With 2014 around the corner, we’re looking back at some of the highlights of the year gone by…

In January…

• Carrie Underwood debuts the spooky, Stephen King-inspired music video for her song, “Two Black Cadillacs.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Chris Young is among the honorees at the Country Music Association’s annual CMA Songwriters Luncheon and the CMA Triple Play Awards, which recognizes songwriters responsible for three number-one hits in a 12-month period. Chris receives the honor for “Voices” (from his The Man I Want to Be album), as well as “You” and “Tomorrow,” both from his hit-filled NEON collection.
• Casey James is riding high on the airwaves with his hit single, “Crying on a Suitcase,” from his self-titled debut album. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

  Carrie Underwood says that her mom initially cast a little bit of doubt on her video for “Two Black Cadillacs.” (:52)
“I was actually kind of worried because we made this video — and I always let my mom see things and hear things before everybody else does, just to get her take on ‘em — and I’m so excited about them, I want to share them with somebody, you know, so my mom and my husband and a couple of my friends. You know, I’m like, ‘What do you think? What do you think? Do you like it? Do you not?’ They’re kind of my gauge. I need some positive reinforcements, you know? So I let her watch it, and she’s a huge Stephen King fan. Like, she’s read the book Christine, she’s seen the movie a thousand times, as I have. She’s probably…she’s read every single book by him, and I let her see it. And she had a lot of questions for me, about the video. Like, ‘What did that mean?’ and ‘What is this?’ and ‘What is that?’ And I’m like, if my mom doesn’t get this, will everybody else? But, they did. So it was just Mom. (laughs) Just Mom bein’ Mom, askin’ questions!”

013 REWIND: The Year in Review" src="http://prep.hearsomethingcountry.com/audio.gif" width="16" height="14" />  Casey James talks about his hit, “Crying on a Suitcase.” (:41)
“It really is an advice song because so many people come in…into a relationship, and maybe they have a little bit more pride than they need to. And that’s not…it’s not always a bad thing to have pride. You want to be proud of who you are, and you…but not to the extent that you’re gonna sacrifice a relationship. And there are times where somebody might do or say something that stings you a little bit, but maybe that’s because it’s true. And you know, maybe not, but whatever the reason, the key to movin’ forward in life is not lettin’ yourself get in the way of yourself, you know? (laughs) So, there’s times where we need to bite the bullet and do what we need to do, and that’s what the song’s about.”

In February…

013 REWIND: The Year in Review" src="http://prep.hearsomethingcountry.com/audio.gif" width="16" height="14" />  Kenny Chesney talks about his song, “Pirate Flag.” (:27)
“‘Pirate Flag’ is a huge part of my truth. It’s a very real song for me. But no matter who you are or how you live, there’s a part of you that wants to be free to say, you know, ‘What the heck? I just want to go do what I want to do.’ And that’s what this song’s all about for me is the freedom and the idea that you can say, ‘Enough is enough.’ Even if it’s only in your mind, while you’re watching your boss get on you, or whatever it is, I mean, whatever’s weighin’ you down in your life.”

013 REWIND: The Year in Review" src="http://prep.hearsomethingcountry.com/audio.gif" width="16" height="14" />  Kenny Chesney says that even when life is good, you may still want to hoist your own “Pirate Flag.” (:07)
“You may not have a lot of stuff weighin’ you down in your life, but just because life is good doesn’t mean you don’t sit and think about gettin’ away from it all every now and then. And I think that’s what ‘Pirate Flag’ is all about.”

  Kenny Chesney says that there are always different ways to fly your personal “Pirate Flag.” (:17)
“The beauty of this song is that there’s different ways you can fly your pirate flag. You can fly it in your head, you can tack it up behind your computer at work, you can tattoo it on your skin, you can tattoo it under (laughs) your skin so nobody has to know except for your friends and the people that really matter in your life.”

013 REWIND: The Year in Review" src="http://prep.hearsomethingcountry.com/audio.gif" width="16" height="14" />  Carrie Underwood says that there was something special about her smash “Blown Away” that inspired her to show another side of herself. (:41)
“I’m really glad that I had a song with the title ‘Blown Away.’ You know, the song, it’s…the whole album’s not like that song — which is good because (laughs) it might be just too much drama to handle I think if all the album was like ‘Blown Away.’ But it was just such a cool…I mean, ‘Blown Away’ — you think of something that’s just gonna blow you away. You think of something that’s gonna surprise you and excite you and think, ‘What just happened?!’ You know? So, it was strong, it was fierce, and it…I feel like it gave me license to shoot for the cover art and everything like that and get to be fierce and get to be strong and get to be, you know, kind of sexy, and I don’t know, just kind of show a different, stronger side of myself.”

