The members of Little Big Town have their own traditions, but one they’ve all seemed to have adopted is Kimberly Schlapman’s annual holiday tradition.

“My favorite holiday tradition is, it’s happened every year that I can remember that I’ve been alive,” she says. “We would go over to my grandmother’s house and have Christmas over there, and everybody would come home to Mama and Daddy’s house. We’d sit down and Mama hands out everybody a gift, and we act like we don’t what it is, but we do ’cause it’s always Christmas pajamas. So, everybody opens their Christmas pajamas and goes and puts ’em on, and we come back to the living room and we sit around Daddy and he reads ‘The Christmas Story,’ and we tuck ourselves in until Santa comes.”

For Jimi Westbrook, nothing says Christmas like Elvis Presley. “My favorite Christmas song is this song I start with every year Thanksgiving drive, my first Christmas song to play is Elvis Presley, ‘Santa Claus is Back in Town.’ Sexy. Rockin’. Love it.”

Phillip Sweet and his wife Rebecca start early with their gift-giving for daughter Penelopi. “We do a little Christmas tradition in our house,” he says. “We do, you know the little tree in the countdown to Christmas? We put little treats in each little doorway. [Penelopi] opens the countdown to Christmas. (KIMBERLY: “Cuuuute.”) She gets a new little treat every day leading up to Christmas.”

One of Karen Fairchild’s traditions include making candy. “Christmases at our house usually included making candy with my mother and my grandmother,” says Karen. “We did everything from potato candy to chocolate dipped peanut butter (JIMI: “That all sounds amazing.”) and fudge. My mom’s fudge recipe is amazing.” KIMBERLY: “What is potato candy?” KAREN: “It does use a potato, but it’s rolled and it has peanut butter inside.” 

LBT is currently making their way up the country charts with “When Someone Stops Loving You.”

Jordan Davis will be starting new traditions with his wife, Kristen, this year. While he’s excited to discover what those are, they will definitely include family.

“This will be my first Christmas with my wife, you know, married. I know we’ve talked about a couple of things that we want to start doing,” says Jordan. “This one is a little more exciting just because we have a blank sheet so we get to start our traditions now. Growing up, it was always like, we would do the morning with my dad’s side of the family, then we would take off on an afternoon drive to my grandparents, my mom’s side of the family in Texas and do Christmas night with them. I loved every bit of it. Just kind of spending time with family is something I don’t ever want to get away from, so we’ll start with that, but I’m anxious to see the traditions we come up with.”

Jordan has already 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 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.

As a young man, he and his brother Jacob asked for a specific present together. “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,” says the Louisiana native. “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 has hit the Top 20 with his debut hit “Singles You Up.”

Jon Pardi likes a good holiday movie. One of his favorite Christmas films is Bad Santa, starring Billy Bob Thornton, but for the PG crowd, it would have to be Elf.

“Bad Santa’s pretty good,” he says. “But I have to say if you’re gonna watch it with little cousins, I would have to say Elf is pretty much probably one of the funniest Christmas movies to ever be that new and beat out all of the old Christmas movies. It is definitely up there.”

The CMA and ACM New Artist of the Year, who is climbing the country charts with “She Ain’t In It,” will hit the road with Miranda Lambert January 18th in Greenville, South Carolina.

UMG Nashville is starting a new tradition having our talented artists recite the age-old holiday poem, “Twas the Night Before Christmas.” This year, we have Alan Jackson, Luke Bryan, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Darius Rucker, TJ and John Osborne (Brothers Osborne), Jordan Davis and Brandon Lay doing the honors.

For your convenience, we’re offering a produced and dry versions of the holiday classic.

Happy Holidays!

Country Music’s biggest names celebrate the holidays with an encore presentation of “CMA Country Christmas,” airing this Thursday, Dec. 21st at 9/8c on ABC.

The eighth annual “CMA Country Christmas” returns with first-time host and iconic entertainer Reba McEntire and features two hours of festive performances from Nashville’s famed Grand Ole Opry House by Luke Bryan, CB30, Dan + Shay, Brett Eldredge, Alan Jackson, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Dustin Lynch, Kelsea Ballerini, Reba, CeCe Winans, Trisha Yearwood and Chris Young. Don’t miss fantastic collaborations by Ballerini and Reba, Little Big Town and Reba, and Jackson and Young.

Visit CMApress.com for artist interviews and performance clips. For more information, visit CMAChristmas.com and follow us on Twitter @Countrymusic.

The members of Lady Antebellum all have families of their own, and they’re all excited to pass on their own traditions to the next generation, which will include Dave Haywood’s new addition due any minute, as well as Hillary Scott’s twin daughters due in February. Charles Kelley, Dave and Hillary share their memories, traditions and favorites of the yuletide season below.

The trio is making their way up the country charts with their latest hit, “Heart Break.”

Keith Urban and his family, including wife Nicole Kidman and daughters Sunday and Faith, are enjoying their annual holiday Down Under, visiting family and hitting the beach, which is what he did on Christmas when he was a kid.

“We had great Christmases growing up. I really, really enjoyed them,” says Keith. “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.”

