Dierks Bentley

Bio

GRAVEL & GOLD Bio

There comes a time in any climb up one of Colorado’s famous 14,000 foot peaks when, after a few hours of striving, you pause on a ledge, turn around, and marvel at the vista and the ground you’ve covered. That’s where Dierks Bentley finds himself, 20 years into an exceptional career in 21st century country music. The view is breathtaking for sure, but this is a multi-platinum artist in peak shape, his eyes fixed on the summit.

The 2020 pandemic gave Bentley a moment to breathe and think about his journey to this point and the possibilities for the heights that lay ahead. The break led to a new burst of creativity. With one foot in Nashville and one in his beloved second home of Colorado, he worked harder than he ever had on an album – his landmark tenth, Gravel & Gold.

It’s a diverse, 14-track album – written almost entirely by Dierks with his closest collaborators – about perspective and self-awareness at many levels from the personal to the professional. It’s also a testament to the many strains of country music Bentley has mastered and cultivated in his career, from the arena shaker to the barroom weeper to the bluegrass fireballer. In its opening track “Same Old Me,” Bentley recognizes that midlife demands adjustments and adaptations – as well as nurturing the inner fire of the 18-year-old country music fanatic who first arrived in Nashville in the 1990s. Fifty minutes later, we’re in an intimate circle with Music City’s greatest pickers, trading licks and laughs on a witty song about getting high. It was no easy thing to encompass in one record the values and sounds that have defined Bentley across two decades of hits and millions of touring miles, but he’s pulled it off. The story of Gravel & Gold is one of renewal, family, persistence and devotion to making the music as authentic and lasting as it can possibly be.

“I was in Colorado and I was definitely kind of pushing music away for a little bit,” says Bentley about the limbo of 2020. “I put the guitar in a case, I didn’t even get it out.” Playing outdoors “was just the greatest feeling of all time. I could never get enough bike rides and never get enough skiing and never get enough hikes or walks with my family.” It was the break from touring he (and his colleagues) dream about but dare not take. The home that Bentley, wife Cassidy and their three kids have had in Telluride for the past few years, a relatively modest manifestation of multi-platinum success, went from being a fun getaway to a sanctuary during a tough time for the country. Bentley hails from the West after all, and his passion for its landscapes and its “Rocky Mountain freedom” sparkles on track two of Gravel & Gold, “Sunsets In Colorado.”

Under such ideal circumstances for rest and revitalization, it was just a matter of time before the guitar came back out and songs began to flow, initially on Zoom sessions and visits to Telluride by some country music buddies. Bentley could feel the industry stirring 1,500 miles away, and he hadn’t released a new album since The Mountain in the summer of 2018. “I started doing writer’s retreats and got a bunch of songs. We came back to Nashville and cut 15 songs at the Sound Emporium with my band,” he says. But when he sat with the results, Bentley realized it was not going to be so simple. Take two involved working with an old co-writing friend who shifted to the producer role. They cut five songs and took stock, and Bentley still wasn’t satisfied. The next mix of collaborators hit the target: a combination of Ross Copperman, Red Shippen, Jon Randall and Brett Beavers. Bentley stepped into the producer role for the first time. Some of the songs on Gravel & Gold were recorded three times by the time the process was over, but you only get one chance to make a tenth album. Bentley had never had quite so much freedom to make sure every line, every instrumental part, every vocal harmony, every texture, was up to par.

“All you can do is try to make something that you don’t have any regrets about. You know you put all the time you could into it. It wasn’t rushed. It’s as good as I can make it – as good as we can make it. I can look at it for the rest of my life and be like, yeah, that was harder than I thought it would be, but it worked out.”

After “Same Old Me” and “Sunsets In Colorado” establish key themes close to Bentley’s personal story, “Heartbreak Drinking Tour” calls on country music’s capacity for telling stories of others, and of all of us. In this blue-lit classic that could have been on the radio in any of the past four decades, a guy moves to the west coast for love, and when it comes crashing down, he makes his way homeward, drowning his sorrows and crashing in every town along the way, set to some clever wordplay. “Something Real” reasserts the importance of holding on to integrity and self in a world of pressures, while “Still,” one of Bentley’s favorite tracks, is a spacious and lovely meditation on staying spiritually grounded, largely through the power and freshness of nature, whether the titanic Rockies or the shady trails of Nashville’s parks. “Cowboy Boots” features sharp writing about a timeless but humble subject, while “Beer At My Funeral” gives the album a jab of Roger Miller humor at 21st century arena scale.