  Brian Henningsen of The Henningsens says that the band learned an on-camera trick to contend with the cold weather on their video shoot for “American Beautiful.” (:36)
“Here’s the interesting thing that we found out because this is our first video, and it was done in freezing-cold weather, is that you can see your breath. And so you’ve always got this cloud of breath coming out on a cold day. And so, this was either the cruelest thing in the world, or it was genius, because what you have to do is they give you a mouthful of ice, and you chew ice while you’re freezing to death because it cools off the inside of your mouth, and then so as you sing, you’re not puffing out like, you know, Puff the Magic Dragon.”

  Clara Henningsen talks about the making of The Henningsens’ debut video, “American Beautiful.” (:32)
“We filmed our video for ‘American Beautiful’ on about a 20-degree day, and it was really amazing ’cause that was our first-ever music video we had shot. It was really cool because it was in a…like a farm setting, which we’re obviously used to, growing up on a farm. And, at the beginning, there’s a little girl playing under a tree with a little doll and a little barn, which, actually, Dad made, by the way. He made an exact replica of the barn that we later on in the video play in.”

  Clara Henningsen says that performing in a barn is nothing new for The Henningsens! (:31)
“Growing up, we actually played in barns — like, music. My dad and mom had a concert hall, what they, like, I guess would call (laughs) in my aunt and uncle’s barn. In the hayloft of their barn, they would have bands come in and play concerts for people. And they did that here, as well, in our barn in Tennessee. So we’re kind of…we kind of wanted that to be represented in the video, as well, ’cause that’s a part of our life. You know? It’s not just, ‘Hey, we’re gonna go play in a barn.’ It’s like, ‘Hey, we’ve actually played in barns before!” (laughs)

  The Henningsens’ Aaron Henningsen says that they brought in a lot of friends and family for their video for “American Beautiful.” (:23)
“A lot of our friends and family actually are in the video. Some of ‘em are dancing, and some of ‘em are just sittin’ around, some of ‘em are at a dinner table, you know? All of the imagery in the video was sort of our life growing up. The rural landscape, and the friends and family, and the feasting and the partying and the dancing and the playing music in a barn was all sort of stuff that we grew up with.”

In March…

  Brad Paisley talks about his single, “Beat This Summer.” (:53)
“This is one of the most fun grooves I’ve ever recorded, I think, and what we tried to do was make this song feel like that time is running out and that you’re looking ahead to sort of the end of a romantic time in your life, and I think we’ve all had that feeling over some sort of summer romance where this is going to be the hardest thing to beat in my entire life. That this is gonna be that time period you’re gonna look back on and go, ‘That was the best one ever.’ And summers and Christmases are alike that way, where it’s like, you know, ‘Was this the best ever?’ Or that feeling of this is as good as it gets. And you know, with this song, what we tried to do is be really creative with the production of it, and we took the steel guitar – and the steel guitar on this song is actually played a lot like a turntable would be. Basically, you take my steel guitar player, you turn his ballcap sideways, and this happens.”

013 REWIND: The Year in Review" src="http://prep.hearsomethingcountry.com/audio.gif" width="16" height="14" />  Carrie Underwood talks about the writing of her 17th number-one hit, “Two Black Cadillacs.” (:52)
“I was a co-writer on ‘Two Black Cadillacs,’ and it was me and Hillary Lindsey, whom I’ve written with a lot. She has a lot of cuts on my albums, and there’s a good reason for that: she’s awesome, and Josh Kear. And he comes in with this loop, (singing) ‘Two Black Cadillacs,’ like he…it’s kind of that, and we don’t know what it’s about. He just thinks it sounds cool. And I’m like, ‘What if there’s two black Cadillacs, and then one’s the wife’s and then one’s the girlfriend’s?’ And it all of sudden turns into this soap opera, and we’re, like, thinking of all the things that they could do. And I’m like, ‘What if they kill him off?’ Because…and we didn’t know if we wanted to take it there. We weren’t sure, how we could make it all fit, but we chased after it. And we had so much fun writing it, because it really was like a soap opera.”

