Lady A (fake tree vs real tree) OC: (Charles) …the lights up. :47
DAVE/HILLARY: “Fake tree!”

CHARLES: “I would love to have a real tree, and we used to have it and I always wondered why I couldn’t breathe. [LAUGHS] Dave and I share, we’re allergic to everything in this world, so we have to have fake trees.”

HILLARY: “There not as messy. [CHARLES: “And who wants their house to burn down accidentally?”] They still kinda shed anyway like a real tree, but I don’t know, I just feel like the sap and everything, it gets on my floor.”

DAVE: “Which some people love! Most people … the cleanup and the smell, but for me it’s just a little too much maintenance at Christmas time. I’d rather focus on [HILLARY: “The family.”] presents, family, food [CHARLES: “And drinking.”], so then the tree just pops in the attic for good.”

HILLARY: [LAUGHS] “Pre-lit tree.”

CHARLES: “Omigosh, you’re going super laziness.”

DAVE: “You at least need to put some lights on.”

CHARLES: “At least string the lights up.”

Lady A (Hillary—tackiest ornaments) OC: …this year? [laughs] :20
“My mom, I gave her such a hard time when I was a little girl, because she went to some store and got these, it’s like snowmen with an icicle hanging down from the bottom, so I thought they were so gawdy. But you know what? Now that I’m older, I love ‘em. And if they’re not on the tree, I’m like, ‘Mama, where are they? Where are the snowmen icicle lights this year?” [laughs]

Lady A (Charles trimming the tree) OC: …she relented. :25
“My mom actually sent me some of our old ornaments that we had made and stuff. We always had the cheesiest tree (HILLARY: “Homemade…”), but I miss it. It was always so very colorful. And with my wife, she’s very stylish and chic, and so she wanted this really chic tree, and so she wanted this really chic tree, and I said, ‘Baby, I’m sorry. We’ve got to put a little color in this.’ So, I put some of my cheesy little stuff on there, and I think that’s part of Christmas. I think you have to have that, so she relented.”

LADY A (Charles-last minute shopper) OC: …last-minuter. :08
“I’m probably a last-minute shopper for sure. Hillary says she’s already been doing her Christmas shopping really early, but I would have to say I’m a last-minuter.”

Charles Kelley (Christmas memory-bike) OC: …Christmas Eve. :27
“My favorite Christmas memory – the one I remember the most is when I wrecked my bike. I had just gotten a bike for Christmas, and it had rained and I slid out and the bike handle hit me in the eye, and I got a big ole black eye. But, what I remember most more than anything, is just growing up with all of my family and waking up in the morning. Josh, my brother Josh and I were about a year and a half apart, so we were like twins growing up. We could never stay still on Christmas Eve.”

Charles Kelley (Christmas albums) OC: …Vince Gill Christmas. :20
“I love anything Vince Gill and Martina McBride. For some reason, my wife, she’s a giant, Martina McBride is what she grew up listening to Christmas. So, at our house it’s always that. My generation, I think, it was all Martina McBride and Vince Gill Christmas.”

Charles Kelley (apple cider tradition) OC: …and apples. [Hillary laughs] :18
“You know one thing that I honestly always associate Christmas with is apple cider. Hot apple cider. My mom always made it and she put in all these spices, and it always reminds me of Christmas. My mom used to also make baked apples too, which I don’t know what our obsession is with apples, but apparently we’re Christmas and apples.” [Hillary laughs]

Lady A (favorite Christmas gift) OC: (Charles) …album cover, too. :15
“My favorite Christmas gift was probably my very first guitar from my Grandpa about 15 years ago. And more recently, I got a red Gibson about 5 or 6 years ago. That red one we use on stage was given to me by my Dad for Christmas years ago.” CHARLES: “It was on our first album cover, too.”

LADY A (Christmas movies) OC: (Hillary) …Christmas Vacation. :14
CHARLES: “Favorite Christmas movie would have to be A Christmas Story! I never get tired out of it – ‘shoot your eye out’ is my favorite line.” DAVE: “National Lampoon’s…” HILLARY: “Yes! My favorite Christmas movie is – it’s close between It’s a Wonderful Life and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”

LADY A (Christmas songs) OC: (Hillary) …His Child.’ :15
CHARLES: “Favorite Christmas song for me would have to be ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.’ How ‘bout you guys?” DAVE: “My favorite Christmas song would have to be ‘We Three Kings.’” HILLARY: “One of my favorite all-time Christmas songs is one that Trisha Yearwood recorded called ‘It Wasn’t His Child.’”

