CHRISTMAS SOUNDBITES:
Dierks Bentley, who is the father of three children (Evie, Jordan, Knox), says you revert back to your childhood at Christmas when you start having a family of your own.
Dierks Bentley (Christmas is for kids) OC: …one again. :29
“You know, Christmas didn’t lose any of its real meaning, as far as its religious meaning with Jesus’ birthday. But as far as like the whole tree and all of the Christmas spirit stuff, the secular stuff, it just kind of goes away to be honest. But then you have a family, and all of a sudden, it’s like I’m all Clark Griswold out there decorating the tree, putting lights up around the house, you know. So, all of those things that you did as a kid and appreciated as a kid, you get a chance to do over again when you have kids, because you kinda become one again.”
Dierks Bentley (Christmas in the desert) OC: …in Arizona. :32
“I grew up in Arizona, so we didn’t have like a white winter kind of deal. It’s kinda…once you experience that, it’s hard to go back and like celebrate Christmas in the desert but…for us, we would…me and my family and a couple other families would go out to the desert and bring a big turkey and just kinda have a cookout in the middle of the desert…and drink beers and ride four-wheelers and…well, I wouldn’t drink beers, but they would. We’d ride four-wheelers and horses and just kind of spend it out in the middle of the desert, which was kind of a cool way to spend Christmas. So, whenever I think of Christmas, I always think of the desert, which is a little weird, but that’s just the way we did it out in Arizona.”
Dierks Bentley (Christmas tough for Jordan) OC: …for you! :21
“It’s tough kind of for Jordan because her birthday IS on Christmas, so it’s kind of one of those things where we try to give her an extra present or two. It’s kind of tough to share your birthday with Jesus. You can get a little overshadowed on that one, but she’s good about it, but we just tell her, ‘All these Christmas trees and lights, these are all for you.’”
Dierks Bentley (Christmas traditions) OC: …old ones, as well. :22
“One of our favorite Christmas traditions is just driving around looking at lights. Love seeing all the lights back in the valley, back in Arizona and Phoenix where I’m from, and that tradition is carried over to here for me in Nashville. We’ve got a lot of lights up on the house. We’ve got a Grinch in the front yard, as well as a talking Santa, so new traditions here in Nashville and some old ones, as well.”
Darius Rucker, who released his Christmas album Home for the Holidays in 2014, loves to take it easy during the holidays after being on the road all year long. One way he winds down is to watch Christmas movies…however, he can’t pick just one favorite.
Darius Rucker (favorite Christmas movies) OC: …favorite movies. :32
“That’s such a hard question, favorite Christmas movie, because there are so many great movies that I can think of just off the top of my head that are great Christmas movies. But it would be a tie between Miracle on 34th Street, which is still just great acting, great movie. I just love it. I love watching it. I watch it probably four times every Christmas and cry at the end every time. And I love Elf. I just think Elf is one of the absolute great stories and just funniest movies I’ve ever seen and it just happens to be a Christmas movie. It’s one of my favorite movies.”
Darius Rucker (favorite Christmas song) OC: …listen to. :09
“Oh, ‘The Christmas Song,’ no doubt about it. There’s a reason it’s called, ‘The Christmas Song.’ That’s my favorite Christmas song to sing and my favorite Christmas song to listen to.”
Darius Rucker (Christmas dish) OC: …sweet potato pie. :17
“I’m a big food guy, as you can tell by looking at me up here. I like food a lot. But my favorite thing is my sister’s sweet potato pie. I love sweet potato pie so much, and I don’t get it very often. And my sisters always make sure I get a couple during Thanksgiving and Christmas, so that’s my favorite thing – sweet potato pie.”
Since he’s been touring so much this year, Josh Ross says he’s barely spent any time at home with his family back in Canada, so he’s looking forward to having several days with his family.
Josh Ross (a favorite Christmas memory) OC: …from out West. :22
“I’d say as a kid, so my sister is 12 years older than myself, so she moved out West to go to school when I was like six-years-old. She used to always come home during Christmas. I never knew when because I was young and didn’t really understand how the calendar worked, but I always remembered that my sister would fly home and come wake me up and like would always surprise me. So, that’s definitely one of my favorite Christmas memories is when my sister would come home from out West.”