In April…

  Brad Paisley says that it took some years of music-making before he got to the point that he was ready to make an album like Wheelhouse. (:44)
“It’s very scary to take a musical chance, and there’s things you can get away with later that you cannot get away with in the beginning. I couldn’t have made this album in the beginning. If you would actually have gone back in time and played this album for the kid that made Who Needs Pictures in 1999, I don’t think I would’ve believed that you actually had a copy of my future album. I think I would say that you were crazy, that there’s no way that’s what I’m up to. And it takes going through a lot of things in your life to get to a point where you’re ready to sing a certain song. It’s only because I made albums like Who Needs Pictures and Mud on the Tires and Part II and stuff like that that I get to a point where I’m ready to take a chance on somethin’ that’s way less predictable.”

  Brad Paisley says that making an album comes with a variety of creative challenges. (:49)
“It can be a challenge to get exactly what’s in your head on tape because sometimes…well, things don’t cooperate like you would want. I mean, the, you know…air doesn’t cooperate on certain days. Acoustics are different than you think. The best thing that happens in a record is the thing that you didn’t expect. And you just never know ’til you get somethin’ on tape, and then you…it’s completely like painting, in that you paint yourself into a corner at times, and you have to figure out your way out. And it’s sort of like you start…everything that you put on a canvas affects the thing next to it. And that’s the way it is with a record. You can throw on this really distorted guitar in the middle of this chorus that’s really big-sounding, but the minute you add five other things, that guitar isn’t the right thing anymore.”

  Brad Paisley talks about the genesis of his album title. (:51)
“The lyric ‘wheelhouse’…actually, I started thinkin’ about that as a thing that encompassed what I was tryin’ to do, which was the comfort zone being the strike zone, the area where you’re at your most effective, and our goal with this album was to challenge what is that and to figure out if I can operate outside of that, ’cause I would have never been comfortable doin’ some of these things early on. And I wasn’t sure what the lyric was to ‘Southern Comfort Zone’ until I started thinkin’ about the term ‘wheelhouse,’ and I was havin’ a discussion with Kelley Lovelace, my best friend and co-writer, and I just said, ‘I love that term “wheelhouse.” And I don’t think there’s been any albums called Wheelhouse.’ That feels like, you know, it should have been an REO Speedwagon album or a Van Halen album, you know? ‘The new album from Van Halen – Wheelhouse!’ You know? ‘This is Brad Paisley and Wheelhouse!’”

  Brad Paisley says that he always likes to give his albums the “car test.” (:51)
“Always. The album car test is the big one. I cannot stand to play the album for people in the studio — or even in anything other than where there’s moving pictures in front of you, because there’s nothin’ worse than somebody sitting there and the only thing they have to look at is you, and the only they have to think about is how they look listening. Like, they shouldn’t have to worry about their reaction to my music. They should be able to have that reaction without me sitting across from them, goin’, ‘Well, whaddaya think?’ That’s no fun. In a car, you’re both facing the same direction, and you’re both watching the world as it comes towards you. And there’s somethin’ about that that is just the only place to listen to music for me. It’s the best invention ever: the radio inside of a car.”

  Brad Paisley says that it’s good to not have his studio be too much a part of his home life. (:42)
“I always said I was never gonna have a home studio because it would be too much temptation to never quit. You know, I’m one of those kids that if you stick Legos in my bedroom, I won’t sleep. I’ll just build the Legos all night, and you’ll come in in the morning (laughs), and there’s a big building or somethin’, and I’m passed out on the floor. But the difference is that I don’t live here, so we were able to do this. I still have to come to this house to do it, which is a good thing. It’s not in my basement or somethin’. I think people with studios have a tendency to put their kids to bed and go back to work in a much easier way than it was for me. Like, comin’ back down here was a commitment to, like, ‘Okay, I’ll see ya later. I’m goin’ down to the studio.’ Which is a good thing.”

