The Thanksgiving holiday tradition traces its origins to a 1621 celebration at Plymouth, in the state that’s now known as Massachusetts. The 1621 Plymouth feast and thanksgiving was prompted by a good harvest. While initially, the Plymouth colony did not have enough food to feed half of the 102 colonists, the Wampanoag Native Americans helped the Pilgrims by providing seeds and teaching them to fish. The practice of holding an annual harvest festival like this did not become a regular affair in New England until the late 1660s. People now celebrate the holiday by giving thanks for their blessings over the past year, as well as feasting on turkey and other festive goodies.
Thanksgiving Day is Thursday, November 26th, and this year will most likely be a little different from previous years due to the global pandemic. Most people might be enjoying time with a small group of their friends and families, including some of your favorite country stars, such as Adam Hambrick, Alan Jackson, Brandon Lay, Brothers Osborne, Caylee Hammack, Carrie Underwood, Darius Rucker, Dierks Bentley, Eric Church, Jon Langston, Jon Pardi, Josh Turner, Keith Urban, Kip Moore, Little Big Town, Maddie & Tae, Mickey Guyton, Sam Hunt, Travis Denning and more. They share their thoughts of thanks this year, their lessons in gratitude, memories and favorite Thanksgiving dishes. (More audio will be added.)
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Audio / Adam Hambrick says he’s very thankful to his family.
DownloadAdam Hambrick (Thanksgiving) OC: …I was raised. :32
“I know this sounds very cheesy, but I am very thankful for my family. A lot of the good things that have happened in my life are just a result of being raised in a family with two parents that love each other, with sisters that I love and being raised in a community of people, even outside of my family, that’s just a lot of love and a lot of care. Those are the things that raise a person up to be successful, and I am a success because of the way I was raised.”
Audio / Adam Hambrick says his Grandfather’s turkey and dressing and a special side dish signals Thanksgiving.
DownloadAdam Hambrick (Thanksgiving food) OC: …Thanksgiving. :21
“Oh man. Give me Granddaddy’s turkey and dressing and just the friggin’ canned cranberry sauce, [laughs] like I’ll suck it down like a champ. There’s just something about the canned cranberry sauce with my Granddaddy’s turkey and dressing that will always taste like Thanksgiving.”
Audio / Alan Jackson talks about his favorite Thanksgiving dish.
DownloadAJ (Thanksgiving) OC: …enjoy it. :19
“My favorite Thanksgiving dish would be the homemade dressin’ that we, cornbread-based kind of dressin’ that we always have with turkey. That recipe is a kind of a combination of my mama, and Denise has taken it and perfected it over the years, so that me and my children really enjoy it.”
Audio / Brandon Lay says 2020 has been a heck of a year, but the bright spot was the birth of his daughter, Lara June, earlier this year.
DownloadBrandon Lay (Thanksgiving) OC: …thankful for. :22
“I tell you what, this year has been a crazy year. I mean 2020 will have an asterisk beside it for the rest of history, no doubt. My bright spot was my little girl being born in June right in the middle of all of this craziness. When I look around at all of the bad things that have happened, I look at her and realize how much I’ve got to be thankful for.”
Audio / Brothers Osborne’s John Osborne talks about their annual Misfits Thanksgiving dinner.
DownloadBrothers Osborne (misfits Thanksgiving) OC: …going home. :45
“What we’ve done the past several years is because it’s so hard to go home, we would have what we call the Misfit Thanksgiving dinner, and all the people in Nashville who aren’t able to go home to their families, we would just invite them over to our house and have a big potluck style Thanksgiving dinner. We’ll take like a couple of tables and throw them together and throw some sheets on it just to make it look nice. It’s a very redneck display of like tableware, because all the plates don’t match an d the forks and knives don’t match, but we don’t care. People will bring wine, and at the end of the day, we’ll probably have 12-15 people all sitting at dinner together that weren’t able to go home with their families, and just enjoy it with friends. It’s been really fun. Definitely a lot less stress than going home.”
Audio / Carrie Underwood says she and her family don’t have too many Thanksgiving traditions.
DownloadCarrie Underwood (Thanksgiving) OC: …the other one. :34
“We don’t have too many set-in-stone Thanksgiving traditions. I find myself a lot of times working on or around Thanksgiving or unable to get home or whatever. We try to be together, but sometimes that just doesn’t work out. But yeah, I mean, I think it’s just about we eat. I eat a lot every year on Thanksgiving. [laughs] I never skip THAT tradition. But yeah, that’s the gist of it, and I’m kind of lucky. I get two Thanksgivings, because I also get to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with my husband’s family, so if I don’t hit one, I’ll definitely be able to get the other one.”
Audio / Caylee Hammack says Thanksgiving is her favorite holiday, because she gets to just spend time with her family.
DownloadCaylee Hammack (Thanksgiving) OC: …favorite holiday. :27
“Thanksgiving is the one holiday where we stay at home. We stay at my family’s house, and it’s just me, my mom and dad, my brother and sister and their families. We all sit around and just eat all day. And I love Thanksgiving because you don’t have to worry about getting gifts for people; you don’t have to worry about wrapping them. You just show up and you eat all day with the people you love. So, I absolutely love Thanksgiving. It’s my favorite holiday.”
