TNS Video History- Yesteryear Holiday Coke Commercial Featuring Johnny Cash

Lady Antebellum Has Some Fun In New Video

Lady Antebellum has some fun in this new behind-the-scenes video. Charles Kelley tucks in his bandmates at night with a bedtime story. Having some fun in this Wednesday Webisode, Kelly takes his spot at the center of the Christmas lights-lit tour bus and reads to his band who are snuggled in their bunks, some sucking their thumbs.

The Country Music Artists At Warner Nashville Share Their Favorite Christmas Memories

Some of the artists over at Warner Nashville sent over some of their favorite Christmas memories and we thought we'd pass them along to our readers to share this holiday season.

The JaneDear Girls

Danelle Leverett (the JaneDear girls)

Any Christmas tradition/food that you love:
I love helping my mom make Christmas sugar cookies:) They are cut out into different shapes like Xmas trees, stars, hearts etc. and decorated with green and red frosting and sprinkles!

Is there a Christmas present you remember being given as a kid:
My parents gave me a ukulele when I was four years old and I loved to carry it with me EVERYWHERE I went!

Susie Brown (the JaneDear girls)
Is there a Christmas present you remember being given as a kid:
"I'll never forget the Christmas when I received my first guitar -- I was 12 yrs. old.  I disappeared into a quiet room with the guitar and emerged about three hours later and played my first song for my family, “Jingle Bells.”  Little did I know, but that present would end up shaping the rest of my life!"

Michael Gossin (Gloriana)
Favorite Christmas Food
Mom’s homemade brownies. My brothers and I called them “reindeer-terds.”

Favorite Christmas Present
My favorite Christmas present as a kid was He-Man action figures

Rachel Reinert (Gloriana)
Christmas tradition/food that you love:
We usually recreate Thanksgiving dinner for Christmas- turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce. The whole shebang!

Is there a favorite Christmas present you remember being given as a kid:
So typical, but I got an Easy Bake Oven as a little girl and I loved it! I wonder if I still have it?

Jana Kramer
Christmas food that you love?
My grandpa’s stuffing! It’s the best!

Is there a favorite Christmas present you remember being given as a kid?
My favorite gift was a fringe jacket. I thought I was Pocahontas when I was a little girl!

Favorite Christmas memory:
My favorite Christmas memory is probably always having euchre tournaments with my family and just hanging out laughing!

Frankie Ballard
Any Christmas tradition/food that you love:
My dad and I always watch “Christmas Vacation” with Chevy Chase. It wouldn't feel like Christmas if we didn't do that every year.

Is there a favorite Christmas present you remember being given as a kid:
Back when I played hockey there was a hockey jacket you would get, a red corduroy jacket, all the kids would get it and put patches on it when they got a hat trick or won a championship. I remember finally getting one and freaking out.

THE FARM

Nick (THE FARM)Some of my favorite holiday memories are playing music around the piano at my grandparents’ house on Christmas Day after everyone has opened presents and gotten fat off of my Grandma's cooking.  When I was younger, I would need a little prodding to get my fiddle out, but once it was out, I wouldn't put it away!  My Grandma would sit at the piano, my Grandpa would play stand-up bass, and we would play old Scandinavian tunes and Christmas songs for hours. When I was younger, I didn't realize how special those moments were, but I definitely cherish those memories now.

Damien (THE FARM)Some of my best memories as a child around the Christmas Holiday was singing in church! We would put together Christmas plays and friends and families would be there as we recreated the birth story of Jesus! I remember playing various parts like a star, a goad and even a wise man. I would have to say my favorite was playing the goat! We would drink eggnog after church and my family would all be together. Great times.

Krista (THE FARM)As the holiday quickly approaches, each year at this time, I find my heart a little melancholy. It reminds me of my father, how much I miss him and how wonderful he and my mother always made Christmas. I miss the sound of his accordion and the smell of our family-owned meat market smoking Christmas hams. I was eight-years old, give or take, and Dad decided we'd go out back on our land and I could pick out our tree. He patiently cruised for well over an hour until I had found the perfect one. To this day, I still pick out my own tree and smile, knowing dad is with me.

Brett EldredgeA few years ago my mom asked my brother and I for a new robe for Christmas. Being the jokesters that we are, we got the idea to get a really old gross robe and smeared brown shoe polish on it to make it look gross because we wanted to see how she would react. She opened it and tried to act like she liked it but I couldn't keep from laughing my butt off!  I was laughing so hard I was crying!  Eventually she figured out it was a prank and we went to the other room and brought her a brand new soft, clean robe! I kept the robe for Halloween and dressed up like 'Cousin Eddy' from Christmas Vacation!

