• MADDIE AND TAE RELEASE HOPEFUL MUSIC VIDEO FOR “WE NEED CHRISTMAS.”

    Multi-platinum selling, award-winning duo Maddie & Tae release the official video for “We Need Christmas” today. Written by Maddie & Tae along with AJ Pruis and Matthew West, “We Need Christmas” offers a hopeful plea for peace and healing this holiday season.

     

     

    This world could use a little healing

    Our hearts could surely use something to believe in

     

    We need Christmas now more than ever

    Bring us together

    We need Christmas come on December

    Help us remember

    The joy, the peace and the hope that love can bring

    And the bells hear ’em ring

    Let all the angels sing

    Oh we need Christmas

     

    “We Need Christmas” is the title track to the duo’s first ever holiday album out now on Mercury Nashville. The six-track project produced by Jimmy Robbins and Derek Wells features two originals including “We Need Christmas” and “Merry Married Christmas,” plus beloved holiday favorites including “This Christmas,” “Holly Jolly Christmas,” “O Come All Ye Faithful,” and “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).”

     

    Listen to We Need Christmas HERE

     

    For more information, visit MaddieandTae.com.

  • CHRISTMAS LINERS 2020

    Here are some holiday liners from UMG Nashville artists, including Adam Hambrick, Alan Jackson, Billy Currington, Brandon Lay, Brothers Osborne, Carrie Underwood, Caylee Hammack, Chrissy Metz, Darius Rucker, Dierks Bentley, Eric Church, Gary Allan, 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 (Christmas)

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    “Hey everybody! I’m Adam Hambrick, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”

     

    Audio / LINER Adam Hambrick (Happy Holidays)

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    “Hey everybody! I’m Adam Hambrick. Happy Holidays.”

     

    Audio / LINER AJ (Christmas)

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    “Hi! This is Alan Jackson, and I’m wishing y’all a very Merry Christmas.”

    Audio / LINER Billy Currington (Happy Holiday Season)

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    “Hi! Billy Currington here, wishing you and your family a safe and Happy Holiday Season.”

    Audio / LINER Brothers Osborne (Christmas)

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    “Hey! This is T.J., and I’m John, and we are Brothers Osborne, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”

    Audio / LINER Carrie Underwood (Christmas)

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    “Hi! I’m Carrie Underwood, wishing you a Merry Christmas.”

    Audio / LINER Carrie Underwood (Christmas) 2

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    “Hey, it’s Carrie Underwood. From our house to yours – Merry Christmas.”

    Audio / LINER Caylee Hammack (Christmas) 1

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    “Hey y’all, this is Caylee Hammack, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”

    Audio / LINER Caylee Hammack (Christmas) 2

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    “Hey y’all, this is Caylee Hammack. Merry Christmas!”

    Audio / LINER Caylee Hammack (Happy Holidays)

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    “Hey y’all, this is Caylee Hammack. Happy Holidays, everybody!”

    Audio / LINER Chrissy Metz (Happy Holidays)

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    “Hey! This is Chrissy Metz, wishing you Happy Holidays.”

    Audio / LINER Darius Rucker (Christmas)

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    “Hey y’all! What’s up? This is Darius Rucker, wishing you a Merry Christmas.”

    Audio / LINER Dierks Bentley (Christmas)

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    “Hey! This is Dierks Bentley, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”

     

    Audio / LINER Dierks Bentley (Happy Holidays)

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    “Hey everybody! It’s Dierks Bentley, wishing you a very Happy Holiday season.”

    Audio / LINER Eric Church (Christmas)

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    “Hey everybody! It’s Eric Church, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”

    Audio / LINER Gary Allan (Christmas)

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    “Hey! This is Gary Allan. Merry Christmas.”

    Audio / LINER George Strait (Happy Holidays)

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    “Hey everybody! This is George Strait, wishing you and your family a Happy Holiday season.”

    Audio / LINER Jon Langston (Christmas)

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    “Hey y’all, this is Jon Langston, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”

    Audio / LINER Jon Langston (Happy Holidays)

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    “Hey y’all, this is Jon Langston. Happy Holidays!”

    Audio / LINER Jon Pardi (Merry Christmas)

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    “Hey! This is Jon Pardi, wishing you a Merry Christmas!”

    Audio / LINER Jordan Davis (Christmas)

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    “Hey! I’m Jordan Davis, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”

    Audio / LINER Josh Turner (Happy Holidays)

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    “Hey! I’m Josh Turner, wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday season.”

    Audio / LINER Kacey Musgraves (Christmas)

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    “Hey! This is Kacey Musgraves, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”

    Audio / LINER Keith Urban (Christmas)

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    “Hi folks, this is Keith Urban, wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas.”

    Audio / LINER Keith Urban (Holiday season)

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    “Hi everyone, this is Keith Urban, wishing you and all your family the very best this holiday season.”

    Audio / LINER Kip Moore (Christmas)

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    “Hey guys, this is Kip Moore, wishing you a Merry Christmas.”

    Audio / LINER Kip Moore (Happy Holidays)

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    “Hey y’all, it’s Kip Moore. Happy Holidays!”

    Audio / LINER Kylie Morgan (Christmas)

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    “Hey y’all, this is Kylie Morgan, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”

    Audio / LINER Lauren Alaina (Christmas)

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    “Hey! This is Lauren Alaina, wishing you a Merry Christmas.”

    Audio / LINER LBT (Christmas)

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    “Hey! We’re Little Big Town, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”

    Audio / LINER LBT (Happy Holidays)

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

    Audio / LINER Luke Bryan (Christmas)

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    “Hey! It’s Luke Bryan, wishing you a Merry Christmas.”

    Audio / LINER Luke Bryan (Happy Holidays)

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    “Hey! It’s Luke Bryan. Happy Holidays!”

    Audio / LINER Maddie & Tae (Christmas)

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    “Hi! We’re Maddie & Tae, wishing you a Merry Christmas.”

    Audio / LINER Maddie & Tae (Happy Holidays)

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    “Hi! We’re Maddie & Tae. Happy Holidays.”

    Audio / LINER Mickey Guyton (Christmas)

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    “Hey! It’s Mickey Guyton, wishing you a Merry Christmas.”

    Audio / LINER Parker McCollum (Happy Holidays)

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    “Hey, I’m Parker McCollum, and I’m wishing you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year.”

    Audio / LINER Reba McEntire (Christmas)

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    “Hey-Reba here-hoping you have a very Merry Christmas. Ho, Ho, Ho.”

    Audio / LINER Reba McEntire (Happy Holidays)

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    “Hey, this is Reba, wishing you a Happy Holiday Season.”

     

    Audio / LINER Sam Hunt (Christmas)

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    “Hey everybody! This is Sam Hunt, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”

    Audio / LINER Sam Hunt (Happy Holidays)

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

    Audio / LINER Shania Twain (Christmas)

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    “Hi! This is Shania Twain, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”

    Audio / LINER Taylor Swift (Happy Holiday Season)

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    “Hey, this is Taylor Swift, wishing you a very Happy Holiday Season.”

    Audio / LINER Travis Denning (Happy Holidays)

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    “Hey! I’m Travis Denning. Happy Holidays.”