“Gold,” the album’s first single, falls in the middle of the project, refreshing its core theme of perspective with a road-trip vibe and wisdom that can only be earned by putting in the years and the work. “They say heaven is somewhere on the other side,” sings Bentley. “But I ain’t waitin’, Hell I’m thinkin’ it’s a state of mind.” A similar gratitude for connection and life’s gentle gifts can be found in “Walking Each Other Home.” And to round out the generous collection, we get “High Note,” a song that taps Bentley’s passion for and experience with bluegrass music, not to mention his friends. The witty track about Colorado’s now-legal intoxicant concludes with a super jam featuring Billy Strings and Jerry Douglas on dobro, Sam Bush on mandolin, Charlie Worsham on guitar along with Bryan Sutton on guitar and banjo.

This final track carries Bentley full circle to his formative years in Nashville. He arrived from his native Phoenix with a hunger for all kinds of country music, a love of classic WSM-AM and the Grand Ole Opry, and a willingness to seek out knowledge and greatness wherever it could be found. So when Bentley first discovered Nashville’s Station Inn, the venerable bluegrass bar in a then decrepit part of downtown, he felt like he found a second home and family. Meanwhile, he filled notebooks with classic country songs and played them at bars downtown well before the Lower Broadway boom. He landed a song publishing deal in 2001 and a record deal followed with Capitol, his career home, two years later. Bentley saw his first single “What Was I Thinkin’” climb to No. 1 on the Billboard country chart. In the remarkable year of 2005, he released his sophomore project Modern Day Drifter, secured the CMA Horizon Award as best new artist and was asked to join the Opry.

In the years since, Bentley has built a vast fan community and performed consistently at the top tiers of his industry without chasing trends or making music that wasn’t satisfying to himself. While other artists came and went, he has cultivated longevity and legacy, with nine albums reaching platinum or gold status, 21 No. 1 hits, three CMA Awards and 14 Grammy Award nominations. He’s launched the annual Seven Peaks Music Festival in Colorado and Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row franchise of bars with four locations. He’s also back playing bluegrass at his beloved Station Inn on a regular basis featuring an acoustic version of the road band he’s valued for so many years, plus special guests from the elite of acoustic music. Nobody can say at this point that his professed love for timeless country music and the soul of Nashville was anything but genuine and lifelong.

“Selfishly I’ve always wanted to have my cake and eat it too,” says Bentley. “I’m in the bluegrass space. I’m in the traditional country space. It’s always been important to me to have the love and support of this community in Nashville, particularly the older establishment and the Opry – and to know that I’m part of the scene at the bigger venues, you know? It’s fun to be out there on the big stage and swing for the whole deal and have that as well.”

It’s a track record of versatility and success that’s unmatched in country music in the past 20 years. More gold undoubtedly lies ahead.

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UMG NASHVILLE CHRISTMAS CONTENT

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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 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 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.”

UMG NASHVILLE THANKSGIVING CONTENT

Audio

Alan Jackson / Brothers Osborne / Carrie Underwood / Catie Offerman / Caylee Hammack / Darius Rucker / Dierks Bentley / Jordan Davis / Josh Turner / Keith Urban / Little Big Town / Maddie & Tae / Mickey Guyton / Parker McCollum / Priscilla Block / Reba McEntire / Sam Hunt / Tyler Hubbard

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.

Some festive fun facts about Thanksgiving:

President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday on October 3rd, 1863.
Harry Truman is often credited with being the first president to pardon a turkey, but that’s not quite true. He was the first to receive a ceremonial turkey from the National Turkey Federation – and he had it for dinner. John F. Kennedy was the first to let a Thanksgiving turkey go, followed by Richard Nixon who sent his turkey to a petting zoo. George H.W. Bush is the president who formalized the turkey pardoning tradition in 1989.

The average number of calories consumed on Thanksgiving is 4,500.
Butterball answers more than 100,000 turkey-cooking questions via their Butterball Turkey Hotline each November and December.
The tradition of football on Thanksgiving began in 1876 with a game between Yale and Princeton. The first NFL games were played on Thanksgiving in 1920.
The Wednesday before Thanksgiving has become known as “Drinksgiving.” Bars experience a huge boom the night before the holiday.

Thanksgiving Day is Thursday, November 23rd, and most people might be enjoying time with a group of their friends and families, including some of your favorite country stars, such as Alan Jackson, Brothers Osborne, Carrie Underwood, Catie Offerman, Caylee Hammack, Dalton Dover, Darius Rucker, Dierks Bentley, Jon Pardi, Josh Turner, Keith Urban, Little Big Town, Maddie & Tae, Mickey Guyton, Parker McCollum, Priscilla Block, Reba McEntire, Sam Hunt, Tyler Hubbard and more. They share their thoughts of thanks this year, their lessons in gratitude, memories and favorite Thanksgiving dishes.

