With Christmas only three days away, some country artists are reminiscing about their childhood holidays. Keith Urban's Christmas in Queensland, Australia came with sunscreen: “The four of us, my brother, and me, and mom and dad, would all go the beach and [there would] be families everywhere. And, we’d take lunch with us, and a lot of the times we’d take all our presents with us, and we’d open them up, either on the beach or the backseat of the car, you know...usually in the car because we couldn’t wait ‘til we got to the beach. That’s most of my fond memories of Christmas.” Carrie Underwood's presents may have been wrapped, but she was never surprised at what was inside: “One thing you learn in my family is that my mother is a blabbermouth, and ever since I was little I have known ever single Christmas present I have ever gotten…ever. I’m not one for surprises! [Laughs] And yeah, I’ve always known my presents before Christmas.” And Alan Jackson makes Christmas for his daughters very much like the Christmases he had growing up: “We always try to remember Jesus’ birthday and just the whole thing! And, [we] just have a wonderful big meal, almost like Thanksgiving four weeks later. We have the same, pretty much, turkey, dressing...all the same kinds of things. Sometimes we have family members in Tennessee and sometimes just us or friends, and we always go home to Georgia prior to that. So, you know, pretty standard, lovely Christmas.”
Josh Gracin had a rough day yesterday. His car was broken into in his driveway in the middle of the afternoon. The crook or crooks got away with his laptop, and police told Josh that two houses on his street were broken into and all the Christmas presents were stolen. Someone's getting coal in their stocking!
Blake Shelton will be part of NBC's "New Year's Eve with Carson Daly." About Blake, Carson quipped, “First thing about Blake Shelton, if you don’t know him, to see him is very intimidating, because he is nine-foot, two. And, he’s a real smart ass! I mean, he really is a smart ass! So, he makes for a great TV personality.”
Dierks Bentley and Darius Rucker will be part of Super Bowl week January 27th through February 5th. They'll perform on the Verizon Stage in downtown Indianapolis. The schedule will be announced in January.
Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum and Taylor Swift have landed on Forbes magazine's “30 Under 30: The Youngest Stars in The Music Business.” Taylor made the list because she raked in $45 million over the past year, and Hillary's on the list because her songwriting and singing helped Lady A win 5 Grammy awards in 2011.
Congratulations to George Jones and Glen Campbell, who will be honored by the Recording Academy as two of the seven Lifetime Achievement Awards recipients. The ceremony will be on February 11th, and the Allman Brothers Band, Antonio Carlos Jorbin, the Memphis Horns, Diana Ross and Gil Scott-Heron are the other honorees.
Taylor Swift's "Jump Then Fall" has been certified gold.
Lady Antebellum is on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Glen Campbell is on Conan O'Brien, Frankie Ballard is on the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson and Craig Campbell will sing the National Anthem before the MAACO Bowl festivities. The game is between Boise State and Arizona State.
The tweet of the day is from Clay Walker: "Worked cutting horses the last three days and trail rode them afterwards. Sore legs never felt so good!"