Audio / Caylee Hammack talks about her favorite Thanksgiving dish.
DownloadCaylee Hammack (Thanksgiving eats) OC: …cranberry jelly. :15
“My favorite Thanksgiving meal (dish) is definitely cornbread dressing. My mom makes the best, er, some people call it stuffing, but I’ve always called it dressing for some reason. But I love that with canned cranberry jelly.”
Audio / Darius Rucker talks about his favorite part of Thanksgiving.
DownloadDarius Rucker (favorite part of Thanksgiving) OC: …my family. :17
“My favorite part of Thanksgiving is easy – it’s food. It’s eating. It’s hanging out with family and getting some great food, ‘cause that’s really what Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving is about giving thanks for all of the great things you’ve got, and I always give thanks for the greatest thing I’ve got and that’s my family.”
Audio / Darius Rucker says Thanksgiving Day is a big sporting day for him.
DownloadDarius Rucker (Thanksgiving Day favorite sporting day) OC: …big for me. :10
“Thanksgiving Day is my favorite sports day of the year. It’s crazy how much football you get to watch (laughs) on Thanksgiving Day, so I really like that a lot. Thanksgiving is big for me.”
Audio / Dierks Bentley, who is thankful for his wife, two daughters and son, talks about his Thanksgiving must-have! It’s an oldie, but a goodie!
DownloadDierks Bentley (Thanksgiving must-have) OC: …for Thanksgiving. :34
“You gotta have a big turkey. Thanksgiving is not possible without a turkey. We cook it traditionally, but when we’re in, a couple of Thanksgivings ago, we were here in Nashville, we did the whole fry the turkey up, and it was great. It just tasted so good; all those juices get locked in there, and I love that too. You really can’t, to me, cook a turkey wrong. I’m gonna eat it any way, and I have over the years. Trust me, I’ve played a lot of county and state fairs, where I’ve seen gigantic turkey legs, you know, I’ve had the flat meat. I’ve done turkey every way you could do it. I’m pretty good any way you want to cook it up, but you’ve got to have a turkey for Thanksgiving.”
Audio / Eric Church talks about what he's thankful for during the crazy year that's been 2020.
DownloadEric Church (Thanksgiving 2020) OC: …out with them. :38
You know, this has been a helluva year, and one thing I’m most thankful for is my family, their health, you know, we’ve all, I think, grown closer during this. I’m looking forward to a more normal 2021. I don’t know if it’ll be normal, but it will be more normal and getting closer to that and then an absolutely normal 2022 is how I see the next two years. For me, I’m just thankful that I’ve been with my family and we’ve all stayed healthy and I’ve gotten to hang out with them.”
Audio / Jon Langston talks about his Thanksgiving tradition.
DownloadJon Langston (Thanksgiving) OC: …pretty cool. :21
“We always watch football on Thanksgiving. It was pretty cool in high school. It was a big deal in high school if you had practice on Thanksgiving Day because you made third round of the playoffs. So, in high school we always had practice on Thanksgiving, so I guess that was pretty cool. Everybody’s waking up on a cold Thanksgiving morning going to football practice, but yeah, pretty cool.”
Audio / Josh Turner shares his favorite Thanksgiving side dish.
DownloadJosh Turner (fave side dish) OC: …’em myself. [laughs] :24
“Uh, deviled eggs! [laughs] Where I’m from in South Carolina, I don’t think I’ve tasted a bad deviled egg. It’s like everybody has their own twist on it, but they’re all good, but I always loved it when my mama made ‘em. I’m learning as I get older, making deviled eggs is no easy task. It’s more complicated than it looks, and so that’s probably why I never made ‘em myself.” [laughs]
Audio / Josh Turner explains what he enjoys about the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
DownloadJosh Turner (holidays) OC: …the peace and quiet. :38
“I love being outside in nature and the outdoors, and the holidays is a great time for me to go and partake in that part of my life. A lot of times, Thanksgiving and Christmas, it’s a little cold to go fishing, but when it comes to Thanksgiving and Christmas, it’s a great time to go hunting, especially in South Carolina, that’s when the temperatures are starting to drop and the conditions are getting right, and especially in November, kind of the tail end of the rut, as far as deer season. So, it’s a good time to get in the deer stand whether you kill anything or not, it’s just a great time to just get away from everything and get away from the noise and the lights and the diesel fumes [laughs] and just relax and just enjoy the peace and quiet.”
Audio / Kassi Ashton talks about what she's most thankful for this year.
DownloadKassi Ashton (Thanksgiving 2020) OC: …the new year. :32
“Even though this year has basically put the music industry on pause and has been difficult for all of us, I think the thing I’m most thankful for is one, the people around me that I love so much; the relationships that keep me sane and I do the same for them in return. And a step back being able to refill my creative tank, focusing in on what I want to say, what I want to put out in the world and finding a way to take all that and move forward into the new year.”