  Chris Young compares the happy couple in his smash, “I Can Take It from There,” with the couple in his earlier chart-topping favorite, “Gettin’ You Home.” (:25)
“That song’s kind of all about, ‘Hey, I’m gonna take you out somewhere really nice, and we’re basically gonna have to, like, leave money on the table and run out before the check’s here.’ This is kind of like the alternate scenario to me, where, you know, ‘Hey, we’re at the house, and there is no reason for us to go anywhere. I don’t need you to get dressed up at all.’ You know, less clothes, the better, kind of, with this song!” (laughs)

  Kenny Chesney talks about how he came to record his album, Life on a Rock. (1:01)
“A lot of songs on Life on a Rock are…they’re so personal, and I never imagined that anyone but myself and the friends that I wrote them about would hear ‘em. That was the mentality that went into this. I really didn’t realize that all these songs were gonna make a record. They were just very simple songs about my friends’ lives and characters I met and the stories they told me and so many journeys that I went on in my mind that I was in these moments of life that would have been very easy to let, you know, evaporate. But I was able to capture them and write about them. That’s how this whole album started, really, you know? And none of these songs would have fit by themselves, I don’t feel like, on a specific record, but they all fit together. And I think that’s what makes this record, for me, so personal, so special — because I was able to be a storyteller. I was able to hopefully take the people that have lived with my music for a while on this incredible journey, you know, and show them some places and tell ‘em a few stories, and make ‘em laugh, make ‘em cry, make ‘em remember somebody.”

  Kenny Chesney says that making music, and being able to share it, is one of the most amazing gifts in his life. (:16)
“You know, in a lot of ways, I feel very — I am very appreciative of where this dream has taken me, that I actually have music in my life, that I get to share that music with people, and the fact that they care. That’s one of the best gifts in the world.”

  Being a storyteller — and being honest — are at the heart of Kenny Chesney’s album, Life on a Rock.  (1:18)
“Well, I think the more I’ve done this, and the more I’ve…especially this record, I was able to be a storyteller. I was able to make a record without any boundaries. I was able to make a record where I didn’t edit myself, like you usually do for a record. You know? I guess because I approached this record unlike any other I’ve ever done. I wrote all these songs knowing that the majority of them would never see the light of day on a radio station or in my show. (laughs) And that goes against all conventional wisdom and all the thinking in our business! You know what I mean? It really does. But it allowed me to be really honest with my fans and tell them stories and open up some doors that I haven’t — and that felt really good. You know? And so I think it’s possible to do what we’ve always done, you know, but still be a storyteller at the same time, and with that comes the responsibility of bein’ very truthful. So I think especially my very diverse fan base — I think that there’s one thing that I know about them is that they know when it’s not authentic, and it’s not real, and they know when it is, and that’s what I’ve tried real hard to do over the years is let them in a little more and more.  And I think this record just moves me a little bit further along down the road in that sense.”

In May…

• On May 4th, just days before joining Brad Paisley on tour, The Henningsens‘ lead singer Clara Henningsen weds fiancé Jacob Calaway on the Henningsens’ seventh-generation family farm in Illinois. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Miranda Lambert scores the fifth number-one single of her career with “Mama’s Broken Heart.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Pistol Annies (Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe, and Angaleena Presley) release their sophomore album, Annie Up, on May 7th. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Kenny Chesney’s new album, Life on a Rock, debuts as the number-one album in the nation, topping Billboard’s all-genre album sales chart, the Billboard 200, as well as the Top Country Albums chart, with first-week sales of 153,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• On May 9th, Brad Paisley launches his Beat This Summer Tour presented by Cracker Barrel Old Country Store®, with special guests Chris Young, Lee Brice, and The Henningsens. As part of the tour, Brad will donate $1 from each ticket sold to Live Beyond (LiveBeyond.org), a Nashville non-profit focused on providing medical care, clean water, nutritional support, and development activities to impoverished communities in Haiti.
• Chris Young’s “Aw Naw” hits the airwaves, the first single from his upcoming A.M. album. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• As part of a tour-long initiative, Carrie Underwood wraps her Blown Away Tour with a $1,000,000 donation to the Red Cross, to benefit disaster relief. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• The Henningsens release their self-titled four-song digital EP on May 28th, featuring their hit debut single, “American Beautiful.”
• Love and Theft’s Stephen Barker Liles becomes engaged to his longtime love, Jenna Michelle Kennedy, on May 28th, proposing to Michelle with a 2.34 carat yellow center-cut diamond that he’d bought from the Oldsmar, Florida, jewelry store of a childhood friend. Stephen and Michelle are planning to get married in May of 2014.
• Carrie Underwood makes a special appearance to join The Rolling Stones in concert. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

  The Henningsens’ Clara Henningsen talks about her wedding. (:20)
“It was really cool because I got married on our family farm, in Illinois, and it’s such a special thing because, like the Miranda Lambert song says, you know, I mean, that’s pretty much the house that built me and where I was raised and where I grew up. And you know, drivin’ down the road to see that house is just…it’s such a comforting feeling, and it’s really where I wanted to get married.”

