Universal Universal Music Group Nashville Pressroom

Darius Rucker always looks forward to Christmas, not just because he gets a little downtime with his family after being on the road so much, but because he truly enjoys the holiday and all the magic that goes along with it.

He and his family – includes his wife and three children have a routine they pretty much stick to on the big day. “Christmas at the Rucker house is pretty laid-back,” says Darius. “Our kids wake up early – real early – and open their gifts and we hang out, have breakfast, go to church, come home and PLAY, play with toys and hang out and see family who comes by, and we go to see family. It’s just a pretty normal, fun Christmas Day.” Sounds like a great time! But if you happen to receive a gift from Darius, just know he wasn’t the one doing the wrapping! “I buy it and go, ‘Honey, wrap this!’ I don’t wrap, and it definitely doesn’t look like Dillards’ [wrapping],” he admits. “It would be frumpy is what it would be. [laughs]”

Darius loves to take it easy during the holidays after being on the road all year long. One way he winds down with his family is to watch Christmas movies…however, he can’t pick just one favorite.

“That’s such a hard question, favorite Christmas movie, because there are so many great movies that I can think of just off the top of my head that are great Christmas movies,” says Darius. “But it would be a tie between Miracle on 34th Street, which is still just great acting, great movie. I just love it. I love watching it. I watch it probably four times every Christmas and cry at the end every time. And I love Elf. I just think Elf is one of the absolute great stories and just funniest movies I’ve ever seen, and it just happens to be a Christmas movie. It’s one of my favorite movies.”

Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood have been spending the past couple of weeks touring Australia, and they’re wrapping up the trek Down Under this weekend. Every night, the pair would perform together, singing “The Fighter” from Keith’s Ripcord album, as well as the Stevie Nicks-Tom Petty duet “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.”

“We’ve toured together before, but we’ve never had a song together to do, so it’s great that we get to do ‘The Fighter.’ It was actually released as a single in Australia quite a while back and was a hit down there, so people are gonna know that song,” says Keith. “It has all been a very organic thing about us going down together at the same time and touring together. We would’ve been doing it had we not had the song, but with the fact that we’ve got ‘The Fighter’ as well is excellent.”

Keith’s Ripcord World Tour is set to wrap in Brisbane on Saturday (December 17th).

Keith, whose latest single “Blue Ain’t Your Color” is sitting in the Top 5 on the country charts, will headline Nashville’s New Year’s Eve Celebration at Bicentennial Mall.

Tis the season for family, friends and festive cocktails. Toby Keith‘s Wild Shot Mezcal offers the perfect libation for cold nights and good times with two cocktail recipes tailored for Christmas and New Year’s – the new Wild Shot Baked Apple and the classic Wild Shot’s Red Solo Cup.

Wild Shot’s namesake certainly has plenty to celebrate as the year draws down. From his successful Toby Keith Interstates & Tailgates Tour Presented by Ford F-Series to an acclaimed new single “A Few More Cowboys,” 2016 has been another example of high-level consistency. And if that’s not enough to get in the spirit, there’s always “Red Solo Cup (Holiday Version).” Watch here.

With the rapid rise of mezcal in the United States, Wild Shot has become an unqualified success as the premium brand leading the market. Imported from San Luis Potosi, Mexico by Shaw-Ross International Importers, Keith’s signature spirit is quickly claiming market share. Recent additions include 36 stores in New Hampshire and a yet-to-be tamed growing popularity and presence across Toby’s native Oklahoma.

Fans who’ve already added Wild Shot to their adult beverage rotation or may be trying it for the first time can enjoy these festive concoctions:

Baked Apple

Served hot. Goes great with chestnuts … open fires … roasting, etc.

1.5 ounces Wild Shot Mezcal

1/2 cup Apple Cider

2 teaspoons Agave Nectar

Twist of Lemon

Garnish (optional): Apple slices + Cinnamon sticks

Red Solo Cup

Served cold. Excellent at New Year’s Eve parties. Let’s have a party. Proceed to party.

1.25 oz Wild Shot Silver Mezcal

0.5 oz Orange Liqueur

2 oz Fresh Lime juice

0.5 oz Agave Nectar

2 oz Cranberry juice

0.5 oz Grenadine

In other Wild Shot news, the brand is making a reappearance at February’s 2017 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am, where more signature Wild Shot cocktails will be served. For more information please visit:  www.wildshot.com.