     

     

  • CARRIE UNDERWOOD & MADDIE & TAE- APPEAR IN CRACKER BARREL SOUNDS OF THE SEASON HOLIDAY FEATURE.

    Cracker Barrel Old Country Store® announced today it will present “Cracker Barrel Sounds of the Season,” a musical, family-friendly holiday feature with performances by superstar Carrie Underwood, with Maddie & Tae and Runaway June. The special holiday feature will debut on Cracker Barrel’s YouTube and Facebook pages on Wednesday, Dec. 16 at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT and then will continue to be available throughout the holiday season. For a sneak peek, click here.

    In the holiday feature, Cracker Barrel brings legendary and rising female country music artists together through lively conversations, holiday games and special musical performances to showcase how they are continuing their favorite traditions with their loved ones this year – at a time when many people are reimagining seasonal celebrations. The “Cracker Barrel Sounds of the Season” feature reunites Underwood with the all-female tour mates she brought onto her “Cry Pretty Tour 360” last year.

    “Being a part of this special collaboration with Cracker Barrel and my friends, Maddie & Tae and Runaway June, is a fun way to celebrate the holiday season,” said Carrie Underwood. “Music lifts spirits and is a big part of our holiday traditions, which are as important as ever this year.”

    During the holiday event, fans will be treated to a special performance from Underwood’s first-ever Christmas album “My Gift” – available at Cracker Barrel stores and online, along with special collaborations with Maddie & Tae and Runaway June. For those wanting to embrace the classic comfort of holiday music all season long, artist performances will be available across Cracker Barrel’s social media channels throughout December and all three artists’ new Christmas music will be played in Cracker Barrel stores nationwide.

    “We are excited to be teaming up with Cracker Barrel and our friends to share how we are continuing our favorite traditions with loved ones this year and to share special performances with our fans and Cracker Barrel lovers,” said Maddie & Tae. “All three of us have released our first Christmas album/EP and original Christmas songs this year, and it’s incredibly special to have Cracker Barrel bring us all together to celebrate musical holiday traditions and to be able to make them our own in this way.”

    Holidays are a time to disconnect and bond with families, friends and loved ones, and our hope is that ‘Cracker Barrel Sounds of the Season’ provides the opportunity to do so,” said Runaway June. “We are so appreciative of Cracker Barrel, whose commitment to supporting women in country music continues with this campaign, for letting us be a part of bringing the joyful sounds of the holidays to homes nationwide.”

    “As this year comes to a close, we want to do something extra special for those craving the comforts of familiar holiday traditions,” Cracker Barrel Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Jennifer Tate said. “Our hope is that ‘Cracker Barrel Sounds of the Season’ will bring joy to families amid these uncertain times and provide a way for loved ones to connect this holiday season – whether celebrating near or far.”

    More details on how to celebrate the holidays with Cracker Barrel can be found at www.crackerbarrel.com.

    Video /

    View
  • THANKSGIVING LINERS 2020

    Audio / LINER Adam Hambrick (Thanksgiving)

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    “Hey I’m Adam Hambrick, wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.”

     

    Audio / LINER AJ (Thanksgiving)

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    “Hi! This is Alan Jackson. I hope y’all have a very happy Thanksgiving out there.”

    Audio / LINER Billy Currington (Thanksgiving)

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    “Hey Guys, I’m Billy Currington. Have a great Thanksgiving.”

    Audio / LINER Brandon Lay (Thanksgiving)

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    “Hey y’all! This is Brandon Lay. Happy Thanksgiving.”

    Audio / LINER Brothers Osborne (Thanksgiving)

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    “Hey! This is TJ, and this is John, and we’re wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving!”

    Audio / LINER Carrie Underwood (Thanksgiving)

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

    Audio / LINER Caylee Hammack (Thanksgiving)

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    Hey y’all This is Caylee Hammack, wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving.”

    Audio / LINER Chrissy Metz (Thanksgiving)

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    “Hey–this is Chrissy Metz, wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.”

    Audio / LINER Darius Rucker (Thanksgiving)

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

    Audio / LINER Dierks Bentley (Thanksgiving)

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    “Hey! It’s Dierks Bentley! Happy Thanksgiving!”

    Audio / LINER Eric Church (Thanksgiving)

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    “Hey folks! It’s Eric Church, wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.”

    Audio / LINER Gary Allan (Thanksgiving)

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    “Hey guys! Gary Allan here. I just want to wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving, and have a Happy Holidays and make sure you’re safe out there. Drive safe. Party your butts off, but do it safe.”

    Audio / LINER George Strait (Thanksgiving)

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    “Hi! This is George Strait, wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.”

    Audio / LINER Hootie & the Blowfish (Thanksgiving)

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    “Hey everybody, what’s up? We’re Hootie & the Blowfish, wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.”

    Audio / LINER Jon Langston (Thanksgiving)

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    Hey y’all, I’m Jon Langston, wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.

    Audio / LINER Jon Pardi (Thanksgiving)

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    “Hey! It’s Jon Pardi, wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving.”

    Audio / LINER Jordan Davis (Thanksgiving)

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    “Hey I’m Jordan Davis. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.”

    Audio / LINER Josh Turner (Thanksgiving)

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    “Hey y’all I’m Josh Turner, wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.”

    [[audio-player-19]

    Audio / LINER Keith Urban (Thanksgiving)

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    “Happy Thanksgiving everybody. It’s Keith Urban here. I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all of you listening for your incredible love and support that I’ve received over the last year, and to wish you and all of your family all the very best for this holiday.”

    Audio / LINER Kip Moore (Thanksgiving)

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    “Hey what’s up guys, this is Kip Moore wishing you a very happy Thanksgiving.”

    Audio / LINER Kylie Morgan (Thanksgiving)

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    “Hey y’all, this is Kylie Morgan, wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving.”

    Audio / LINER Lauren Alaina (Thanksgiving)

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    “Hey! This is Lauren Alaina, wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving!”

    Audio / LINER LBT (Thanksgiving)

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    “Hey, we’re Little Big Town. Happy Thanksgiving!”

    Audio / LINER Luke Bryan (Thanksgiving)

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    “Hey! It’s Luke Bryan, wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!”

    Audio / LINER Maddie & Tae (Thanksgiving)

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    “Hey everybody! I’m Maddie, and I’m Tae, and we’re Maddie & Tae, wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.”

    Audio / LINER Mickey Guyton (Happy Thanksgiving)

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    “Hey! It’s Mickey Guyton here, and I want to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving.”

    Audio / LINER Parker McCollum (Thanksgiving)

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    “Hey everybody. I’m Parker McCollum, wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.”

    Audio / LINER Priscilla Block (Thanksgiving)

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    “Hi! This is Priscilla Block, wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving.”

    Audio / LINER Sam Hunt (Thanksgiving)

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    “Hey everybody! This is Sam Hunt, wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.”

    Audio / LINER Travis Denning (Thanksgiving)

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    “Hey y’all! It’s Travis Denning, wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.”

     

     

  • THE 54TH ANNUAL CMA AWARDS ARE SETTING THE STAGE FOR THIS WEDNESDAY.