Big & Rich- Big Kenny Is there a Christmas present you remember being given as a kid:
The greatest gift I've ever received is a letter from my Dad a few years back.  He spoke of all of his memories of my life through my ups and downs. He told me he was proud and loved me through it all and his greatest words come in the last paragraph, '...be at Peace with yourself, be at Peace with everyone around you and most important be at Peace with God.' "

Is there a holiday treat that reminds you of Christmas:
My grandmother would always make homemade Fruit Cakes.  They were as dense as an energy bar and chewy as beef jerky. I miss my Grandmas and Christmas always brings their tremendous strong spirits back so close to my heart.

Any Christmas traditions you plan to share with your kids:
I will never forget being about the age of my boys now (6 and 2) and sitting on my Daddy's lap and watching Berl Ives version of 'Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer'.  And I'm gonna love on my kids as much as I can and watch it with them again this year.

Download Free Lori McKenna Christmas Song "Wish List"

Earlier this year, That Nashville Sound raved about Lori McKenna's album, Lorraine. With our year-end best-of album list coming out late next week, you just might hear me rave about it again. And to whet your appetite, we have a free holiday single from Lori that you can download right here on TNS. From Lori:

I have this quirky little CHRISTMAS song that I wrote with Barry Dean, Mary Steenburgen & Troy Verges. Well, my co-writers are allowing me to GIVE AWAY the song as a special download to my email list. Please think of it as a little thank you for your continued support.

xo.lm

Please download “Wish List” for free below by just entering in your e-mail:

Hear It Here- Jack Ingram Sings "Jingle Bells"

Hear It Here- Jimmy Rankin Unveils "Tinseltown"

Yesterday, That Nashville Sound unveiled its Top 100 Songs of 2011 and Jimmy Rankin's "The Hurtin' Part" came in at number 16. Yesterday, the singer/songwriter unveiled a new Christmas song he's written called "Tinseltown" via Facebook. 

"I just wanted to wish you all a little holiday cheer and say thank you for being so good to me this year! Here's a new Christmas song I'd like to play for you called 'Tinseltown'. I hope you like it! Happy holidays everyone!"

That Nashville Sound's Top 100 Songs Of 2011

2011 was a fabulous year of country music. Traditional country, bluegrass, modern country and Americana were all represented well and this list proves that out.

Here are the rules by which this list was selected. It had to be released off an album that was released in 2011 or is an already-released single off a to-be-released album. If the album came out in 2010 or before, it couldn’t be included- even if it wasn't released as a single until 2011.

Let us hear what you think. Anything we missed? Without further ado, here is That Nashville Sound’s Top 100 Songs of 2011.

1    Ronnie Dunn - Cost of Livin'
A masterpiece that is as timely as it is well written and sung. Stripped down acoustically and emotionally, this song about struggling through this economic malaise just could be the anthem of our times. It's head and shoulders above everything else.

2    Chris Young - Neon
Neon” is a one word stud in song- a terrifically written track that is perfect for his voice and targeted genre. Young's vocals are rich, distinctive and powerful and impart just enough emotion to rope in the listener and not let go.

3    Pistol Annies - Takin' Pills
While a number of songs off the Pistol Annies' debut album could have been here in the top ten, this one embodies the album the best. It is told from fascinatingly flawed characters. They’ve taken subjects that are typically associated with backwoods mentality and told stories with wit and grit that are smart as hell.

4    Stoney LaRue - Velvet
"Velvet” closes the curtain on his album with a lush, warm, and sensual slow number that is not overly sexual, but one of those songs that is just perfect to hold your girl to. Sarah Buxton chiming in on background vocals just adds to the heat.

5    Joey+Rory - "Headache"
I'm pretty sure that Joey, the female piece to this wife/husband duo, could sing the phone book and it would sound gorgeous. However, when she gets sassy and utilizes Rory's deft touch at humor in song, something magical happens. That this wasn't a giant hit on radio is the crime of 2011.

6    Vince Gill - The Old Lucky Diamond Motel
From my review over at Engine 145: “Old Lucky Diamond Hotel,” a delicious slice of Americana, was inspired by the razing of several classic Route 66 landmarks. It’s wrapped up in great, gritty 70s country themes like losing your virginity to a sweet Spanish stripper, filtered Pall Malls, pool shooting, and raising hell as a teenager. Gill gives the hotel more admiring description in four minutes than do most newspaper stories. At the end of the song, it’s hard not to lament that they’re demolishing a fictional location with such character.

7    Matraca Berg - Your Husband's Cheating On Us
My pal CM Wilcox over at Country California called this the "Best Slithering, Sassy Story Song in Which a Cheater Is Brought to Justice by Unlikely Accomplices."

8    Jason Eady - AM Country Heaven
For anyone who believes that the takeover of pop-oriented country music across the FM radio leaves something missing, this could be your new anthem. Eady performs a terrifically written tale of how AM country radio is still keeping the genre honest.