THANKSGIVING SOUNDBITES:

AJ (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.”

Brothers Osborne (Misfits Thanksgiving) OC: (TJ) …Happy holidays, y’all. 1:02
“What’s up, y’all? It’s Brothers Osborne here. And a Thanksgiving tradition that we did for so many years. John and I would host what we would call a Misfits Thanksgiving, and we would have everyone, I mean we must’ve done this for 15 years or so and it really started because we didn’t have enough money to go back home to see our family, so we would hang out in Nashville. And so everyone that was kind of in our same shoes, we’d all end up at our house, and it really turned into really blossoming some of our most cherished relationships. We would be there with Kacey Musgraves. It was the first time I really got to hang out with Mickey Guyton (JOHN: “Maren Morris.”) Maren Morris. They would come over and we just became like family to each other because we couldn’t get home to see our own families. And that’s a Thanksgiving tradition that we still to this day try to keep, and it’s a revolving door of who’s there or who’s not there, but yeah, it’s a wonderful tradition. And let me tell you, spending it with our friends in Nashville, there’s a little less arguing than back home. (laughs)” JOHN: “We’re still arguing, but we get over it faster.” (laughs) TJ: “Anyways, Happy Holidays, y’all.”

Carrie Underwood (Thanksgiving 2023) OC: …we all are. :30
“I am grateful for so many things this Thanksgiving. I think the thing I’m most grateful for, though, is family. I mean, that’s what it’s all about, and that’s what this life is all about. I’m blessed to have two incredible boys that I get to take care of and that love on me daily, and they’re just giant blessings in my life, and of course, my extended family, as well. That’s what this time of year’s all about – getting together and just realizing how blessed we all are.”

Carrie 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.”

Catie Offerman (Thanksgiving) OC: …what I do. :17
“I am so thankful for a lot of things. I think my family, the gift of being able to put music out this year has been huge for me. I think that’s something I’ve waited on for a really long time, and I’m so thankful for that. I’m thankful for my health and just being able to keep playing music and doing what I do.”

Caylee 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.”

Caylee 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.”

Dalton Dover (Thanksgiving eats) 1 OC: …at Thanksgiving. :04
“Like I’m a big deviled eggs guy, so they got to be on the dinner table at Thanksgiving.”

Dalton Dover (Thanksgiving eats) 2 OC: …best. :02
“My grandma, and she makes the absolute best (deviled eggs).”

Darius 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.”

Darius 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.”

Dierks 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.”

Jordan Davis (Thanksgiving) OC: …lot of football. :12
“When I was growing up at Thanksgiving, we just got all the family together. You know, did the traditional turkey, ham, all the sides, but it was always at either one of my grandparents’ house. Just a lot of family, a lot of food and a lot of football.”

Jordan Davis (Thanksgiving side dish) 2 OC: …Cheese guy. :09
“My favorite Thanksgiving side dish – Macaroni and Cheese – anytime. Thanksgiving, a random Tuesday. I don’t care. I’m a Macaroni and Cheese guy.”

Jordan Davis (Thanksgiving turkey) OC: …most forward to. :11
“Favorite Thanksgiving tradition for me? I just recently got into frying the turkey, so I’m the turkey-frying guy, and I’m getting pretty good at it. So, I would have to say that’s my thing that I look most forward to.”

Jordan Davis (Thanksgiving memory) OC: …really special. :17
“A typical Thanksgiving in the Davis household growing up – we would always go to East Texas to my grandparents’ house. You know, during the day, me and my grandfather would always go fish. My grandma would always have a huge spread, and just get to spend time around a lot of family members I don’t get to see a lot of, so they were always really special.”

Josh 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]

Josh 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.”

My first Thanksgiving actually was with a family who, it was the Crane family. I was friends with the guy called Billy Crane and his brother was the guitarist in Charlie Daniels band. And so the Crane family, very, very, very Southern, that was my first Thanksgiving and it was the greatest experience because first of all, I realized like, I make sure you don’t eat two days before Thanksgiving. Don’t eat anything for two days because not only are there going to be like eight dishes all brought by all the relatives. All the relatives are watching to see if you eat their dish. And Billy Crane was saying to me, oh, you got to try this, you got to try that. And I’m like, I’m good. And I go, no, no, no, I’m saying you have because they’re watching. It was awesome.

