• FATHER’S DAY 2021

    Father’s Day is Sunday (June 20th), and we have audio with many of your favorite country stars! Download the soundbites below.

     

    For 2021 Father’s Day liners, click here.

     

    Audio / Adam Hambrick explains what he most admires about his father.

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    Adam Hambrick (Father’s Day-Dad) OC: …about my dad. :45“When I was a kid, my dad always included me on what he was doing. I feel like I learned a lot from watching go about life and watching him treat people well and with kindness. My dad is a pastor and I watched, my whole growing up, I just watched him serve other people, like put other people’s needs in front of himself and show up in the hospital when Sister Jeanette had surgery or whatever that thing was like any given day, it could be anything. I watched him tile floors in a new Sunday School building. I watched him do literally everything for a ton of different people in a really selfless way. That’s one of the things I admire most about my dad.”

    Audio / Brandon Lay is a father of two – Ryder and Lara June – and it was a bit of transition from one to two kids.

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    Brandon Lay (father of two) OC: …embrace. :26
    “Oh man! Now that I’m a father of two, it’s really it goes from more than just keeping one little guy alive and still having more me and Nicole time to wow, I’m actually a father. We’ve got a party of four now, not that I wasn’t before a father, but you know what I mean. I’m reaching real dad status. It’s a weird feeling, but it’s one I embrace.”

    Audio / BROTHERS OSBORNE GREW UP IN A MUSICAL FAMILY – BOTH THEIR PARENTS WROTE AND PERFORMED MUSIC. THEIR FATHER LISTENED TO A BUNCH OF DIFFERENT ARTISTS WHICH GAVE THEM THEIR OWN FOUNDATION.

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    Brothers Osborne (Dad’s music) OC: (John) …anything else. :34
    “Our dad listened to everything from Hank Williams to Willie Nelson to even pop music like Mariah Carey and Tom Petty to Bob Seger. You name it and he listened to it, so we really didn’t think about specific genres. We really just kind of soaked it all in, so we listened to it all at one time. It was just music to us. Th ere wasn’t a day in our house without the radio on or there wasn’t a weekend at our house that there wasn’t a party and people had their guitars out, so music to us is like eating and breathing. It’s just as essential as anything else.”

    Audio / Carrie Underwood talks about her own father and her husband Mike Fisher, who's a father to two young boys.

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    Carrie Underwood (Father’s Day) OC: …guy all around. 1:18
    “Well, I am very lucky in my life to have two incredible fathers – my own father and then I get to watch my husband be a father to our boys – strong, amazing men, I am very lucky to be around them. Mike as a dad is just super involved in our boys’ lives, very hands on. It takes a team, definitely, to be able to support my crazy life and Mike’s always running around doing a lot of charity things and he’s always meeting with people and he’s on different boards and stuff like that, so we’re very much switching off duties as far as taking boys here and there to school and  sports and to all the extra-curricular activities. I just love that I feel like we’re such a great team. I love it that he gets to now work with Isaiah on sports and things like that, and I know he loves it too. So, I think that’s one of my favorite qualities about Mike is just how hands on of a father he is and very willing to pick up the slack when I’m crazy busy. Obviously, he’s just a very Godly father, as well. He keeps God as the center of our family and gets to teach our boys all about that, as well. So, he’s just a great guy all around.”

    Audio / Caylee Hammack says her father is a good man.

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    Caylee Hammack (Dad) OC: …forget that. 1:19
    “My dad has this really unnerving ability to be able to build anything at all just by thinking of it. He can look at something and build it in his mind and build it by hand, and it always works. I’ve always respected him for that. He’s a very hard worker.  He’s worked every day of his life. He’s also kind, even when he doesn’t have to be. He’s the type of guy who always gives money at the light to whoever it is on the street. One of my favorite moments with my dad was when we were driving to Macon, Georgia. I was playing a show that night, and we were driving up and we saw this dog and I could tell she was a mama dog. I could tell she had babies somewhere that she was trying to nurse, and she was so skinny. And I’m a bleeding heart. I get it from my Mama, and I just start crying, and I’m like, ‘That poor dog. She’s starving trying to feed her babies.’ I thought, ‘Poor dog.” And my dad doesn’t say anything, goes up two more blocks and pulls into the McDonalds. And he goes through and he asks me if I wanted anything, and I say no. I just think he’s hungry. He goes and he buys three or four burgers, and then he goes back to that block and he drives around until we find that dog to feed it to ‘em. I just remember looking at him, being like this is what a man is; this is what a good man does, and I’ll never forget that.”

    Audio / Darius Rucker says his kids would say he was a fun dad, unless they did something wrong.

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    Darius Rucker (Father’s Day) OC: …loving dad. :41
    “I think if you asked my kids what kind of Dad I was they would probably say…Dani would say that I was a fun Dad. My little daughter would say that I was a fun dad; she thinks I’m a lot of fun. I think if you caught them at the right moment they would say I was mean [laughs] because when I’m home I’m not afraid to discipline them. I’m all fun until it’s not fun anymore and then daddy’s not the fun guy. I think that they’d say that I was a fun Dad, I’m a loving Dad and I think they would say that. I’m gone so much that when I’m home, I just shower love upon my kids. I say ‘I love you’ probably fifty times a day. We hug, we kiss all the time. I’m always wanting them to know how much I love them. So I’d hope they’d say that I was a loving dad.”

    Audio / Darius Rucker says his mother made him a good father to his three children.

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    Darius Rucker (mother’s qualities makes him a great father) OC: …my mom. :45
    “She had a lot great qualities, but she was always, family was first for her. She was always a rock and making sure she took care of us and making sure we had things we needed to have to survive – food and clothes and a home – and seeing that and seeing how hard she worked and all the things she did just really made me the father that I am today. I mean, I’m so crazy and hands-on with my kids. I think it all comes from watching my mom have to struggle so much to support us. And so now, I don’t want me or my wife to ever have to struggle, and I don’t want my kids to ever want or wonder where I am or where there mom is. I want them to always know where we are and always be taken care of, and that all comes from my mom.”

    Audio / Dierks Bentley enjoys being both dad – to daughters Evie and Jordan and son Knox – and country music performer.

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    Dierks Bentley (dad & performer) OC: …to do both. :28
    “When I get home, it’s a totally different reality that I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world. Just hanging with my girls and doing the things we do and seeing life through their eyes, it’s incredible. It takes a man to do it. It’s not a boys’ game. It takes a man to do it. I love the juxtaposition to be able to be that man and to also go on the road and act like I’m 13 years old and play video games all afternoon waiting for the fans to show up. So, it’s really a blessing to be able to do both.”

    Audio / Dierks Bentley, the father of three, is very grateful to his own dad for turning him on to country music as a kid.

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    Dierks (Father’s Day) OC: …that’s for sure. :10
    “My dad was my biggest influence in country music because my dad loved country radio. So, we always drove around listening to country radio and George Strait, Hank Williams and Randy Travis and all these guys, so. Without him, I wouldn’t be doing this, that’s for sure.”

    Audio / Eric Church describes his father and the qualities he admires in him.

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    Eric Church (Father’s Day) OC: …always admired. :29
    “My dad is a, I’m trying to find the right words to describe him. My dad is a great guy, honest guy, very call it like he sees it, which is where I get a lot of that. No BS. I’m gonna tell you how I feel whether you like it or not. I’m that guy, I’m me…My dad’s that way, so I get a lot of that from him. There’s also an honesty and an integrity that my dad carries himself with that I’ve always admired.”

    Audio / ERIC CHURCH ADMIRES HIS FATHER, AND WILL PASS ALONG SOME OF THOSE QUALITIES HE’S LEARNED TO HIS OWN CHILDREN, SONS BOONE AND HAWK.

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    Eric Church (his father’s influence) OC: …same thing. :32
    “My daddy’s always preached, and it’s something that rung true, he’s always preached authenticity. He’s always preached being honest and being true. My daddy’s from a small town, you know it’s a blue collar town, and he’s just always been pretty even-keeled; never too high and never too low. He’s always been honest and authentic. I think it’s a good template. It has been for me thus far, especially with this industry, ‘cause it’s really easy to get high and low. So, I think just keeping everything in perspective and trying to be real, and I think people can sense that, and I certainly will tell my kids the same thing.”

    Audio / Jon Langston looks up to his father and hopes to become just like him.

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    Jon Langston (Father’s Day) OC: …just fine. :16
    “My Dad has been my hero all my life. He’s the man I want to be one day when I grow up. I’m thankful for all he’s done for me and the sacrifices he’s made for our family. If I’m half the man he is one day, I’ll be just fine.”