Josh Ross (Christmas present) OC: …front of a screen. :32
“All my friends had video games, and I was never very, very big into video games. I wasn’t really allowed. I was more like the go outside and play type, and honestly, this is really what speaks to me as a person now with different things in life, but I really wanted a PlayStation 2 and I remember like that was the big thing that I wanted. And I got a PlayStation 2, and I bet you I only played it for like a couple of weeks and then I was back to outside playing, and really just wasn’t super interested in it. I think that kind of still speaks to me today is I’d much rather be in the outdoors and not necessarily in front of a screen.”
Josh Ross (Christmas spirit) OC: …in the spirit. :35
“My mom would definitely always be playing Christmas music. She loved Christmas music, so that’s always playing when she’s decorating and things like that. I’m excited to go back and listen to her songs on repeat (laughs), but the thing for me that would always solidify that Christmas is happening is we’d go and cut a tree down. So, my mom, dad, myself and we used to take the dog that I had as a child, we’d all go out and cut a tree down, and that’s just like a Canadian thing. I think here we import the Northern trees, so the ornaments stay on them, but up there that’s what we got to do, so that’s something I’ll always remember as a kid year after year would get me in the spirit.”
Josh Ross (The Grinch story) OC: …freshman year boyfriend. :36
“We were talking about Christmas movies, and I think I said I watched Elf all the way through. Now I understand what the World’s Best Coffee Shop means and all this kind of stuff and people have all these jokes around Christmas time. It’s funny, The Grinch was one of my favorite movies, and that was one that I watched, and I got to fill people in, I was like, ‘Well, my mom used to date ‘The Grinch.’’ And everybody was like, ‘Wait! What do you mean?’ And my mom’s boyfriend in high school was Jim Carrey. So, it’s kind of a cool, I guess, fun fact that most people would not know is he grew up in Burlington, Ontario and went to Aldershot High School and he was my mom’s ninth grade, or freshman year, boyfriend.”
Kassi Ashton grew up in a rural town called California, Missouri, and she took ballet and other dance classes for many years. So, one of her favorite Christmas memories include being in The Nutcracker every year. “One of my favorite Christmas traditions growing up was always being a part of The Nutcracker,” says Kassi. “[I took] ballet my entire life, and now that I’ve graduated and moved on, I go see The Nutcracker at the Nashville Ballet every year. I can’t wait to have a little girl some day and put her in ballet class.”
Kassi Ashton (Christmas traditions) OC: …ballet class. :21
“Hey, it’s Kassi Ashton. One of my favorite Christmas traditions growing up was always being a part of The Nutcracker. [I took] ballet my entire life, and now that I’ve graduated and moved on, I go see The Nutcracker at the Nashville Ballet every year. I can’t wait to have a little girl some day and put her in ballet class.”
Kassi Ashton (Christmas song) OC: …along perfectly. [laughs] :11
“My favorite Christmas song is ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ by Judy Garland in the key of G, because that’s my key [laughs], and I can sing along perfectly.” [laughs]
Kassi Ashton (Christmas music) OC: …the best. :23
“Hey, it’s Kassi Ashton. My favorite thing about Christmas hands down is Christmas music. I start playing eh, the day after Thanksgiving usually, if not a little sooner. I love the classics – Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, anything that you know by heart and you don’t have to really think about. Christmas songs are the best.”
Keith Urban and his family, including wife Nicole Kidman and daughters Sunday and Faith, usually head Down Under for the holiday, visiting family and hitting the beach, which is what he did on Christmas Day when he was a kid.
Keith Urban (Christmas-beach) OC: …to the beach. :24
“I have great memories of getting up early and going and jumping on your parents’ bed and getting them up. You know, and then of course you tear open the presents and then it’s done and it’s like eight in the morning, and you’ve got all morning now to sort of wish you had more presents to open. We had great Christmases growing up. I really, really enjoyed them. Mostly, we’d go to the beach, you know, ’cause there it’s summertime. Load up the station wagon and head off to the beach.”
Keith Urban (Christmas—yellow Tonka truck) OC: …forever, too. :09
“I got a yellow Tonka truck when I was about 6, I think, and it’s probably still my favorite Christmas gift ever. Those things last forever, too.”
Keith Urban (what gets him in the Christmas spirit) OC: …goes away. :10
“The lights going up, uh, the lights, the music, all of that, the house sort of transforming into Christmas. I love it. It’s sad when it all has to go away.”
Keith Urban (still loves going to the beach at Christmas) OC: …explains a lot. :33
“Yeah, we still love going to the beach at Christmas time, as long as we’re in Australia, because it’s like the Fourth of July. It’s huge. Everybody’s out. It feels very celebratory. It’s in the ‘90s. It’s crazy, but having grown up with that, it feels very natural to me. Albeit it, we still had all of the same Christmas songs, so we’re in like 90-degree heat with shorts and tank tops singing ‘Walking in a Winter Wonderland,’ and I remember getting Christmas cards of like Santa on a surfboard, so that probably explains a lot.”
