record Of The Year
   Song Of The Year
   Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
4. KENDRICK LAMAR
   “HUMBLE.”
   Record Of The Year
   Album Of The Year
5. LORDE
   “Green Light”
   Album Of The Year
6. CHILDISH GAMBINO
   “Redbone”
   Record Of The Year
   Album Of The Year
7. JAY-Z
   “The Story Of O.J.”
   Record Of The Year
   Album Of The Year
8. ZEDD & ALESSIA CARA
   “Stay”
   Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
9. LADY GAGA
   “Million Reasons”
   Best Pop Solo Performance
10. IMAGINE DRAGONS
    “Thunder”
    Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
11. THE MAN
    “Feel It Still”
    Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
12. THE CHAINSMOKERS & COLDPLAY
    “Something Just Like This”
    Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
13. P!NK
    “What About Us”
    Best Pop Solo Performance
14. LOGIC FEAT. ALESSIA CARA & KHALID
    “1-800-273-8255”
    Song Of The Year
15. JULIA MICHAELS
    “Issues”
    Song Of The Year
16. KESHA
    “Praying”
    Best Pop Solo Performance
17. CHRIS STAPLETON
    “Broken Halos”
    Best Country Album
18. LITTLE BIG TOWN
    “Better Man”
    Best Country Album
19. THOMAS RHETT FEAT. MAREN MORRIS
    “Craving You”
    Best Country Album
20. LADY ANTEBELLUM
    “You Look Good”
    Best Country Album
21. KENNY CHESNEY
    “All The Pretty Girls”
    Best Country Album

Eric Church has been taking some time to process his recent Holdin’ My Own Tour, since he wrapped the trek a couple of months ago. The North Carolina native played between three-and-a-half to four hours every single night with just a short break in the middle of the show. While it was probably the most exhilarating, energetic, athletic and biggest treks he’d ever launched, by the end, he was feeling a little bit unsettled, mainly because he didn’t know where to go from there.

“I didn’t really know where to be when the tour wrapped. I was emotionally drained, physically drained, voice shredded and didn’t really know what to do when you didn’t have go somewhere the next week to play, because it had been such a, it was almost like a battle,” says Eric. “Week to week was like, ‘Okay, we’ve got to get through these three. We’re here, here and here.’ Ten to 12 hours of music in three or four nights, it becomes one of those things that I have to mentally have to prepare for, especially for the Thursday night show, the first of three. I know I’ve got to do a night and then I’ve got to do it again and again. So, it was just such a focal point of my entire life and my career that that’s all I focused on week to week… It was such an interesting thing just all of a sudden it be done.”

His manager pulled him aside at the final shows in Nashville and wanted him to just “process” what the tour meant for him.

“He said, ‘You don’t know this, but I want you to take some time and I want you to process. I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire, not only country, in my entire career.’ He said, ‘You should take some time and process what that is, what that means.’ And he said, ‘Just take some time.’ And that’s what I’ve been trying to do between then and now,” he says. “I’m trying to figure out what that is and then really what my job is to figure out where we go from here and that’s what I’m working on now.”

Eric, who played to more than 930,000 over the course of a few months this year, has released 61 Days in Church, a collection of live recordings from the tour currently streaming on Apple Music. Fans can now get all of the 100+ song project in a limited physical release – a massive 15-LP box set, complete with a commemorative tour book and original poster housed in a custom road case. The initial shipment just went out on Friday (December 15th) with the road case, book, poster and the first three LPs, which include music from the first 12 shows of his Holdin’ My Own Tour. The remaining 12 vinyl records will be shipped out once a month beginning in January 2018.

Eric is currently nearing the top of the country charts with “Round Here Buzz” from his Mr. Misunderstood album.

Luke Bryan debuted his What Makes You Country album at #1 on both the Billboard Top 200 and Top Country Albums charts this week. This is Luke’s third consecutive album to debut at #1 on the Top 200 and his fifth #1 debut on the Top Country Albums Chart. In addition, Luke’s 19^th career #1 single “Light It Up,” the first release from What Makes You Country, marked his 10th straight Billboard Country Airplay leader, the longest current streak among all artists which began with “Play It Again” in 2014.

“So much thought goes into creating new music and I really try to write and find songs that I feel are staying true to me while staying fresh and fun,” said Luke. “I try and imagine people singing along in their cars or with me at my shows. To have What Makes You Country go #1 is so exciting and rewarding for me, my team and my fans. It drives me to keep working harder and growing! Thank you so much for these opportunities!”

Critics are raving about What Makes You Country as the New York Times touted, “Bryan’s omnivorous approach to country production is arguably more ambitious and musically progressive; it’s certainly more in tune with the genre’s younger listeners.” And the Associated Press shares, “Bryan’s country is playful, inclusive, flirty and good-natured on the album.” “Luke makes country hit-making seem effortless,” shared Newsday. Radio.com said, “the 15-song project is a versatile one that includes the party songs Bryan is known and loved for as well as the more poignant and introspective ballads that take a look into who we are as people and where Bryan came from.”