    Audio / JORDAN DAVIS SAYS HE LOVES GETTING HIS DAUGHTER UP IN THE MORNINGS.

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    Jordan Davis (fatherhood 2020) OC: …here myself. :46
    “Fatherhood is something, it really is tough to put into words, but one of my favorite things to do is to go in and get Eloise up in the mornings, and I just see this little bundle of joy. She is just so happy. She’s got a smile just like Kristen, and so it really is just crazy to go in in the morning. She could be crying, screaming and then you walk in, and the second she sees you, it’s all smiles and laughs. I don’t know. I think the coolest thing with a kid like her age is just the innocence. You see just how happy she is to be here, and I’m very happy she’s here myself.”

    Audio / JORDAN DAVIS TALKS ABOUT HIS FAVORITE QUALITIES OF HIS DAD.

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    Jordan Davis (Father’s Day) OC: …my music. :45
    “The thing I love most about my Dad is just his overall love of life. He’s a guy that’s worked hard and is now at a point where he can enjoy it, and he’s living every day to the fullest. That’s something that I’m very thankful that I’ve seen my Dad do and something to learn from. So, that’s probably my favorite quality about the old man, and just the hard work too. My dad ran a furniture business in Shreveport for a long time with his Dad. It was great to grow up and see a guy work hard and helped his Dad build a business from the ground up to a very successful business, and that’s something that I even try to carry over into my music.”

    Audio / JORDAN DAVIS TALKS ABOUT HOW HIS LIFE HAS CHANGED SINCE HE'S BECOME A FATHER.

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    Jordan Davis (fatherhood and impending fatherhood) OC: …ever happened to me. :30
    “I’m very blessed to have Eloise and to have another baby coming in September. It’s tough to put into words the change of becoming a dad. It really is an instant change in just your outlook on everything. I think it’s been amazing for me just to come home and see Eloise be so excited. It puts a lot of things into perspective. I think it’s helped with my music. It’s helped with every aspect of my life. Becoming a dad, it’s the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me.”

    Audio / PROUD DAD OF FOUR (HAMPTON, COLBY, MARION, HAWKE), JOSH TURNER TALKS ABOUT HOW HIS THREE OLDEST SONS ARE LEARNING THE FAMILY TRADE.

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    Josh Turner (Father’s Day) OC: …one of ‘em.  1:05
    “As far as talent and potential, my oldest three, especially, they could do anything they wanted to do if they put their mind to it and their heart was there. My oldest [Hampton] is incredible at playing mandolin. Colby, we kind of noticed him turn the corner lately with the fiddle, and Marion is actually playing a ukulele that’s tuned like the top four strings on a guitar, so in essence, he’s learning how to play guitar. They’ve just kind of started incorporating some singing into some playing, so they’re starting the whole singing and playing at the same time kind of thing, and not only that, they’re even learning to play songs together on their individual instruments. So, it’s amazing to see how much they can learn in such a short amount of time. It makes me realize how much I missed out on when I was that age, ‘cause I did take some music lessons growing up and everything, but I think they feed off of each other honestly. I think that’s why they’re getting so good is because they’re all doing it, not just one of ‘em.”

    Audio / Keith Urban – father to daughters Sunday and Faith -- says there are a number of things that are at the top of the list of being a dad.

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    Keith Urban (Father’s Day) OC: …experience that. :36
    “The first thing is probably just having someone call you dad. I’m like, ‘Omigosh! I’m her dad! That’s amazing.’ That’s probably the first thing to me. I don’t know, I mean, the different personalities that our two daughters have, that’s amazing. It’s such a long list I think. I always say…I think for the people that haven’t had kids – which I hadn’t for a long, long time. I didn’t have kids ‘til later on, and being around it is not the same as having them, you know? I realize that it’s not something that can be explained until you actually sort of have it, so I’m glad I got to experience that.”

    Audio / Kip Moore talks about his late father’s influence on his music career, and how he’d play classics on their fishing trips.

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    Kip Moore (Father’s Day-dad’s influence) OC: …of us singin’ ‘em. :29
    “He would just play all those classic records – Little River Band, Jackson Brown, Springsteen, Seger, Willie Nelson, the Red-Headed Stranger, Kristofferson, Sam Cook – like classic music. He’d be singing the songs and telling us why it was such good music. And I looked up to him so much, that’s the music I gravitated towards and that’s what I continue to listen to. Whenever I think about those old fishing trips, that’s what I think about is on the way down there, him singing those songs and all of us singin’ ‘em.”

    Audio / Lauren Alaina enjoys Father's Day so she can celebrate, along with her brother, how much he means to her.

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    Lauren Alaina (Father’s Day best friend) OC: …my brother and I. :29
    “My dad is one of my best buds. I absolutely adore him. He is hilarious, and every bit of my personality came from my father directly. (laughs) He is awesome and I’m lucky to be his daughter, and I’m thankful for Father’s Day so that I can celebrate him and show him how much he means to my brother and I.”

    Audio / Luke Bryan talks about the life lessons his father taught him.

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    Luke Bryan (Father’s Day-life lessons) OC: …live by that. :46
    “Well, my dad was, I always just go back to the life lessons that always started either in a fishing boat or hunting somewhere, and that’s why I’ve always kind of been a champion of those types of behaviors certainly with your boys and your children because you get to spend time and hand down values. My dad was always big on just hard work and being good to people and a handshake is the contract. A handshake is your bond, your word. His famous saying always was, ‘Do something right the first time and you won’t have to go back and do it over again.’ I won’t say I batted a thousand perfectly on that, but I’ve kind of tried to live by that.”

    Audio / MADDIE MARLOW TALKS ABOUT HER FATHER’S FAVORITE GIFT SHE’S EVER GIVEN HIM FOR FATHER’S DAY.

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    Maddie & Tae (Father’s Day) OC: …for Father’s Day. :26
    “So, for Father’s Day, I made my Dad – I think it was right before I moved to Nashville – I made my Dad this little photo book where it had like his quotes that have stuck with me my whole life and then some pictures, and it was really funky. It looks horrible. It’s not put together, but that’s one of his favorite gifts that he’s ever gotten, and I cherish that ugly photo book thing that I made for him for Father’s Day.”

    Audio / Travis Denning says his father is his best friend.

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    Travis Denning (Father’s Day) OC: …for sure. :43
    “My dad – I call him ‘Diamond Dave’ and a lot of other people do too. Honestly, I don’t know if I drink more with anybody else more than my Dad. I think a super cool thing now is getting older and knowing that I’m starting to get more and more sustained as a human that it’s like my parents get to be friends now with me and my sister, which is such a cool thing. And so, yeah, me and my Dad – we love music and we love heavy metal and we love all that. We get to go to concerts and football games and drink beer and just enjoy that cool part of a father and a son and a mother and a son where now we get to be friends and it’s really cool. My Dad is my best friend, for sure.”

    Audio / Vince Gill talks about the qualities he hopes for his children.

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    Vince Gill (Father’s Day) OC: …feels like. :33
    “Kindness-hopefully make them kind and that’s all we got. Five great kids, a couple of grandkids. Those grandkids are the complete light of my life. You know, they just show up and the rest of the world can kiss my you-know-what. (laughs)  I say, ‘We’re just gonna go swing in the backyard; we’re gonna wrestle on the bed; we’re gonna eat those Goldfish (crackers), you know? And nothing else kind of seems to matter. And then I think what I love seeing, more than anything, for my kid to finally understand what it means to love, and it’s awesome to see my kid finally get it what that unconditional love really looks like and feels like.”

     

  • CAYLEE HAMMACK WILL BE FEATURED IN A NEW VERSION OF THE GAME THE SIMS.

    Caylee Hammack is thrilled her song, “Small Town Hyprocrite,” will be featured in a new Game Pack version of The Sims game titled Dream Home Decorator, because she has played the game since her childhood. She went so far as to re-record her song in The Sims language, Simlish. Check out the behind-the-scenes of her recording the song below.

    https://twitter.com/Cayleehammack/status/1397288471786569730

    The new installment of the life simulation video game by EA (Electronic Arts)  will launch June 1st.

  • CAYLEE HAMMACK INSPIRED SONG ON ALAN JACKSON’S NEW ALBUM, WHERE HAVE YOU GONE.

    Caylee Hammack is on cloud nine after receiving the news that country superstar Alan Jackson wrote a song based on a letter she sent to him thanking him for recording a duet with her on a cover of the Don Williams’ classic “Lord I Hope This Day Is Good.” In the letter, she said for a man that never cries, her daddy was crying happy tears after listening to her daughter and the iconic Alan Jackson sing together.