Reba McEntire has graced us with a couple of Christmas collections, including 1995’s Merry Christmas to You and 2006’s Secret of Giving: A Christmas Collection, as well as last year’s compilation, Ultimate Christmas Collection.
Reba McEntire (Pake) OC: …down the hall. :22
“The funniest thing I can always remember about Christmastime is my older brother Pake, when we were kids at home, he’d always be the first one to jump out of bed and run down the hall, and he’d just run down the hall with his underwear on. And he’d say, ‘If y’all don’t hurry up and get up and get in here, I’m opening all the presents by myself.’ But he knew it was a standing rule we all had to be in there before anybody could open up a present, but I can still see Pake running down the hall.”
Reba McEntire (leaving Christmas tree up) OC: …really festive. :13
“How long do I leave my Christmas tree and decorations up? Well, after Christmas I am so in tune with the sparkly lights, I leave the lights on and take the Christmas ornaments off. It keeps it really festive.”
Reba McEntire (artificial tree) OC: …half the year. :24
“I definitely have an artificial tree, because when we were growing up, we’d all go out on the ranch and cut down a Christmas tree, bring it in and then we had to water it every other day – make sure the coffee can was full of water – and the cedar needles got everywhere, so nowadays I just go with an artificial tree…and two, I can leave it with the lights on half the year.”
Reba (Christmas memory of Shelby) OC: …he was so cute! :28
“I’ll never forget one (Christmas) morning I woke up and I was laying on my left side and I felt something, and I opened up my eyes, and Shelby was three inches away from my face. He said, ‘Mom, you’re not gonna beweive what Santy Claus weft for me.’ And so, he said you’ve got to come here. I got up out of bed and went in there and there was this little tractor trailer set that he had just fallen in love with at the store. He’s seen it, and he said, ‘I can’t beweive he bought this for me.’ He was so cute.”
Jordan Davis started a Christmas tradition when he moved to Nashville a few years ago. He goes to the historic Belcourt Theatre to catch a viewing of the classic It’s a Wonderful Life. “They play it at a theater here in town, and it’s something that I really look forward to going and seeing that movie,” he says.
Jordan Davis (favorite Christmas movie) OC: …a great movie. :19
“The one Christmas movie I have to watch, which Elf has slowly taken over that spot, but I would have to say It’s a Wonderful Life. Then moving to Nashville, they play it at a theater here in town, and it’s something that I really look forward to going and seeing that movie. Man, it’s just a great movie.”
Jordan Davis (favorite Christmas gift) OC: …great present. :41
“The one Christmas present that stands out to me – I can remember I asked for go-karts. Me and my brother asked for go-karts together. And I was actually worried that we weren’t going to get ‘em, because I knew my mom probably thought we were going to kill ourselves, but we woke up Christmas morning and me and Jacob, we run into the living room and don’t see a go-kart. I remember being like sad opening presents, and then my dad tells me he thought he heard some reindeer in the backyard. So, we jet to the back of the house and there’s two blue-and-white go-karts in the backyard. So, that’s the one I always remember. That was a great present.”
Jordan Davis (Christmas music) OC: …music on. :41
“My favorite Christmas song is Nat King Cole’s ‘Buon Natale.’ I don’t know the record it’s on it, [but] we would just play that song over and over and over. So, that’s by far my favorite, but anything by Nat King Cole. I mean Nat King Cole is Christmas to me, always playing, always having some type of Christmas music on. I remember growing up, my mom, she would start on Thanksgiving. We would start listening to Christmas music and anytime you’d walk into the house if Mom was home, there was Christmas music playing. It was just background music, and it’s something I’ve carried over like there’s Christmas music that is played all the time. If we’re home, there’s Christmas music on.”
Parker McCollum grew up in Conroe, Texas and he and all of his family and extended family would go to his grandmother’s house on Christmas. One of his favorite childhood memories on Christmas Day was playing football in the front yard. “Every year, we would all play football in my Grandma’s front yard probably until the time I was 15 or 16 years old, every Christmas morning,” he says.
Parker McCollum (Christmas childhood tradition) OC: …Christmas morning. :10
“As a kid, it was definitely football in the yard. Every year, we would all play football in my Grandma’s front yard probably until the time I was 15 or 16 years old, every Christmas morning.”