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.”

Maddie & Tae (Thanksgiving) OC: (TAE) …I do. :41
MADDIE: “I love Thanksgiving because I get to see my family, and it’s not as much pressure as Christmas I feel like because there are no gifts exchanged. It’s just all about quality time and I love quality time. My favorite dish is some broccoli-cheese casserole and Tae’s favorite dish, I know, is cranberry sauce, just plain. Just plain ole cranberry sauce, no turkey, just cranberry sauce.” TAE: “She knows.” MADDIE: “That’s it.” TAE: “I genuinely feel there’s something wrong with me. (MADDIE: “Out of the can.”) out of the can. My parents know just to have cranberry sauce for me, like no one else can touch it. There’s a home video where my brother Mason tries to eat it, and I’m like, ‘What are you doing? This is mine.’” MADDIE: “She eats it out of the can.” TAE: “I do.”

Mickey Guyton (Thanksgiving traditions) OC: …Thanksgiving traditions. :17
“One of my Thanksgiving traditions is playing charades after Thanksgiving dinner. I’m not the most competitive person in the world, but as soon as you put some Charades in the picture, I am crazy, and you will definitely want to be on my team if we’re playing Charades. I’m just saying. So, that’s one of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions.”

Mickey 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!”

Parker McCollum (Thanksgiving tradition) OC: …go there. :27
“I mean, my parents have been split up for a long time, but they’re all from the same town. My mom and dad went to high school together and all that stuff and all the family still lives back there on both sides. So, we kind of do a Thanksgiving with my dad’s side of the family, but all my life, we’ve always gone to my mom’s parents’ house on Thanksgiving, and they got a big ole house and a bunch of property and it’s really where I grew up is right there. That’s kind of home for me, so that’s kind of our thing. We always go there.”

Parker McCollum (Thanksgiving eats) OC: …creamed corn. Mmm hmmm. :04
“My Aunt’s creamed corn is pretty bomb. I love creamed corn. Mmm hmmm.”

Priscilla 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.”

Reba McEntire (Thankful) OC: …happy camper. :39
“Omigosh I wake up in the morning grateful that I can, that I’m alive, I can breathe, I can move, I can get out of bed on my own. (I’m) very grateful for the lifestyle that I have and if anybody needs help, please Lord please, direct me in what you want me to do. Just grateful for getting Rex in my life, my family being healthy and happy, my friends being healthy and happy. I’ve got a great job and people I love and get to work with, and I’ve got a huge faith. So, no matter what happens to me, I know where I’m going, so I’m a happy camper.”

Sam Hunt (Thanksgiving eats) OC: …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.”

Tyler Hubbard (Thanksgiving) OC: …I love it. :22
“Favorite Thanksgiving tradition for me is probably just getting together with family, having a big meal and watching a little football and taking a nice long nap. I mean, we didn’t reinvent the wheel with Thanksgiving by any means. But my Nanny (grandmother) does make a pretty mean sweet potato casserole, so that’s one of my favorites that I look forward to and I don’t know if that’s a tradition or not, but in my head it is. I love it.”

Tyler Hubbard (Thanksgiving 2024) OC: …be grateful. :47
“This year’s Thanksgiving, it’s a time to reflect and I feel like I have a lot to be thankful for. This year’s been incredible. On the personal front, on the professional front, I have so much to be grateful. (I) got to do my first headline tour. I got to put out my second album, got to go to Australia and Canada and yeah, it’s just been a great year. I had a lot of great time with the family, as well, got to go on some great trips and so I’m just in a place of gratitude all around. Life is good, and I can think back to times when life wasn’t so sweet and life was a lot more difficult, so this is truly a time where I’m just reflecting and being grateful for the things in my life – my kiddos, my wife, our house and just the time together. Anyway, it’s been a great year, and I’m excited to shut it down for a little bit of time and just reflect and be grateful.”

THANKSGIVING LINERS:

“Hi! This is Alan Jackson. I hope y’all have a very happy Thanksgiving out there.”

“Hey Guys, I’m Billy Currington. Have a great Thanksgiving.”

“Hi, this is Brad Paisley. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.”

“Hey! This is TJ, and this is John, and we’re wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving!”

“Hi! I’m Carrie Underwood, wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Hey y’all, it’s Catie Offerman, wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Hey y’all! This is Caylee Hammack, wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Hey y’all! What’s up? This is Darius Rucker, wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!”

“Hey! It’s Dierks Bentley! Happy Thanksgiving!”

