Universal Universal Music Group Nashville Pressroom

With the holiday release of Lady Antebellum’s newest music video, “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” Dave Haywood sat down to tell you five fun facts you didn’t know about the filming of the video.

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.

Thanksgiving Day is November 22nd, and most people will be enjoying time with their friends and families, including some of your favorite country stars, such as Alan Jackson, Billy Currington, Darius Rucker, Dierks Bentley, Easton Corbin, Eric Church, Eric Paslay, George Strait, Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum, and more. They share their thoughts, memories and favorite Thanksgiving dishes.

AUDIO: Alan Jackson talks about his favorite Thanksgiving dish.

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.”

AUDIO: Darius Rucker says he’s thankful for his family.

Darius Rucker (Thanksgiving) OC: …still alive. :17
“Oh, the main thing I’m thankful for is my family, there’s no doubt about that. Thanksgiving is about family for us. If we’re in Jersey, getting together with family. If we’re in Charleston, getting together with family and just cooking and eating. Sitting around and talking and remembering and being thankful for where we are, you know. We’re all still alive.”

AUDIO: Dierks Bentley, who is thankful for his wife and two daughters, talks about his Thanksgiving must-have! It’s an oldie, but a goodie!

Dierks Bentley (Thanksgiving must-have) OC: …for Thanksgiving. :41
“You gotta have a big turkey. Thanksgiving is not possible without a turkey. My dad’s always been the one to cook and carve it, but in years here recently, I’ve been taking over those duties. Big responsibility. 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.”

AUDIO: Easton Corbin talks about spending Thanksgiving with family.

Easton (Thanksgiving) OC: …my grandma’s. :33
“Having family and being able to spend that quality time with them and obviously, the opportunity to do what I do. But absolutely during that time, being able to spend that time with family and your loved ones. We used to always go to my grandma’s, that’s Christmas and Thanksgiving. We’d go there for the big meal. I don’t get to go back much. A lot of times I’ll stay up [in Nashville] for Thanksgiving, and then go down during Christmas, but we’d always go to my grandma’s.”

AUDIO: Eric Church says he’s thankful for his family – including new son, Boone – as well as for his fans, who made this year his most successful yet.

Eric Church (Thanksgiving) OC: …want to do it. :38
“A couple of things. I’m thankful for my family, my son, my wife and great health. And I’m thankful for from a career standpoint, I’m very thankful for the success we’ve had lately. I’m thankful for Chief, I’m thankful for what the fans have done. I’m thankful that we’re starting to have some hit songs on the radio, I mean there’s a lot of stuff to be thankful for in that regard. And I’m thankful that I was given the opportunity to do it my own because I’m just not a guy, you know if we were having this success and I wasn’t able to do it my own, it wouldn’t be the same for me. I’m not one of those people that could keep doing that. Some people can, I can’t. I’d bail. So, I’m thankful that I’m going to get to keep doing this and do it the way that I want to do it.”

AUDIO: Eric Paslay loves him some turkey for Thanksgiving.

Eric Paslay (Turkey) OC: …really does. :09
“My favorite Thanksgiving food, I think, is the tryptophan turkey, ‘cause it really puts me to sleep. No [yawn], it really does.”

AUDIO: Eric Paslay talks about his favorite Thanksgiving memories.

Eric Paslay (Thanksgiving) OC: …too much. :05
“My best Thanksgiving memory, I think, is just hanging out with family, watching football and eating too much!”

AUDIO: Josh Turner explains what he enjoys about the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

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.”

AUDIO: Keith Urban gives thanks for many things, including his wife and two daughters.

Keith (Thanksgiving) OC: …for me. :21
“Thankful that, well, my marriage is just, it’s life-giving, not just life-changing, it’s been life-giving for me. And from there, we created life, and that’s just beautiful, absolutely beautiful. And the effect that all of that has had in my work, has given life to it too, given it a sense of purpose and really deepened the experience for me.”

AUDIO: Even though she’ll be spending Thanksgiving with her in-laws this year, Kelleigh Bannen explains how Thanksgiving Day usually begins at her own parents’ house.