Lady A (Dave-Christmas tradition) OC: …it along. :23
“I think the tradition that I would love to carry on is kind of a funny one. My dad on Christmas Eve, he would actually read the Christmas Story. Very predictable, I know, but after the Christmas Story, he would always give his famous Christmas test. He would have this long test, and he would ask us about the Wise Men and the shepherds and the entire Christmas Story. I’m gonna have to get the copy of it from him, because he never gives us the full answers. But, I’d love to get that test from him and be able to pass it along.”

David Nail (anxiety over becoming a father) OC: …we know it. :55
“I think the thing I’m most anxious about as far as being a father is the struggles that Catherine and I have had that we’ve been very public about. It’s been four or five years that we’ve been battling the issues of infertility and the fact that with the help of some amazing doctors in Nashville and science, we were able to conceive. And so, just knowing how difficult it’s been, and just like anything, when times are tough and you come out on the other side, it makes it that much sweeter. They’re definitely going to be special, and we look forward to them being here and we’ve already got their names picked out and the nursery’s done, and the bags are packed and ready to go to the hospital just waiting on that moment to come. So, hopefully it’ll be here before we know it.”

Brothers Osborne (feel of Christmas) OC: …dig that. :36
“I love the overall feel and look at that time of year, because it’s starting to get really cold then and everything’s coming to a halt. It stays dark so you have a lot of Christmas lights. I just love Christmas lights – they put you in such an amazing mood. Just the sounds, like all the Christmas music and even shopping, which is quite possibly one of the most hectic things to do during the holidays. Even if we have all our shopping done, we’ll still go to the mall just because it’s so alive and vibrant and the colors and the music and the lights. I just love it. It’s a bit sensory overload, but I kinda dig that.”

Scotty McCreery (favorite Christmas song) OC: …my favorite. :18
“My favorite Christmas song comes from my favorite Christmas album, and that’s Elvis’ Christmas album. I was an Elvis fanatic growing up. It was ‘Blue Christmas.’ When I was making my album [Christmas With Scotty McCreery], I knew I was going to put at least one Elvis song on there, so it came down to just deciding that nobody was going to sing ‘Blue Christmas’ like Elvis Presley, so we did ‘Santa Claus is Back in Town.’ But ‘Blue Christmas’ is definitely my favorite.”

Scotty McCreery (Christmas movies) OC: …all the time. :11
“Some of my favorite holiday moves areThe Santa Clause 1, Home Alone: Lost in New York, all of those are good ones. The Christmas Story, now that’s a classic, The Christmas Story there. That’s on every Christmas. We watch it all the time.”

Scotty McCreery (spending the holidays) OC: …together, you know? :13
“My favorite part of the holidays is spending time with family. It’s tough being on the road and not seeing them as much during the year, but the holidays is always the time you can get together as a family and just reflect on the year and spend some quality time together, you know?”

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

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

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

“Hey! What’s up guys? I’m Canaan Smith, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”

“Hey! What’s up? This is Clare Dunn, hoping you have a Merry Christmas.”

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

“Hey! This is David Nail, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”

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

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

“Hey everybody! This is Easton Corbin, wishing you and your family a Happy Holidays.”

“Hey everybody! This is Easton Corbin, wishing you a Merry Christmas.”

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

“Hi! I’m Eric Paslay. Hope you have a Merry Christmas.”

“Hi! I’m Eric Paslay, wishing you a very Happy Holiday Season.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Hey y’all, it’s Kelleigh Bannen, and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas.”

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

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

“Hey everybody! We’re Lady Antebellum, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”

“Hey everybody! We are Lady Antebellum. Happy Holidays.”

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

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

“Hey! We’re Little Big Town, and we just want to say Have Yourself a Very Merry Christmas.”

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

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

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

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

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

“Happy Holidays everyone. It’s Scotty McCreery, and go easy on that eggnog!”

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

“Hey! It’s Toby Keith with the gift of politically correctness. Happy Holidays. Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah, or Bah Humbug. Whatever way you celebrate, I hope it’s a good one.”

Chris Stapleton (album) OC: …that’d be great. :47
“I grew up on records as a piece of work. I didn’t grow up in an age where we necessarily bought singles or just one piece of an album. I grew up on things that were albums. I hope that people go ahead and get the whole album and listen to it, take the time to listen it, and not as a passive thing, as like I’m watching television or Youtube, all these things that we have as distractions. Music to me is meant to be enjoyed in that way and you’re really supposed to dive into it. And I hope some folks can find it in their hearts to do that with this record, because I think it’s how it was meant to be used. And somewhere in there if they’re compelled to come and watch me live, that’d be great.”

