Universal Universal Music Group Nashville Pressroom

With Valentine’s Day tomorrow, Lady Antebellum‘s Charles, Hillary and Dave sat down to talk about their favorite Valentine moments in this week’s webisode.

The holiday of romance and love is upon us, and that dastardly Cupid has been shooting his arrows all over the place. On this holiday, some of the Capitol/EMI artists have offered up their thoughts and ideas of love and relationships, just in time for Valentine’s Day (Thursday, February 14th).

AUDIO: Alan Jackson talks about his love for wife, Denise, over the years. 

AJ (Valentine’s Day) OC: …continue to. :24
“We got a lot of history together now, and we’re happier than we’ve ever been. So, she’s still beautiful, and she’s always inspired songs. I mean, one of my early hits was a song called ‘I’d Love You All Over Again,’ I wrote for her for our 10th anniversary. I mean, there’s been a zillion songs that have pieces of our good days and bad days inspired, and they continue to.”

AUDIO: Billy Currington recalls his first Valentine – when he was in first or second grade.

Billy Currington (first Valentine memory) OC: …off running. :21
“Yeah, I remember my first girlfriend. I was in first or second grade. But anyway, I remember, ‘OK, it’s Valentine’s Day,’ and your mom going, ‘You’ve got to get your girlfriend something and you’ve got to go give it to her. I’ll never forget, I got her a box of chocolates or whatever it was, and I remember going down to her classroom and knocking on the door and getting her to come to the door. And I remember I handed it to her, and I took off running.”

AUDIO: Darius Rucker knew he would marry his wife, Beth, on their first date.

Darius Rucker (wife) OC: …her and country music saved my life. :43
“I don’t know what it was about her. I mean, it was EVERYTHING about her. I knew, I told her I was going to marry her on our first date, [laughs] yeah. Beth’s a strong woman. It takes a strong woman to be married to a musician, especially a musician who was drinking and partying as hard as I was, and I think life for us is where we are now. It took a long time for us to get to where we are now, and we say to each other all the time, ‘I love us. I love our family. I love us.’ And I thank her every day for staying with me and being the strong woman she is, because with Hootie & the Blowfish, I could be gone for three months and then I’d come home for two days and then I’d be gone again for a month, and she put up with all that crap. You know, her and country music saved my life.”

AUDIO: Before tying the knot with wife Cassady, Dierks Bentley says Valentine’s Day wasn’t always a pleasant holiday for him. 

Dierks Bentley (Valentine’s Day) 1 OC: …want to. :19
“Well, before, as a single guy in the past, if you were dating someone, it’s that holiday that comes along where you have to really like stamp out on paper exactly where the relationship really stands. You don’t want to undershoot it ’cause then you’ll be in trouble, you know, if you don’t give the right present or don’t say the right things, you’re gonna be in the doghouse. But then if you overstate your hand, then you’re moving the relationship way faster than you actually want to.” 

Dierks Bentley (Valentine’s Day) 2 OC: …could before. :27
“You get married and that’s a long-term, bigger image of what love can be. Then you have a child, and your heart gets spread so thin and it’s so vulnerable, like it’s a really tough, tough feeling, and it can kill you. It can really be painful at times, and at the same time, it’s so great. But it definitely stretches your heart…and it doesn’t change anything, it just makes your heart, I think it just makes it bigger. I think you just find that you can love more than you ever thought you could before.”

AUDIO: Eric Church says his wife, Katherine, loves him “Like Jesus Does.”

 Eric Church (Valentine’s Day) OC: …love song is. :48
“True love to me is when you love a person in spite of all their fallibilities, and for me, I have a lot of ‘em. I’m definitely at times hard to love, and that’s what’s great about Katherine and the way she loves me. She loves me in spite of those things and really for those things. That’s what’s so neat about the song is it’s not getting around those things, that’s a part of who the person is and it can be challenging at times, and that’s what the song talks about, but it’s what true love is. I think if you ask Katherine, I mean her favorite song on the record is ‘Like Jesus Does.’ Wonder why that is? [chuckles] But it’s something that I’m proud that it’s on the record. And again, I just think it’s a great, realistic version of what a true love song is.”

AUDIO: Keith Urban says love means being aware of each other even as the newness of the relationship wears off.