Kelleigh Bannen (Thanksgiving) OC: …the best kind. [laughs] :36
“This year, we’ll be with my in-laws. Mama’s day starts really early, and it’s been a while since I’ve actually spent the night in their house for Thanksgiving morning. The cooking starts well early, and it was the smell of onions sautéing for the stuff that would wake you up in the morning, and you’d come down to the kitchen and it’d be already going. My mom makes a mean, mean apple pie, and so I’ll be bringing that recipe with me to Columbus this year to celebrate with my husband’s family. You can’t go wrong with some good stuffing that’s actually cooked in the turkey the way they don’t want us to cook it anymore, but that’s the best kind. [laughs]”

AUDIO: Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley talks about his family’s Thanksgiving traditions.

Lady A (Charles-Thanksgiving traditions) OC: …with my brothers. :17
“Thanksgiving is a really big holiday for my family. We always have about 60 of our closet family and friends up in the North Georgia mountains for kind of a yearly, big Thanksgiving extravaganza. We have about everything under the sun to eat, and I usually have an eating contest with my brothers.”

AUDIO: Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley talks about the annual eating contest he and his two brothers – Josh and John — have over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Lady A (Charles-Thanksgiving eating contest) OC: …five pounds! :25
“One of my most memorable Thanksgiving memories was probably the first year that me and my two brothers decided to start our annual eating contest where we ate throughout the whole day. We started that morning and weighed ourselves and at the very end of the night, we weighed ourselves out and all three of us equally gained five pounds. I wish we had a more accurate scale to decide the winner, but we all tied. Five pounds!”

AUDIO: Lady Antebellum Dave Haywood says the whole band is thankful for their families.

Lady Antebellum (Dave-Thankful) OC: …with ‘em. :13
“I think all of us are definitely most thankful for our families. They have been a huge support of our career ever since we started, and Thanksgiving is a great time to be with them. We travel so much, and we always try to make sure we take off the Thanksgiving holiday so we can be home with them.”

AUDIO: Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott describes her favorite Thanksgiving dish.

Lady A (Hillary-Thanksgiving food) OC: …ever tasted. :12
“So, my favorite Thanksgiving food would have to be my grandmother’s sweet potato casserole. There’s just something she puts in it — probably all the love – that makes it better than anything I’ve ever tasted.”

AUDIO: Mallory Hope recalls a favorite Thanksgiving memory.

Mallory Hope (Thanksgiving) OC: …before lunch. [laughs] :44
“When I think about Thanksgiving, I can’t help but giggle because a few years ago my mother and all of my siblings and their spouses and the grandkids were coming up and staying for Thanksgiving, that she got up really early and started cooking our dinner, and she had the turkey and the dressing and the pecan pie and the mashed potatoes and fried potatoes, and she went all out and called us in for dinner, and it was 10 o’clock in the morning. And we all had to sit down at 10 in the morning and just eat and eat and eat. But it was so funny, because we have been teasing my mother about it for a few years now. But she just got so excited that we were there and it was great, and now we have this awesome memory of eating our dinner before lunch. [laughs]”

Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles explains what she’s thankful for at Thanksgiving.

Sugarland (Thanksgiving) OC: …happy girl. :24
“I’m most thankful for health, and the health of my loved ones and family. I’m thankful for the safety of my brother who came back from Afghanistan. I’m thankful for music and to have a wonderful partner and manager and a wonderful group of people to go on the road with and do what I love. I’m thankful for the fans that buy the records to allow us to do what we love. I could list on and on, but I am a happy girl.”

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

Nashville, Tenn. – Capitol Records Nashville recording artist and newest Grand Ole Opry member, Darius Rucker will be featured on Ram Country on Yahoo! Music on starting Wednesday, November 14 (http://music.yahoo.com/programs/ram-country/going-home-darius-rucker-000000499.html). The program follows Rucker as he returned to his alma mater, The University of South Carolina (USC), for a Gamecocks football game and a surprise performance during a tailgate event.  Rucker met fellow Hootie & the Blowfish band mates while attending USC and his love for the school and their sports program has remained strong. 

Rucker will release his third country studio album, True Believers, on January 22, 2013.  Darius wrote ten of the twelve tracks on True Believers including the title track and debut single which is currently Top 20 and climbing. 

Rucker’s first two country albums, Learn To Live and Charleston, SC 1966 both topped the Billboard Country album chart and produced five No. 1 singles including “Come Back Song,” “This,” “Alright,” “It Won’t Be Like This For Long” and “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It.”  

For more information, please visit www.dariusrucker.com.