Luke concluded his album promotional tour in Los Angeles last week with two appearances on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, fan events and performances with Citi, Spotify and iHeart radio. The week prior Luke performed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Good Morning America and visited Lennox Hill Hospital with Musicians On Call to launch their Music Pharmacy program. He also performed songs from the new album for fans at events hosted by Pandora, NASH-FM and Samsung.

Watch Luke’s tv performances here:

Good Morning America

Tonight Show

Ellen DeGeneres Show

Over the Christmas holidays, fans can watch Luke on the “40^th Annual Kennedy Center Honors” gala in honor of his friend and idol Lionel Richie airing on Dec. 26, 9/8CT on CBS. Luke is also appearing on the encore presentation of “CMA Country Christmas” on Dec. 21, 9/8CT on ABC.

What Makes You Country was produced by Jeff Stevens and Jody Stevens and contains 15 songs, seven of them co-written by Luke including the title track.

Sam Hunt, who is Billboard’s No. 1 Hot Country Songs Artist for 2017, has a couple of favorite Christmas gifts from when he was a child. One of them was a horse he received one Christmas. “I remember being really excited when, I got into riding horses, and one Christmas I got a Mustang that I named Comanche – a horse – and that was a really exciting time. I rode all the time after that. Before, I had some friends, a babysitter whose kids had horses, so I’d be able to ride occasionally, but now I was able to ride whenever I wanted to.”

Sam was also named Billboard’s No. 1 Country Digital Song Sales Artist and the No. 1 Streaming Songs Artist. His history-making hit “Body Like A Backroad” topped multiple lists as well, including No. 1 Country Airplay Song, No. 1 Country Digital Song and No. 1 Country Streaming Song.

Luke Bryan’s What Makes You Country album debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 chart, as well as the top of the Country Album chart. The collection sold more than 107,000 copies with 7.8 million streams.

“My hope for every album is to put songs out that drive people to want to come see the shows.  It drives people to want to listen to it on the radio and obviously have these songs incorporated in their life,” says Luke. “I always want to have a rollercoaster of emotions through the albums – the sad songs, the love songs, the happy songs, the drinking songs, the party songs. I want to have songs that people can come to big outdoor stadium like concerts and rock and party and have a blast. I want something driving, something to hit people in the face, and let’s make some big ole fun music and some big ole fun memories.”

Luke just hit No. 1 on the country singles charts with “Light It Up.” He’ll also light up the small screen on ABC’s reboot of American Idol beginning March 11th.

Keith Urban and Little Big Town are among the artists set to honor to Sir Elton John during a tribute concert, taking place January 30th at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris, Miley Cyrus, Kesha, John Legend and Sam Smith will also take part in the show, Elton John: I’m Still Standing – A Grammy Salute, which will be recorded for CBS TV for a special airing later this year. Tickets go on sale Monday (December 18th).

Sam Hunt recorded “This Land Is Your Land” for the Bright movie soundtrack released on Friday (December 15th). The film, starring Will Smith, will be released to Netflix on December 22nd.

Check out Sam’s cover of “This Land Is Your Land”. Available now on BRIGHT The Album.https://t.co/8PFC5urabS

— Sam Hunt (@SamHuntMusic) December 15, 2017

BRIGHT The Album out tomorrow pic.twitter.com/OpJdsWHY4B

— Sam Hunt (@SamHuntMusic) December 14, 2017

Dierks Bentley, who is the father of three children (Evie, Jordan, Knox), says you revert back to your childhood at Christmas when you start having a family of your own.

“Christmas didn’t lose any of its real meaning, as far as its religious meaning with Jesus’ birthday,” says Dierks. “But as far as like the whole tree and all of the Christmas spirit stuff, the secular stuff, it just kind of goes away, to be honest. But then you have a family, and all of a sudden it’s like I’m all Clark Griswold out there decorating the tree, putting lights up around the house, you know. So, all of those things that you did as a kid and appreciated as a kid, you get a chance to do over again when you have kids, because you kinda become one again.”

He says his middle child, daughter Jordan, sometimes gets a raw deal since her birthday falls on Christmas. “It’s tough kind of for Jordan because her birthday IS on Christmas, so it’s kind of one of those things where we try to give her an extra present or two,” says Dierks. “It’s kind of tough to share your birthday with Jesus. You can get a little overshadowed on that one, but she’s good about it, but we just tell her, ‘All these Christmas trees and lights, these are all for you.’”

It was just announced that Dierks will be honored at the Country Radio Seminar with the 2018 CRS Artist Humanitarian Award. Dierks is receiving the honor based on his 10-year run of his Miles & Music for Kids event, raising more than $4 million for children’s hospitals, as well as for various other exceptional humanitarian efforts during his career.