Audio / Keith Urban gives thanks for many things, including his wife and two daughters.
DownloadKeith (Thanksgiving) OC: …for me. :21
“Thankful that, well, my marriage is just, it’s life-giving, not just life-changing, it’s been life-giving for me. And from there, we created life, and that’s just beautiful, absolutely beautiful. And the effect that all of that has had in my work, has given life to it too, given it a sense of purpose and really deepened the experience for me.”
Audio / The members of Little Big Town love Thanksgiving since they get time off to be with their families.
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LBT (Thanksgiving) 2 OC: (Kimberly) …and eat. :31
KIMBERLY: “Thanksgiving—we love Thanksgiving, ‘cause we get to be with our families and we don’t often get to spend time with our families, our extended families, until the holidays. I love being around the table with my family and talking and laughing and cooking and eating…” JIMI: “And eating and eating and eating and eating…” PHILLIP: “The laughter around the eating, the good cheer, the celebration, the music…” JIMI: “The eating, going taking a nap, then coming back and eating.” KIMBERLY: “Go to bed with a full belly, take a nap, and then get up and eat.”
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Audio / Mickey Guyton reveals her favorite Thanksgiving dish.
DownloadMickey Guyton (favorite Thanksgiving dish) OC: …both so much! :39
“My favorite Thanksgiving dish that has to, has to, has to be at Thanksgiving dinner is dessert. Dessert is my favorite Thanksgiving dish. I mean, it doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it’s sweet. My mom actually makes an Italian cream cake that’s absolutely awesome. It’s homemade, and the entire family, that’s the first thing to go at Thanksgiving dinner. And my Grandma D, she makes a pecan pie that is awesome. She taught me how to make them when I was little, and I just love them, and that’s the other thing that I look forward to at Thanksgiving dinner, and I love them both so much!”
Audio / Parker McCollum is very thankful for his family’s health this year with a global pandemic still raging.
DownloadParker McCollum (Thanksgiving 2020) OC: …granted in 2020. :15
“I would just say probably my family being healthy and alive more so, I know it’s kind of a cliché thing to say, but I think this year it kind of holds a little more weight, just with everything going on. To be alive and breathing is, don’t want to take that for granted in 2020.”
Audio / One of Parker McCollum’s favorite dishes at Thanksgiving is his Aunt’s creamed corn.
DownloadParker McCollum (Thanksgiving eats) OC: …creamed corn. Mmm hmmm. “04
“My Aunt’s creamed corn is pretty bomb. I love creamed corn. Mmm hmmm.”
Audio / Priscilla Block, who began 2020 as a struggling singer-songwriter trying to make ends meet and getting kicked out of her apartment to signing a record deal and having a bonafide hit on country radio, talks about how very thankful she is this year.
DownloadPriscilla Block (Thanksgiving 2020) OC: …grateful for that. :22
“It is so crazy to even put what I’m thankful for into one thing, or the greatest thing, because this has been the best year of my life, the best and the worst year of my life. And I’m so thankful that the worst year of my life flipped upside down and it has been the best year, and I am forever grateful for that.”
Audio / Priscilla Block describes a typical Thanksgiving holiday with her family.
DownloadPriscilla Block (Thanksgiving) OC: …so much. :34
“Thanksgiving has always been chaos, actually any holiday that my entire family is there is straight chaos. But for Thanksgiving, we all try so hard to be together and it’s such a fun holiday to, my family’s a little cheesy. Like, we actually still go around the table and being like, ‘What are you thankful for?’ ‘What are you thankful for?’ So, that means a lot where it’s not about presents, it’s not about anything else. It’s just about truly being thankful, and that’s why I love Thanksgiving so much.”
Audio / Sam Hunt talks about his favorite Thanksgiving eats.
DownloadSam Hunt (Thanksgiving eats) OC: …all disappears. :12
“When I pile my plate up, it’s mostly turkey and then I’ll put a little dressing on the side, and I’ll usually go ahead and grab my dessert on the first run [laughs] and have it ready before it all disappears.”
Audio / Travis Denning talks about what he’s thankful for this year.
DownloadTravis Denning (2020) OC: …for a living. :34
“For Thanksgiving this year, I’m just most thankful that I’ve been able to have a career doing what I love. I mean this crazy time has totally put into perspective how fortunate I am to go play concerts, you know, go perform for people. I mean, it’s just such a crazy dream that sometimes it’s easy to get sucked into and not really stop and smell the roses, but God, now not being able to be on the road has really shown me how thankful I am that people come out to concerts and that’s what I do for a living.”
Audio / Travis Denning talks about a typical Thanksgiving holiday growing up.
DownloadTravis Denning (typical Thanksgiving holiday) OC: …a lot of people. :22
“A typical Thanksgiving growing up was essentially and the men of the family – Dad and Uncle Mike and my granddaddy — watching football, while grandmama and my mom pretty much yelled at each other in the kitchen the whole day. But they threw down and made the best food you could ever imagine, which you know is kind of how it is for a lot of people.”