Tis the season for close-knit gatherings as the current two-time GRAMMY-nominated Hillary Scott & The Scott Family invite TODAY along to celebrate the holidays. From her home just outside of Nashville, TN, Hillary Scott sits-down with Jenna Bush Hager to recall favorite Christmas traditions and discuss the impact of the group’s GRAMMY-nominated “Best Contemporary Christian Music Album” LOVE REMAINS, which also received a “Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song” nod for its chart-topping single “Thy Will.” Fans can tune-in to watch Hillary alongside her mother Linda Davis, father Lang Scott and younger sister Rylee, next week on Dec. 21st (7:00A CT on NBC) as they join together around the piano to reprise their favorite carols and holiday stories.

The “tenderhearted family collaboration” (People) behind LOVE REMAINS is the mix of the rich, entwined voices of the Scotts, on “new co-writes, lesser-known oldies and time-honored gospel staples” (Rolling Stone). The 13-track collection of faith-based songs was produced by Ricky Skaggs and are a collection of songs that find the redemption in struggle, the peace in death and the joy in bonding with family members whenever times are tough. LOVE REMAINS follows more than 18 million album sales worldwide for Hillary Scott as one-third of the one of the world’s most popular groups, Lady Antebellum. The trio has made nine trips to No. one, earned seven GRAMMY awards and has been dubbed ACM and CMA “Vocal Group of the Year” three years in a row. For more information on new music, a full list of upcoming tour dates and more, visit www.hillaryscott.com.

Luke Bryan stopped by to thank the Spring Hill Fire Department on Friday (December 9th) during their annual Christmas lunch. He spent nearly an hour with the firefighters signing autographs, posing for photos and thanking them for their efforts in East Tennessee battling the fires in Sevier County.

Chris Stapleton and Lauren Alaina are set to perform during Dolly Parton’s telethon to benefit the victims of the deadly wildfires in East Tennessee. The three-hour telethon, Smoky Mountains Rise: A Benefit for the My People Fund, airs tonight (December 13th) at 8pm ET on GAC, AXS-TV, RFD and the Heartland Network, while also simulcasting on numerous radio clusters, including select iHeart Media stations, Cumulus’ NASH Nights Live and Country Roads on TuneIn. Reba, Kenny Rogers, Alabama, Hank Williams Jr., Chris Young, Amy Grant, Cyndi Lauper and Don McLean will also perform.

Chris Stapleton will open three shows for Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers’ 40th Anniversary Tour at Chicago’s Wrigley Field on June 29th and at Milwaukee’s Summerfest July 5th-6th.

Keith Urban’s “Blue Ain’t Your Color” is spending a third week at the top of the Canadian Country Singles Chart.

Easton Corbin may not had snow on Christmas Day growing up in Florida, but he certainly had enough to get him into the holiday spirit. He reveals which soulful sounds got him into the holiday spirit. “I think the song that gets me, I guess, in the most Christmas spirit would probably be – since Merle Haggard is one of my heroes, ‘If I Make It Through December,’” says Easton.

His favorite gift would have to be a guitar. “My favorite Christmas gift probably as a kid would probably be the guitar my dad got me, the first electric guitar my dad got me one Christmas,” says Easton.

As we mentioned before, Brothers Osborne are showing us exactly why they were named CMA Vocal Duo of the Year and why their motto is “the show must go on.” For the second time in two weeks, the ceiling of a venue at one of their shows caved in, forcing them to cut the show short.

First on November 27th in Boise, Idaho, big pieces of the ceiling fell to the stage while they were playing. That show was cut short due to safety concerns. Then on Saturday night (December 10th), TJ and John Osborne’s show in Hanford, California was canceled because the ceiling collapsed right before John’s wife, the lovely and talented Lucie Silvas was to perform, so the guys moved the party outdoors in the rain…on the roof of their bus on the street in front of the theater. Armed with a PA system, a couple of acoustic guitars and a small drum kit, the duo performed for about 30 minutes, running through songs from their debut album, Pawn Shop.

The guys, who are about to hit the airwaves with their new song “It Ain’t My Fault,” called the impromptu show “one of the most memorable moments” of their career.

John and TJ felt they needed to make sure they took care of their fans who had already shown up to the show, even though it will be rescheduled at a later date.

“We didn’t want to leave all those people who had already shown up high and dry, so we thought, ‘What can we do to make this thing really cool for them?’ And our bass player jokingly said, ‘What if we just set up on the roof and played there?’ And then TJ and I looked at each other and we were like, ‘Dude that is the greatest idea I’ve ever heard!’ And we told our tour manager and our production manager, and they both thought we could make this happen,” says John Osborne. “Sure enough, 15 minutes later we had a PA set up on the roof, we had microphones, guitars, some lights, some rugs and it was wild man. We played for about 7 or 800 people. And it was one of the most surreal moments of our lives.”