Parker McCollum (Christmas movies) OC: …newer ones. :21
“Favorite Christmas movie – this is gonna sound kind of goofy, but one of them is definitely Annabelle’s Wish, because Randy Travis narrates it. I used to watch that when I was really little with my mom, but I mean, Christmas Vacation is a phenomenal movie. And I always really liked the Santa Clause series with Tim Allen. I always thought those were really good, even the newer ones.”
Parker McCollum (favorite Christmas gift as a kid) OC: …son of a gun. :18
“It would be a Browning 270 Deer rifle I got when I was 13? So, I wanted it so bad, and I’d always had to use my older brothers’ or my Dad’s gun, you know? They wouldn’t even let me shoot anything then. So, I was probably 11 or 12 years old and a Browning 270 Deer rifle…bad son of a gun.”
Both Maddie and Tae have their favorite Christmas movies, and they are planning a Christmas movie night sometime soon, so Tae can see one of Maddie’s favorites. MADDIE: “Favorite Christmas movie? I know Tae’s.” TAE: “What?” MADDIE: “Polar Express!” TAE: “I do love me some Polar Express. Every time the kids do the duet, my heart breaks.” MADDIE: “I would say my favorite Christmas movie – I love Polar Express. I love Arthur Christmas.” TAE: “Arthur Christmas is great. People sleep on that one.” MADDIE: “And The Holiday! Ahhhhhh.” TAE: “I’ve never seen that one.” MADDIE: “Jude Law-It’s a rom-com, but it’s so heartwarming.” TAE: “Christmas movie night.” MADDIE: “YES!”
Maddie & Tae (favorite Christmas movies) OC: …YES! :24
MADDIE: “Favorite Christmas movie? I know Tae’s.” TAE: “What?” MADDIE: “Polar Express!” TAE: “I do love me some Polar Express. Every time the kids do the duet, my heart breaks.” MADDIE: “I would say my favorite Christmas movie – I love Polar Express. I love Arthur Christmas.” TAE: “Arthur Christmas is great. People sleep on that one.” MADDIE: “And The Holiday! Ahhhhhh.” TAE: “I’ve never seen that one.” MADDIE: “Jude Law-It’s a rom-com, but it’s so heartwarming.” TAE: “Christmas movie night.” MADDIE: “YES!”
Maddie & Tae (Christmas movie character) OC: (Tae) …it’s so you. (both laugh) :28
MADDIE: “If we could be any movie character, who would we be? I think I would want to be a part of Clark Griswold’s vibe. Like, he’s so funny. I don’t know. I’d want to be Clark Griswold’s wife ‘cause I feel like Jonah is Clark Griswold, and that would be really funny, and she just allows his Christmas chaos happen and just embraces it.” TAE: “And you would totally do the fork thing where ‘Oh, this is so yummy.’ (laughs) It’s so you.” (both laugh)
Maddie & Tae (Maddie’s Christmas traditions) OC: …White Elephant. :31
“We always get a real tree every year, because Jonah’s a stickler for a real tree thing. We always shave off a little part of the bottom of the tree and make an ornament out of the little thing, so we’ll put the year on all of them and collect them. We’ve actually just started collecting nutcrackers, which is super weird, but we name them all. Oh, and White Elephant. We play White Elephant on the Font side of things, and I always end up with the best gift somehow, because Jonah and I tag team White Elephant.”
Maddie & Tae (Taylor’s Family Christmas) OC: …the fun stuff. 1:01
“My family has always done Christmas to the nines. My dad is a very big Christmas decorator. He would have the entire house decorated. We had this like life-sized, giant nutcracker, and at one point, we had like a talking Santa at our front door that my dad would talk through. But the decorations were always just like so much fun, really got us all in the Christmas spirit. And every Christmas, one of our traditions was the kids – me and my two brothers – we would all stay in the same room on Christmas Eve and then we’d wake up when it was time to wake up, and we’d go down the stairs my parents would have a sheet at the bottom of the stairs so we couldn’t see all the presents; not that we weren’t going to see them in two seconds, but to them it was just the magic of the big reveal, them showing us all the gifts that Santa had gotten us. I’m just so thankful that my parents really kept that magic alive. And for me, I’m already thinking about Elf on the Shelf. I’m going to do all of the fun stuff.”
CHRISTMAS LINERS:
“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.”
“Season’s Greetings, folks, it’s Brad Paisley, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”
“Hey everybody, it’s Brad Paisley. Happy Holidays.”