    His team didn’t really know that he wrote it about that until he was talking about the songs on the record. “The truth be known, the hook came from a young artist that’s on my label, a girl named Caylee Hammack,” says Alan. “She wanted to record this old Don Williams song, ‘Lord I Hope This Day Is Good.’ And I love that song and I love Don anything. And so, I agreed to sing it with her and it’s her record…and she’s a great singer. She sounded beautiful on it. And after we had recorded it she sent me a nice gift or two and a letter and the letter was – she’s from Georgia, like I am from somewhere up north of Atlanta – that she had taken the rough track we had sent her and played it for her daddy who is probably my age. But he was a big fan of mine and this was in the letter that she played it for him and he…yeah, I guess he teared up about it and she just thought it was really something from a man who never cries. And I thought I need to write that.”

    Caylee’s team just sent over the song and said they wanted her reaction caught on camera. Little did she know the song was based on her father. “I listened to the song, and I just fell in love with the song and it made me think of my dad. Well, I’m already excited to listen to a (new) Alan Jackson song but I don’t know why I’ve gotten the chance to,” says Caylee. “I called the team and I tell them it reminds me of my dad, but why did he send it? They explain to me that this was inspired by a letter that I had written Alan Jackson and a line specifically about my dad, a man that never cries but crying happy tears when he heard our version of ‘Lord I Hope This Day is Good.’ It just blew me away to be completely honestly. I didn’t even know to wish for this, but still it’s just a dream come true. I’m so grateful to Alan Jackson, Mr. Jackson, I don’t know what I should call him just yet, but I am so very grateful. He made my dad’s day, once again.”

    https://twitter.com/Cayleehammack/status/1393023034915700736

    Caylee will also have a chance to thank Alan in person when she performs during his concert Where I Come From: Tornado Benefit show for relief efforts in Newnan, Georgia June 26th.

    Alan just released Where Have You Gone, his first album in six years, last Friday (May 14th).


    Audio / Alan Jackson explains how he came up with the song, “A Man Who Never Cries.”

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    Alan Jackson (A Man Who Never Cries) OC: …probably is me. 1:20
    “The truth be known, the hook came from a young artist that’s on my label. A girl named Caylee Hammack. And back when the virus thing was rampant, worse and everybody was so bummed out, she or somebody. I don’t know if it was she or anyway came to me that she wanted to record this old Don Williams song, ‘Lord I Hope This Day Is Good.’ And I love that song and I love Don anything. And so I agreed to sing it with her and it’s her record. But and she’s a great singer. She sounded beautiful on it. And after we had recorded it she sent me a nice gift or two and a letter and the letter was – she’s from Georgia like I am from somewhere up north of Atlanta – that she had taken the rough track we had sent her and played it for her daddy who is probably my age. But he was a big fan of mine and this was in the letter that she played it for him and he…yeah, I guess he teared up about it and she just thought it was really something from a man who never cries. And I thought I need to write that. And so, I did take that title and I did most of the rest of the lyrics that you’re talking about probably is me.”

    Audio / Caylee Hammack talks about Alan Jackson writing “A Man Who Never Cries” from his new album, Where Have You Gone, in response to a thank you letter she sent to him after he recorded a duet with her on a cover of Don Williams’ “Lord I Hope This Day Is Good.”

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    Caylee Hammack (reaction to AJ song) OC: …once again. 1:02
    “So, my team had sent over a song and they said I needed to blind react to it. So, I set up the camera, I listened to the song, and I just fell in love with the song and it made me think of my dad. Well, I’m already excited to listen to a (new) Alan Jackson song but I don’t know why I’ve gotten the chance to. I called the team and I tell them it reminds me of my dad, but why did he send it? They explain to me that this was inspired by a letter that I had written Alan Jackson and a line specifically about my dad, a man that never cries but crying happy tears when he heard our version of ‘Lord I Hope This Day is Good.’ It just blew me away to be completely honestly. I didn’t even know to wish for this, but still it’s just a dream come true. I’m so grateful to Alan Jackson, Mr. Jackson, I don’t know what I should call him just yet, but I am so very grateful. He made my dad’s day, once again.”

  • MOTHER’S DAY 2021 AUDIO

    Mother’s Day is on Sunday, May 9th, and some of your favorite country artists are celebrating the mothers in their lives this weekend.

    NOTE: In 1914, Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation designating Mother’s Day, held on the second Sunday in May, as a national holiday to honor mothers.

    Audio / Alan Jackson lost his sweet Mama a few years ago, and he wrote a song for her funeral, “Where Her Heart Has Always Been,” which is now included on his new album Where Have You Gone (out May 14th).

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    Alan Jackson (song for mother)…really, really sweet. :51
    “I think one song on there, especially I wrote my mama died three or four years ago, four years ago maybe.  I don’t remember now. But I wrote it for her funeral, that’s “Where Her Heart Has Always Been.”  And I really love that track.  It’s just really – I tried to write it in a way that I know she would appreciate it. And then after we had cut it and we were just about to finalize the record, my sister sent a recording of mama reading from the Bible for a Christmas story or something from a few years ago that I hadn’t heard, or I don’t remember if I had ever heard it.  And I thought that would be cool to put that on there.  So, we tried to pick a little piece of that that didn’t sound so Christmasy and put on there on the front end and that made it really, really sweet.”

    Audio / Brandon Lay says he probably gets his work ethic from his mother.

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    Brandon Lay (Mother’s Day) OC: …comes from her. :2
    “She works harder than anybody I’ve ever seen. She can outwork most 20-year-olds in the yard still. She grew up on a farm, and I think a lot of that just bulldog it and get it done attitude, I probably get from her. She’ll go from sunup to sundown, and she doesn’t complain, and that’s just so rare. I feel like the work ethic, as far as grind it out and get it done, that toughness comes from her.”

    Audio / Carrie Underwood talks about now being a mother to two boys.

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    Carrie Underwood (having 2 boys) OC: …little brother. :49
    “It’s kind of crazy to think, sometimes I’ll literally look at my husband and be like, ‘We have two sons. We have two kids. We live on a farm.’ Like it’s just weird to think how life turns out sometimes. Life is very different with two. We kind of got out of that baby stage with Isaiah. He’s much more self-efficient, and he can brush his own teeth and put his own clothes on, and he’s making decisions for himself, and then we start all over with the little squishy one again. It’s just kind of crazy. You forget how hard it is, to be honest, but you just figure your way through it. I am so blessed to have Isaiah who is super helpful and super sweet, and he loves his little brother.”

    Audio / Carrie Underwood says she doesn’t really have any Mother’s Day traditions.

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    Carrie Underwood (Mother’s Day traditions) OC: …even more so. :38
    “We don’t really have like any Mother’s Day traditions. I feel like I remember me and Dad making breakfast for Mom like once as a kid. I’m pretty sure we just made a giant mess in the kitchen and we never did that again, so. Being on the other side of things, I obviously don’t expect anything, but my husband’s really good at getting presents from quote unquote Isaiah. It’s really sweet, because he likes to bring me things. He’s such a sweet little guy, and anytime he’s outside, he’ll pick me flowers and things. So, I’m like, ‘You’re learning. You’ve already got me wrapped around your finger, and then you do stuff like that, and it’s even more so.’”

    Audio / Caylee Hammack describes the qualities she most admires in her mother.

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    Caylee Hammack (Mother’s Day) 1 OC: …love fully. :53
    “I love that my Mom is a no-nonsense woman. I love that she always speaks her mind and she’s super stubborn, because she handed it down to me and it’s come in handy, to be honest. She’s a great cook. I wish I was half the cook that she is. She’s obsessive about Tupperware and plates, which I used to hate, but now as an adult whenever I break a dish or something, I just call her, and I know that I have one on standby. I love that she loves random things so that I can squirrel them away and take them to Nashville sometimes. And I love that she loves big. She either gives all of her heart or nothing at all; she always gives all of her heart. She loves, you know, she has a bleeding heart, and I think that’s just one of the most beautiful traits in the world is to love fully.”

    Audio / Darius Rucker talks about not disappointing his beloved mother, who passed away several years ago.

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    Darius Rucker (Mother’s Day) OC: …killed me. :17

    “I think that’s the main reason I am how I am…an innate fear of disappointing my mom.  My mom’s not even alive, and I have a fear of her looking down from heaven and going, ‘Man I’m just disappointed in my son.’ She could have said anything in the world to me, but if she would have said, ‘Son, you just disappointed me,’ That would have killed me. It would have killed me.”

    Audio / Darius Rucker recalls one of his favorite memories of his mother.

