HOT COUNTRY KNIGHTS

Bio

Some said this moment would never happen. But in spite of 30 wasted years
and countless bad decisions, the ’90s influenced country band Hot Country Knights has
come riding in to save Country music from itself, after signing a worldwide recording deal
with Universal Music Group Nashville (UMGN). The Knights promise to bring real ’90s
Country music back to a format that’s been drowning in male sensitivity, cashmere
cardigan sweaters.

Famous for never giving up on the dream of the ‘90s, the Knights spent the last few
decades watching as country morphed from a proudly vigorous genre into something
almost unrecognizable. But lead singer Douglas (“Doug”) Douglason, lead bass player
Trevor Travis, lead guitarist Marty Ray (“Rayro”) Roburn, keytar/fiddle player Terotej
(“Terry”) Dvoraczekynski, steel guitarist Barry Van Ricky and percussionist Monte
Montgomery have the antidote as The K Is Silent puts the “T” back in country.

“Some artists out there tried to put the ‘O’ back in country, that was a thing for a while….
but what it’s really missing is the ‘T,’” band leader Douglas (“Doug”) Douglason said.
“Country music has Low-T right now…it could use a pick me up, if you know what I mean.
Those record label people over at Universal finally realized that only the Knights could be
up to a task this big and hard.”

With a forthcoming project built on the bounding rhythms and bright, organic euphoria of
live Country music – with truly gratifying lyrics. The Knights are adamant about the fact
they could have done it themselves. Instead, they allowed longtime admirer Dierks
Bentley to produce – a partnership born from a deep sense of man-to-man pity.

“Boy he sucks, basically,” says lead guitarist Rayro. “I didn’t want to have to be the one
to say it, but we’re helping him out, let’s just be clear there.”

“When [Dierks] first moved to town he was struggling, and he saw us crushing a big
venue,” Douglason adds, although he can’t recall which Hooters’ parking lot it was. “We
inspired him, so he thinks he’s paying us back in some way by offering to produce us –
but we all know what’s really going on here. He’s trying to grab onto the old mullet and
ride it as hard as he can.”

Despite Bentley’s involvement, the Knights emerged with a collection they predict will
have fans lined up around their local Tower Records and Sam Goody locations, with the
first single “Pick Her Up” featuring Travis Tritt to get the action started.

A classic barnstormer featuring rollicking guitar solos and a freewheeling guest
appearance by ‘90s icon Travis Tritt, it’s a sound the band has dubbed “Hot Country
Knights 101.” “We wanted to introduce our fans to what actual, real country music is,”
Douglason explains. “None of that snap-track shit that’s out there now. So this is just
straight ahead, balls-to-the-wall slapping out that tempo.”

Other unforgettable moments include the modern-day drifter’s lament, “Asphalt,” a
touching ballad about the band’s curve-hugging motivation. As dedicated road warriors,
they’ve basically lived out of a van their entire existence – even when they weren’t
touring.

“The road calls and you answer,” says the Russian born Terry. “You go town to town, you
meet pretty lady, share boiled-rabbit soup, glass of wine, and then you must move on to
next town. It’s just the way it is.”

“It’s really well rounded,” Douglason says of the track’s ample emotional cushion. “It’s a
tender song, and my mom loves it.”

“We’re just keeping it ‘90s, the way it’s supposed to be,” says Travis, the band’s lead bass
player and sometimes co-lead singer.

After all this time, some may ask “Why now?” It comes down to something much more …
substance. According to the band, they couldn’t just sit back and watch Country let its
proud heritage droop and sag.

“See, we were out on the road singing a lot of other people’s hits, and we called
them Greatest Hits because by us singing them, it made them great,” Douglason
explains. “But this is a step beyond our Greatest Hits. This is all original material, and it’s
the best stuff to come out of Nashville since like, 1999. I’m excited for the fans to hear it.”
“And I’m excited for them to buy it,” Rayro adds.

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UMG NASHVILLE’S NEW YEAR’S LINERS (AUDIO)

Audio

“Hey everybody, it’s Brad Paisley, wishing you a Happy New Year.”

“Hey! This is TJ, and I’m John, and we are Brothers Osborne. Happy New Year.”

“Hey y’all, this is Bryce Leatherwood, and I’m wishing y’all a Happy New Year.”

“Happy New Year’s everybody. Bryce Leatherwood out.”

“Hi! I’m Carrie Underwood, wishing you a Happy New Year.”

“Hey y’all, this is Dalton Dover, wishing you a Happy New Year.”

“Hey y’all, this is Dalton Dover. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Happy New Year!”