Keith Urban (Valentine’s Day) OC: …just me or… [laughs] :60
“I mean for me, I think a lot of it has to do with just staying present, because you know, when we start relationships, we’re so capable of honoring each other at the beginning off a relationship with cards and flowers and chocolates and attention and affection and priority. And then all of that all too many times starts to drift away, and it drifts away because it’s easy at the beginning. It just happens naturally. You’re almost overdoing it sometimes in the beginning. I was listening to the radio, [and] they’re talking about when is a relationship too soon to give Valentine’s gifts? [laughs] If you’ve been dating a guy six days, and it just started before the 14th…[laughs] and some woman said, ‘I was dating this guy three weeks and it was Valentine’s Day, and he gave me an iPad for Valentine’s Day.’ [laughs] That’s a ridiculous gift for Valentine’s Day. Is it just me, or…[laughs]”

AUDIO: Kelleigh Bannen says her husband, Jeff, wasn’t always the best gift-giver for Valentine’s Day or for any other holiday, until last year.

Kelleigh Bannen (Valentine’s Day) OC: …finally. 1:00
“My husband is chronically cheap, the most frugal man ever! And so, because of that, gift-giving is not something he’s great at, because he hates spending money on things. Literally. He’ll tell you this. One of our first holidays together he gave me socks for Christmas, and other presents have been equally terribly through the ages. But last Valentine’s Day, I came back from working out or something, I came back to the house, and a present was sitting out on the kitchen table. And I was like, ‘Is this for me?’ I opened it and it was this awesome perfume. It’s a Bond #9 perfume called Nuits de NoHo, and I had never even heard of it. But Jeff had gone and found someone at the store to help pick out a perfume for me. I wear it all the time. It’s one of those scents that works really well on me and I wear it every day now, and I love it. I was like, ‘We’re turning over a new leaf…finally.’”

Little Big Town (Kimberly falling in love) OC: …healed me. 1:20
Kimberly: “Well, I wasn’t planning on falling in love, at all. I didn’t want to…I wasn’t sure that I ever would.  So, my husband now and I were just really good friends, and after my late husband died all my friends were calling me, all the time. Just checking up on me. He was just an old friend. We had known each other for about six years and he started calling me just like everybody else did.  But, he started calling me more than everybody else did [laughs]. We had both been through similar losses, he hadn’t lost a mate but he had lost a close friend, so we kind of bonded over that. I grieved, kind of, at him a lot. He took my grief, I had a lot of grief left, and he just took it and listened and accepted it and was so understanding and let me talk about my late husband all the time. We still talk about him a lot, and he’s totally fine with it. He says that, that made me who he fell in love with and he never minds if I bring anything from the past up which is just really sweet. I was shocked, I remember when I first realized that I was having feelings. I just thought, OK, this is so weird.  What is this?  I haven’t felt this in a long, long, time. This is weird. But, eventually I allowed myself and it’s been the most beautiful gift of my life. It pulled me out of the deepest hole that I’ve ever been in and healed me.”

AUDIO: Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild and Jimi Westbrook had a chemistry performing together, but it wasn’t until they each found themselves single…at the same time…that sparks flew romantically. The pair, who wed in 2006, have a son, Elijah, who turns three March 5th.

Little Big Town (Jimi & Karen fell in love) OC: (Kimberly) …to be together. :48
JIMI: “We were in the band a long time before there was ever anything which is interesting. I think there was always something underlying there that we were kind of trying to ignore. And then when the opportunity came, when all of us, ended up single kind of at the same time, a very strange turn of events for the band in a lot of different ways. And those feelings, you were able to come out with them finally. It was like, we’re single. Let’s get together. And, you know, she has a beautiful heart and she’s absolutely gorgeous and I just love her dearly.” PHILLIP: “Get a room!” [laughs] KIMBERLY: “They’re a perfect match. They really are. They were meant to be together.”

AUDIO: Little Big Town’s Phillip Sweet was ready for love when he met Rebecca, his wife of nearly six years.

Little Big Town (Phillip – reasons fell in love) OC: …real love. :17
“I think everything that I had gone through before had prepared me to be ready to see that there was genuine love there for me, and my Rebecca.  So, it was just a great time, I wouldn’t have been ready before I met her…Now it’s just been a really great journey to heal through the past and to know real love.”

AUDIO: Valentine’s Day is a special day for Randy Montana, who celebrates the anniversary of his first date with his now wife.

Randy Montana (Valentine’s Day-1st date) OC: …extra special. :08
“Valentine’s Day happens to be the anniversary of me and my wife’s first date, so we always try to treat that a little extra special.”

Nashville, TN – GRAMMY® Award winners and CMA Vocal Group of the Year, Little Big Town will perform their Top 10 single “Tornado” on CBS’ The Late Show with David Letterman on Tuesday (February 12th).  The single is the title track from their critically-acclaimed album Tornado which held the #1 spot on Billboard’s Country Albums Chart for five consecutive weeks and has exceeded sales of 680,000 in just five months. 