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    Darius Rucker (favorite memory of his mother) OC: …my Mom’s song. :34
    “Oh goodness! A lot of great memories of her, but probably one of my favorite memories, I was a young kid, probably eight or nine, and she was in the kitchen cooking and listening to the gospel station and Shirley Caesar’s ‘No Charge’ came on and she was singing ‘No Charge.’ I just remember I ran into our living room which was adjoined to our kitchen and I just sat there and I just listened to her sing that song, and I remember thinking, ‘Wow! What an amazing voice.’ That’s just always a memory I’ve always had, and that song still to this day when I hear it just moves me because that was my mom’s song.”

    Audio / DARIUS RUCKER’S MOTHER, WHO PASSED AWAY IN 1992, WAS ALWAYS THE SINGER’S BIGGEST SUPPORTER.

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    Darius Rucker (Mother) OC: …in my corner. :44
    “My mom was just always great. She worked a lot. She was a nurse and she worked a lot. She took a lot of overtime and stuff to make sure we could live basically, but she always just so supportive, ever since I was a kid. I was always a music kid. Growing up in an African-American neighborhood, I was never that guy who was gonna be pigeonholed to let people say I could only listen to this and I could only do this, because I was African-American. She always supported whatever I wanted to do, whatever I wanted to listen to, wherever I wanted to go, she always had my back. Going to college and everything, she was my biggest supporter and never let my brothers and sisters knock me down or try to tell me I can’t do this or that. All of my success comes because my mother was always in my corner.”

    Audio / DIERKS BENTLEY RECOGNIZES AND APPRECIATES HOW MUCH WORK GOES INTO BEING A MOTHER.

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    Dierks Bentley (Mother’s Day – Cassidy) OC: …to have her. :
    “It’s the toughest job out there being a mom, and I know from my life with my wife Cassidy. We work as a team together when I’m home, and it takes everyone to get the job done, me and her, working together. So, when I go on the road, I just have so much respect for her because it’s hard to do it right, if you want to do it great, and she does a great job with it. It’s really rewarding, but it’s also very challenging. I’m so thankful that she takes it on the way she does, and our kids are very lucky to have her.”

    Audio / Eric Church says he’s learned quite a bit from his mom.

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    Eric Church (Mother’s Day) OC: …as a man. :57
    “My mom, even though my dad won’t like this, my mom is by far the toughest person that I’ve met. She’s tough. One of those people that’s been through a lot in her life, adversity wise and never complains, always really resilient with anything that’s happened to her. And it’s just that attitude, the positive attitude, regardless of what has happened that I think is the one thing that I got from her. With career, she’s always been a person that’s been really positive through times that I couldn’t find a positive streak, [laughs] and she was always really positive, and very much believes in tough it out, keep working hard, and that’s her motto with stuff like that. I’ve always been impressed with that stuff. Then musically, she’s where I get my talent from, musically. She sings great, always has, her mom sang great. I owe my musical chops to her. And she still sings some. So, career-wise, I owe her everything. And just in life-wise she’s given me a lot of the qualities that it has taken for me to get me where I am. Not only as a musician, but as a man.”

    Audio / Jon Pardi says his mother, Shelly, is an angel.

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    Jon Pardi (Mother’s Day) OC: …worrying about me. :29
    “My mom’s always been there for me. First of all, she’s a great mom. She’s an angel. She takes care of people that aren’t even in the family. She’s always been like that, and she’s a great mother. She’s always proud, and she’s always there supporting and being a great mom. She’s just a good human being. There’s not one mean bone in her body. And she cries about every time I talk to her. She always worries about me. I have to tell her, ‘Stop worrying about me.’”

    Audio / JORDAN DAVIS SAYS HE’S A “MAMA’S BOY” AND HOPES HE HAS HER KINDNESS AND POSITIVE OUTLOOK.

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    Jordan Davis (Mother’s Day) OC: …Mother’s Day. :30 [laughs]
    “I’m a Mama’s Boy. I love my Mom, and it’s the way she finds the good in everything. With my Mom, as opposed to finding anything negative, she’s gonna find something positive first. That’s something I really hope I can be more like her on; one of the many things I wish I could be more like my mom on. My mom, she loves flowers, so we’ll get her flowers or take her to, we’re slowly getting her into sushi, so we love to take Mom out to sushi spots on Mother’s Day.” [laughs]

    Audio / Kacey Musgraves comes from a very creative family, and here she talks about the women in her immediate family and their talents.

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    Kacey Musgraves (creative women) OC: …taking pictures. :16
    “My mom’s an artist – all different kinds of mediums, paint, but she’s always working on something different. My Meemaw, she’s a soap maker. She makes soap and they’re beautiful and they smell really good and they’re all natural. My sister has an etsy store, and she’s constantly creating something, sewing pillows and taking pictures.”

    Audio / Keith Urban explains why his wife Nicole Kidman is an extraordinary mother to their two children, Sunday and Faith.

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    Keith Urban (Nicole is extraordinary mother) OC: …to see. :45
    “She’s an extraordinary mum, she really, really is. Those girls are very, very lucky, and I feel very lucky that the children I should have in this world happen to be with Nic. I don’t know anything about raising kids and Nic does, and that comes in extremely, um, it’s really made for an experience I wouldn’t have had without that. Her patience, her recognizing them as people and not just little kids is really extraordinary. Her attention to honoring their feelings and listening to them right from day one – really being attentive to that is not how I was raised at all, so it’s really beautiful to see.”

    Audio / Lauren Alaina says she can count on her mom for just about everything.

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    Lauren Alaina (Mom keeps her grounded) OC: …same for her. :19
    “I honestly would not be able to do it without my mom. I get overwhelmed sometimes, and if she wasn’t there to comfort me or tell me, ‘Look just realize what you’ve got going for you,’ I’d be up the creek [without a paddle]. She’s got my back. My mom would walk through a fire pit for me, and I’d do the same for her.”

    Audio / Little Big Town’s Kimberly Schlapman says she always dreamed of being a mother…and her dream came true nearly 13 years ago when she gave birth to daughter, Daisy (July 27, 2007). In 2017, she and her family welcomed daughter Dolly Grace.

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    LBT (Mother’s Day) OC: …for my mother. :34
    “Being a mother is a life-long dream for me. When I was a kid, that’s what I wanted to be is a mama. It took a long time. I wasn’t ever sure that I would be, but I am now, and it’s the greatest gift of my life. And as I’m a mother now, I see what my mother gave up and her sacrifices and her love and how she made us the most important thing in her life, and that’s what I strive to do for my little girl. It’s the most important job I have, and it’s the most responsibility that I have, and I try to live up to a great example that I had for my mother.”

    Audio / MADDIE & TAE’S TAE DYE SAID SHE PULLED OFF A GREAT MOTHER’S DAY SURPRISE A FEW YEARS AGO.

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    Maddie & Tae (Mother’s Day-Tae) OC: …was so fun. :25
    TAE: “To this day one of the best surprises I’ve ever pulled off was on Mother’s Day three years ago. ‘Cause my mom’s birthday always tends to fall on Mother’s Day Weekend – it’s coming up – and my mom and dad were coming into Nashville and I was like, ‘Okay-this has got to be a big weekend. It’s Mother’s Day, her birthday and the weather was going to be beautiful, so I planned this awesome surprise where we would drive first – she wouldn’t know where we were going, and then we ended up going canoeing down the Harpeth River [located south of Nashville], and it was so fun.”

    Audio / Maddie & Tae’s Maddie Marlow says her mother is great at balancing life and that a hug from her mother can fix almost anything.

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    Maddie & Tae (Mother’s Day-Maddie) OC: (Maddie) …everything’s okay. :51
    MADDIE: “She is so good at balancing is what I’m trying to say. My Mom is such a great balancer, but as I’m coming into our adulthood, and all that kind of stuff, she’s very conscious about when I’m trying to be perfect and have everything in order with everything. And she’s like, you can’t. You can’t do that. Life, you have to figure out how you’re going to deal with the curveballs that are thrown out you. Are you going to catch them and whine out about it or are you going to catch them and move on? Like you have to just go with what’s thrown at you. And my Dad’s been a really, really good supporter on just not letting life’s trials bring you down and letting them just be learning tools and all of that. But, most of the time, a Mama hug can really fix anything.” TAE: “Ahh…it’s the best.” MADDIE: “If my Mom hugs me while I’m crying, everything’s okay. There’s just something about it. I’m grown, but, my Mom, if she hugs me, everything’s okay.”

    Audio / Parker McCollum says he hopes he got some of his mother's qualities.

