Christmas is near and Thomas Rhett is wasting no time getting in the Christmas spirit. With his very first holiday collection, Merry Christmas Y’all, available now, Rhett is already spreading Christmas cheer and has no shame about it. “I love Christmas so much,” he told Audacy’s Katie Neal. “Our lights are already up,” he admitted. With his lights up and plans to get his tree in the next couple weeks, Rhett says he still has yet to finish his shopping, but it won’t take long as he have a very strong strategy. “I haven’t bought anything,” he shared before explaining his shopping strategy. “I’m usually the guy that gets the gifts for the guys in our family. I will pick an item and buy 12 of them because there are 12 dudes in our family. Lauren usually takes care of everybody else,” he laughed. While holiday shopping seems like it’s a breeze for Rhett, the creation of his Christmas project didn’t come easy, despite his love for the holiday. He went on to share the making of  Merry Christmas Y’all challenged him far beyond his previous projects. “Going in and recording these was a lot of fun. [Frank] Sinatra is my favorite style of Christmas music — big band, horns, strings, the whole nine-yards — so we really tried to go in and re-create the 1940s or whatever with my voice on it.” He continued, “I will say those are the most challenging songs I’ve ever sang in my life, in the studio,” he said. “The key changes every four seconds. Legit…. I’ve sang it [Christmas music] my whole life, but when you sing it not over Frank Sinatra’s voice, it’s an extra challenge.” Hear more about Rhett’s adventures making a Christmas album, what he’s looking forward to most on his Home Team 23 tour and his logic surrounding holiday time birthdays in his conversation with Katie Neal above.

Tyler Hubbard, formerly one-half of Florida Georgia Line, may be celebrating his his very first #1 as a solo Country artist, but his #1 job will always be being Dad. After hitting the top of the charts with his very first #1 as a solo artist, “5 foot 9” from his debut EP, Dancin’ In The Country, Hubbard reflected with Audacy’s Katie Neal on how different things are this time around from his music to how he spends his time on tour. “Now getting to have the different dynamic of family out [on the road] with me and this whole new season, it’s just really exciting,” Hubbard, who is currently on the road as part of Keith Urban’s The Speed of Now tour. “It is wild,” the father of three admitted. “I’ll be putting babies to bed and changing diapers right after [my set]. I’m still sweating from the show, or I’m about to go on stage… it is fairly comical. Everything that people think a rockstar life is, is exactly what I’m not doing right now but it’s a lot of fun…. It’s those special years, [I’m] just trying to make the most of them.” Aside from being in Dad-mode, Tyler is also in new-artist mode, which is new territory for him after the mind-blowing success he saw with duo mate Brian Kelley as Part of Florida Georgia Line. Starting from the “beginning” has it’s challenges for Hubbard and his band, but he says it’s a good experience all-around. “Just watching fans connect the dots is really interesting and fun, it’s also challenging,” he said. “I walk out on stage and for the first three or four songs or so there’s 10,000 people sitting in chairs just watching like they’re at a theatre and it’s just unique for what I’m used to.” He continued, “I tell the band we’re goin’ through new artist training, how to do it again, how to win a crowd over, how to get them ready for Keith and how to integrate the stories of the songs and the banter… it’s all new everything so it has been challenging.” Hubbard seems to have a good handle on the challenge as he’s celebrating his first solo-single, “5 foot 9” hitting #1 this week at Country radio. “It feels great,” Hubbard said of the accomplishment. “To feel the support and I just feel like everybody’s kind of accepted me with open arms and it feels really really good.” Hear more from Tyler about his first full-length album, time on tour and why he’s said ‘No’ to collaborations for the last year by tuning into his conversation with Katie Neal above.

Russell Dickerson’s third studio album is officially out and he’s taking fans on an adventure. With 15 songs, all written by Dickerson, fans will get to know Russell’s story, from past to present through the tracks that represent some of the moments he cherishes most in life thus far. “The first song is talking about when we’re 16 and all the dumb stuff we used to do, it’s called, ‘Blame It On Being Young,’” Dickerson told Audacy’s Katie Neal before explaining the tracks progress in chronological order. “That last song on the album is me becoming a Dad. It’s a whole journey and it’s just me. It’s my story told through all these 15 songs.” The fully-autobiographical approach is a new one for Dickerson when it comes to his albums. The 35-year-old said he really focused on song that he loved and felt told his story versus trying to please others. “Instead of thinking, ‘OK I have 15 slots, I need this kind of song or this kind of song,’ I picked many favorite 15 songs that I’ve written since Southern Symphony,” he shared. “I put them all together, pieced them all to this whole story.” Included in those 15 tracks is Dickerson’s collab. with fellow artist Jake Scott, “She Likes It,” which he never planned on being a single until fans demanded it. “All of a sudden it was like, ‘Oh dude!’ It had like 5 million streams then it was like, ‘Dude! It’s 6 and a half, go 7 and a half million a week. This is crazy!’” He recalled. “One week it was like, ‘No, we’re good.’ The next was like, ‘We’re going to radio. Right now! With fire!’” While Scott is the only official collab on the project, there is one more voice that makes a very special appearance and it’s Dickerson’s 2-year-old son, Remington, on the last track, “Just Like Your Mama.” “With this album we pulled out all the stops, nothing is off limits and so when we were recording this song we were like, ‘We should get Remington do a little goo goo ga ga,” Russell told Audacy’s Rob + Holly of the decision to feature Remy. It’s so magical, it makes me cry every time.” Dickerson’s self-titled album is available now.