“Hey folks! It’s Eric Church, wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Hi! This is George Strait, wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Hey everybody, what’s up? We’re Hootie & the Blowfish, wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Hey! It’s Jon Pardi, wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Hey I’m Jordan Davis. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.”

Family, Friends, Football and Food – it sounds like a great day to me! Hi, I’m Josh Turner – Happy Thanksgiving!

“Hey! It’s Kacey Musgraves, wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!”

“Hey everyone, this is Keith Urban, wanting to wish you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Hey, we’re Little Big Town. Happy Thanksgiving!”

“Hey! It’s Luke Bryan, wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!”

“Hey everybody! I’m Maddie, and I’m Tae, and we’re Maddie & Tae, wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Hey! It’s Mickey Guyton here, and I want to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Hey everybody. I’m Parker McCollum, wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Hi! This is Priscilla Block, wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Hey everybody! This is Reba McEntire, wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Hey everybody! This is Sam Hunt, wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Hey everybody, The War And Treaty here, and we’re thankful for you, so Happy Thanksgiving.”

HALLOWEEN AUDIO FROM UMG ARTISTS

Audio

Billy Currington / Brothers Osborne / Dalton Dover / Darius Rucker / Dierks Bentley / Eric Church / Jon Langston / Jon Pardi / Jordan Davis / Josh Turner / Luke Bryan / Maddie & Tae / Mickey Guyton / Parker McCollum / Priscilla Block / Reba McEntire / Travis Denning / Tyler Hubbard

Halloween is Thursday, October 31st, and the spooky, eerie holiday has some of your favorite country stars getting into costume, while others are recalling their favorite Halloween candy or memories of Halloweens past.

Click HERE to download Halloween liners.

Billy Currington (Halloween) OC: …Halloween. :17
“You know, when I was a kid, I loved the trick and the treat. I loved dressing up. I was always wanting to be Dracula. That was my favorite guy. But, of course, who doesn’t love going door-to-door and getting these buckets of candy? [laughs] So, love, love Halloween.”

Brothers Osborne (Halloween) OC: …I love it! :20
“Halloween’s awesome! Halloween reminds you of when you’re a kid. Every year when it starts getting cold and the leaves start turning, and I think it’s just something that we carry from childhood, is carrying around that bag of candy and carving pumpkins and dressing up like whatever in the world you want to dress up as and walking around. I love it!”

Brothers Osborne (zombie costume) OC: (John) …was so fun! :29
TJ: “Literally, you can dress up like a zombie and drag your foot behind you all day and make weird noises, and everyone finds that completely acceptable.” [laughs] JOHN: “One year I dressed up as a ‘90s redneck zombie with a mullet wig and an Alan Jackson denim coat. I never once broke character. That’s part of the thing — you can actually not break character and get away with it. And everywhere I went, even when I ordered a drink, I ordered it like a zombie that was falling apart. [laughs] It was so fun!”

Brothers Osborne (carving pumpkins) OC: …or something. :25
“With our dad every year, we would go looking for pumpkins, and we would all get our own pumpkin to carve, and he would buy the biggest pumpkin that they had. It was huge. I mean, it was way too big for any one person, but he would love carving. He’s kind of an artsy guy. He was a great drawer and stuff, and he would carve the most terrifying, vicious looking, scary pumpkin you’d ever seen in your life, and it would be massive. It would be like on a 50-pound pumpkin or something.”

Brothers Osborne (Halloween candy) OC: (John) …go stale. [laughs] :34
TJ: “I would say, Snickers, Baby Ruth, Kit Kat and Reese’s too.” JOHN: “I always hated those houses that would give you bad candy, though. You’re like, ‘C’mon. Step it up.’ Spend the extra dollar on a bag, you know?” TJ: “A house when we were growing up used to give out whole candy bars. It was the best. You were like, ‘That house – that’s the honey hole of candy.’” JOHN: “I love it, and I love like at the end, like three or four days after Halloween you would see what candy was left, and it was always like those crappy cheap candies, and they would just go stale.” [laughs]

Dalton Dover (Halloween costume) OC: …and everything. :09
“One year I dressed up as a Whoopie Cushion, and like I just walked around. I had the tongue up here and the body was all round and stuff. It was really cool. I had fart noises and everything.”

Dalton Dover (Halloween candy) OC: …for sure. :10
“My favorite Halloween candy…hmmmm…I don’t like candy corn, but I would have to say probably I love when I find Reece’s Cups in my kids’ baskets. For sure.”