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    Parker McCollum (Mother’s Day) OC: …those from her. :20
    “I mean, she’s just a fantastic woman who went above and beyond for us as kids to always make sure, probably even when we weren’t able to have things, she still made those happen. Everybody says I look like her. She’s just an incredibly caring and very, very sincere person, so I would hope I got those from her.”

    Audio / Sam Hunt says he's lucky and blessed to have his mother.

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    Sam Hunt (Mother’s Day) OC: …with my mom. 1:10
    “I knew I had a great mother, and I was blessed and lucky to be born into my family, but until I got out into the real world, I didn’t realize how unique and rare and how much I really hit the lottery with her. She’s raised in the South, and she is all the things that a lot of Southern women are, the good things, but selfless is the word that comes to mind right off the bat. Her life has been devoted to me, my brothers and our family for as long as I can remember her. So, her life revolved around us and that was something that the love that she showed us through those sacrifices has been, I know, a huge part of my ability to go out into the world and cope with all the things that come my way. I’m standing on firm ground, I know, because I grew up in a loving household and that started with my mom.”

    Audio / Shania Twain says it’s such a joy to be a parent.

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    Shania Twain (joy to be a parent) OC: …means everything. :14
    “It’s such a joy to be a parent. So, I relate to all the mums out there who are getting all their love and appreciation from their kids, and I hope, when you’re a kid, a child of somebody, show your mum you love her, because it means everything.”

    Audio / TRAVIS DENNING TALKS ABOUT WHAT HE AND HIS MOM HAVE IN COMMON.

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    Travis Denning (Mother’s Day) OC: …like crazy. :29
    “You know, my favorite thing about my mom, especially as I get older, is realizing how much me and her have in common. I just love that she’s passionate about music. She loves it. I mean, she’s turned me on to a lot of artists, but at the core like she’s still Mom. She reminds me to do things and does these things which that I couldn’t live without. I love that we get to be friends, we get to be best friends, but at the same time, she’s still Mom and she still loves me and my sister like crazy.”

     

     

  • MOTHER’S DAY LINERS 2021

    Here are some Mother’s Day liners from UMG Nashville artists, including Adam Hambrick, Brandon Lay, Brothers Osborne, Carrie Underwood, Caylee Hammack, Chrissy Metz, Darius Rucker, Dierks Bentley, Eric Church, George Strait, Jon Langston, Jon Pardi, Jordan Davis, Josh Turner, Kacey Musgraves, Kassi Ashton, Keith Urban, Kip Moore, Kylie Morgan, Lauren Alaina, Little Big Town, Luke Bryan, Maddie & Tae, Mickey Guyton, Parker McCollum, Priscilla Block, Sam Hunt, Shania Twain, Travis Denning and more!

     

    Audio / LINER Adam Hambrick (Mother’s Day)

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    “Hey everybody, I’m Adam Hambrick, wishing all the mother’s a very Happy Mother’s Day. Love you, Mom.”

    Audio / LINER Brandon Lay (Mother’s Day)

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    “Hey everybody, this is Brandon Lay, wishing all the mothers out there a very Happy Mother’s Day. Thanks, Mom.”

    Audio / LINER Brothers Osborne (Mother’s Day)

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    “Hey! What’s up guys! We’re Brothers Osborne, wishing all you mothers out there a very Happy Mother’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Carrie Underwood (Mother’s Day)

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    “Hey everyone. I’m Carrie Underwood, wishing all you mothers out there a very, very Happy Mother’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Caylee Hammack (Mother’s Day)

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    “Hey y’all, this is Caylee Hammack, sending this out to my mom and all the other mothers out there – I hope all of you have a wonderful Mother’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Chrissy Metz (Mother’s Day)

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    “Hi! It’s Chrissy Metz, wishing you a very Happy Mother’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Darius (Mother’s Day)

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    “Hey y’all, what’s up? This is Darius Rucker, hoping you have a Happy Mother’s Day.

    Audio / LINER Darius (Mother’s Day) 2

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    “Hey! What’s up? This is Darius Rucker, wishing all you mothers a Happy Mother’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Dierks (Mother’s Day)

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    “Hey, y’all! This is Dierks Bentley, wishing all you mothers out there a Happy Mother’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Eric Church (Mother’s Day) 1

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    “Hey everybody! This is Eric Church, wishing you a very Happy Mother’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Eric Church (Mother’s Day) 2

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    “Hey everybody! This is Eric Church, hoping you have a Happy Mother’s Day. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom.”

    Audio / LINER George Strait (Mother’s Day)

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    “Hi! This is George Strait, wishing you a Happy Mother’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Jon Langston (Mother’s Day)

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    Hi, I’m Jon Langston, wishing all the mothers a very Happy Mother’s Day. Love ya, Mom.

    Audio / LINER Jon Pardi (Mother’s Day)

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    “Hey y’all, it’s Jon Pardi. I want to wish all the mamas out there a very Happy Mother’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Jordan Davis (Mother’s Day)

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    “Hey! I’m Jordan Davis, wishing all the mothers out there a very Happy Mother’s Day. Love ya, Mom.”

    Audio / LINER Josh Turner (Mother’s Day)

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    “Hi! This is Josh Turner, wishing you a Happy Mother’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Kacey Musgraves (Mother’s Day)

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    “Hey! It’s Kacey Musgraves. To all you mothers out there, Happy Mother’s Day!”

     

    Audio / LINER Keith Urban (Mother’s Day)

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    “Hi everyone, it’s Keith Urban. Hoping all the mothers out there have a very, very Happy Mother’s Day. Love ya, Mom!”

    Audio / LINER Kylie Morgan (Mother’s Day)

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    Hey y’all, this is Kylie Morgan, wishing all of you mothers out there a very Happy Mother’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER LBT (Mother’s Day)

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    “(ALL) Hi! This is Little Big Town. (KIMBERLY) We want to wish all you mothers out there a Happy Mother’s Day. I love ya, Mama!”

    Audio / LINER Luke Bryan (Mother’s Day)

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    “Hey! It’s Luke Bryan, hoping all you mothers out there have a Happy Mother’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Maddie & Tae (Mother’s Day)

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    “Hey everybody. I’m Maddie & I’m Tae and we’re Maddie & Tae, wishing all you mothers out there a very Happy Mother’s Day. I love ya, Mom.”

    Audio / LINER Parker McCollum (Mother’s Day)

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    “Hey everybody, I’m Parker McCollum, wishing you a Happy Mother’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Priscilla Block (Mother’s Day)

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    “Hey, it’s Priscilla Block wishing all you mothers out there a very Happy Mother’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Sam Hunt (Mother’s Day)

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    “Hey! This is Sam Hunt, wishing you a very Happy Mother’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Shania Twain (Mother’s Day)

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    “Hi! This is Shania Twain. Happy Mother’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Travis Denning (Mother’s Day)

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    “Hey y’all, it’s Travis Denning, wishing all the mothers a very Happy Mother’s Day. Love you, Mom.”

     

  • CAYLEE HAMMACK AND CHRIS STAPLETON COLLABORATE ON “SMALL TOWN HYPOCRITE” – OUT NOW.

    Capitol Records Nashville singer/songwriter Caylee Hammack is releasing a new version of her deeply personal song “Small Town Hypocrite” with a guest vocal by Chris Stapleton, available here.  Since Hammack released the autobiographical song, critics, fans and peers alike have had an overwhelming affinity for the track and the picture it paints of the songwriter’s journey of heartbreak and reflection. Hammack also hand illustrated the single art for the special release of the track, depicting the trailer featured in the vulnerable lyrics.

    “My one whim for this song was to hear Chris Stapleton accompany me on it,” shared Hammack. “Two years after I spoke this wish out loud in the studio, Chris agreed to sing the part I had written in hopes of hearing his voice on it. Life is a beautiful full circle sometimes. I am so grateful to Chris for singing on this song.”

    Co-written and co-produced by Hammack, NPR and Esquire singled out  “Small Town Hypocrite” as one of their “Best Songs of 2020” and the acclaim continues to stack up.