    “The 54th Annual CMA Awards” take place on Wednesday (November 11th), and UMG Nashville will be represented in many of the night’s categories, including Entertainer of the Year, Female Vocalist, Male Vocalist, Album, Group, Duo, Music Video and more.

    Eric Church, Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban are vying for Entertainer of the Year, alongside Luke Combs and Miranda Lambert.

    Keith earned three nods this year, including Entertainer, Male Vocalist and Musical Event of the Year for Thomas Rhett’s “Be A Light,” which features Keith, Reba McEntire, Hillary Scott and Chris Tomlin.

    Eric Church and Carrie Underwood each earned two nods apiece – both have an Entertainer of the Year nomination, as well as Male Vocalist and Female Vocalist, respectively. Chris Stapleton is up against Church for Male Vocalist, but also has a Music Video nomination for his LEGO-themed “Second One to Know.”

    Jon Pardi is nominated in the Album of the Year category for the acclaimed Heartache Medication collection.

    Little Big Town is nominated for Vocal Group of the Year; Brothers Osborne and Maddie & Tae are up for Duo of the Year, while Kacey Musgraves is nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year.

    Reba McEntire  is nominated alongside Keith Urban for Musical Event of the Year for Thomas Rhett’s “Be A Light,” which also features Hillary Scott and Chris Tomlin.

    Caylee Hammack is also nominated in the Musical Event of the Year category for “Fooled Around And Fell In Love” with Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris, Elle King, Ashley McBryde and Tenille Townes.

    “The 54th Annual CMA Awards,” hosted by Reba McEntire and Darius Rucker, will be broadcast live from Nashville on Wednesday (November 11th) at 8pm ET on ABC.

     

    ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR

    • Eric Church
    • Luke Combs
    • Miranda Lambert
    • Carrie Underwood  
    • Keith Urban   

     

    ALBUM OF THE YEAR
    Award goes to Artist and Producer(s) 

    • Heartache Medication – Jon Pardi
      Producers: Bart Butler, Ryan Gore, Jon Pardi 
    • Never Will – Ashley McBryde
      Producers: Jay Joyce, John Peets
    • Old Dominion – Old Dominion
      Producers: Shane McAnally, Old Dominion
    • What You See Is What You Get – Luke Combs
      Producer: Scott Moffatt
    • Wildcard – Miranda Lambert
      Producer: Jay Joyce

    FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

    • Miranda Lambert
    • Ashley McBryde
    • Maren Morris
    • Kacey Musgraves  
    • Carrie Underwood   

     

    MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR  

    • Eric Church   
    • Luke Combs
    • Thomas Rhett
    • Chris Stapleton  
    • Keith Urban    

    VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR

    • Lady A
    • Little Big Town  
    • Midland
    • Old Dominion
    • Rascal Flatts

    VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR

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

    SINGLE OF THE YEAR
    Award goes to Artist(s), Producer(s) and Mix Engineer

    • “10,000 Hours” – Dan + Shay (with Justin Bieber)
      Producer: Dan Smyers
      Mix Engineer: Jeff Juliano
    • “Beer Never Broke My Heart” – Luke Combs
      Producer: Scott Moffatt
      Mix Engineer: Jim Cooley
    • “Bluebird” – Miranda Lambert
      Producer: Jay Joyce
      Mix Engineers: Jason Hall, Jay Joyce
    • “The Bones” – Maren Morris
      Producer: Greg Kurstin
      Mix Engineer: Greg Kurstin
    • “I Hope” – Gabby Barrett
      Producers: Ross Copperman, Zach Kale
      Mix Engineer: Buckley Miller

     

    SONG OF THE YEAR
    Award goes to Songwriters 

    • “Bluebird”
      Songwriters: Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby, Miranda Lambert
    • “The Bones”
      Songwriters: Maren Morris, Jimmy Robbins, Laura Veltz
    • “Even Though I’m Leaving”
      Songwriters: Luke Combs, Wyatt B. Durrette III, Ray Fulcher
    • “I Hope You’re Happy Now”
      Songwriters: Luke Combs, Randy Montana, Carly Pearce, Jonathan Singleton
    • “More Hearts Than Mine”
      Songwriters: Ingrid Andress, Sam Ellis, Derrick Southerland

     

    MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR
    Award goes to Artists and Producer(s) 

    • “10,000 Hours” – Dan + Shay (with Justin Bieber)
      Producer: Dan Smyers
    • “Be A Light” – Thomas Rhett featuring Reba McEntire, Hillary Scott, Chris Tomlin, Keith Urban
      Producer: Dann Huff
    • “The Bones” – Maren Morris with Hozier
      Producer: Greg Kurstin
    • “Fooled Around And Fell In Love” – Miranda Lambert (feat. Maren Morris, Elle King, Ashley McBryde, Tenille Townes & Caylee Hammack)
      Producer: Jay Joyce
    • “I Hope You’re Happy Now” – Carly Pearce and Lee Brice
      Producer: busbee

    MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR
    Award goes to Artist(s) and Director 

    • “10,000 Hours” – Dan + Shay (with Justin Bieber)
      Director: Patrick Tracy
    • “Bluebird” – Miranda Lambert
      Director: Trey Fanjoy
    • “Homemade” – Jake Owen
      Director: Justin Clough
    • “I Hope You’re Happy Now” – Carly Pearce and Lee Brice
      Director: Sam Siske
    • “Second One To Know” – Chris Stapleton
      Director: David Coleman 


    NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR 

    • Jimmie Allen
    • Ingrid Andress
    • Gabby Barrett
    • Carly Pearce
    • Morgan Wallen

    MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR

    • Jenee Fleenor, Fiddle
    • Paul Franklin, Steel Guitar
    • Rob McNelley, Guitar
    • Ilya Toshinskiy, Guitar
    • Derek Wells, Guitar

     

    Audio / In 2019, Eric Church put on his amazing Double Down Tour in which he played 3 1/2 to 4 hours a night. He says loves performing live for his fans.

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    Eric Church (performing energy) OC: …type of crowd. :40
    “Well, I think for me every night I try to empty the tank. There’s always that energy floating around. It’s a palpable thing, and it’s up to me to start that exchange and get the crowd to give it back to me and then watch it build on itself and just to have that experience. We have one night here in whatever city we’re in, you know, we’ve got this night. I’m not gonna see you for a while you’re not gonna see me for a while, you know? And I love being able to capitalize on that moment and trying to live in that moment and get as much energy exchange between myself and the crowd as we can. I love that. That’s my favorite part of what we do. I love being around people, I’m very passionate about my music, and I love people who are passionate about the music too and I love playing a show for that type of crowd.”

    Audio / In 2019, Carrie Underwood headlined the Cry Pretty Tour 360 with sold-out shows across the country. This year, she's put out a book, created a fitness app and released her first Christmas album. She says she loves performing live for fans.

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    Carrie Underwood (performing live on stage) OC: …a lot of fun. :35
    “I think my favorite thing about performing live is just getting kind of lost in the music and the show. I have as much fun as hopefully everybody sitting out in the audience is having. I get to connect with the fans. I get to see people. The people that are streaming music and downloading music and buying albums, they’re finally in front of me. To get to have that moment with them is so much fun. The lights and the costumes and getting to have moments with my band members on stage, I mean it’s all a lot of fun.”