9    Emmylou Harris - The Story of Emmett Till
Using the true story of a gruesome killing of a southern black boy as the base, the song is at once sorrowful, historical and powerful. It caused me to spend another hour looking into the back-story of the song- not because it didn’t provide enough details, but it wove a story so incredibly well, I had to know more.

10    Miranda Lambert - Dear Diamond
My music critic friend Sam Gazdziak of Engine 145 says, "The self-penned “Dear Diamond” should be required listening for any singer out there who believes that vocal gymnastics trump emotional delivery."

11    Emily West - I Hate You, I Love You Again
Haunting lyrics. Impeccable vocals. Throwback stylings. Damn near perfection in song. 

12    Justin Haigh - All My Best Friends (Are Behind Bars)
13    Dirt Drifters - Name On My Shirt
14    Connie Smith - Ain't You Even Gonna Cry
15    Holly Williams - Blue Is My Heart
16    Jimmy Rankin - The Hurtin' Part
17    Randy Houser - In God's Time
18    Pistol Annies - Hell on Heels
19    Donna Ulisse - Hand Me Down Home
20    Eddie Bush - We Shared Time
21    Sawyer Brown - Travlin' Band
22    Chris Young - Flashlight
23    Michael Martin Murphey - Trusty Lariat
24    David Serby - I Just Stole Back What Was Mine
25    George Strait - Drinkin' Man
26    Pistol Annies - Lemon Drop
27    Jonathan Byrd - Father's Day
28    David Nail - Songs For Sale
29    Dierks Bentley - Home
30    Donna Ulisse - Shady Glen
31    Big Kenny & Jaron and the Long Road To Love - Beautiful Lies
32    Sarah Darling (with Vince Gill) - Bad Habit
33    Brett Eldridge - Raymond
34    Foster and Lloyd - Picasso's Mandolin
35    Mark Wills - Crazy Being Home
36    Miranda Lambert - All Kinds of Kinds
37    Toby Keith - Clancy's Tavern
38    Alison Krauss & Union Station - Dimming of the Day
39    George Strait - Poison
40    Bradley Gaskin- Mr. Bartender
41    Blake Shelton - Red River Blue
42    Sonia Leigh - 1978 December
43    Vince Gill - Bread and Water
44    David Nail - Sound of a Million Dreams
45    Steve Earle - The City
46    Erin Enderlin - You Don't Know Jack
47    Martina McBride - Marry Me
48    Sara Evans - What That Drink Cost Me
49    Dirt Drifters - Married Men and Hotel Rooms
50    Brad Paisley - One Of Those Lives
51    Jimmy Rankin - Maybe Nothing
52    Joe Nichols - She's Just Like That
53    Nell Robinson - Don’t Light My Fire
54    Chris Young - Tomorrow
55    Alison Krauss & Union Station - Dustbowl Children
56    Tommy Shaw - Sawmill
57    Coy Bowles - This Ole Town
58    Glen Campbell - A Better Place
59    Sierra Hull - Tell Me Tomorrow
60    Steve Earle - Heaven or Hell
61    Ronnie Dunn - How Far To Waco
62    Steve and Ryan Wariner - Sting Ray
63    Shooter Jennings - Outlaw You
64    Edens Edge - Amen
65    Eli Young Band - My Old Man's Son
66    Randy Travis (with Don Henley) - More Life
67    Trent Tomlinson - A Man Without A Woman
68    Alison Krauss & Union Station - Paper Airplane
69    The Trishas- Drive
70    George Strait - A Showman's Life
71    David Adam Byrnes - When I Get There
72    David Nail - Half Mile Hill
73    David Serby - Sugar Creek
74    The Henningsens - Thirst
75    Dirt Drifters - Something Better
76    Dolly Parton - Better Day
77    Sunny Sweeney and Jessi Colter - Good Hearted Woman
78    Terri Clark - Northern Girl
79    The Civil Wars - Barton Hallow
80    The Harters - If I Run
81    Gord Bamford - Hank Williams Lonesome
82    Gwendolyn - Sing This Song
83    Lauren Alaina - The Locket
84    Tommy Shaw - Give Em' Hell Harry
85    Wood Brothers - Shoofly Pie
86    Matraca Berg - The Dreaming Fields
87    Matt Kennon - I Can't Get Back
88    Miss Willie Brown - Freeland
89    Scotty McCreery - Dirty Dishes
90    Brad Paisley - New Favorite Memory
91    Alabama - Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?
92    Sara Evans - A Little Bit Stronger
93    Stoney LaRue - Dresses
94    Blake Shelton - I'm Sorry
95    Thompson Square - Glass
96    Sierra Hull - All Because of You
97    Trace Adkins - Just Fishin'
98    Brad Paisley - A Man Don't Have To Die
99    Tiffany - Just That Girl
100    Michael Martin Murphey - The James Gang Song Trilogy

TNS Video History- Vince Gill- "Blue Christmas"