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 2024. Some artists have resolutions, some artists look ahead to 2024 and some are very helpful with their own hangover cures for those who imbibe too much on New Year’s Eve.
For several country stars, they’ll be ringing in the new year in Nashville on New Year’s Eve as CBS presents NEW YEAR’S EVE LIVE: NASHVILLE’S BIG BASH on Sunday (December 31st) at 7:30-10:00pm ET/PT, 10:30pm – 1:05am ET/PT. The special programming will air on CBS and available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+. Originating from downtown Nashville across multiple locations, the star-studded special will be packed with high-energy performances celebrating the excitement and anticipation of a new year. In addition to host Elle King, along with Entertainment Tonight’s Rachel Smith, Jon Pardi, Brothers Osborne, Parker McCollum, Old Dominion, Thomas Rhett, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Lainey Wilson, Trace Adkins, Grace Bowers, Kane Brown, Jackson Dean, HARDY, Cody Johnson, Megan Moroney, Carly Pearce, Blake Shelton, Trombone Shorty, Morgan Wallen and Bailey Zimmerman. TV and radio host Cody Alan and CBS anchor Lonnie Quinn will be corresponding from New York City’s Times Square, along with Dustin Lynch, who will also be performing live.
The five-hour broadcast will feature a staggering hit parade of more than 50 back-to-back performances, live from the home of country music. Nashville will count down with the East Coast at midnight and keep the party going through midnight Central Time with the city’s renowned Music Note Drop at the Bicentennial Mall stage.
Luke Bryan will definitely have a “Beer In His Hand” when he performs one of his last remaining dates during his Las Vegas residency at Resorts World.
Parker McCollum will not only be a part of Music City’s New Year’s Eve Bash, but he’ll be performing a full headlining show at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, along with opening act Catie Offerman.
Priscilla Block will ring in the New Year on stage. She will be in Durant, Oklahoma with pal and duet partner Justin Moore performing at the Choctaw Resort & Casino.
Audio / Brothers Osborne talk about how people spend the last moments of the year, and the first moments of the new year.
DownloadBrothers Osborne (New Year) OC: (TJ) …next month. :44
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]
Audio / John Osborne of Brothers Osborne says a little hair of the dog is definitely the cure for a hangover.
DownloadBrothers Osborne (hangover cure) OC: …of the year. :07
“Usually drinking more. I mean, a little hair of the dog never hurt anybody. Plus, it’s the first of the year.”
Audio / A few years ago, Dierks Bentley talked about taking New Year's Eve in stride nowadays.
DownloadDierks 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.”
Audio / Dierks Bentley says there’s not really a cure for a hangover.
DownloadDierks (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.”
Audio / Eric Church has a couple of hangover cures for those times (especially on New Year’s Eve) when you might imbibe a little too much.
DownloadEric 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.”
Audio / Josh Ross talks about performing on New Year's Eve this year.
DownloadJosh Ross (playing New Year’s Eve 2023) OC: …worth it. :33
“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. It honestly reminds me of when I came to Nashville which is really cool. I remember I got to watch Keith Urban play in 2017 on New Year’s here in Nashville, and I thought how cool would it be to be an artist that gets to bring in the year for people and play, and I get to do that this year, which is real exciting, up in Edmonton, Canada. But it’s gonna be good. It’ll probably be minus-25 (degrees) and freezing cold, but it’ll definitely be worth it.”
Audio / Josh Ross gives his best hangover cures.
DownloadJosh Ross (hangover cure) OC: …for the day. :37
“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.”
Audio / Kacey Musgraves has her own hangover cure.
DownloadKacey Musgraves (hangover cure) OC: …water. Yup! :32
“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!”
Audio / Since he’s performing one of his Vegas residency dates at Resorts World AND it’s his wife Caroline’s birthday, Luke Bryan says they’re going to have a “big time” on New Year’s Eve this year.
DownloadLuke Bryan (New Year’s 2023) OC: …in Vegas. :40
“Every new year is always tricky because New Year’s Eve is Caroline’s birthday. So, I always have to run my New Year’s plans by her, and she has to sign off on them, because we don’t want to interrupt her birthday. But this year, I’m gonna be in Vegas for my Las Vegas residency. It’s some of the final shows, and we got tons of friends coming out – all of her college friends, some friends from Nashville – and it’s gonna be a big group of us having a lot of fun. We’re gonna try our best to make her birthday really special and to have fun doing the shows and ringin’ in the New Year, and it should be a big time out there in Vegas.”
Audio / Luke Bryan takes a look back at 2023.
DownloadLuke Bryan (looking back at 2023) OC: …every night. :38
“When I look back at 2023, what stands out the most literally is how busy of a year it was and how amazing the Country On Tour was. You might prepare yourself for stuff to slow down a little bit, but for me it was not that way. I mean, the crowds were huge. We were selling ‘em out. The fans were going crazy. We had a lot of new baby acts come out with me, and I enjoyed getting to know them and hopefully being a part in taking their career to the next level. So, the Country On Tour was definitely the highlight of the year, as far as just how big it was and how the fans showed up every night.”
Audio / Luke Bryan is looking forward to a few things in 2024.
DownloadLuke Bryan (looking ahead at 2024) OC: …a snowstorm. :28
“For 2024, we haven’t announced our tour, but there’ll be a tour and we’ve got Crash My Playa coming up right at the top of the year. We’ve got Dierks and Jelly Roll and Eddie Montgomery from Montgomery Gentry – he and I are gonna do some songs together. I’m really excited about that. We got Dustin Lynch getting ready for the pool party, so Playa’s just been a great thing. Just about the time it gets too cold to be in Nashville, we fly to Mexico and get warm. Every time we’re driving to the airport, it’s a snowstorm.”
Audio / Reba McEntire's New Year's Resolution includes a few things we should all wish for in 2024.
DownloadReba McEntire (New Year’s Resolution 2024) OC: …laugh a lot. :06
“My New Year’s resolution for 2024 is to stay happy, healthy and laugh a lot.”
Audio / Travis Denning recalls his favorite New Year’s Eve party.
DownloadTravis Denning (favorite New Year’s Eve party) OC: …it was good. :41
“I think my favorite New Year’s Eve party ever was when my sister got married, and my sister’s party got done at 10:30, 10:45 and she got married right behind a little club that I played a lot in Macon, Georgia called the Crazy Bull and love the owner. We’re boys, you know? So, we just literally walked right over and burned the house down. That was one of my favorite New Year’s Eve memories, ‘cause I got to see my sister and brother-in-law get married and that was such a great, great time, and then me and my older cousin and best friend, we ended up at Waffle House that night, so it was good.”
Audio / Travis Denning talks about his hangover cures.
DownloadTravis Denning (hangover cure) OC: …me better. :17
“You know, I think my hangover cure is just sitting on my butt, [laughs] not doing anything. Drink some water, a cup of coffee, but usually anything greasy or just some big ole Mexican food that’ll get me at least to a nap, which will get me better.”
Audio / Travis Denning talks about getting dressed up for New Year’s Eve.
DownloadTravis Denning (wants to get dressed up for New Year’s Eve) OC: …good for it. :13
“No matter what I do for New Year’s Eve, I want to get dressed up. I want to wear a suit. I want to get real snazzied up, and I don’t care if I’m just going to a bar. Like, it’s New Year’s Eve, let’s look good for it.”
Audio / Tyler Hubbard recalls one of his most prominent New Year's Eve memories.
DownloadTyler 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.”