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.

“Christmas didn’t lose any of its real meaning, as far as its religious meaning with Jesus’ birthday,” says Dierks. “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 and his family of five enjoy Christmastime, especially looking at all of the lights. “One of our favorite Christmas traditions is just driving around looking at lights,” he says. “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.”

While Dierks didn’t have any white Christmases growing up in Arizona, he and his family weren’t short on having their own traditions and holiday activities. “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.”

His nearly 13-year-old daughter, Jordan, was actually born on Christmas Day, so navigating the birth of his daughter with the holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus has been a little tough, but he says Jordan has been really good about it. “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,” says Dierks. “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.’”

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.

“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,” says Darius. “But it would be a tie between Miracle on 34^th 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 loves holiday music, but there’s one song in particular that he loves the most. “There’s a reason it’s called, ‘The Christmas Song,’” says the South Carolina native. “That’s my favorite Christmas song to sing and my favorite Christmas song to listen to.”

There’s always one thing that needs to be on the dinner table at Christmas…and in Darius’ belly, and that is sweet potato pie. “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,” he says. “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.”

Brenda Lee is spending a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart with her classic holiday standard “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” on her 79th birthday today (December 11th). Last week, the song hit the top of the chart for the first time — 65 years after its release. The song is Brenda’s third Hot 100 No. 1 and her first since 1960.

“A second week at No. 1 – this is so surreal!” said Lee. “As I celebrate this with my fans and everyone who has supported me over the years, I really wish I could celebrate with Johnny Marks, who wrote the song, and Owen Bradley, who brilliantly produced ‘Rockin’.’ The song has truly stood the test of time and I am so grateful that this has become my signature song. As I always say, Keep on Rockin’!”

Brenda spoke with Billboard last week after it was revealed she hit the top of the chart with “Rockin'” for the first time ever. She humbly said, “It’s not only for me that it means something. It’s for Johnny Marks who wrote the song, who was a dear friend

This year for the song’s 65^th anniversary, Lee released the first ever music video for “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree,” featuring cameos by country stars Tanya Tucker and Trisha Yearwood. She also released a new EP, A Rockin’ Christmas with Brenda Lee, featuring “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” and other holiday favorites including “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town,” “Jingle Bell Rock” “A Marshmallow World” and “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree,” reimagined by Filous.

Last week, Brenda even received her “flowers” from the other Queen of Christmas, Mariah Carey, whose “All I Want For Christmas” has topped the chart for years.

https://twitter.com/BrendaLeeMusic_/status/1732829339467587628

Today, multi-platinum, eight-time GRAMMY® Award winner and Resorts World Theatre’s first resident headliner, Carrie Underwood, announced six new shows have been added in 2024 for her critically-acclaimed smash hit, REFLECTION: The Las Vegas Residency. The announcement comes on the heels of last week’s (Dec. 6, 8 & 9, 2023) sold-out performances of REFLECTION at the state-of-the-art venue. Tickets and a limited number of VIP packages and upgrades to this new set of must-see performances go on sale to the public this Friday, Dec. 15, 2023, at 10 a.m. PT.

https://twitter.com/carrieunderwood/status/1734256947086409732

Following her run of sold-out REFLECTION performances this past Sept., Underwood returned to the Resorts World Theatre stage on Nov. 29, 2023, to kick off her final run of residency shows for this year. Playing now through this coming Saturday, Dec. 16, the run of remaining 2023 performances includes various Christmas songs from Underwood’s beloved album, My Gift (Special Edition), and other holiday favorites, which she has added nightly to the show as a special treat to celebrate the season.

“To quote the song, Christmas is my ‘Favorite Time of Year,’ so it’s a lot of fun to get to perform some of my favorite holiday songs during our December shows – some of them for the first time live,” says Underwood.  “I’m thrilled to be announcing six more shows in October 2024, and can’t wait to be back on the Resorts World Theatre stage next year.”

Exclusively designed for the state-of-the-art venue, Underwood’s REFLECTION: The Las Vegas Residency continues to be a can’t-miss show in Las Vegas, garnering rave reviews by critics and fans alike and selling out runs since its premiere in December  2021. Underwood’s six additional performances of REFLECTION: The Las Vegas Residency in October 2024 will go on sale to the public on Friday, Dec. 15, 2023, at 10 a.m. PT at AXS.com/carrieinvegas. Show dates include:

• October 2024: 16, 18, 19, 23, 25, 26

Previously announced dates that are currently on sale include:

• December 2023: 13, 15, 16
• March 2024: 6, 8, 9, 13, 15, 16
• May 2024: 22, 25, 26, 29, 31
• June 2024: 1
• August 2024: 14, 16, 17, 21, 23, 24

The 5,000-capacity theatre at Resorts World Las Vegas, exclusively programmed and operated by Concerts West / AEG Presents, is a state-of-the-art, multi-level venue designed by the award-winning international design firm, Scéno Plus. The intimate venue, with the furthest seat only 150 feet from the stage, features unparalleled comfort, unobstructed sightlines, and an unmatched spatial audio experience through more than 200 L-Acoustics speakers powered by L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound technology.

For the second year in a row, Resorts World Theatre has been named the world’s highest-grossing venue under 5,000 capacity on Billboard’s Annual Top Grossing Venues list for 2023. Based on reporting from November 1, 2022, to September 30, 2023, the 5,000-seat venue scored No. 1 on the 2023 year-end boxscore chart.

Carrie is currently climbing the country radio charts with her latest single, “Out Of That Truck.”