“Brad Paisley here. Happy Holidays!”
“Hey everybody, it’s Brad Paisley. If I were to re-write the ’12 Days of Christmas,’ I would include things like chocolate, Bourbon, guitars and maybe not French Hens or Geese a’laying.”
“Hi, this is Brad Paisley. Make sure you’re good this Christmas, ‘cause Santa’s got a secret agent bird. Penguin James Penguin is watching.”
“Season’s Greetings. This is Brenda Lee, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”
“Hi, I’m Brenda Lee with wishes for a very Merry Christmas.”
“Hi, this is Brenda Lee, and here’s my favorite holiday song, ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”
“Hey! This is T.J., and I’m John, and we are Brothers Osborne, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”
“Hi! I’m Carrie Underwood, wishing you a Merry Christmas.”
“Hey, it’s Carrie Underwood. From our house to yours – Merry Christmas.”
“Season’s Greetings! I’m Carrie Underwood, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”
“Hey everybody, this is Catie Offerman, wishing you a very Merry Christmas, y’all.”
“Hey everybody, this is Catie Offerman. Merry Christmas.”
“Hey everybody, this is Catie Offerman. Happy Holidays.”
“Hey y’all, this is Caylee Hammack. Merry Christmas!”
“Hey y’all, this is Caylee Hammack. Happy Holidays, everybody!”
“Hey y’all, this is Dalton Dover. Merry Christmas.”
“Hey y’all, this is Dalton Dover, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.
“Season’s Greetings. I’m Dalton Dover.”
“Hey y’all! What’s up? This is Darius Rucker, wishing you a 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! It’s Eric Church, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”
“Hey everybody! This is George Strait, wishing you and your family a Happy Holiday season.”
“Hey Everybody, we’re Hootie & The Blowfish, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”
“Hey! This is Jon Pardi, wishing you a Merry Christmas!”
“Season’s Greetings, everybody! I’m Jon Pardi, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”
“Hey! This is Jon Pardi. Merry Christmas!”
“Hey! I’m Jordan Davis, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”
“Happy, Happy, Happy Holidays, everybody. I’m Jordan Davis.”
“Hey, y’all, this is Josh Ross, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”
“Season’s Greetings, I’m Josh Ross.”
“Hey! I’m Josh Turner, wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday season.”
“Season’s Greetings—I’m Josh Turner, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”
“Hi, I’m Josh Turner with wishes for a very Merry Christmas.”
“Hey everybody, this is Josh Turner. May your days be merry and bright. Happy holidays from my family to yours!”
“Hey y’all, I’m Josh Turner. Wishing you peace, love and joy this holiday season.”
“Hey y’all, I’m Josh Turner. May all your sweaters be ugly and bright!”
“Hey! This is Kacey Musgraves, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”
“Hey, it’s Kassi Ashton. I’d love to wish everyone listening 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! 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! We’re Little Big Town. Happy Holidays!”
“Hey! It’s Luke Bryan, wishing you a Merry Christmas.”
“Hey! It’s Luke Bryan. Happy Holidays!”
“Seasons Greetings, I’m Luke Bryan. Hope your holidays are filled with joy and happiness.”
“It’s Luke Bryan, and may your eggnog be spiked with plenty of rum to get you through this holiday season!”
“Hey y’all, it’s Luke Bryan, wishing you the gifts of the season — Peace, Joy, and a case of beer.”
“Hi! We’re Maddie & Tae, wishing you a Merry Christmas.”
“Hi! We’re Maddie & Tae. Happy Holidays.”
“Hey! It’s Mickey Guyton, wishing you a Merry Christmas.”
“Hey, I’m Parker McCollum, and I’m wishing you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year.”
“Hi! This is Priscilla Block wishing you a very Merry Christmas.
“Hey-Reba here-hoping you have a very Merry Christmas. Ho, Ho, Ho.”
“Hey, this is Reba, wishing you a Happy Holiday Season.”
“Hey everybody! This is Sam Hunt, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”
“Hey everybody! I’m Sam Hunt. Happy Holidays!”
“Hi! This is Shania Twain, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”
“Hey, this is Taylor Swift, wishing you a very Happy Holiday Season.”
“Hey what’s goin’ on guys it’s Tucker Wetmore. I just want to say Merry Christmas from my family to yours. Have a happy and safe holidays.”
“Hey y’all, it’s Tyler Hubbard. Merry Christmas.”
“Hey y’all, it’s Tyler Hubbard, wishing you a very Merry Christmas.”