“Hey y’all! What’s up? This is Darius Rucker, wishing you a Happy New Year!

“Hey, it’s Dierks Bentley. Happy New Year!”

“Hi, I’m Dierks Bentley, wishing you and yours a Happy New Year.”

“5-4-3-2-1…Happy New Year, everybody. I’m Eric Church.’”

“Hey! It’s Eric Church, hoping you have a Happy New Year.”

“Hi! I’m Jon Pardi, wishing you a Happy New Year!”

“Hey! I’m Jordan Davis, wishing you a Happy New Year!”

“Hey y’all, this is Josh Ross, wishing you a Happy New Year.”

“Hey y’all, this is Josh Ross. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Happy New Year.”

“Hey! I’m Josh Turner. Happy New Year!”

“Hey! It’s Kacey Musgraves, hoping you have a safe and Happy New Year!”

“Hey! It’s Kassi Ashton. I’d love to wish everyone a safe and Happy New Year.”

“Hey everyone! This is Keith Urban. Have a safe and happy New Year.”

“Hey! We’re Little Big Town. Happy New Year!”

“Hey! This is Luke Bryan, hoping you have a Happy New Year.”

“Hey y’all, it’s Luke Bryan. Hope you get to ring in the New Year with the ones you love.”

“Hi! We’re Maddie & Tae, wishing you a Happy New Year.”

“Hey! This is Mickey Guyton, wishing you a Happy New Year.”

“Hey everybody! I’m Parker McCollum, wishing you a Happy New Year.”

“Hey y’all, this is Priscilla Block, wishing you a very Happy New Year!”

“Hey everybody, this is Reba McEntire. Happy New Year!”

“Hey everybody! I’m Sam Hunt. Happy New Year!”

“Hi! This is Shania Twain. Happy New Year!”

“Hey everybody, we’re The War And Treaty. Hope you have a wonderful New Year.”

“The War And Treaty here. Happy New Year.”

“Hey what’s goin’ on it’s Tucker Wetmore. Happy New Year everybody!

UMG NASHVILLE’S NEW YEAR’S EVE CONTENT (AUDIO)

Audio

Brothers Osborne / Darius Rucker / Dierks Bentley / Eric Church / Josh Ross / Kacey Musgraves / Luke Bryan / Reba McEntire / Travis Denning / Tyler Hubbard

What are some of your favorite stars doing to welcome in the New Year? A few of them are working to help fans celebrate. Several artists have taken the time off around the holidays and will hit it hard when they return to the road in 2025. Some artists have resolutions, some artists look ahead to 2025 and some are very helpful with their own hangover cures for those who have a little too much fun on New Year’s Eve.

JOHN: “I think it’s kind of funny how we spend literally the last moment and the very first moment of every year being extremely intoxicated, extremely, because you don’t want to wait until like 12:30 to get your buzz on. You’ve got to do it before midnight, and then once midnight happens, you’re like, ‘Omigod! Now it’s time to celebrate even more.’ Debauchery is the literally bookending your entire year.” TJ: “I love how everyone starts the year off with diets and then we end the year with like excessive amounts of food. And then you get to the end of the year, you’re like, ‘Oh, I’m going to start a diet on the 1st, so I’m going to eat everything that’s in front of me.’ I love it.” JOHN: “And come February 1st, ‘what diet?’” [laughs] TJ: “What diet? I’ll start it next month.” [laughs]

John Osborne:
“Usually drinking more. I mean, a little hair of the dog never hurt anybody. Plus, it’s the first of the year.”

“These days New Year’s Eve unless I get a big gig, I don’t take it. And we don’t do anything for New Year’s Eve, we stay home. New Year’s Eve is for amateurs, we stay home, New Year’s Eve.”

Dierks Bentley (New Year’s) OC: …in stride. 1:11
“New Year’s is rough. New Year’s hurts no matter what’s going on. I’ve played a lot of New Year’s shows, you know, but I’ve honestly found that it’s not my favorite night to throw down. Look, for a living, that’s what I do. Every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night, I host a big party; not only on stage, but I’ve got friends backstage. It starts before the concert sometimes, [and] it goes long after the concert, so a lot of times on New Year’s, I’m looking for a really mellow hang – a good party, good friends, pretty chill. Some of my best New Year’s – it doesn’t make for great radio – but some of my best New Years have been just like actually hearing fireworks go off while I’m in bed, [laughs] and know I’m gonna wake up the next morning for the first day of the New Year feeling great, feeling recharged and I’m ready to go ad go into the New Year feeling good as opposed to going into it with a giant Jagerbomb hangover, which I’ve done many, many times. So, the goal this year is to go into it feeling pretty good and the kids help with that, because you really just don’t want to be hungover with children. It’s not a good feeling. You would probably admit to any crime to get them, just feel better, and get them leave you alone. So, [I’m] gonna try to hit New Year’s this year in stride.”