    “A song of the year.” – Stereogum 

    “A devastating ballad about the guy who broke her heart that felt so intimately specific, with weary anger so finely honed, that it was hard to imagine what heights Hammack could reach on her second album.” – Rolling Stone 

    “So well-written and communicated… Never fitting in, sacrificing a scholarship for love, being cheated on and realizing mistakes, it’s all here in elegantly scored music — sighing steel guitars and murmuring keys — that sports hooks, urgency and a chorus that comfortably sticks in your ear.” – NPR

    “The track is a perfect wonder… The lyric is extraordinary… The vocal performance is quite moving, radiating vulnerability, heartache, bitterness and honesty. All in all, a fabulous little record.” – Music Row

    “Hammack bares her soul on the deeply personal “Small Town Hypocrite,” a heartbreaking story song about trusting the wrong person.” – Billboard

    A devastating ballad from a new singer.” – Washington Post 

    “Powerful.”– Paste 

    “The story of the heartbreak that got her here.” – CMT

    Capitol Nashville “songwriter/producer/full-throttle vocalist” (HITS) Caylee Hammack just released her debut record IF IT WASN’T FOR YOU. Critics have continued to highly praise the 13-track set that sees Hammack with writer and producer credits on every track on the album. “Hammack has arrived with this 13-track adrenaline blast…every song on here plays out like an entry in Hammack’s diary—and is just as compelling…Hammack deserves to be a star” declared Billboard. Recently winning a nod for ACM “Music Event Of The Year,” with Miranda Lambert, Caylee Hammack has been noted as an “Artist To Watch” by outlets including The Bobby Bones Show, Rolling Stone and HITS Magazine for her “voice to move mountains” (Rolling Stone). With her breakout Top 30 single “Family Tree” marking the most-added single at Country radio by a female artist in over three years, Hammack, the Capitol Nashville recording artist has previously brought her unforgettable live set to opening slots for Eric Church, Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert, Trisha Yearwood, Brothers Osborne and some of country music’s biggest festivals. For more information visit www.cayleehammack.com.

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  • CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY — MONDAY, MARCH 8TH.

    Monday (February 8th) is International Women’s Day, which is a global day celebrating

    the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. International Women’s Day has been observed since the early 1900’s.

    Many of your favorite female country artists are also celebrating this day in honor of women everywhere and of their influences and inspirations.

    Audio / Carrie Underwood talks about her amazing professional influences.

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    Carrie Underwood (Musical influences) OC: …do it too. :54
    “I think my biggest influences musically, or career-wise, would have to be women like Reba, like Dolly, like Faith Hill, like Martina McBride. You see all of these women just juggle everything masterfully and many of them are moms and they’re superstars and they’re talented, and you know, I know how hard they work because I’m in their shoes somewhat and doing the same juggling. You know, you have the kids and the career and you’re just trying to crush everything you do and being pulled in a million different directions. And to see women like that who are just beautiful and smart and strong and talented, knowing that they have come first and they’re still getting to do what they love and they’re still getting to be the mom and the wife and all the things – that’s just such an inspiration to me and just lets me know that I can do it too.”

    Audio / Carrie Underwood talks about her biggest female influence – her Mom.

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    Carrie Underwood (biggest female influence) OC: …ever had. :25
    “I would say my biggest female influence would have to be my Mom. She was the first person that I was around that really taught me what it was like to be a woman, to be a Mom, to be a wife, to be a daughter and a sister. And just watching her and how she did everything with grace and integrity and she’s so strong. I mean, she was just the best role model anybody could have ever had.”

    Audio / LINER Carrie Underwood (IWD)

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    Audio / LINER Carrie Underwood (NWM)

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    Audio / Caylee Hammack talks about her professional inspirations, including Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire and more.

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    Caylee Hammack (Loretta Lynn and professional inspirations) OC: …look up to. :31
    “My first concert ever was Loretta Lynn. I was 13 years old and I got to see her in Columbus, Georgia. I begged my Dad to bring me, and I just remembered sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to see what she’d sing or say next. Loretta Lynn has been such an inspiration to me and all of the women who came before me – Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, all the way to Miranda Lambert and the legends of today. It’s unreal how many amazing women I have been given in this world to look up to.”

    Audio / Caylee Hammack talks about seeing Loretta Lynn in concert when she was 13 years old.

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    Caylee Hammack (Loretta Lynn) OC: …should listen. :28
    “My female idol growing up was Loretta Lynn. I was 13 when I got to see her live in-concert for the very first time. It was my first concert ever, and I will always remember sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to just see what she was gonna sing or say next. The power she had on stage is something you don’t see much; there’s a magic there. I think that when a woman tells her story – a woman like Loretta Lynn – everyone should listen.”

    Audio / Caylee Hammack talks about the women in country music who have become her friends and supportive country music family.

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    Caylee Hammack (Miranda, Ashley, Tenille) OC: …more grateful. :46
    “I could on and on about Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline and Tammy Wynette and Reba and Dolly, but I want to actually mention a few friends that I’ve recently made in this year of quarantine and that’s Miranda Lambert and Ashley McBryde and Tenille Townes, these women that I’ve really gotten to connect with over this time in random group messages and such. I‘m just so very grateful that not only do I have women that have paved the way for us coming up in the country music industry, but I also have amazing women around me that I get to celebrate every single time that they put a new song out or win an award. I feel like I’ve found a family in country music, in the women of country music and I just couldn’t be more grateful.”

    Audio / During a backstage press conference at the CMA Awards a few years ago, Kacey Musgraves talked about being inspired by two of her idols, Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton, and hoped she could carry that inspiration on in her own music.

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    Kacey Musgraves (women in Country Music) OC: …of it all. :37
    “I look at people like Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton, songwriters who were sassy and intelligent and beautiful and also intelligent and humorous. They inspired me, and if I can be at all any part of that in carrying that on, then I feel like,  that’s just the icing on the cake for me, and I feel like I’ve done my job.”

    Audio / Kylie Morgan explains what International Women’s Day means to her.

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    Kylie Morgan (International Women’s Day) OC: …so young. :21
    “For me, International Women’s Day is not only about women supporting women but also looking up to other women. And the very first tiny woman, actually, I ever looked up to was Shirley Temple. Not only was she a child star, but she never let her age hold her back. And I feel like I continue to grow up with that mentality and why I started my career so young.”

    Audio / Lauren Alaina talks about the woman she is inspired by on a daily basis.

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    Lauren Alaina (woman she most admires) OC: … :24
    “A woman that regularly inspires me would be my manager, Trisha. She is the most positive person that I’ve ever met. She’s constantly putting out fires. Trisha’s putting ‘em out and calming me down and helping me get to the next place and she just does everything with such grace and poise and she’s such a problem solver and she’s always positive and I just really admire that about her.”

    Audio / Loretta Lynn, who was once signed to Decca and MCA Records, talks about two of her songs that had a big impact.

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    Loretta Lynn (which songs had most impact) OC: …double hits. :10
    “‘You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man)’ and ‘Fist City’ is another one. They both hit women, you know? I wrote them about other women at the time and myself too, so I think that’s why they were double hits.”

    Audio / Maddie & Tae talk about some of the women they most admire.

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    Maddie & Tae (women most admire) OC: (Maddie) …everybody! :43
    “I definitely can’t pick just one inspiring woman in my life, because I’ve been blessed by many. (TAE INTERRUPTS) Yeah, I was gonna say Tae is definitely one that inspires me always for many different reasons. You are really good at living in the moment, I feel like; very good at being present and I always pick that up from you every time we hang out. (TAE SAYS, “Your joy inspires me.”) My mom, she is just a baddie and amazing. I would say our manager Haley. She is just so great at balancing work life and family life, and I really admire that. And I would say, I don’t know. All the women in my life – my sister, my sister-in-laws, my mother-in-law. I love ‘em all. My grandma…everybody!”

    Audio / LINER Maddie & Tae (IWD)

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    Audio / Mickey Guyton recalls the moment she wanted to become a country singer.

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    Mickey Guyton (started with LeAnn) OC: …done. :24
    “I was eight-years-old, and my church, I grew up singing in the church, and my church drove to Arlington [Texas] from Waco to go see a Texas Rangers baseball game. We were all the way up in the nosebleed section, and the announcer says, ‘Please rise as 10-year-old LeAnn Rimes sings the National Anthem,’ and that was before ‘Blue’ came out. I was already stuck on her, and then when ‘Blue’ came out, I was just like done.”

    Audio / Mickey Guyton talks about the female country artists she admired growing up.

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    Mickey Guyton (on pursuing a career as a singer) OC: …all those people. :50
    “It wasn’t like something where I was like, ‘Dad, I want to be a professional singer.’ It wasn’t until I was older when I finally admitted it. When you say something like that, it’s pretty crazy. What are we normally supposed to be? We’re supposed to be a teacher, a doctor, a lawyer, go to school and for me to even say that was just kind of crazy. So, I took an interest in singing. I started doing solos in the church choir or the school had a talent show. I’d bring my boom box, and I’d sing ‘I Will Always Love You.’ I was just mesmerized by big-voiced women, so from LeAnn, I started listening to Dolly and Patsy Cline and Patty Loveless and Reba McEntire and Faith Hill and Martina McBride, all those people.”