Darius Rucker (Halloween costumes) OC: …was very funny. (laughs) :41
“My favorite costume was easy, and I bet, from the time I was six to the time I was 13, of those seven years, I went as a football player because you’re coming from football practice to go out (laughs) and trick-or-treat. So, instead of like, you know, putting on some other costume. Just put your pads back on and go as a football player. So, most years I went as a football player. And I don’t dress much anymore, but my favorite costume I ever had was (son) Jack dressed up as Darth Vader and I was Luke Skywalker. And he just, I guess he was six and he was walking along telling everybody I’m his father. It was very funny. (laughs) It was very funny.” (laughs)

Dierks Bentley (Halloween) OC: … …around home. [laughs] :23
“Oh, when I was a kid, I was all into fireworks. Growing up in Arizona, we couldn’t get ’em, so we’d have ’em shipped in illegally. I still remember the name of the guy we’d call. His name was Joe, and he’d bring in, ship ’em in a package with no writing on ’em. We were all about M-80s in the mailboxes and bottle rocket wars. To me, as a kid, Halloween was fireworks, was blowing up stuff around home. [laughs]”

Eric Church (Halloween) OC: …Franklin Street. 1:18
“My favorite Halloween costume really came, I remember when I got a little older my first year of college, there’s this thing they do every year in Chapel Hill, North Carolina – Halloween on Franklin Street. We drove down from Boone, North Carolina. I had a bunch of friends that went to University of North Carolina, and we didn’t have costumes and didn’t realize until we were on the way that we had to have costumes. So, we stopped at a costume place in Greensboro, North Carolina. It’s Halloween, so there’s a run on everything and couldn’t find anything. And we end up getting sent around, driving around town. We end up finding this hole in the wall place, but they had the full costume, Sesame Street outfits. The real deal. The real ones [with] feathers and fur. We were Elmo, Cookie Monster and I was Big Bird, and the Big Bird was the actual Big Bird. It’s about 7-foot-4, and yiou looked out of the body and then you had these straps that went on since the head was a lot higher. There’s a lot of beer involved in Franklin Street, so we get down there and as the night went on, my straps broke, so the head would pivot. And so, I would be walking one way and the head would be facing the other, and it just became this funny…I didn’t know the head was on backwards. I had no idea. I see out of the body, so I’m just kinda walking around and people were talking to my ass-end. [laughs] The whole time peiople’d come up and start talking and go, ‘Hey, turn around.’ And I’d turn around, and they’d go, ‘No turn around.’ It was a mess. That year, there was no other Big Bird on Franklin Street.”

Jon Langston (Halloween) OC: …memorable Halloween. :59
“So we played a show a few years ago in Baton Rouge and I go off stage and I come back on stage for the encore. I don’t know this until midway through the song, I’m just into the crowd, like I’m engaged. I’m in the zone, and I just see everyone, like everybody else behind me but me and I’m like what’s going on. I turn around and each of them has a different huge mask on, like one of those stuffed animal masks, like my drummer has a dinosaur head on. My guitar players, one of ‘em has monkey head on, the other has a unicorn head on. And my bass player has like a, I think a dog or cat head or something like that. I couldn’t finish the song I was laughing so hard just seeing them playing with these like oversized huge mask heads on Halloween night. That was funny. It was a good prank, so that was probably the most memorable Halloween.”

Jon Pardi (Halloween) 1 OC: …the Superman. :15
“Man, I went through phases of costumes – the Superman costume, then it was a ninja, then I was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle one year. I remember rockin’ the Superman.”

Jon Pardi (Halloween candy) OC: …during Halloween. :06
“Man! The candy corn is pretty good, and that’s seasonal, so it only kinda pops out during Halloween.”

Jordan Davis (Halloween) OC: …jet black. :49
“I can remember being really big into Power Rangers. I always liked the Red Ranger. I remember being Red Ranger one Halloween. I remember me and my br4other being big into the Ninja Turtles. I was Donatello one year, which I think was the purple turtle. I think, though, my favorite Halloween was I was in college and I went as Luigi from Mario and Luigi, and I actually grew a legit mustache and dyed it jet black and ran into an ex-girlfriend at the costume shop and completely forgot I had the mustache on. So, when Is saw her, she was like, ‘So, you’re going with a mustache nowadays, huh?’ [laughs] I remember being like, ‘I swear this is part of my Halloween costume.’ [laughs] When I dyed my mustache, my top lip was black for a week. Like I really did dye it jet black.”