Dierks (NYE) OC: …for that. :10
“I think January first is universally accepted as a dog. So I mean, a little hair of the dog, I guess. But just…water and stay on the couch, I guess. There’s no real sure-fire cure for that.”

Eric Church (hangover cure) OC: …every time. :17
“The best hangover cure – I’ve got two. One is 5-hour Energy [bottles], because of all the B-vitamins that are in it. You can start pounding those, and it’s either gonna work, or it’s gonna keep you up and prolong your misery. But the other one I have is just take two Advil and a beer in the morning. Hair of the dog, man – that works every time.”

“My hangover cure is Bloody Mary’s. But be careful, because once you have a couple, don’t go to beer, because if you go to beer, you’re gonna start drinking again. And you end up a morning drunk. Or if you wanna go the non-alcoholic route, there’s nothing you can do for hangovers. You just gotta deal with it.”

“You know, obviously just the energy around it being a new year and new goals and it’s my refresh for the year, and, but it’ll I get to kind of start my refresh right at the very first moment of time, so I’m really looking forward to that.

“Best hangover cure—I think it’s depending on what I have to do that day or the next day. But yeah, there’s definitely two. There’s my old approach, which was the football approach when I played college football, was we used to have Sunday morning rundown and no matter how much fun you had on Saturday night, you had to be at the field at 8 or 9am and we used to have to jog around the track. Running or doing some type activity is one of the best cures. As I’ve gotten lazier, I would maybe say, sometimes just having water, having liquid IV or sometimes my grandma’s old trick of the hair of the dog is a real thing and kind of just help level you out for the day.”

“Coconut water is a major help with hangovers and also, a lot of times we go and eat Vietnamese pho. It’s a soup, and it’s got this awesome broth. You can get different things in it or whatever, but for some reason, it’s just like…it’s almost like a chicken noodle soup kind of an idea, you know, but it’s good. That’s good for hangovers too. That, sleep, Tylenol, coconut water and just water, in general. And when you’re drinking, have your alcohol, drink a little bit of water, drink some more alcohol, drink some water. Yup!”

My favorite day drink is typically a margarita with a nice reposado tequila. If I day drink tequila, I will have a day nap, always. You have a day nap anyway. I do. You do. That’s how I stay so young. That’s right. It’s good for my complexion.

I don’t, I’m sorry. What is your day drink? I grew up napping. He’s a napper. Kimberly’s day drink would be a… Cuban. Or a pineapple mojito. Oh, that sounds nice. Sure. Can you make me one? My day drink would probably be a glass of… White wine. Yeah. And then I like to go shopping…not a good combination. It is for her. Your credit limit is higher if you’re drinking while you shop. It’s like gambling and shopping. I mean, gambling and drinking. I like beach drinks, like bitter, legitimately beachy drinks. Rum runner. Yes, rum drinks are good. I like my mai tais. It kind of sounds like you take a nap and you drink.

You know, beachy drinks. Fru-Fru drinks. What is that? Nobody said Fru-Fru. You said Fru-Fru. Yeah, OK. I was just thinking. OK, I like Fru-Fru drinks. He does. During the day. Mai tai, that’s a good day drink for me. That’s good.

“My best New Year’s Eve is definitely when my wife and I started back dating. We started back dating right before Christmas and we went on a trip down to Florida and met some friends. And her birthday is New Year’s Eve. We celebrated it that night and it was just a great night.”

Tyler Hubbard (New Year’s memory) OC: …comes to mind. :24
“Well, this is probably a classic answer, but we did play New Year’s in New York and watched the ball drop and it was a big, special moment, one of those kind of check it off the bucket list type of moments, and we did that. And it is incredible. The energy’s amazing, and it’s super cold, but we had a great time. When I think of epic New Year’s, that’s definitely, it’s probably the first memory that comes to mind.”

Tucker Wetmore’s New Year Resolution:
“Yeah, I haven’t really thought of any New Year’s resolutions for 2025. Um, probably cause my whole next year is already planned out, in the books and stamped and all I gotta do is show up. And yeah, I guess being happy would be my, my resolution for sure.”

UMG NASHVILLE’S “A COUNTRY CHRISTMAS” RADIO SPECIAL

Audio

With hosts such as Reba McEntire, Little Big Town, Jordan Davis, and Carrie Underwood, you will have 8 hours of a star-studded holiday playlist with A Country Christmas. Click HERE to download.

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