Georgia natives Kane Brown and Jason Aldean are not only two of today’s biggest Country stars, but they’re also good buddies. Both have seen lots of success when collaborating with other artists so we have to wonder — why haven’t they gotten together for a song yet? “You should ask him that!” Kane told Katie Neal at Audacy’s Stars & Strings event at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. “I had a song I thought was perfect for him, it’s called ‘Bury Me In Georgia,’” he said. Appears that ask didn’t go the way Brown hoped as he released it as a solo track on his most recent album Different Man. “I don’t know,” he said. Lucky for us all, Aldean was also performing at Stars & Strings and when asked about a possible collab, it’s clear they’ve been trying to find the “right fit” for some time now. “Kane likes to put me on blast because he’s asked me a couple times.” Jason laughed “I’ve told him before that I’d love to do something with him.” He continued, “To me, those things are all about the song. Kane’s music and my music is really, really different so, when he sends a song to me, sometimes it’s not what I would normally do. I’ve always told him, ‘It’s about finding the right song,’ but I would love to do something with him and I think it’ll happen at some point when the right thing comes along. We just haven’t found that yet.” Well, all good things are worth waiting for! Look forward to this pair to finding the right fit!

Georgia natives Kane Brown and Jason Aldean are not only two of today’s biggest Country stars, but they’re also good buddies. Both have seen lots of success when collaborating with other artists so we have to wonder — why haven’t they gotten together for a song yet? “You should ask him that!” Kane told Katie Neal at Audacy’s Stars & Strings event at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. “I had a song I thought was perfect for him, it’s called ‘Bury Me In Georgia,’” he said. Appears that ask didn’t go the way Brown hoped as he released it as a solo track on his most recent album Different Man. “I don’t know,” he said. Lucky for us all, Aldean was also performing at Stars & Strings and when asked about a possible collab, it’s clear they’ve been trying to find the “right fit” for some time now. “Kane likes to put me on blast because he’s asked me a couple times.” Jason laughed “I’ve told him before that I’d love to do something with him.” He continued, “To me, those things are all about the song. Kane’s music and my music is really, really different so, when he sends a song to me, sometimes it’s not what I would normally do. I’ve always told him, ‘It’s about finding the right song,’ but I would love to do something with him and I think it’ll happen at some point when the right thing comes along. We just haven’t found that yet.” Well, all good things are worth waiting for! Look forward to this pair to finding the right fit!

Old Dominion just wrapped the Here and Now Tour with Kenny Chesney and it’s given them memories to last a lifetime — including Kenny Chesney’s guitar tech smoochin’ on lead singer, Matt Ramsey’s Mom. Say what?! Before taking the stage at Audacy’s Stars & Strings at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino earlier this week, Matt shared that Kenny Chesney’s guitar tech “made out” with his mom side stage, in front of him and his dad. “Their guitar tech made out with my Mom, in front of me” Ramsey said nonchalantly as the guys recapped some memories from the tour. “He was giving me a hard time for not introducing him to my parents… so on the way back I was like, ‘Zeke, this is my Mom and he just grabbed her.” He continued, “I was laughing, and so was my dad. And then it was like, it’s still going!” Ramsey was all smiles as he shared the hysterical, yet awkward memory and sounds like his parents were good sports about the awkward “souvenir” as well. “My mom is still happily married to my dad, but he [the guitar tech] decided to grab my mom and make us all uncomfortable,” he laughed. “My mom said, ‘That was more exciting than watching her son play a stadium full of people.’ Thanks, mom!” Something tells us Matt will keeping his mother far away from the guitar techs on their upcoming No Bad Vibes tour which kicks off January 2023. See the dates below. Old Dominion's 2023 No Bad Vibes Tour Dates:Jan. 19 Evansville, Ind.Jan. 20 Champaign, Ill.Jan. 21 Moline, Ill.Jan. 27 Ottawa, OntarioJan. 28 Toronto, OntarioJan. 30 London, OntarioFeb. 9 Green Bay, Wisc.Feb. 10 Rockford, Ill.Feb. 11 Cedar Rapids, IowaFeb. 16 Rapid City, S.D.Feb. 17 Mankato, Minn.Feb. 18 Duluth, Minn.Feb. 23 Idaho Falls, Ida.Feb. 24 Boise, Ida.Feb. 25 Kennewick, Wash.Feb. 28 Vancouver, British ColumbiaMarch 2 Edmonton, AlbertaMarch 3 Calgary, AlbertaMarch 9 Lethbridge, AlbertaMarch 10 Regina, SaskatchewanMarch 11 Winnipeg, ManitobaMarch 31 Key West, Fla.Apr. 1 Key West, Fla.Apr. 13 Reading, Penn.Apr. 14 Albany, N.Y.Apr. 15 Bangor, Me.May 4 Savannah, Ga.May 5 Jacksonville, Fla.May 27 Morrison, Colo.May 28 Morrison, Colo.June 30 Lake Tahoe, Nev.