Brothers O continue their Dirt Rich Tour are set to perform in Bakersfield, California at Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace on Tuesday (December 13th).

The guys are up for a Grammy. They’re nominated in the category of Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “21 Summer.” The 59th Annual Grammy Awards will be broadcast live from the Staples Center in L.A. February 12th at 8pm ET on CBS.

Luke Bryan has just released his new single, “Fast,” which he wrote with Luke Laird and Rodney Clawson.

Life moves so ‘fast,’ so the song is kind of a reminder to Luke and his fans about slowing down and enjoying family and your surroundings. “Every time I come home my boys are bigger and starting to throw me around the house a little more, and one day I’ll snap my fingers and you wish you could have froze time a little bit,” says Luke about his boys Bo, Tate and his nephew Til. “And I think anytime you can help people slow down and reflect on that and remember to take things in stride a little bit better, I think people love hearing that in a song.”

“Fast” is the follow-up to five No. 1 songs from his current album, Kill the Lights.

Kip Moore wrapped an accomplished year with a string of sold-out headlining dates this past weekend.  Playing to capacity crowds in Detroit, MI and a two-night run in Chicago, IL, Moore executed 20 sold-out shows during his ME & MY KIND TOUR, that showcased him as “one of country music’s most impressive headline acts” (Sounds Like Nashville), praised by critics and fans across the country. Moore held up his “reputation for rowdy, high-energy party shows” (Detroit Free Press) as he was continually “met with more deafening applause.” (CMT) Kip took Jon Pardi along for the ride.

Moore charged into 2016 on the 2nd leg of his fiercely successful WILD ONES TOUR that he also unleashed across the pond for a stint of “eagerly anticipated” (Think Country) headlining sold-out dates in the UK and Ireland.  An unabating road warrior, Moore “cemented that special bond between crowd and performer…daring to be different, daring to take a risk, he is able to take the crowd further than most artists can by the sheer force of his performance” (2 Country Radio) during his time overseas, where he had to move to bigger venues to meet overwhelming demand. Fans were also able to catch the “kinetic live performer” (Kansas City Star) out on Miranda Lambert’s KEEPER OF THE FLAME TOUR during the summer.

Throughout the year, Moore undertook a string of national TV appearances including The Talk, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and a dedicated episode as part of Front and Center, celebrating the CMA Songwriters Series aired on Public Television. Moore also recently performed as part of a Smokey Robinson Tribute, where Robinson received the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. Moore executed a special rendition of “I Second That Emotion” during the taping, that also included Samuel L. Jackson, Aloe Blacc, JoJo, Corinne Bailey Rae, Cee Lo Green and more, set to air Feb. 10 at 9pm on PBS.

Moore also gave fans a personal look into his charitable initiative, “Comeback Kid Skatepark Project,” when CBS This Morning visited his Nashville skatepark available to watch here. Moore continued the project this year when he launched a new skatepark In Cincinnati, OH this summer, adding to phase one of the existing skateparks that include Nashville, TN; Boston, MA; San Marcos, TX and Annapolis, MD. A passion project of Moore’s, with the goal of finding an outlet to showcase his love for the alternative sports lifestyle, specifically skateboarding, and his desire to help inner city children. For more information and to make a donation visit here.

Moore recently released UNDERGROUND, a 5-track EP that draws inspiration from his unyielding time out on the road touring. He co-wrote every track on the EP and recorded many of them live. Critics have been quick to praise the collection, with Rolling Stone highlighting that the EP “strikes the defiant tone that’s been a part of his artistry” while Taste Of Country heralds “Moore’s vocals and lyrics shine.” UNDERGROUND follows the release of Moore’s critically acclaimed sophomore album WILD ONES that The Guardian declared as “an impressively singular release from Music Row… unlike anything else in country music” and Huffington Post declared as “one heck of an album… set to produce hit after hit after hit,” as well as his debut album UP ALL NIGHT which was certified GOLD by the RIAA and spawned three No. One hit singles including GOLD certified “Beer Money,” PLATINUM certified “Hey Pretty Girl,” and the DOUBLE PLATINUM breakout hit “Somethin’ ‘Bout A Truck.” For more information, visit kipmoore.net.