Keith Urban (CMA Fest 2022) OC: …whole weekend, yeah. :15
“Electric, I think. Electric. It’s an electric experience anyways, CMA Fest is unlike anything I’ever played, and I think the fact that it’s been absent for two years, I think you’re gonna feel that in the audience that night. The whole weekend, yeah.”

Carrie Underwood (CMA Music Festival) OC: …when they’re here. 1:05
“CMA Music Festival is so much fun, and every year they do a TV special, which is really cool. We kind of get to give the rest of the world that didn’t get to come to the Music Fest a little taste of what it’s like and hopefully they’ll see it and want to come next year. But CMA Music Fest is so much fun. No other genre of music does what country music does for their fans like this, which is so cool. There are literally like hundreds of thousands of people that like descend on Nashville, and there’s not a hotel to be found. Everywhere you go there’s people looking for music and looking to see artists and fan club parties and charity events and the CMT Music Awards are that week. It’s a lot of fun, and it’s kind of a way to get to interact and give back and meet the people that have been coming to see you on tour and get to say thank you. It’s just a blast. I came as a kid growing up a couple of times, and it’s cool to be on that side of things and now to be on this side of things, but I think everybody just has a lot of fun when they’re here.”

Darius Rucker (CMA Music Fest) OC: …awesome. :48
“Music Fest is like nothing else. I say all the time that country music is the only genre that could have something like that. It’s truly amazing, when I come that weekend, people are everywhere and they want to be your best friend. It’s always cool and I love coming here. The thing that always gets me is the show. The fact that you can get that many superstars at one show all playing for free, for the same goal, to entertain those people that are in that stadium that come here for the whole week from all over the world. They come here for one week to see country music, and it’s amazing that those artists say on Friday and Saturday night, this is country music come on out. That’s awesome.”

Brothers Osborne (CMA Music Fest-Nissan Stadium) OC: …their shoes. :40
TJ: “When we first came to Nashville, we had dreams of playing, like ‘Oh my God, are we ever gonna play there?’ And it never even crosses your mind – you’re not playing the stadium. It’s just not happening. And now to circle around and to be playing here, it’s wild. The feeling of it is not lost on us, even the slightest. It’s hard to really, honestly put it into words. It’s literally every kid’s dream, even if you don’t become a musician, you still dream about being on that stage. And we used to come, when we would come, it was Fan Fair, and we would see artists performing on these stages and be like, ‘Gah, we’d just give anything to be in their shoes.”

Sam Hunt (CMA Music Fest-move to Nashville) OC: …good week for Nashville. :38
“You know, I was here several years ago for the first time for CMA Fest as a fan. I came out to the show, did the full experience, and it really was one of the big reasons I decided to move to Nashville. It kind of made the idea of being a songwriter more tangible and realistic, and also I fell in love with the city, Nashville, so I knew it’d be a place I’d be happy living, and also because of the music. So, yeah, that week here really inspired my move here, and it was a significant part of my life. But since then, I’ve been to every CMA Fest since, I think, and it’s a good week for Nashville.”

Tyler Hubbard (1^st CMA Fest) OC: …a special week. :55
“The first CMA Music Fest that I remember was we were not performing. We were not invited. It was BK and I were actually working as promotional guys for Coke Zero, so we were passing out free Coke Zero in the middle of summer in downtown Nashville, burning hot, and dreaming of the year that we would be able to play a show there. Looking back, it’s been such an awesome progression to go from that to playing small stages and then playing Riverfront and then getting to play Nissan Stadium multiple times was just a dream come true. Every year we’d go back, and we’d say remember where we started over there with the Coke Zero tent? So just a lot of great memories of that week, what a special week in Nashville and a special week for not only us as artists, but for the fans too to just connect, so it’s always a special week.”

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

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

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

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

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

Dierks (Mother’s Day) OC: …for sure. :20
“When it’s your actual mom, you know, there’s some slack there, but when with your wife – any touring husband, anyone who tours who has kids and a wife back home, it’s tough man. It’s a lot of work. So, I definitely need to step up to think of something great to do this Sunday, for sure.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Hey, this is Mickey Guyton, wishing all you mothers out there a Happy Mother’s Day.”

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

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

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

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

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

Sam Hunt (23 story) 2 OC: …rare for me. :33
“That’s one that I’ve had and tried to work up for several years. A lot of times you’re just one word or one little change away from an idea turning into a song. We were down at the beach, we happened to be at the beach; that may have had something to do with it. We were down there and it’s easier to tap into that nostalgia when you’re at the beach, thinking back to trips you know from your youth. But who knows? But I’m glad that it worked out that day because we wrote it in probably two hours, which is pretty rare for me.”