Keith Urban announced the first leg of his 2013 North American tour today in an online video short filmed with tour mates Little Big Town and Dustin Lynch. The tour will include shows in Cincinnati, Twin Lakes, Monticello, Charlotte, Raleigh, Atlanta, Detroit, Baltimore, Canadaigua, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Birmingham, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Mountain View, Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Tampa and West Palm Beach.

For more information on the tour and more, go to keithurban.net.

KEITH URBAN NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES:

Little Big Town stopped by the local Second Harvest Food Bank in Nashville on Tuesday afternoon to help stuff backpacks full of food for children to help raise awareness of the near-epidemic issue of hunger facing the nation. Nearly 17 million children – one in five – aren’t sure where their next meal is coming from. This is part of the band’s partnership with ConAgra Foods’ Child Hunger Ends Here campaign. The issue is important all year long, but especially during the holidays. “We’re all thinking about being with our family and being together and feasting and eating turkey and all these things, and to think that there are others that won’t have that beautiful gift, it’s not right,” exclaims LBT’s Phillip Sweet. “We’ve got to do something about that.”

Kimberly Schlapman agrees with her bandmate. “The sweetest and the saddest part of today is that we’re stuffing backpacks,” says Kimberly. “So, it’s great that we’re taking care of kids, but it’s so sad that we have to stuff backpacks for them to take food home. That shouldn’t be happening in our country, and that’s what we want to get out there. One in five kids are hungry. 17 million kids in our country, our very own country, are hungry. We can fix that. We have to!”

The band recently released a video of the Child Hunger Ends Here anthem, “Here’s Hope,” exclusively for ConAgra Foods.

AUDIO: Little Big Town talks about why they teamed up with ConAgra Foods and their trip to Nashville’s Second Harvest Food Bank on Tuesday.

LBT (Second Harvest) OC: (Kimberly) …we have to! 1:04
PHILLIP: “It’s important all year long, but even more so this time of year. And I think one good thing is to bring awareness to people’s minds about it, because we’re all thinking about being with our family and being together and feasting and eating turkey and all these things, and to think that there are others that won’t have that beautiful gift, it’s not right! We’ve got to do something about that.” KIMBERLY: “It’s the time of year for just abundance and our kids are making Christmas lists. And thank God there’s not food on those Christmas lists, but for some kids there are, because that’s not something they have on their shelves every day. Kids are out of school more now, and they will be [during] these holidays and they’re gonna need to be fed more than they are now because they won’t be at school. Oh, the sweetest and the saddest part of today is that we’re stuffing backpacks. So, it’s great that we’re taking care of kids, but it’s so sad that we have to stuff backpacks for them to take food home. That shouldn’t be happening in our country, and that’s what we want to get out there. One in five kids are hungry. 17 million kids in our country, our very own country, are hungry. We can fix that. We have to!”

Dierks Bentley is climbing the country charts with his latest single, “Tip It On Back.” When the performer feels the urge to “tip” one back, he will usually reach for a domestic, light and cold (trivia: “Domestic, Light and Cold” is a song from his debut album, Modern Day Drifter). “The smart thing for me to do is to just stick with beer, light beer, watered-down American beer,” says Dierks. However, he does like other adult beverages, as well. “I really don’t discriminate. I kind of like a little bit of everything, and there’s a lot of things you get good at over the years of playing the road and being able to appreciate the fine spirits, all of the spirits, is one of those things,” he laughs. “I appreciate ‘em all on certain levels.”

Dierks is set to perform at this year’s American Country Awards, which will air December 10th on FOX. Other performers include Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town and Luke Bryan. He’s also nominated for Album of the Year for Home. The ACAs are fan-voted, and TODAY is the last day for fans to vote for their favorites at theacas.com. Voting for Artist of the Year closes December 7th.

AUDIO: Dierks Bentley who has hit the Top 20 with his latest single “Tip It On Back,” says he prefers beer to any other adult beverage.

Dierks Bentley (prefers beer) OC: …certain levels. :19
“The smart thing for me to do is to just stick with beer, light beer, watered-down American beer, but I really don’t discriminate. I kind of like a little bit of everything, and there’s a lot of things you get good at over the years of playing the road and being able to appreciate the fine spirits, all of the spirits, is one of those things. [laughs] I appreciate ‘em all on certain levels.”