Brothers Osborne (Grammys) OC: (John) …we’re asleep. [laughs] :28
TJ: “We found out that we were nominated almost the same exact way we found out we were nominated for an ACM. I woke up to like 60 text messages, and I was like, ‘Who the hell is texting me at this time of the day.’ And I looked at the phone, and everyone’s like, ‘Wake up! You were nominated for the Grammys.’” JOHN: “My wife woke me up, just like screaming, ‘Wake up! Wake up!’ I woke up in a panic. I thought the damn house was on fire. But, yeah, we hear most big news while we’re asleep.” [laughs]

Brothers Osborne (Grammys) 2 OC: (John) …by our peers. :39
TJ: “I mean, it’s crazy to be nominated for a Grammy, For the rest of our lives, we’ll always be Grammy nominated artists, you know. And hopefully, we win the category, but just simply being nominated, it’s something that a lot of musicians and songwriters and entertainers never, ever get to achieve, and so it’s, to say it’s an honor is an understatement.” JOHN: “Yeah, we’ve always taken kind of a different approach when it comes to music. And our music is not necessarily 100% conventional all the time, so the mountain for us has been a bit steeper, and this is an amazing achievement because we’re nominated and we’re being acknowledged by our peers.”

Keith Urban (J3 #1 party) OC: …does everything. :30
“For me, it was just a great song. It kinda didn’t matter how it was done, it was a great song. It was solid, great melody. Even from a singer’s standpoint, there’s certain things about rhythmic qualities of consonants and vowels and where they fall in a melody and where they fall in the rhythm that matter to me; maybe not even just matter, but they resonate with me that way. So, you can have a song that’s really well-written lyrically, but it’s not great to sing. It doesn’t sing well. It reads well, but it doesn’t sing well, and this is one of those songs that does everything.”

Charles Kelley (Grammys) OC: …this record. :57
“I actually found out about the nominations this morning. My wife woke me up. I had a whole bunch of text messages from friends and family congratulating me. I, of course, like most musicians, don’t wake up before nine o’clock. But just honestly, I have not been able to get this smile off my face today. I’m so fired up. I’m so ready for fans to hear this project. ‘The Driver’ is a song, it’s probably one of the most honest songs I’ve written in a long time, and to be able to share this moment with my buddies Dierks Bentley and Eric Paslay, means the world to me. Every time I go on social media and see the reaction and fans specifically talking about this song and how it’s speaking to them, that reminds me of why I wanted to pursue this project. I don’t know. It just means the world to me, and it means the world to me that Hillary and Dave are so supportive. They were one of my first texts this morning congratulating me. And I cannot wait for everybody to hear the rest of this record.”

Kacey Musgraves (Pageant Material) OC: …for the record. :55
“For this record, Pageant Material, it’s funny how that was one of the later songs we wrote, and I don’t go into a record, or I haven’t yet, with a theme in mind. I just like let the songs come, and somewhere along the way, they take shape on their own. That’s kind of what happened here. We gotten ‘Pageant Material,’ and at that point, I think that was the last one we wrote, that one or ‘Dime Store [Cowgirl].’ So, we had most of the songs in the batch, and I hadn’t really, I was kind of feeling a little weird ‘cause I was like I didn’t really know what it was going to be called. Same thing happened with Same Trailer…, it just kind of popped out of nowhere and late in the game. So, I was just messing around with the titles, and I just thought, ‘Pageant Material – that would be an awesome statement for the record, I think.’ It’s just kind of saying, ‘I’m not pageant material. I’m not a robot. I kind of am what I am.’ And it also has a humorous touch to it too, which I really like. And of course, I love big hair and retro styles, so I thought it was a good fit for the record.”

Keith Urban (Song for Dad) OC: …thanks to him. :31
“For me, I just wanted to write a song to say thanks to my dad, you know? My love for American country music, American cars, American culture, all of that stuff was inherited from my dad. He grew up in the ‘50s and was infected with rock’n roll, like so many kids around the world were in the ‘50s, and that really started it for him. He was in. He was sucked in to the vortex, you know? And I inherited all that stuff, and I loved the fact that I did, because it sent me on my path, and it was where I was supposed to be. So, this song was my way of saying thanks to him.”

Keith Urban (dad) OC: …grateful for. :14
“You know, Dad really, he’s the reason that I’m here today. His record collection was what got me pointed toward Nashville. He drove me to the music store to buy my first guitar. You know, he was always extremely supportive of my music, and I have a lot to be grateful to him for.”

George Strait (Cold Beer Conversation single) OC: …is killer. :23
“Ah, it’s got such a cool vibe to it. And it’s just a great idea, you know? The lyrics are just perfect for having a ‘Cold Beer Conversation,’ the things that you talk about with a buddy that are just normal. So, that’s kind of what drew me to the song, plus the melody, I think, is killer.”