    Audio / Mickey Guyton released the song “Sister” a couple of years ago, and she explains why the message was so important.

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    Mickey Guyton (why the song Sister is so important to her) OC: …out there. :21
    “As a woman, we need our sisters and this song is just so important for women, for girls, for everyone right now, to show solidarity and support for each other. No matter what it is that you believe, no matter what it is that you do, this song is exactly that for every woman out there.”

    Audio / Priscilla Block talks about the legendary Dolly Parton.

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    Priscilla Block (Dolly Parton) OC: …me some Dolly. :19
    “Hey-this is Priscilla Block, and I would say one female country legend that I look up to would be Dolly Parton. I love how honest she is, and she’s always just embraced who she is as a woman, and I love that so much, you know. Big hair, big hoops and you know what’s next. I love me some Dolly.”

    Audio / Priscilla Block says she is inspired by her mother.

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    Priscilla Block (Mom) OC: …in the butt. :25
    “I would honestly say one of the most inspiring women in my life is my mom because she raised five kids, and honestly had no clue what she was doing, but kind of always just made life so fun. She was there when we needed to laugh and when we needed to cry, and she was also there when we needed a little kick in the butt.”

    Audio / LINER Catie Offerman (International Women's Day)

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    “Hey y’all, this is Catie Offerman. Happy International Women’s Day. This is such a special chance for all of us to celebrate each other and all the women around the globe and all their amazing accomplishments. We love you!”

  • THE ACM AWARDS NOMINATIONS 2021 HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED!

    With six each, Chris Stapleton and Maren Morris lead the list of nominations at this year’s ACM Awards.

    Chris earned nods in the categories for Entertainer, Male Artist, Song (for “Starting Over”) and Album of the Year (Starting Over) as artist, songwriter and producer.

     


    Brothers Osborne
    and Kelsea Ballerini, along with ET‘s Rachel Smith revealed the 56th Academy of Country Music Awards nominees today (February 26th) on CBS This Morning.

    The reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year Eric Church earned three category nominations for Entertainer, Male Artist and Music Event of the Year for Luke Combs’ “Do to Me.”

     

     

    Luke Bryan picks up a pair of nominations for Entertainer of the Year and Album of the Year for Born Here Live Here Die Here, while Dierks Bentley also is nominated for two including Male Artist of the Year and Music Video of the Year for “Gone.”

     

     

     

     

    Brothers Osborne are nominated for both Duo of the Year (an award they’ve won twice before) and Album of the Year for Skeletons. Keith Urban also picks up two nods…in the same category – Music Event of the Year for both “Be a Light” with Thomas Rhett, Reba McEntire, Hillary Scott and Chris Tomlin, as well as his latest single, “One Too Many” with P!nk.

     

     

    Carrie Underwood earned a nod in Music Event of the Year with John Legend for “Hallelujah,” while Lauren Alaina is also nominated in Music Event of the Year for Hardy’s “One Beer,” along with Devin Dawson.

     

    https://twitter.com/Lauren_Alaina/status/1365342084824203268

     

    Little Big Town picks up a nomination for Group of the Year, while Maddie & Tae scored a nomination for Duo of the Year.

     

     

     

    Mickey Guyton and Caylee Hammack are both nominated for New Female Artist of the Year, while Travis Denning and Parker McCollum are up for New Male Artist of the Year.

    https://twitter.com/MickeyGuyton/status/1365330487636594694

     

     

     

     

    The 56th Academy of Country Music Awards will air live from Nashville April 18th beginning at 8pm ET/7pm CT on CBS. The show will also be available to stream live and on demand on the Paramount+.

    Entertainer of the Year

    Luke Bryan
    Eric Church

    Luke Combs
    Thomas Rhett
    Chris Stapleton

    Female Artist of the Year

    Kelsea Ballerini
    Miranda Lambert
    Ashley McBryde
    Maren Morris
    Carly Pearce

    Male Artist of the Year

    Dierks Bentley
    Luke Combs
    Eric Church
    Thomas Rhett
    Chris Stapleton

    Duo of the Year

    Brooks & Dunn
    Brothers Osborne
    Dan + Shay
    Florida Georgia Line
    Maddie & Tae

    Group of the Year

    Lady A
    Little Big Town
    Old Dominion
    The Cadillac Three
    The Highwomen

    New Female Artist of the Year

    Ingrid Andress
    Tenille Arts
    Gabby Barrett
    Mickey Guyton
    Caylee Hammack

    New Male Artist of the Year

    Jimmie Allen
    Travis Denning
    Hardy
    Cody Johnson
    Parker McCollum

    Album of the Year

    Born Here Live Here Die Here, Luke Bryan
    Mixtape Vol. 1, Kane Brown
    Never Will, Ashley McBryde
    Skeletons, Brothers Osborne
    Starting Over, Chris Stapleton

    Single of the Year

    “Bluebird,” Miranda Lambert
    “I Hope,” Gabby Barrett
    “I Hope You’re Happy Now,” Carly Pearce and Lee Brice
    “More Hearts Than Mine,” Ingrid Andress
    “The Bones,” Maren Morris

    Song of the Year

    “Bluebird,” Luke Dick, Miranda Lambert, Natalie Hemby
    “One Night Standards,” Ashley McBryde, Nicolette Hayford, Shane McAnally
    “Some People Do,” Jesse Frasure, Matt Ramsey, Thomas Rhett, Shane McAnally
    “Starting Over,” Chris Stapleton, Mike Henderson
    “The Bones,” Jimmy Robbins, Maren Morris, Laura Veltz

    Video of the Year

    “Better Than We Found It,” Maren Morris
    “Bluebird,” Miranda Lambert
    “Gone,” Dierks Bentley
    “Hallelujah,” Carrie Underwood and John Legend

    “Worldwide Beautiful,” Kane Brown

    Songwriter of the Year

    Ashley Gorley
    Michael Hardy
    Hillary Lindsey
    Shane McAnally
    Josh Osborne

    Music Event of the Year

    “Be A Light,” Thomas Rhett f/Reba McEntire, Hillary Scott, Chris Tomlin, Keith Urban
    “Does To Me,” Luke Combs f/Eric Church
    “I Hope You’re Happy Now,” Carly Pearce and Lee Brice
    “Nobody But You,” Blake Shelton f/Gwen Stefani
    “One Beer,” Hardy f/Lauren Alaina and Devin Dawson
    “One Too Many,” Keith Urban f/P!nk

     

    Audio / Chris Stapleton, who is nominated for 6 ACM Awards including Entertainer of the Year, Male Vocalist and Album of the Year (among others), talks about the theme of his latest album, Starting Over.

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    Chris Stapleton (theme of Starting Over album) OC: …as humans. :54
    “I’ve never really looked at records necessarily as having a theme.  I’ve never made a record in that kind of a constraint necessarily. And there are a lot of great records that have this theme and this overlying thread that kind of runs through them.  Maybe the thread for me is just I’m singing. I wrote a bulk of the songs. It’s the same guys playing all the songs. If there’s a theme – if there’s a theme it’s hopefully there’s a theme of truth somewhere in it. And what I mean by that is hopefully we’re conveying in the songs some experiences that feel real and hopefully people can find themselves in those songs and in the album. And for me if I’m looking for a theme it’s that kind of, I don’t know, that thing that binds us all together as humans.”

    Audio / Eric Church, the reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year, is nominated for Entertainer (among others) at this year’s ACM Awards. Backstage at last year’s CMA Awards, he talked about his first Entertainer of the Year win.

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    Eric Church (CMA 2020) 1 OC: …next year or two. :31
    “There’s not really been winners this year. I mean, nobody’s played. Nobody’s done the things we normally do. It’s been a year, to me, about losses. It’s about loss of life. It’s about loss of education for your kids. It’s about loss of time playing. It’s been a year of managing those losses. But I really meant what I said (during my acceptance speech) that we were in a room together as country music, and that’s not happened this year. So, I think that that was a win for country music, and I think it was a win for where we’re gonna go in the next year or two.”

    Audio / Before releasing his latest album in August of last year, Luke Bryan talked about what fans can expect on BORN HERE LIVE HERE DIE HERE.

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    Luke Bryan (fan expectations for BHLHDH) OC: …something for everybody. :37
    “I think fans can expect a little something of everything. They can expect a love song, a dancing song; obviously, ‘One Margarita’ being a big ole fun summer drinking song. And I think we have songs that will make you cry, touch your emotions, and I think, like I said there are songs that you can fall in love to out there. And there are songs that talk about the true meaning of life when you think about a song like ‘For a Boat,’ and you got a father teaching his son about the important things in life. So, I’m just proud of the way the album come together, and I feel like there’s something for everybody.”