The band celebrated their first GRAMMY® Award win last night for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “Pontoon.”

“Tornado” follows the two-week #1 single “Pontoon” which has sold over 2 million downloads.  The band recently kicked off their Tornado Tour and will be on the road with Keith Urban this summer.   

A restaurant in Nashville has decided to celebrate Little Big Town‘s Grammy win for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “Pontoon” with a special sandwich wrap. Mamas Java — a breakfast and lunch place on Nolensville Road — has dubbed it the “LBT Wrap,” which includes lettuce, bacon & tomato with a “country twist of hot bacon honey mustard dressing.”

Thanks Joyce Rizer from Sirius/XM for this tidbit!

Valentine’s Day is upon us, and many of your favorite country artists want to send their wishes your way.

LINER Darius Rucker (Valentine’s Day)
“What’s up y’all? This is Darius Rucker, hoping you have a very Happy Valentine’s Day.”

LINER David Nail (Valentine’s Day)
“Hey! This is David Nail, wishing you a Happy Valentine’s Day.”

LINER Drake White (Valentine’s Day)
“Hi! It’s Drake White, and I hope you have a Happy Valentine’s Day.”

LINER Eric Church (Valentine’s Day)
“Hey! This is Eric Church, hoping you have a very Happy Valentine’s Day.”

LINER Eric Paslay (Valentine’s Day)
“Hi! This is Eric Paslay, hoping you have a very Happy Valentine’s Day.”

LINER Gary Allan (Valentine’s Day)
“Hey! This is Gary Allan, wishing you a very Happy Valentine’s Day.”

LINER George Strait (Valentine’s Day)
“This is George Strait, wishing you a Happy Valentine’s Day.”

LINER Jon Pardi (Valentine’s Day)
“Hi! It’s Jon Pardi, hoping you have a very Happy Valentine’s Day.”

LINER Jon Pardi (Valentine’s Day) 2
“Hey! This is Jon Pardi, wishing all you love birds out there cuddling up there on a couch having a romantic dinner or at a picnic somewhere with your basket watching the sun go down, Happy Valentine’s Day.”

LINER Josh Turner (Valentine’s Day)
“Hey, this is Josh Turner, and I want to wish you and your sweetheart a Happy Valentine’s Day.”

LINER Kacey Musgraves (Valentine’s Day)
“Hi, it’s Kacey Musgraves, and I hope you have a very Happy Valentine’s Day.”

LINER Keith Urban (Valentine’s Day)
“Happy Valentine’s everyone, this is Keith Urban. Make the day special for your ‘Once in a Lifetime’ love.”

LINER Kelleigh Bannen (Valentine’s Day)
“Hey y’all, it’s Kelleigh Bannen, hoping you have a very Happy Valentine’s Day.”

LINER LBT (Valentine’s Day)
“Hey! We’re Little Big Town. Happy Valentine’s Day!”

LINER Luke Bryan (Valentine’s Day)
“Hey y’all, it’s Luke Bryan. Happy Valentine’s Day.”

LINER Luke Bryan (Valentine’s Day) 2
“Hey y’all. It’s Luke Bryan. Happy Valentine’s Day. Make sweet love to your other.”

LINER Sugarland (Valentine’s Day)
“Hey! I’m Jennifer Nettles from Sugarland, wishing you a happy and romantic Valentine’s Day.”

ERIC CHURCH SET TO RELEASE FIRST-EVER LIVE RECORD ON APRIL 9, 2013

 Caught In The Act: Live to Feature 17 Songs Captured at Chattanooga’s Tivoli Theatre

 Exclusive 21-Song Vinyl to be Released on National Record Store Day, April 20, 2013

 NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Friday, February 8, 2013)—EMI Records’ Eric Church will release a 17-track live album, Caught In The Act: Live, on Tuesday, April 9, 2013 featuring songs from Sinners Like Me, Carolina, and his CMA Award-winning 2011 release, CHIEF. Act will be available for purchase on iTunes and in stores nationwide. The album was recorded at Chattanooga’s Tivoli Theatre in October 2012 and is Church’s first live recording. A double gatefold vinyl version of the record will also be made available on National Record Store Day, Saturday, April 20. The package will include four additional tracks and a special whiskey-infused 7-inch. 