Brenda Lee performed her No. 1 iconic holiday song, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” during NBC’s Christmas At The Opry and was joined by an all-star cast, including Wynonna, Trace Adkins, Mickey Guyton, Chrissy Metz, Mitchell Tenpenney and more! You can watch Christmas at the Opry again on December 20th at 9pm ET/8pm CT on NBC  and streaming on Peacock.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TYtvxUGfbw&t=132s

George Strait is spreading holiday cheer with his 12 Days of Christmas, giving away VIP experiences, front row tickets to some of his stadium shows and much more. All proceeds from donations and the online auction listed will benefit the Jenifer Strait Foundation, which serves the emotional, educational and medical needs of children. To enter the giveaway and bid on selected auction items, click HERE.

https://twitter.com/GeorgeStrait/status/1732488358075539606

Carrie Underwood and Parker McCollum are among the headliners at next year’s Windy City Smokeout Festival, taking place July 11th – 14th at Chicago’s United Center. Thomas Rhett and Cody Johnson are also headliners during the four-day festival, which also includes performances by Priscilla Block, Billy Currington, Lee Brice, Chase Rice, Ernest, Nate Smith and many more. For more information, go to windycitysmokeout.com.

Jon Pardi, The War And Treaty and Kip Moore are among the artists performing during the Legends of Music Row Country Music Festival taking place in Key West April 4th – 6th. Randy Houser, Ernest, Dean Dillon, Brian Kelley and Drake Milligan will also perform.

The War And Treaty performed “God Bless America” at WWE’s 21st annual Tribute to the Troops on Friday (December 8th).

Newcomer Josh Ross has had a helluva 2023 with signing with UMG Nashville, releasing new songs, hitting the road with Nickelback, Bailey Zimmerman and many other shows. Since he’s been touring so much this year, 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.

“This year’s been a really exciting year with touring and releasing new music and being on the road,” says Josh. “I haven’t really got to spend a lot of days at home especially in a row, so I get to go home home, which will be Ontario, Canada, and spend time with Mom, Dad, grandparents, brother and sisters and nieces and nephews and just kind of catch up on all of the things that I kind of got to miss this year. Luckily, I have Facetime and stuff like that, but actually being there with them is going to be great.”

Josh says one of the main things that would get him in the Christmas spirit growing up was cutting down the family Christmas tree. “The thing for me that would always solidify that Christmas is happening is we’d go and cut a tree down,” he says. “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.”

One year, he was all into asking Santa for a PlayStation 2, but the fact was, he was never truly into playing video games, but he’d rather be playing outdoors. “All my friends had video games, and I was never very, very big into video games,” he says. “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.”

One of Josh’s favorite holiday memories is when his older sister would come home from college. “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,” he says. “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 hasn’t watched a lot of Christmas movies, since he’s mostly a guy who likes to spend his time outdoors or on the road. However, he did finally watch the classic Elf all the way through for the first time this past week. “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.”

He has watched The Grinch several times, and in fact, it was one of his favorite movies growing up. There’s a little twist–he has a pretty cool connection to the film’s main star, actor Jim Carrey. He recently revealed that “fun fact,” and the reactions were priceless. “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.”

Josh will kick off his headlining trek, The Trouble Tour, on January 12th in Winnipeg, Canada and will continue throughout the year, interspersed between dates on the Bailey Zimmerman Religiously The Tour.

With hosts such as Jon Pardi, Reba McEntire, Luke Bryan, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Maddie & Tae, Jordan Davis, Caylee Hammack and more, you will have 24 hours of a star-studded holiday playlist with A Country Christmas. Click HERE to download.

Here’s a solo read of “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” from Reba McEntire.

Here’s a solo read of “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” from Carrie Underwood.

Here’s a solo read of “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” from Brenda Lee.

Here’s a solo read of “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” from Josh Turner.

Here’s a solo read of “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” from Maddie & Tae.

Here’s a solo read of “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” from Parker McCollum.

Here’s a solo read of “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” from Tyler Hubbard.

WWE, part of TKO Group Holdings (NYSE: TKO), today announced that The War And Treaty will perform God Bless America at the 21^st annual Tribute to the Troops, which airs Friday, December 8 at 8 p.m. ET on FOX. The event will take place in Providence, R.I. at Amica Mutual Pavilion. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster.

GRAMMY nominated duo The War And Treaty are husband-and-wife pair Michael and Tanya Trotter. Michael served in the US Army from 2003 to 2007, where he was stationed in Iraq from 2004 to 2007 and won “Military Idol” during his term.

Since its inception in 2003, WWE’s Tribute to the Troops has honored our U.S. service members, veterans and their families for their continued sacrifice and commitment to our country and is widely considered one of television’s most patriotic and heartwarming shows of the year.

WWE has a multi-decade commitment to the U.S. Armed Forces, which includes visiting nearly 400 military installations throughout the world, offering all U.S. military personnel free tickets to WWE live events, and has partnered with military organizations, such as Hire Heroes USA. WWE currently supports the USO and tells stories of heroism and valor of our nation’s bravest through the company’s partnership with National Medal of Honor Museum to make an impact in the community.

The War And Treaty has emerged as one of the most electrifying new acts in American music. Recently earning their first ever GRAMMY nominations for Best New Artist and Best American Roots Song, plus nominations and recognition from the Country Music Association, the Academy of Country Music, the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Grand Ole Opry, and the Americana Music Association including earning their second straight AMA Duo/Group of the Year honor. The War And Treaty has captivated audiences across the globe and next year, the celebrated pair hits the road with Chris Stapleton, Zach Bryan, and more.