    Audio / Dierks Bentley talks about his latest single, "Gone," for which the music video is nominated for an ACM Award.

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    Dierks Bentley (Gone) 2 OC: …would enjoy it too. :18
    “You know, the song, ‘cause I didn’t write it I can only brag on it, is just really well-written. It’s catchy, it’s fun. It’s metaphorical about what’s happening right now. It reminds me a little bit of some stuff we’ve had out in the past, but it feels like new territory in other ways and I don’t know, I just enjoyed it. I enjoyed singing it and I enjoyed playing it, and I wanted to put it out there and I thought our fans would enjoy it too.”

    Audio / KEITH URBAN TALKS ABOUT RECORDING “ONE TOO MANY” WITH P!NK.

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    Keith Urban (P!NK duet) OC: …it together. :29
    “This song was written as a duet, and I sent the song to her and luckily she loved it. I loved the song and I was really hoping she would love it, because she’s truly one of the great singers of our generation. So, to hear her voice on this song was phenomenal. We had such a great time getting to do that. I wish we could’ve done it in the same space, but you know with the situation we’re in, of course, we couldn’t do that. So, she recorded her vocal at her house and I did mine at my house, and we put it together.”

    Audio / CARRIE UNDERWOOD TALKS ABOUT THE SONG, “HALLELUJAH,” WHICH JOHN LEGEND WROTE AND IS FEATURED ON.

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    Carrie Underwood (Hallelujah) OC: …cool collaboration. :37
    “’Hallelujah’ is a song that touches on many different topics and feelings. It’s a love song, it’s a Christmas song, it’s a celebrating the time of year song. It’s you know, still wanting that joyfulness – it was written by John Legend and Toby Gad. When I listened to it, it had John’s voice on it, and it’s just beautiful. I knew I wanted to sing it – we asked if John, you might want to sing it with me. The perfect song, the perfect person, John Legend sounds amazing on it and I was like wow, I can’t believe that this just all came together like this, and just kind of a really cool collaboration.”

    Audio / Parker McCollum talks about being nominated for his first ACM Award…for New Male Artist of the Year.

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    Parker McCollum (1st ACM Nomination) OC: …So grateful. :36
    “What does it mean to be nominated for an ACM Award? I can’t even explain it. I’ve watched these awards shows from the time I can remember listening to country music or watching television. It’s been my whole life. And so to be nominated for an ACM, something like New Male Artist of the Year – an absolute honor and a dream come true and so cool to see how proud my family is of me getting nominated for something like this. It’s just, there are no words, man. So grateful.”

     

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  • LIVE NATION PRESENTS: COUNTRY CONVERSATIONS RETURNS TONIGHT WITH SPECIAL GUESTS KIP MOORE AND CAYLEE HAMMACK.

    LIVE NATION PRESENTS: COUNTRY CONVERSATIONS, a new series launched by Live Nation’s premiere family of country music festivals, returns tonight with special guests including “one of country’s more thoughtful artists” (Billboard) Kip Moore and “one of Nashville’s most promising young singers” (Washington Post) Caylee Hammack. Hosted by Brian O’Connell (President of Country Touring and creator of Live Nation’s family of country music festivals), the livestream event will be available to watch on Watershed Music And Camping Festival, Rock The Ocean’s Tortuga Music Festival and Faster Horses Music Festival’s respective Facebook platforms tonight (2/15) at 6pm CT. The insightful series gives fans a special look into artists’ daily lives while they’re not touring and enjoy impromptu performances. Previous guests include Miranda Lambert, Jon Pardi, Lindsay Ell and Travis Denning, and fans can also watch the series online on Live Nation’s homepage at LiveNation.com.

    About Kip Moore: 
    Multi-PLATINUM singer/songwriter Kip Moore has toured the world headlining his own shows, earning acclaim and a rabid fanbase as an all-in performer in each setting, wrapping 40 sold-out headlining shows in The U.S, The U.K. and Canada at the beginning of 2020. Praised by Noisey as “an uncompromising, genre-defying artist firing on all cylinders” Moore has blazed his own trail. Moore has garnered mass critical acclaim and has over 190 million streams globally for his revered fourth studio album, with PEOPLE declaring “Wild World is filled with bold signposts about the enigmatic artist, his rebel appetite and his “reckless heart.” Due to demand, Moore just released a Deluxe version of WILD WORLD on Friday. The “especially vital; occasionally, even rare” (Esquire) set was co-written and produced by Moore and spawned his recent Top 15 single “She’s Mine.” The current CMA “International Artist Achievement Award” nominee first splashed into the mainstream with the double-PLATINUM “Somethin’ ‘Bout a Truck” in 2012, then followed up with three more best selling No. Ones (“Hey Pretty Girl,” “Beer Money” and “More Girls Like You”), a trio of ambitious, critically-praised albums and two gritty EPs that landed Moore on multiple “Best Of” lists. For more information visit kipmoore.net.

    About Caylee Hammack:
    Capitol Nashville “songwriter/producer/full-throttle vocalist” (HITS) Caylee Hammack just released her debut record IF IT WASN’T FOR YOU. Since the release, critics have continued to highly praise the 13-track set that sees Hammack with writer and producer credits on every track on the album. “Hammack has arrived with this 13-track adrenaline blast…every song on here plays out like an entry in Hammack’s diary—and is just as compelling…Hammack deserves to be a star” declared Billboard. Hammack also just announced her new single at country radio “Just Friends” that has already garnered attention, with Paste lauding “stand back—she’s breathing fire.” Recently winning a nod for ACM “Music Event Of The Year,” with Miranda Lambert, Caylee Hammack has been noted as an “Artist To Watch” by outlets including The Bobby Bones Show, Rolling Stone and HITS Magazine for her “voice to move mountains” (Rolling Stone). With her breakout Top 30 single “Family Tree” marking the most-added single at Country radio by a female artist in over three years, Hammack, the Capitol Nashville recording artist has previously brought her unforgettable live set to opening slots for Eric Church, Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert, Trisha Yearwood, Brothers Osborne and some of country music’s biggest festivals. For more information visit www.cayleehammack.com.

  • CAYLEE HAMMACK USED A FAKE ID TO GET INTO BARS WHEN SHE WAS A TEENAGER JUST SO SHE COULD PERFORM.

    Caylee Hammack is a natural born singer, songwriter and performer. She started playing live wherever she could when she was only 13-years-old. It proved a bit tough when she was playing in bars, though, but she eventually got a fake ID…with her dad’s approval.

    “From 13 to 19, I played all over the Southeast, whether it was in a church, a honkytonk, a bike rally, a coffee shop – anywhere that I could be singing, I was,” says Caylee. “So, at 13, I started playing in a bar in my hometown where my dad would have to come in. I nicknamed my dad ‘Big Daddy Security,’ cause he’d have to come in to all my shows if I was to play until I got a fake ID saying I was 18 in the state of Georgia, so I could play all these gigs and my dad didn’t have to go. He knows I got it, because I was hell-bent on getting some of these gigs and in the state of Georgia, you have to be 18 years of age or older. And at that age when I got the fake ID I was 16. And I told him, I said, ‘Well, what about this—what if I get a fake ID that says I’m only 19 or 20 years old, so you know I’m not drinking, but at least I’m getting to do my job.’ And he was like, ‘Okay.’”

    Caylee is currently making her way up the country charts with “Just Friends.”

    Audio / Caylee Hammack talks about performing everywhere she could when she was a teen growing up in Georgia.

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    Caylee Hammack (started playing live at 13) OC: …don’t hide much. :48
    “From 13 to 19, I played all over the Southeast, whether it was in a church, a honkytonk, a bike rally, a coffee shop – anywhere I could be singing, I was. So, at 13, I started playing in a bar in my hometown where my dad would have to come in. I nicknamed my dad ‘Big Daddy Security,’ cause he’d have to come in to all my shows if I was to play until I got a fake ID saying I was 18 in the state of Georgia, so I could play all these gigs and my dad didn’t have to go. He knows I got it, because I was hell-bent on getting some of these gigs and in the state of Georgia, you have to be 18 years of age or older. And at that age when I got the fake ID I was 16. And I told him, I said, ‘Well, what about this—what if I get a fake ID that says I’m only 19 or 20 years old, so you know I’m not drinking, but at least I’m getting to do my job.’ And he was like, ‘Okay.’ I’m very honest with my family. I don’t hide much.”

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