    Audio / Keith Urban recalls winning his first CMA Entertainer of the Year Award in 2005.

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    Keith Urban (winning EOY in 2005) OC: …magical night. :43
    “What I remember about the Entertainer of the Year category in 2005 was that first feeling when people say it’s just an honor to be nominated, and I thought, ‘I know what that means! I know what that feels like,’ because for me it was a huge honor to be nominated so soon into my recording career. To be in that category, it just felt unbelievably quick for me. And then when they read my name out as the winner, I think I actually said, ‘I thought I was just rounding out the category,’ because [laughs] I thought you’ve got to have four or five people in the category. I truly did not expect that to happen. It was just such a magical night.”

    Audio / Jon Pardi talks about his nomination for CMA Album of the Year for his acclaimed Heartache Medication.

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    Jon Pardi (CMA Album of the Year nod) OC: …I can, again. :28
    “Having a CMA Album of the Year nomination is amazing. Just being acknowledged by my peers and all of the people in the industry is so awesome, and we worked so hard on this record and we’re still working hard on all our albums, and it’s just awesome. And so, as I get ready to make the fourth record, this is just telling me to stay on track. So, thank you for everybody for getting me this nomination, and it’s pretty awesome. And I will try to do the best fourth record I can, again.”

    Audio / BACKSTAGE AT THE CMA AWARDS, CHRIS STAPLETON SAID AWARDS MAKE HIS DREAM OF MAKING MUSIC AN EVEN BIGGER DREAM.

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    Chris Stapleton (realizing dream) OC: …larger dream. :15
    “It’s an unimaginable, fairy-tale of a thing really, and we’re so proud just to get to just make music and go out and play it for people and make records and that’s the dream. Then when you have all of these other things that people are nice enough to give you, that makes the dream an even larger dream.”

    Audio / Chris Stapleton, who is up for two awards at Wednesday night’s CMA Awards, including Male Vocalist and Music Video of the Year, says he’s always grateful for the moment of recognition.

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    Chris Stapleton (grateful for awards) OC: …grateful for the moment. :30
    “Well I’ll take ’em home with me I guess once they send ’em Yeah I guess you have to at some point, but it still is a very… I’m thankful for it and it’s very nice and there’s a lot of great people doing a lot of great things making a lot of great music and working really hard and so when you get this kind of a thing going, I don’t think anybody deserves it. It’s a lot of luck and a lot of stars lining up so, I’m grateful for the moment.”

    Audio / Backstage at last year's CMA Awards, Kacey Musgraves, who won the award for Female Vocalist, talked about celebrating women in country music.

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    Kacey Musgraves (CMA Female win) OC: …the beginning. :21
    “I think it does mean something a little bit extra special considering there are so many women in here that paved the way for me to be able to speak my mind and do the things that I do. That being said I think that every year in country music females should be equally as celebrated, because I think the female narrative is really important and it’s been the backbone of country music since the beginning.”
  • HALLOWEEN 2020

    Halloween is Saturday, October 31st, and the holiday, which may be a little different this year with a global pandemic, has some of your favorite country stars getting into costumes, while others are recalling memories of Halloweens past.

    Audio / Adam Hambrick talks about one of his favorite Halloween costumes as a kid.

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    Adam Hambrick (Halloween) OC: …five-years-old. :10
    “My grandmother made me a Ghostbusters jumpsuit, and I had the proton backpack and I went as Peter Venkman, the Ghostbuster, when I was five-years-old.”

    Audio / Alan Jackson used to take his now grown daughters trick-or-treating when they were young children, but he recalls one costume that he hated. It was an infant costume that made one of the girls look like a little peapod.

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    AJ (Halloween) OC: …cute, but…[laughs] :17
    “Aww, I remember some, when they were infants, they had like these little, they looked like a little pea pod, you know, or something. It’s like a little green pea or something. And I thought man, that’s awful. But Denise liked it, and I guess it was cute, but…(laughs).”

    Audio / Billy Currington reminisces about his childhood Halloween memories.

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    Billy Currington (Halloween) OC: …Halloween. :17
    “You know, when I was a kid, I loved the trick and the treat. I loved dressing up. I was always wanting to be Dracula. That was my favorite guy. But, of course, who doesn’t love going door-to-door and getting these buckets of candy? [laughs] So, love, love Halloween.”

     

    Audio / Brandon Lay says since his father was a preacher, their Halloween activities were church-related.

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    Brandon Lay (Halloween) OC: …let Ryder do. :26
    “You know, my dad was a preacher, so Halloween for me (ha) was a little different than most kids. We always had something going on at church, so I think I was usually a character from the Bible and walk around the gym and just try to get as much candy as I can. It sounds a little weird, but I kinda was robbed of the trick-or-treating experience – thanks a lot Mom and Dad – but I’m not bitter about it or anything. We’ll see what we let Ryder do.”

    Audio / Brothers Osborne’s TJ and John Osborne talk about dressing up like zombies for Halloween.

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    Brothers Osborne (zombie costume) OC: (John) …was so fun! :29
    TJ: “Literally, you can dress up like a zombie and drag your foot behind you all day and make weird noises, and everyone finds that completely acceptable.” [laughs] JOHN: “One year I dressed up as a ‘90s redneck zombie with a mullet wig and an Alan Jackson denim coat. I never once broke character. That’s part of the thing — you can actually not break character and get away with it. And everywhere I went, even when I ordered a drink, I ordered it like a zombie that was falling apart. [laughs] It was so fun!”

    Audio / Brothers Osborne’s John Osborne talks about carving pumpkins with their dad when they were growing up.

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    Brothers Osborne (carving pumpkins) OC: …or something. :25
    “With our dad every year, we would go looking for pumpkins, and we would all get our own pumpkin to carve, and he would buy the biggest pumpkin that they had. It was huge. I mean, it was way too big for any one person, but he would love carving. He’s kind of an artsy guy. He was a great drawer and stuff, and he would carve the most terrifying, vicious looking, scary pumpkin you’d ever seen in your life, and it would be massive. It would be like on a 50-pound pumpkin or something.”

    Audio / Brothers Osborne talk about their favorite Halloween candy.

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    Brothers Osborne (Halloween candy) OC: (John) …go stale. [laughs] :34
    TJ: “I would say, Snickers, Baby Ruth, Kit Kat and Reese’s too.” JOHN: “I always hated those houses that would give you bad candy, though. You’re like, ‘C’mon. Step it up.’ Spend the extra dollar on a bag, you know?” TJ: “A house when we were growing up used to give out whole candy bars. It was the best. You were like, ‘That house – that’s the honey hole of candy.’” JOHN: “I love it, and I love like at the end, like three or four days after Halloween you would see what candy was left, and it was always like those crappy cheap candies, and they would just go stale.” [laughs]

    Audio / Brothers Osborne’s TJ Osborne talks about one of his favorite childhood Halloween costumes.