Caught In The Act: Live features raw, electric performances of songs like “Pledge Allegiance To The Hag,” “Smoke A Little Smoke,” “How ‘Bout You,” “Creepin’” and more. American Songwriter noted of the live taping, “[The] rendition of the soulful hit ‘Springsteen’ is one of his best, slipping into the first verse of Springsteen’s ‘Born to Run’ towards to end.” The writer adds, “[Church] sang and played just differently enough to create variety from his studio versions and his performance confirmed that his voice is easily just as good as how it sounds on a produced record.”

The release of Caught In The Act: Live is fans’ first chance to take home a copy of Church’s live show — the only of the country genre to be named “Best Concerts Of 2012” by The New York Times who calls it, “A mean show,” and adds, “Mr. Church has clawed his way into the country mainstream with a series of post-outlaw anthems, and delivered them with verve and tension, as if he might not be allowed to for much longer.”

Church is nominated for two GRAMMY® awards this year, both for his No. 1 smash hit, “Springsteen,” in categories Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song and will be in attendance when the winners are announced this Sunday, February 10.

He is currently touring Canada on his sold-out The Blood Sweat & Beers Tour and will return to the states to join Kenny Chesney on the No Shoes Nation tour beginning March 16 in Tampa, Fla.

For a full list of tour dates and more information on Eric Church, visit www.ericchurch.com.

Caught In The Act: Live track listing:

1.)    “Before She Does” (3:46)

2.)    “How ‘Bout You” (4:24)

3.)    “Drink In My Hand” (4:51)

4.)    “Over When It’s Over” (2:57)

5.)    “I’m Gettin’ Stoned” (5:27)

6.)    “Creepin’” (4:45)

7.)    “Keep On” (2:52)

8.)    “Hungover & Hard Up” (3:33)

9.)    “Sinners Like Me” (4:22)

10.)  “Country Music Jesus” (3:49)

11.) “Pledge Allegiance To The Hag” (4:54)

12.)  “Jack Daniels” (6:03)

13.)  “Homeboy” (4:40)

14.) “Lotta Boot Left To Fill” (4:21)

15.)  “Smoke A Little Smoke” (5:14)

16.) “These Boots” (3:43)

17.) “Springsteen” (9:27)

Luke Bryan and the guys are up to no good again with LBTV: Outtake’s Edition!

Eric Church goes into Sunday night’s Grammy Awards with a pair of nominations afor Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song for “Springsteen.” He co-wrote the two-week number-one hit with Jeff Hyde and Ryan Tyndell.

Other UMG Nashville artists picking up nominations include Dierks Bentley, who is nominated for Best Country Solo Performance for “Home,” Little Big Town for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “Pontoon,” and Jamey Johnson for Best Country Album for Living For a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran. Best Country Song category features “Even If It Breaks Your Heart,” which was written by EMI Nashville’s Eric Paslay (along with Will Hoge) and Alan Jackson’s song, “So You Don’t Have to Love Me Anymore,” which was written by his nephew Adam Wright and Jay Knowles.

Dierks has been tapped to perform at this year’s Grammy Awards with his pal and Locked & Re-Loaded tour mate Miranda Lambert. The two are said to be teaming up for a “special” performance on the show. Keith Urban will appear on the show as a presenter.

This year’s Grammy Awards will broadcast live from Los Angeles on Sunday (February 10th) beginning at 8pm ET on CBS.

Check out the country nominees below:

Best Country Solo Performance:
Dierks Bentley “Home”
Eric Church “Springsteen”
Ronnie Dunn “Cost of Livin’”
Hunter Hayes “Wanted”
Blake Shelton “Over”
Carrie Underwood “Blown Away”

Best Country Song:
“Blown Away” – Josh Kear & Chris Tompkins (Carrie Underwood)
“Cost of Livin’” – Ronnie Dunn & Phillip Coleman (Ronnie Dunn)
“Even If It Breaks Your Heart” – Eric Paslay & Will Hoge (Eli Young Band)
“So You Don’t Have to Love Me Anymore” – Jay Knowles & Adam Wright (Alan Jackson)
“Springsteen” – Eric Church, Jeff Hyde & Ryan Tyndell (Eric Church)

Best Country Duo/Group Performance:
Eli Young Band “Even If It Breaks Your Heart”
Little Big Town “Pontoon”
Taylor Swift & The Civil Wars “Safe & Sound”
The Time Jumpers “On the Outskirts of Town”
Don Williams, featuring Alison Krauss “I Just Come Here for the Music”

Best Country Album:
Uncaged – Zac Brown Band
Hunter Hayes – Hunter Hayes
Living For a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran – Jamey Johnson
Four the Record – Miranda Lambert
The Time Jumpers – The Time Jumpers

AUDIO: Eric Church says his Grammy-nominated “Springsteen” takes him back to when he was 16-years-old at his first amphitheater experience.