Sam Hunt (23 story) OC: …comes and goes. :21
“The general concept was sorta you can’t make new old friends, so you’re never gonna be exactly who you were at that point in your life, and you experience that version of the other person as well. So, there are times in your life when you’re not gonna be able to experience that again with anybody else in the future, but you can appreciate that a little bit, once it comes and goes.”

Billy Currington (football fan) OC: …love football. :36
“I’m a big football fan. I mean, when I was growing up, if you asked me who my favorite team is now, I couldn’t tell you. But when I was a kid, it was the Dallas Cowboys. And I don’t know if it was because my mom bought my brother a Pittsburgh Steelers pennant for some reason, and bought me a Dallas Cowboys pennant, and of course over the year I fell in love with the Cowboys, and then I wanted a jersey the next Christmas, and then the next one, I wanted [more Cowboys stuff]. So, I became a long-term fan with those guys. But I like it all now that I’m older. I’ll watch any game, it doesn’t matter who’s playing. But [I] love football.”

Darius Rucker (football) OC: …football season. :20
“Ever since I was five years old, I’ve loved football, and I love how physical it is. I love the chess match of the game. I love the speed of the game. I love college football, but for me watching pro football is better because the speed is so much more. For me, there’s two times a year, man — football season and waiting for football season.”

Keith (Nicole and football) OC: …new to me. :04

“She’s a big NFL fan, and she sort of turned me on to it.”

Lauren Alaina (Super Bowl) OC: …I love it. :30
“My dad raised me to love football, so I think it’s like kind of in my blood to be obsessed with it. I feel like the guys are so passionate and they try so hard. Those people love playing that game as much as I love singing. I just love the heart and the drive and the passion behind it. I feel like those boys are playing as hard as they can – in college football and pro football – because it’s what they love to do and it’s their passion, and I just, I don’t know. I love it.”

LBT (football story) OC: …my lip. :40
“I was the quarterback to my powder puff team. I was running the ball and I came around the corner – this was in high school – and a foreign exchange student, I think her name was Inga (KIMBERLY: “Inga.”), and I didn’t want to fumble ‘cause my brother and my dad were there, and I come from this very athletic family, so I held onto the ball. I knew I was going to go down, so I let my head hit first and I bit all the way through, but I didn’t fumble and I had a hole in my face, though. The sad thing is that it was just flag football, but I left my flags on and cleats and everything, ‘cause it looked cool, and I had blood running all down my jersey. I went to the emergency room like that, and they sewed up my lip.”

Luke Bryan (Super Bowl food) OC: …over again. :22
“Definitely Super Bowl is like the queso, the Frito Lay scoops with the Ro-tel situation. I guess it’s like, what’s the black-eyed pea stuff too? All of that, just stuff that you can sit there and have lots of sodium, and then just, it’s like Thanksgiving all over again.”

Priscilla Block (Football/Super Bowl food) OC: …what happens. :23
“I mean, I feel like the Super Bowl is like just such a fun day. I’m really excited for the half-time show. I feel like that’s usually why I’m there, is to watch the anthem and the half-time show, but yes, excited to eat all the bad things. And I’m honestly, I don’t feel pulled any way this year. I wish the (Tennessee) Titans were in it, but we’ll see what happens.”

Sam Hunt (Super Bowl & music) OC: …combined there. :24
“It’s become such a massive pop culture event, and I love that they’ve incorporated music and entertainment with the sport itself and the entertainment value that comes from that. It encompasses just a strong representation of American culture, and I’m a huge music fan, obviously, and I’m a huge sports fan, so those are two of my favorite worlds combined there.”

Travis Denning (Super Bowl 2022) OC: …amazing game. :35
“Hey y’all, Travis Denning here. I’m super fired up for this upcoming Super Bowl, mainly because Matt Stafford – a Georgia boy – is starting for the Rams. I’ve been a big fan of his since he played college at Georgia, obviously, and it’s amazing to see after 10-plus seasons, I think it’s like 13 seasons or something that he’s finally in the Super Bowl. So, I’m pulling for the Rams, but I’m a big Joe Burrow fan. I do like Joe Burrow. He’s fun, he’s hilarious, he’s an amazing football player, so I think it’s gonna be an amazing game.”

Travis Denning (go-to Super Bowl snack) OC: …other pick. :05
“My go-to Super Bowl snack is buffalo chicken dip, obviously. There’s no other pick.”