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    Brothers Osborne (Halloween costume) OC: (TJ) …I love it. :37
    TJ: “There was a costume I had when I was a kid that my dad made. I was a caterpillar, no, you were a caterpillar and I was a spider. And so I don’t know if you’re familiar with pipe insulation? It’s like these black tubes, and so I had these little black pipe insulators as my legs.” JOHN: “There were strings attached to him that would hold some of the black pipe insulators under his hands, and he’d put working gloves on the end of them and so when he’d raise his arms, all of the little spider legs would raise up with it. [laughs] I’m telling you, our parents were total hippies. They were just…” TJ: “Artsy-fartsy hippies. I love it.”

    Audio / Darius Rucker loves Halloween, especially because it’s his kids’ favorite holiday.

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    Darius (Halloween) OC: …I’m into. :06
    “Halloween’s big for me, because the kids love it. It’s my kids’ favorite holiday, so anything they’re into, I’m into.”

    Audio / Dierks Bentley talks about the Halloweens of his childhood.

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    Dierks Bentley (Halloween) OC: … …around home. [laughs]  :23
    “Oh, when I was a kid, I was all into fireworks. Growing up in Arizona, we couldn’t get ’em, so we’d have ’em shipped in illegally. I still remember the name of the guy we’d call. His name was Joe, and he’d bring in, ship ’em in a package with no writing on ’em. We were all about M-80s in the mailboxes and bottle rocket wars. To me, as a kid, Halloween was fireworks, was blowing up stuff around home. [laughs]”

    Audio / Eric Church recalls his favorite Halloween costume.

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    Eric Church (Halloween) OC: …Franklin Street. 1:18
    “My favorite Halloween costume really came, I remember when I got a little older my first year of college, there’s this thing they do every year in Chapel Hill, North Carolina – Halloween on Franklin Street. We drove down from Boone, North Carolina. I had a bunch of friends that went to University of North Carolina, and we didn’t have costumes and didn’t realize until we were on the way that we had to have costumes. So, we stopped at a costume place in Greensboro, North Carolina. It’s Halloween, so there’s a run on everything and couldn’t find anything. And we end up getting sent around, driving  around town. We end up finding this hole in the wall place, but they had the full costume, Sesame Street outfits. The real deal. The real ones [with] feathers and fur. We were Elmo, Cookie Monster and I was Big Bird, and the Big Bird was the actual Big Bird. It’s about 7-foot-4, and yiou looked out of the body and then you had these straps that went on since the head was a lot higher. There’s a lot of beer involved in Franklin Street, so we get down there and as the night went on, my straps broke, so the head would pivot. And so, I would be walking one way and the head would be facing the other, and it just became this funny…I didn’t know the head was on backwards. I had no idea. I see out of the body, so I’m just kinda walking around and people were talking to my ass-end. [laughs] The whole time peiople’d come up and start talking and go, ‘Hey, turn around.’ And I’d turn around, and they’d go, ‘No turn around.’ It was a mess. That year, there was no other Big Bird on Franklin Street.”

    Audio / Jon Langston talks about his favorite Halloween show a few years ago when his band surprised him on stage.

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    Jon Langston (Halloween show) OC: …memorable Halloween. :59
    “So we played a show a few years ago in Baton Rouge and I go off stage and I come back on stage for the encore. I don’t know this until midway through the song, I’m just into the crowd, like I’m engaged. I’m in the zone, and I just see everyone, like everybody else behind me but me and I’m like what’s going on. I turn around and each of them has a different huge mask on, like one of those stuffed animal masks, like my drummer has a dinosaur head on. My guitar players, one of ‘em has monkey head on, the other has a unicorn head on. And my bass player has like a, I think a dog or cat head or something like that. I couldn’t finish the song I was laughing so hard just seeing them playing with these like oversized huge mask heads on Halloween night. That was funny. It was a good prank, so that was probably the most memorable Halloween.”

    Audio / Jon Pardi talks about his favorite Halloween costumes as a child.

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    Jon Pardi (Halloween) 1 OC: …the Superman. :15
    “Man, I went through phases of costumes – the Superman costume, then it was a ninja, then I was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle one year. I remember rockin’ the Superman.”

    Audio / Jon Pardi reveals his favorite Halloween candy.

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    Jon Pardi (Halloween candy) OC: …during Halloween. :06
    “Man! The candy corn is pretty good, and that’s seasonal, so it only kinda pops out during Halloween.”

    Audio / JORDAN DAVIS TALKS ABOUT HIS FAVORITE HALLOWEEN COSTUMES OVER THE YEARS.

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    Jordan Davis (Halloween) OC: …jet black. :49
    “I can remember being really big into Power Rangers. I always liked the Red Ranger. I remember being Red Ranger one Halloween. I remember me and my br4other being big into the Ninja Turtles. I was Donatello one year, which I think was the purple turtle. I think, though, my favorite Halloween was I was in college and I went as Luigi from Mario and Luigi, and I actually grew a legit mustache and dyed it jet black and ran into an ex-girlfriend at the costume shop and completely forgot I had the mustache on. So, when Is saw her, she was like, ‘So, you’re going with a mustache nowadays, huh?’ [laughs] I remember being like, ‘I swear this is part of my Halloween costume.’ [laughs] When I dyed my mustache, my top lip was black for a week. Like I really did dye it jet black.”

    Audio / JORDAN DAVIS TALKS ABOUT HIS FAVORITE HALLOWEEN CANDY.

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    Jordan Davis (Halloween candy) OC: …some Starbursts. :21
    “My favorite Halloween candy [is] probably Reese’s or M&M’s, although I love the variety of Starburst. It’s one that I feel like I only eat at Halloween, because I feel like at Halloween one of the popular ones is the two-piece Starburst things. So, probably Reese’s, M&Ms and throw in some Starbursts.”

    Audio / CANDY CORN IS A PRETTY POLARIZING CANDY THAT ONLY COMES OUT AROUND HALLOWEEN. SOME LOVE IT; SOME HATE IT AND NEITHER OPINION IS WRONG. JORDAN DAVIS SIDES WITH THE HATERS (DON’T BLAME HIM), SINCE HE’S JUST NOT THAT INTO CANDY CORN.

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    Jordan Davis (no candy corn) OC: …they’re awful. :05
    “You know what I never got? The candy corns. I’ve never been a candy corn guy. I think they’re awful.”

    Audio / Josh Turner and his family (including wife Jennifer and their four sons) enjoy dressing up as a family for Halloween. The multi-platinum selling star says his favorite family costumes was a few years ago when they dressed up as Star Wars characters.

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    Josh Turner (Halloween costumes) OC: …pretty classic. :27
    “My favorite family costume was from a couple of years ago when I had my six-and-a-half-month-old beard going, and me and the whole family dressed up as Star Wars characters. So, I was a young Obi Wan Kenobi, Jennifer was Princess Leia, Colby and Marion were Storm Troopers, Hampton was Darth Vadar and Hawk was, I guess, pretty much still a baby, and he dressed up as Yoda. It was pretty classic.”

    [[audio-player-19]

    Audio / We all know Lauren Alaina loves to dress up, but she also loved to come up with costumes for her brother. She says one of her favorite costumes was when she dressed up her brother…as her.