Eric Church (Springsteen inspiration) OC: …everybody out there. :38
“Springsteen’ is one of those songs that every night that I sing it, I can remember being 16 years old at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Charlotte, North Carolina – my first amphitheater experience up there on the lawn. And I can remember spreading that blanket down, and I can still see the faces of the people that were there with me; I still remember what the weather was like; I can still remember what the air smelled like, what the sky looked like. And I think the great thing about that song – you always try to write music and record music that sparks a memory, and there’s a line in the song – ‘Funny how a melody sounds like a memory.’ That’s exactly what ‘Springsteen’ is for me, and I hope that that’s what it’s for for everybody out there.”

AUDIO: Eric Church talks about Grammy nominations.

Eric Church (Grammy nominations) OC: …Grammys. :10
“If you’re a musical artist, the Grammys are pretty much the Holy Grail, because it’s all genres, it’s everybody, it’s peers. That’s why they are revered the way they are – you know, they’re the Grammys.”

AUDIO: Dierks Bentley talks about his Grammy-nominated “Home.”

Dierks Bentley (Home-Americans) OC: …the bad. :09
“You know, we’re all Americans. I think that’s the most important description of all of us and I think we wanted to write a song that really captured the spirit of this country – the good and the bad.”

AUDIO: Dierks Bentley talks about being nominated at this year’s Grammy Awards, and he says if his pals, bluegrass group The Grascals win, he’s going up on stage with them.

Dierks Bentley (Grammys 2013) OC: …be nominated. :46
“Well, I mean, let’s look at the stats. I’ve been nominated for 12, okay? So, I’m pretty used to clapping for somebody else and the camera’s right there [clap, clap, clap, clap]. I got that down pretty good. I’m nominated, I think, for ‘Home,’ for Vocal Event of the Year, but The Grascals, I wrote a song, a Bluegrass song, that’s nominated, The Grascals are nominated for Bluegrass Album of the Year. I talked to Jamey the other day from The Grascals, and I said, ‘If you guys win, can I rush up there with you?’ ‘Cause it’s a good year for them. The Del McCoury Band is not nominated, there’s no, Ralph Stanley’s not nominated, Steve Martin-rogue category, so as far as Bluegrass goes, The Grascals’ got a pretty good shot. So, if they win, I’m running up there, so I can say I did it, because it’s a tough thing to win one, I’ve found out. But it’s always cool to be nominated.”

AUDIO: Alan Jackson speaks about “So You Don’t Have to Love Me Anymore,” the song that earned his nephew, Adam Wright, and Jay Knowles their first Grammy nominations (as writers in the “Best Country Song” category).

AJ (Grammy nod for So You Don’t) OC: …this song :33
“You know, the first time I heard that song, I knew it was a great song. I called the writer, who just happened to be…one of the co-writers on it is my nephew Adam Wright who lives here in Nashville and is a singer-songwriter. I called Adam and I said, ‘Man, this is a great song. You sure you want to let me have it? I mean, there’s a lot of people that can sing this thing out there.’ And he said no – if I wanted it, he wanted me to sing it. So I was proud to have it. Everybody that heard it, the first thing they’d say was ‘Man, that thing gave me goosebumps on my arms!’ It’s just a great song, a great melody. I’m a songwriter, and I appreciate songs…so I definitely appreciate this song.”

AUDIO: Eric Paslay talks about writing his Grammy-nominated song, “Even If It Breaks Your Heart.”

Eric Paslay (Even If It Breaks Your Heart) OC: …just music. :43
“I wrote ‘Even If It Breaks Your Heart’ with Will Hoge, who’s an artist in Nashville, and that song actually was released [first] on Triple A radio. I think the majority of the people that tell me they love it are the musicians or the entertainers, because it’s so much about what we do. It’s like, ‘Keep on dreaming, even if it breaks your heart.’ If you let it, it could break your heart every day from the yeses and the nos and the ‘you’re not good enough, and now you are and you should’ve done,’ whatever it is. I think being in the entertainment industry, you make it more vulnerable. You just make sure you put your heart and soul into it, but make sure you realize it’s just music too. It IS music, but it’s just music.”

AUDIO: Little Big Town’s Phillip Sweet says their new No. 1 single, “Pontoon,” celebrates summer fun.

LBT (Pontoon summer fun) OC: …summertime fun. :13
“It’s just fun. [Jimi laughs] It really is. It feels like summer, and it feels exactly what it sounds like. I grew up on pontoon boats in the summer on the lakes and just having a blast, so it’s good ole clean summertime fun.”