Jordan Davis (Halloween candy) OC: …some Starbursts. :21
“My favorite Halloween candy [is] probably Reese’s or M&M’s, although I love the variety of Starburst. It’s one that I feel like I only eat at Halloween, because I feel like at Halloween one of the popular ones is the two-piece Starburst things. So, probably Reese’s, M&Ms and throw in some Starbursts.”

Jordan Davis (no candy corn) OC: …they’re awful. :05
“You know what I never got? The candy corns. I’ve never been a candy corn guy. I think they’re awful.”

Josh Turner (Halloween costumes) OC: …pretty classic. :27
“My favorite family costume was from a couple of years ago when I had my six-and-a-half-month-old beard going, and me and the whole family dressed up as Star Wars characters. So, I was a young Obi Wan Kenobi, Jennifer was Princess Leia, Colby and Marion were Storm Troopers, Hampton was Darth Vadar and Hawk was, I guess, pretty much still a baby, and he dressed up as Yoda. It was pretty classic.”

Josh Turner (Halloween candy) OC: …can’t beat ‘em. :09
“My favorite Halloween candy…hmmmm…that’s a tricky one. I’m going to have to go with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Can’t beat ‘em.”

Luke Bryan (Halloween) OC: …your teeth. :21
“You can find out a lot about your neighbors by what kind of candy they put out. So, well, like full bars of Snickers bars, that’s what, and Reese’s cups, [but] the old chocolate popcorn ball of stuff, that’s no good either, like Dots – you get Dots one time of year and they pull your teeth.”

Luke Bryan (Halloween) 2 OC: …with all that. :33
“My tradition for Halloween is Caroline picks the outfit. I never know what I’m wearing. So that day, I’ll talk to the neighbors ‘cause I have a tractor back there and I’ll go get my tractor and get a big long trailer, and then I’ll run down to…a couple miles from the farm, we’ve got a big hay farmer that keeps hay and you run in there and pay him for his hay bales. And I’ll load the hay up and get the hayride ready and we’ll take all the kids behind the tractor and have a fun Halloween with all that.”

Luke Bryan (Halloween costumes) OC: …always has. :20
“Me and Caroline did one year where I dressed up as the old lady, and she dressed up as, she called herself a dirty old man. So, she went around acting like an old man saying snide comments to everybody. That was a fun one. The main thing is Caroline is a big, she loves Halloween and always has.”

Maddie & Tae (Halloween 2023) OC: …in that costume. :56
“Halloween is my favorite season of all-time. I live in spooky season all year round. I’m like a scary movie fanatic. If you need a good horror movie recommendation, I’m your girl. So, I have a lot of fun with costumes and stuff. One year my husband and I were Dwight and Angela (from The Office) for Halloween, and then we just like have so much fun with our costumes. So, last year, actually for Halloween we were a little family of hedgehogs (laughs) ‘cause we put a little hedgehog costume on Leighton, at the time she loved hedgehogs, so Josh and I got hedgehog onesies. And this year, Josh and I are gonna be park rangers because Leighton is going to be a pink dinosaur. She’s going through a major dino phase; she calls ‘em dinos. And it’s gonna be adorable. And Maddie actually just told me her family’s costume theme. Forrest is going to be little E.T., and then Jonah’s gonna be Elliott and Maddie’s going to be Gertie. I cannot wait to see them in that costume.”

Maddie & Tae (Halloween) OC: …princesses. :24
TAE: “Oooooh, Halloween [is] my favorite holiday. Anyone who knows me knows I love all things scary and gory, so especially on Halloween all the scary movies that come out in theaters, I am there every single time.” MADDIE: “And I never go with her because I hate scary things.” TAE: “You know what’s funny? As little girls, everyone wants to dress up as princesses, and I think I was a witch like six years in a row. I just wanted to be scary.” MADDIE: “Girl, I was like Jasmine and you know [other] princesses.”

Mickey Guyton (Halloween) OC: …the costumes. :50
“Growing up, my parents were very, very conservative Christian, and so they viewed Halloween as a pagan holiday. BUT, I got to go trick-or-treating once in my life, and I dressed as a clown because my mom made me this clown suit and that was the best. We were in Moody, Texas. It was all three of my siblings and myself and we had so much candy that it lasted for months and months. My parents eventually had to throw it away because we had so much candy. And it was one of the most amazing, magical experiences I’ve ever had, because I never got to celebrate freaking Halloween. I tell you what, this son of mine is gonna definitely going to be celebrating trick-or-treating. Like I can’t wait to dress him up in all of the costumes.”

Parker McCollum (favorite Halloween candy) OC: …so good. :07
“What I can eat like 6,000 of are Tootsie Rolls. If I eat one Tootsie Roll, I’m gonna eat 30. Man, they’re so good.”