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    Lauren Alaina (Halloween-brother) OC: …mad about that! :19
    “I always would dress my brother up too, and I’d say not my best costume, but his best costume when I put makeup all over him and made him, he looked JUST LIKE ME, but I put extensions in his hair and a little hat on his head and I put makeup on him and my cheerleading outfit. It fit him. I was so mad about that!”

    Audio / Luke Bryan says you can tell a lot about your neighbors from what kind of Halloween candy they hand out.

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    Luke Bryan (Halloween) OC: …your teeth. :21
    “You can find out a lot about your neighbors by what kind of candy they put out. So, well, like full bars of Snickers bars, that’s what, and Reese’s cups, [but] the old chocolate popcorn ball of stuff, that’s no good either, like Dots – you get Dots one time of year and they pull your teeth.”

    Audio / Luke Bryan talks about his Halloween traditions.

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    Luke Bryan (Halloween) 2 OC: …with all that. :33
    “My tradition for Halloween is Caroline picks the outfit. I never know what I’m wearing. So that day, I’ll talk to the neighbors ‘cause I have a tractor back there and I’ll go get my tractor and get a big long trailer, and then I’ll run down to…a couple miles from the farm, we’ve got a big hay farmer that keeps hay and you run in there and pay him for his hay bales. And I’ll load the hay up and get the hayride ready and we’ll take all the kids behind the tractor and have a fun Halloween with all that.”

    Audio / Luke Bryan says his wife Caroline usually pick out his Halloween costumes....and if you follow her on Instagram, you know she's already been testing out new costumes.

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    Luke Bryan (Halloween costumes) OC: …always has. :20
    “Me and Caroline did one year where I dressed up as the old lady, and she dressed up as, she called herself a dirty old man. So, she went around acting like an old man saying snide comments to everybody. That was a fun one. The main thing is Caroline is big, she loves Halloween and always has.”

    Audio / Maddie & Tae sit on opposite sides of the fence when it comes to scary movies.

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    Maddie & Tae (Halloween) OC: …princesses. :24
    TAE: “Oooooh, Halloween [is] my favorite holiday. Anyone who knows me knows I love all things scary and gory, so especially on Halloween all the scary movies that come out in theaters, I am there every single time.” MADDIE: “And I never go with her because I hate scary things.” TAE: “You know what’s funny? As little girls, everyone wants to dress up as princesses, and I think I was a witch like six years in a row. I just wanted to be scary.” MADDIE: “Girl, I was like Jasmine and you know [other] princesses.”

    Audio / Mickey Guyton was raised in a very religious household, so she didn’t really celebrate Halloween and only went trick-or-treating one time.

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    Mickey Guyton (Halloween) OC: …the costumes. :50
    “Growing up, my parents were very, very conservative Christian, and so they viewed Halloween as a pagan holiday. BUT, I got to go trick-or-treating once in my life, and I dressed as a clown because my mom made me this clown suit and that was the best. We were in Moody, Texas. It was all three of my siblings and myself and we had so much candy that it lasted for months and months. My parents eventually had to throw it away because we had so much candy. And it was one of the most amazing, magical experiences I’ve ever had, because I never got to celebrate freaking Halloween. I tell you what, this son of mine is gonna definitely going to be celebrating trick-or-treating. Like I can’t wait to dress him up in all of the costumes.”

    Audio / Parker McCollum says his favorite Halloween candy is…Tootsie Rolls.

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    Parker McCollum (favorite Halloween candy) OC: …
    “What I can eat like 6,000 of are Tootsie Rolls. If I eat one Tootsie Roll, I’m gonna eat 30. Man, they’re so good.”

    Audio / Travis Denning talks about his favorite – and probably most embarrassing – Halloween costume.

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    Travis Denning (Halloween costume) OC: …Busch Light. :21
    “Honestly, I think one of my most proud and embarrassed Halloween costumes is I went as Terry from Reno 9-1-1. I had the roller skates, the short-shorts, the tied-up shirt. Looking back, it wasn’t the manliest thing I ever did, but it got a lot of laughs. And I think that year my favorite candy I ever had was Busch Light.”

  • MADDIE & TAE’S WE NEED CHRISTMAS AVAILABLE NOW.

    Platinum-selling duo Maddie & Tae’s first ever holiday release, We Need Christmas, is out today. The six-track project features two originals, “Merry Married Christmas” and title track “We Need Christmas,” plus beloved holiday favorites including “This Christmas,” “Holly Jolly Christmas,” “O Come All Ye Faithful,” and “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).”

    “I think more than ever, as we say in We Need Christmas, we really need all the joy and hope and love that the holiday season brings,” says Maddie Font. “There’s just something about Christmas that kind of silences all the chaos for a couple of days where you just get to quiet down with your loved ones. We’re so excited to celebrate Christmas this year and really cherish that quality time that we didn’t get as much of this year with quarantining and everything. And,” she adds, “we get to blast our own Christmas songs for our families!”

    Listen to We Need Christmas HERE

    Fans can also purchase limited edition We Need Christmas merchandise including ornaments, pajamas, candles and more, plus Maddie & Tae signed memorabilia at WeNeedChristmas.MaddieandTae.com.

    We Need Christmas Track List:

    1. This Christmas (Donny Hathaway, Nadine McKinnor)
    2. Holly Jolly Christmas (Johnny Marks)
    3. O Come All Ye Faithful (Traditional)
    4. Merry Married Christmas (Maddie Font, Taylor Kerr, Josh Kerr)
    5. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) (Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, Phil Spector)
    6. We Need Christmas (Maddie Font, Taylor Kerr, Matthew West, AJ Pruis)

     

    Produced by Jimmy Robbins and Derek Wells

     

    Audio / Maddie Font of Maddie & Tae talks about how special Christmas music is.

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    Maddie & Tae (Christmas music) OC: …so happy. :19
    “What makes Christmas music so enjoyable and so fun to listen to is just how classic it is. There’s songs that you grew up listening to that some of your favorite artists end up singing or there’s a song that reminds you of a memory. It’s just very nostalgic and just the instrumentation is just so happy.”

    Audio / LINER Maddie & Tae (available now)

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  • HALLOWEEN LINERS 2020

    Audio / LINER Adam Hambrick (Halloween)

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    “Hey! This is Adam Hambrick. Happy Halloween.”

     

    Audio / LINER Billy Currington (Trick or Treat)

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    “Trick or Treat, baby.”

    Audio / LINER Brandon Lay (Halloween)

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    “Hey everybody! This is Brandon Lay, wishing you a Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Brothers Osborne (Halloween)

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

    Audio / LINER Carrie Underwood (Halloween)

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

    Audio / LINER Caylee Hammack (Halloween) 1

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    “Hey y’all, I’m Caylee Hammack, wishing all of y’all a Happy Halloween. Boo!”