It’s been one month since the release of Little Big Town’s 10th studio album, Mr. Sun, and the project continues to fully live up to its title. While it surely lightens up fans speakers as they listen on their own, the four-member group says it’s also creating spectacular bright moments on tour.  Kimberly, Karen, Philip and Jimi recently joined Audacy’s Katie Neal for the Superstar Power Hour and shared some of their favorite songs to play live from the project while on the road.  “‘All Summer’ has been really fun to put into the set, it gets the crowd movin’” said Philip. “It’s really fun to play, I get to play a big 12-string guitar! It’s fun for me, but I love the energy it has and how it lifts peoples spirits like, immediately.”  “I love ‘Rich Man’” said Kimberly. “When we play ‘Rich Man,’ immediately people are in just because they can identify with the story and understanding what’s most important in this life. I love lookin’ at Jimi when it happens because he wrote this!” All the members of LBT are weaved throughout the project as writers, producers etc on various tracks, but they also got creative counsel from many of their high-caliber industry pals that they say took this project to the next level.  “We’re so blessed with friends that happen to be the best songwriters in the world,” Jimi laughed. “It’s inspiring and I think that keeps pushing us, just wanting to see what we can come up with next with our friends, or whomever.”  The LBT crew has surely found their way since getting their start 20 years ago and while things may be different, they never lose touch of the fact that they’re living their dream.  “When you combine a good work ethic with dreaming big and believing in yourself, I think big things can happen,” said Karen. “We have just been really lucky to have great people around us and the right opportunity and were kept showing up and we still keep showin’ up and just tryin’ to do the work and that’s always been our mantra and it still is.”  Hear more from Little Big Town in their conversation with Katie on the Superstar Power Hour above.

Maren Morris is one of the most successful Country artists of our time, and it’s more than her music she has some fans carrying with them for a lifetime. During her recent appearance during the Superstar Power Hour with Audacy’s Katie Neal, Maren reacted to the fact that fans have gotten tattoos of her lyrics and more surrounding her music. “I feel like it’s amazing that someone is so moved by something you wrote randomly, just in a room with two people or by yourself that they want to put it on themselves permanently,” she said. “It’s always a huge compliment.” The compliment is one Maren has given from herself to artist, Patty Griffin as she decided to have lyrics from Griffin’s Song, "Christina," tattoo’s on her shoulder blade. “I’ve got lyrics on my shoulder blade, Patty Griffin lyrics,” she explained. “It’s over a decade old now, but I still feel to this day, that song of hers called ‘Christina’ just, like shatters me in the best way. It’s special when someone’s music means that much to someone.” Maren is currently in the midst of her Humble Quest tour, bringing songs from the recent, CMA-nominated album to fans live for the first time. “I didn’t really get to road test any of these songs because I wrote this all during the pandemic,” she said. “The first show of this tour was when I was really seeing the fan reaction to the songs.” Hear more about the tour, Maren’s wardrobe, and her recent pickle ball obsession by checking out her conversation with Katie Neal above.

Cole Swindell is celebrating his third consecutive-week #1 single with arguably one of the biggest songs of his career, “She Had Me At Heads Carolina.” A creative spin on the ‘90s classic performed by Jo Dee Messina, Cole has breathed new life into the song with a unique spin on the plot. “I think the original idea, me and Thomas Rhett were talking about if we did ‘Heads Carolina,’ how would we do that other than walking in and a girl being up there singing it on karaoke, which I’m sure happens all the time here, in Nashville and all over the country," Cole told Audacy’s Katie Neal. "That was the original thought.” The idea proves successful indeed as the song is sitting in the #1 spot on the Country charts for a second consecutive week, which is the third single from Swindell’s Sterotype album to do that. “It’s crazy the way things are going,” he said with a smile. “I can’t help but just be happy about it. I’ve dreamed about this, but to have three there, back-to-back like that, it’s changing my life by the day!” He continued, “‘She Had Me At Heads Carolina’ was literally the last song I recorded for this album and I can’t imagine if that wasn’t on there… it’s scary to think about actually!” Interesting enough, the original version written by Tim Nichols and Mark D. Sanders was the last track recorded by Jo Dee’s for her debut self-titled album in 1996. “It really is crazy, the story of this is the last song we recorded,” Cole said. “I don’t know if anybody listening has heard, but Jo Dee Messina’s [story] about her recording ‘Heads Carolina,’ — that was the last song she recorded on her album. That kind of stuff doesnt just happen. It’s meant to be.” Hear more about the song, music video, Cole’s tour and his experience building a house by listening to his chat with Katie Neal above.

Katie Neal looks back on the amazing career of Loretta Lynn and her impact on Country music. The icon died on Tuesday at the age of 90.