Priscilla Block (Halloween) OC: …you’re cooking. :52
“You know what’s so funny about me? I’m not a huge candy girl. Is that shocking? Hit me with all the carbs! Hit me with all the pasta! Don’t love treats. It’s really crazy. I’m not a huge chocolate girl. I would say my favorite candy is a Cow Tail. I love to get them from the gas station. Yeah, it’s usually in a little long package and there’s like cream on the inside. Love it! That’s my favorite candy. Give me that and a piece of pizza. Trick or Treat do you have any pizza ‘cause it smells like pizza in this house. (laughs) That’s me going to the door. It smells like steak. Don’t want the Twizzler. Want the steak that you’re cooking!”

Reba McEntire (Halloween as a child) OC: …right there. :35
“The way we used to celebrate it when we were kids – we were out in the country; our nearest neighbor was a couple of miles away from us, so we’d gotta get dressed up and put on lipstick or whatever we could. We didn’t have Halloween costumes, and we’d walk down in the dark to Mr. and Mrs. Winslet’s house, and she’d feed us cookies and milk and then we’d walk back up in the dark. But Alice, Susie and I weren’t attentive enough to realize that Pake wasn’t with us in the group, and Pake would get up on the road going to the house and crawl up in a tree and scare the crap out of us. So, that was my Halloween memories right there.”

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Tyler Hubbard (Halloween candy) OC: …of childhood. :20
“Ooooohhh—I’m a chocolate guy, so I do love just a good ole Reese’s or a good ole Snickers, but when it comes to classic Halloween candy, I still, I like ole candy corn. I do. I like candy corn. Well, it only comes around once or twice a year, well I guess once a year. Maybe it’s nostalgic, all that sugar, a couple of good cavities, remind you of childhood.”

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We have compiled an array of content — a variety of liners and soundbites – from DIERKS BENTLEY to equip you with everything you might need to put together your own album radio special; roll-out tracks surrounding the release of his new GRAVEL & GOLD record to use in news feeds, specials and much more. Check out all of details below (including audio liners and soundbites, as well as transcriptions) to create your own content surrounding DIERKS’ new album release.

GRAVEL & GOLD Track List:

“Same Ol’ Me” (Luke Dick, Jon Randall, Dierks Bentley)
“Sun Sets In Colorado” (Ross Copperman, Tommy Lee James, Josh Osborne)
“Heartbreak Drinking Tour” (Luke Dick, Ashley Gorley, Michael Hardy, Ross Copperman, Dierks Bentley)
“Something Real” (Luke Dick, Ashley Gorley, Michael Hardy, Ross Copperman, Dierks Bentley)
“Still” (Jeff Hyde, Ryan Tyndell, Jeremy Spillman, Dierks Bentley)
“Beer At My Funeral” (Brett Beavers, Jim Beavers)
“Cowboy Boots” (Featuring Ashley McBryde) (Casey Brown, Jordan Minton, Hunter Phelps, Dierks Bentley)
“Gold” (Luke Dick, Ashley Gorley, Ross Copperman, Dierks Bentley)
“Walking Each Other Home” (Luke Dick, John Osborne, Dierks Bentley)
“Roll On” (Brett Beavers, Jim Beavers, Dierks Bentley)
“All The Right Places” (Josh Osborne, Ross Copperman, Dierks Bentley)
“Ain’t All Bad” (Casey Brown, Jordan Minton, Hunter Phelps, Dierks Bentley)
“Old Pickup” (Neil Thrasher, Tony Martin, Michael Dulaney)
“High Note” (Featuring Billy Strings) (Jim Beavers, Charlie Worsham)

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Dierks Bentley youtube November 15th 2016

Dierks Bentley – Live From Legends

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Dierks Bentley youtube October 3rd 2016

Dierks Bentley – WHAT THE HELL World Tour 2017

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Dierks Bentley youtube May 25th 2016

what happens in the cockpit stays in the cockpit… see ya soon nyc #flightconvos #black

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Dierks Bentley youtube March 11th 2016

flying home from austin #360

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Dierks Bentley youtube January 11th 2016

DIERKS BENTLEY – BLACK

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Dierks Bentley youtube February 6th 2015

Dierks Bentley // Gavin DeGraw – Counting Stars (Super Bowl)

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Dierks Bentley youtube February 6th 2015

Dierks Bentley – Super Bowl Tailgate Show (Highlights)

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Dierks Bentley youtube January 12th 2015

Sounds Of Summer: Polar Plunge 2015

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