    Audio / LINER Caylee Hammack (Halloween) 2

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    “Hey y’all! I’m Caylee Hammack, wishing all you goblins and gremlins out there a Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Chrissy Metz (Halloween)

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    Audio / LINER Darius Rucker (Halloween)

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    “Hey! What’s up, y’all? This is Darius Rucker, wishing you a very Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Dierks Bentley (Halloween)

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    “Hey! It’s Dierks Bentley, wishing you a Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Eric Church (Halloween)

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    “Hey! This is Eric Church, wishing you a very Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Jon Langston (Halloween)

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    “Hey y’all! I’m Jon Langston. Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Jordan Davis (Halloween)

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    “Hey! I’m Jordan Davis, wishing you a Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Josh Turner (Halloween)

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    “Hey Y’all, I’m Josh Turner, wishing you a Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Kacey Musgraves (Halloween)

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    “Hey! It’s Kacey Musgraves, and I hope you have a Happy Halloween.”

     

    Audio / LINER Luke Bryan (Halloween)

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    “Hey! What’s up, y’all? I’m Luke Bryan, wishing you a very Happy Halloween. Boo!”

    Audio / LINER Maddie & Tae (Halloween)

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    “Hi! We’re Maddie & Tae. Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Parker McCollum (Halloween)

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    “Hey everybody, I’m Parker McCollum. Happy Halloween.”

    [[audio-player-19]

    Audio / LINER Sam Hunt (Halloween)

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    “Hey everybody! This is Sam Hunt. Happy Halloween!”

    Audio / LINER Travis Denning (Halloween)

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    “Hey y’all, it’s Travis Denning. Happy Halloween.”

  • MADDIE AND TAE SET TO RELEASE THEIR FIRST-EVER CHRISTMAS EP, 10/23.

    Maddie and Tae are set to release their first-ever holiday collection, We Need Christmas, available Friday, October 23rd. The six-track project features two originals, “Merry Married Christmas” and title track “We Need Christmas,” plus beloved holiday favorites including “This Christmas,” “Holly Jolly Christmas,” “O Come All Ye Faithful,” and “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).”

    “I hope that fans can expect a spark of joy from this Christmas project,” says Maddie & Tae’s Taylor Kerr. “We really wanted to make each song special and unique and just joyful. Something that we all need this year is Christmas and the love it has, so we hope that this makes you smile.”

    “I think right now more than ever as we say in ‘We Need Christmas,’ we really, really need Christmas and all the joy and hope and love that the holiday season brings,” says the duo’s Madison Font. “It’s just something about Christmas that silences all the chaos for a couple of days where you just get to quiet down and be with your loved ones. We’re just so excited to be able to celebrate Christmas this year and really, really cherish that quality time that we didn’t get as much this year with quarantining and everything, so, AND the fact that we’re gonna get to blast our own Christmas songs for our families.”

    We Need Christmas Track List:

    1. This Christmas (Donny Hathaway, Nadine McKinnor)
    2. Holly Jolly Christmas (Johnny Marks)
    3. O Come All Ye Faithful (Traditional)
    4. Merry Married Christmas (Maddie Font, Taylor Kerr, Josh Kerr)
    5. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) (Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, Phil Spector)
    6. We Need Christmas (Maddie Font, Taylor Kerr, Matthew West, AJ Pruis)

    Audio / Maddie & Tae’s Taylor Kerr talks about what she hopes fans can expect from their new Christmas EP.

    Download

    Maddie & Tae (what can fans expect from EP) OC: …makes you smile. :19
    “I hope that fans can expect a spark of joy from this Christmas project. We really wanted to make each song special and unique and just joyful. Something that we all need this year is Christmas and the love it has, so we hope that this makes you smile.”

    Audio / Maddie Font of Maddie & Tae explains why we really need Christmas this year, prior to releasing their new holiday EP, We Need Christmas.

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    Maddie & Tae (why we really need Christmas this year) OC: …they’ll be so sick of it. (laughs) :39
    “I think right now more than ever as we say in ‘We Need Christmas,’ we really, really need Christmas and all the joy and hope and love that the holiday season brings. It’s just something about Christmas that silences all the chaos for a couple of days where you just get to quiet down and be with your loved ones. We’re just so excited to be able to celebrate Christmas this year and really, really cherish that quality time that we didn’t get as much this year with quarantining and everything, so, AND the fact that we’re gonna get to blast our own Christmas songs for our families. They’ll be so sick of it.” (laughs)

    Audio / LINER Maddie & Tae (available this week)

    Download

    Audio / LINER Maddie & Tae (available tomorrow)

    Download
  • SAM, CARRIE, KEITH, LITTLE BIG TOWN, LUKE, MADDIE & TAE, BROTHERS O, CHRIS, PARDI, CAYLEE AND TRAVIS NOMINATED FOR CMT AWARDS THIS YEAR.

    The nominations for this year’s CMT MUSIC AWARDS were announced on Wednesday (September 23rd), and several UMG Nashville artists were among the nominees.

    Sam Hunt picked up three nods, including Video of the Year (“Hard To Forget”); Male Video of the Year (“Hard To Forget”) and CMT Performance of the Year (“Fancy” from CMT Artists of the Year show).

    Carrie Underwood, who reigns as the most awarded artist in CMT Music Awards history with 20 wins, is up for two awards including Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year  for “Drinking Alone;” and Little Big Town is also up for a pair of awards including Video of the Year (“Sugar Coat”) and Group Video of the Year (“Wine, Beer, Whiskey”).

    “Breakthrough Video of the Year” nominees include Caylee Hammack (“Family Tree”) and Travis Denning (“After a Few”).

    The finalists for “Video of the Year” will be announced on October 12; fans will be able to vote throughout the week until October 16 to determine the winner.

    Fan voting begins today at vote.cmt.com and continues until 12PM ET/11 AM CT on Monday, October 12. The top five “Video of the Year” finalists will be revealed at that time.

    The finalists for “Video of the Year” will be announced on October 12; fans will be able to vote throughout the week until October 16 to determine the winner.

    The nominees for the “2020 CMT Music Awards” are:

    VIDEO OF THE YEAR
    Best video of the year; awarded to the artist (male, female, group/duo or collaboration) and the video director. Final nominees announced on 10/12, with final voting held until 10/16 and announced in-show.

    • Ashley McBryde – “One Night Standards”
    • Blanco Brown – “The Git Up”
    • Carrie Underwood – “Drinking Alone”
    • Dan + Shay – “I Should Probably Go To Bed”
    • Keith Urban – “Polaroid”
    • Kelsea Ballerini – “homecoming queen?”
    • Little Big Town – “Sugar Coat”
    • Luke Combs – “Beer Never Broke My Heart”
    • Miranda Lambert – “Bluebird”
    • Old Dominion – “Some People Do”
    • Sam Hunt – “Hard To Forget”
    • Tanya Tucker – “Bring My Flowers Now”
    • The Chicks -“Gaslighter”
    • Thomas Rhett – “Remember You Young”

    FEMALE VIDEO OF THE YEAR
    Best video by a female artist; awarded to the artist

    • Ashley McBryde – “One Night Standards”
    • Carrie Underwood – “Drinking Alone”
    • Gabby Barrett – “I Hope”
    • Kelsea Ballerini – “homecoming queen?”
    • Maren Morris – “The Bones”
    • Miranda Lambert – “Bluebird”

    MALE VIDEO OF THE YEAR
    Best video by a male artist; awarded to the artist

    • Jason Aldean – “Got What I Got”
    • Luke Bryan – “One Margarita”
    • Luke Combs – “Even Though I’m Leaving”
    • Morgan Wallen – “Chasin’ You (Dream Video)”
    • Sam Hunt – “Hard To Forget”
    • Thomas Rhett – “Remember You Young”