He’s expected to return following Christmas to get ready for his second headlining gig on New Year’s Eve in Nashville.

Keith is making his way up the country charts with his latest single, “Female.”

Last month, he took home three big awards at the 2017 American Music Awards, including Favorite Male Country Artist, Favorite Country Album for Ripcord and Favorite Country Song for “Blue Ain’t Your Color.”

Lady Antebellum, Chris Stapleton and Little Big Town will be featured on the new compilation, 2018 GRAMMY Nominees album, which will be released January 12th. Hits by Kenny Chesney, Thomas Rhett, Bruno Mars, Kelly Clarkson, P!nk and Kendrick Lamar are also included on the collection.

A portion of album proceeds benefit the year-round work of the GRAMMY Museum and MusiCares—two charitable organizations founded by the Recording Academy that focus on music education programs and critical assistance for music people in need.

The 60th Annual GRAMMY Awards, which will be hosted by James Corden, will air live from New York City’s Madison Square Garden January 28th beginning at 7:30pm ET on CBS.

2018 GRAMMY Nominees Album Track List:

1. BRUNO MARS
   “24K Magic”
   Record Of The Year
   Album Of The Year
2. KELLY CLARKSON
   “Love So Soft”
   Best Pop Solo Performance
3. LUIS FONSI & DADDY YANKEE FEAT. JUSTIN BIEBER
   “Despacito” (Remix)
   Record Of The Year
   Song Of The Year
   Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
4. KENDRICK LAMAR
   “HUMBLE.”
   Record Of The Year
   Album Of The Year
5. LORDE
   “Green Light”
   Album Of The Year
6. CHILDISH GAMBINO
   “Redbone”
   Record Of The Year
   Album Of The Year
7. JAY-Z
   “The Story Of O.J.”
   Record Of The Year
   Album Of The Year
8. ZEDD & ALESSIA CARA
   “Stay”
   Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
9. LADY GAGA
   “Million Reasons”
   Best Pop Solo Performance
10. IMAGINE DRAGONS
    “Thunder”
    Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
11. THE MAN
    “Feel It Still”
    Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
12. THE CHAINSMOKERS & COLDPLAY
    “Something Just Like This”
    Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
13. P!NK
    “What About Us”
    Best Pop Solo Performance
14. LOGIC FEAT. ALESSIA CARA & KHALID
    “1-800-273-8255”
    Song Of The Year
15. JULIA MICHAELS
    “Issues”
    Song Of The Year
16. KESHA
    “Praying”
    Best Pop Solo Performance
17. CHRIS STAPLETON
    “Broken Halos”
    Best Country Album
18. LITTLE BIG TOWN
    “Better Man”
    Best Country Album
19. THOMAS RHETT FEAT. MAREN MORRIS
    “Craving You”
    Best Country Album
20. LADY ANTEBELLUM
    “You Look Good”
    Best Country Album
21. KENNY CHESNEY
    “All The Pretty Girls”
    Best Country Album

Eric Church has been taking some time to process his recent Holdin’ My Own Tour, since he wrapped the trek a couple of months ago. The North Carolina native played between three-and-a-half to four hours every single night with just a short break in the middle of the show. While it was probably the most exhilarating, energetic, athletic and biggest treks he’d ever launched, by the end, he was feeling a little bit unsettled, mainly because he didn’t know where to go from there.

“I didn’t really know where to be when the tour wrapped. I was emotionally drained, physically drained, voice shredded and didn’t really know what to do when you didn’t have go somewhere the next week to play, because it had been such a, it was almost like a battle,” says Eric. “Week to week was like, ‘Okay, we’ve got to get through these three. We’re here, here and here.’ Ten to 12 hours of music in three or four nights, it becomes one of those things that I have to mentally have to prepare for, especially for the Thursday night show, the first of three. I know I’ve got to do a night and then I’ve got to do it again and again. So, it was just such a focal point of my entire life and my career that that’s all I focused on week to week… It was such an interesting thing just all of a sudden it be done.”

His manager pulled him aside at the final shows in Nashville and wanted him to just “process” what the tour meant for him.

“He said, ‘You don’t know this, but I want you to take some time and I want you to process. I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire, not only country, in my entire career.’ He said, ‘You should take some time and process what that is, what that means.’ And he said, ‘Just take some time.’ And that’s what I’ve been trying to do between then and now,” he says. “I’m trying to figure out what that is and then really what my job is to figure out where we go from here and that’s what I’m working on now.”

Eric, who played to more than 930,000 over the course of a few months this year, has released 61 Days in Church, a collection of live recordings from the tour currently streaming on Apple Music. Fans can now get all of the 100+ song project in a limited physical release – a massive 15-LP box set, complete with a commemorative tour book and original poster housed in a custom road case. The initial shipment just went out on Friday (December 15th) with the road case, book, poster and the first three LPs, which include music from the first 12 shows of his Holdin’ My Own Tour. The remaining 12 vinyl records will be shipped out once a month beginning in January 2018.

Eric is currently nearing the top of the country charts with “Round Here Buzz” from his Mr. Misunderstood album.