    GROUP VIDEO OF THE YEAR
    Best video by a group; awarded to the artists

    • Lady A – “Champagne Night”
    • Little Big Town – “Wine, Beer, Whiskey”
    • Midland – “Cheatin’ Songs (Live From the Palomino)”
    • Old Dominion – “One Man Band”
    • The Chicks – “Gaslighter”
    • The Highwomen – “Crowded Table”

    DUO VIDEO OF THE YEAR
    Best video by a duo; awarded to the artists

    • Brothers Osborne – “All Night (Studio Performance)” 
    • Dan + Shay – “I Should Probably Go To Bed”
    • Florida Georgia Line – “Blessings”
    • LOCASH – “One Big Country Song”
    • Maddie & Tae – “Die From A Broken Heart”

    BREAKTHROUGH VIDEO OF THE YEAR
    Best video from an artist’s major breakthrough album; awarded to the artist (male, female or group/duo)

    • Blanco Brown – “The Git Up”
    • Caylee Hammack – “Family Tree”
    • Gabby Barrett – “I Hope”
    • Ingrid Andress – “More Hearts Than Mine”
    • Riley Green – “I Wish Grandpas Never Died”
    • Travis Denning – “After a Few”

    COLLABORATIVE VIDEO OF THE YEAR
    Best video from a collaboration; awarded to the artists

    • Blake Shelton with Gwen Stefani – “Nobody But You”
    • Carly Pearce and Lee Brice – “I Hope You’re Happy Now”
    • Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber – “10,000 Hours”
    • Kane Brown featuring Nelly – “Cool Again”
    • Marshmello and Kane Brown – “One Thing Right”
    • Thomas Rhett featuring Jon Pardi – “Beer Can’t Fix”

    CMT PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
    Musical performance on a television show, series or variety special on CMT; awarded to the artist (individual, group or duo)

    • From CMT Artists of the Year: Ashley McBryde – “One Night Standards”
    • From CMT Crossroads: Brooks & Dunn and Luke Combs – “Brand New Man”
    • From CMT Artists of the Year: Chris Young – “Drowning”
    • From CMT Crossroads: Halsey and Kelsea Ballerini – “Graveyard”
    • From CMT Artists of the Year: Sam Hunt – “Fancy”
    • From CMT Crossroads: Sheryl Crow and Chris Stapleton – “Tell Me When It’s Over”

     

    Audio / MADDIE & TAE TALK ABOUT THE EMOTIONS THAT TOOK PLACE WHILE FILMING THE VIDEO FOR THEIR LATEST SONG, “DIE FROM A BROKEN HEART.”

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    Maddie & Tae (DFABH video emotions) OC: (Tae) …feel something. :49
    MADDIE: “My role in this is kind of being the narrator and watching my best friend go through kind of like how this inspiration started for this song. So, we just both really, really dug into the like just lowest, lowest parts of our (TAE: “Heartache.”). It was tricky, ‘cause I was like I have to be really, really emotional and I feel bad all the camera guys, especially with Tae’s scenes, they’re just like, you could see their eyes welling up watching her and watching me crying.” TAE: “My parents just happened to be in town when we were shooting, so I was like, ‘When else are you gonna be in town when we’re making music videos, so you have to come,’ cause they’ve never seen it. They came and one specific scene – I’m not gonna say what it is – but it made both of my parents cry. And I walked out and my mom had a red nose and my dad’s like, ‘I wasn’t crying. I wasn’t crying.’ (MADDIE: “Awwwwww.”) And I was like, ‘Oh no.’ Well, if it makes my parents cry, hopefully it’ll makes people feel something.”

    Audio / CAYLEE HAMMACK TALKS ABOUT HAVING SOME OF HER FAMILY MEMBERS AND FRIENDS FEATURED IN THE MUSIC VIDEO FOR “FAMILY TREE.”

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    Caylee Hammack (Family Tree video) OC: …world to me. :37
    “If you’ve ever wrangled monkeys, that’s pretty much the gist of getting ‘Family Tree’ together because I brought in a bunch of my family members, I brought a bunch of my friends, I brought my dog in, we had a little cast because some of the people couldn’t come in to play the roles. It was a wild day on set, but I think it all came together. Being able to bring my family in that video means the world to me, because ‘Family Tree’ is the introductory course into my music, you know? It’s the appetizer of my tunes, and being able to start that off very strong with all of my family surrounding me, means the world to me.”

    Audio / TRAVIS DENNING TALKS ABOUT THE STORY LINE OF HIS MUSIC VIDEO FOR "AFTER A FEW."

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    Travis Denning (AAF video) OC: …act in it. :50
    “One thing I loved about the treatment for the After a Few music video is Justin Clough, who directed it, just had this great idea of the similarities between the relationship and taking a gamble on that and actually taking a gamble on a poker game. And so, we decided to kind of have this story line of me and this girl that I just couldn’t help but go back to and every drink was a gamble into falling back in her arms. And then this other side where I’m going up playing poker and getting more confident and winning money and then finally, everything comes to a T with going all in on this hand, and all of a sudden, I’m all in with her. I just thought it was so cool, and it was just great how the cinematic aspect completely mirrored one another. It was fun to act in it.”

    Audio / CARRIE UNDERWOOD TALKS ABOUT “DRINKING ALONE,” WHICH SHE CO-WROTE WITH BRETT JAMES AND DAVID GARCIA.

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    Carrie Underwood (Drinking Alone) OC: …right now. 1:07
    “I had the title, and we just kind of started what does this mean. This is another one that I feel like the title could have gone to a very like sad emotional place, but me being me I still wanted to have that strong kind of character in there. So, I love the fact that this is a breakup song. ‘I’m here at the bar drinking my pain away. You and me can hang out. Why should we both be lamenting over lost love separately? We’re both here doing the same thing. Let’s just do that together.’ I love that the character, I was like I don’t want her like going home with him. I don’t want any of that. I just want it to be like, ‘Okay we’ll just hang out. We’ll drink. We’ll maybe share a corner booth kiss.’ But it’s just more about that night and that moment and that Band-Aid and then going your separate ways. ‘Like this isn’t a thing. I’m not looking to start a new relationship. I’m out of this one. Let’s just let whatever this is be what this is right now.’”

    Audio / LUKE BRYAN TALKS ABOUT HIS MULTI-WEEK NO. 1 SONG, "ONE MARGARITA."

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    Luke Bryan (One Margarita) OC: …margarita. :44
    “’One Margarita’ is like the perfect summertime anthem party song, get on your boat, have a great time. The first time I heard it, I was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s like the catchiest, most fun party song I’ve heard in a long time.’ Sop, we knew we had something special with the song. We get it recorded, and I’m like, ‘Hey! We’ve got Crash My Playa. What better place to put a song called ‘One Margarita’ out and then do the video?’ So, we go to Crash My Playa and we just start shooting it down there. And the video just feels fun. It came together amazing, and it gives fans a little glimpse of what Crash My Playa is if they’ve never been, and hey-it makes you want to have a margarita.”