  Clara Henningsen says that loved ones were all around to share her May 4th wedding to Jacob Calaway. (:09)
“All my sisters were in the wedding and Jacob’s brother and all my cousins and best friends I grew up with were also in the wedding. And it was really…it was very special.”

  Miranda Lambert talks about how she came to record “Mama’s Broken Heart.” (:45)
“‘Mama’s Broken Heart’ is a song that I kind of had to ask for. Kacey Musgraves is a girl I grew up with back in Texas, and we used to write together a lot and kind of went our separate ways. She was on Nashville Star a couple years ago. And I was accidentally pitched the song. I don’t think I was supposed to be pitched the song, but her sister actually shot some pictures at mine and Blake [Shelton]‘s wedding, and she was there, too. And at our rehearsal dinner, I went over and asked her, I was like, ‘Are you gonna cut this song, or can I have it?’ And she was like, ‘I’ll think about it for a couple of days.’ And she e-mailed me, and said, ‘You can have it, if I can sing harmony.’ So that’s her singin’ the harmonies on it — and actually, Kacey Musgraves, she’s doin’ great on her own now, but I had to actually beg for this song, and so I’m thankful that she gave it to me.”

  Pistol Annies say that they weren’t about to shy away from risk-taking with the release of their second album, Annie Up. (:40)
Angaleena: “The first record — it was a big gamble, you know? And we didn’t know what was gonna happen. We just were these three girls who wanted to put out these songs, and Miranda had this whole career hanging in the balance of Miranda Lambert, the brand, and it’s like, to risk that and everything that she’d built and trust us enough to…I mean, it was like a huge risk and gamble…”
Ashley: “Yeah.”
Angaleena: “So this time, we’re like, ‘Hey, Annie up!’”
Ashley: (laughs) “Let’s risk it again!”
Angaleena: “We’re doin’ it again!”
(laughter)
Miranda: “And it’s, I mean, the bigger you get, the higher the stakes, but it’s worth it. I mean, if you don’t grow, you die! That’s what Ang says!” (laughs)
Angaleena: “It’s true.”

  Pistol Annies’ Ashley Monroe talks about the trio’s songwriting dynamic for their album, Annie Up. (:23)
“We wrote a lot of this record on the road, and I think we would get energy from them every night. You know, when the crowd’s response, we started to see it grow, you know, and we started to see them singin’ back our songs, they inspired us, I feel like, to keep on writing. And when we’re together, we say sometimes it’s like we all plugged in to a higher source, and it’s really true. When we’re all three together, we can’t not write songs. It’s weird, but I like it.”

  Kenny Chesney recalls the beginnings of his chart-topping new album, Life on a Rock. (:15)
“It was just me and a pen and a paper — and over time. And I think that that was good for me ’cause I was able to really settle with a lyric and settle, and in my head, I already had the music written in my head for a lot of these songs. I just hadn’t literally done it yet.”

  Chris Young jokes that his new single is slightly name-challenged. (:23)
“The most difficult single title to say and people understand how to spell in the history of singles, I think. I actually, when we said we were gonna release this, I was over in Australia, and I was talkin’ to some of the guys, and I was like, ‘Yeah, the song’s called “Aw Naw.”’ And they’re like, ‘”All in All”?’ And I’m like, ‘No, no, no…”Aw Naw.” A-W-N-A-W.’ Like, ‘Oh, Hell!’” (laughs)

  Chris Young talks about the writing of his hit, “Aw Naw.” (:55) (note content)
“You know what, honestly, this song fell out so organically because two of the guys that I wrote a lot of things on this album with, Ashley Gorley and Chris DeStefano, it was fun writing with them, and this was actually Ashley’s idea, the title. And he said it to me; at first, I’m like, ‘What?’ (laughs) I did the same thing like everybody else has done when they read the title of this song, but it was like, ‘Naw, man, like, you know how, if you’re goin’ out…?’ ’cause I had just mentioned about, ‘Man, I ended up hangin’ out way later than I meant to last night,’ and he goes, ‘You know, that’s a song!’ And I was like, ‘Well, what is it?’ He’s like, ‘You know, you go, like, “Aw naw!”‘ It’s like, I can’t believe that I ended up staying, and now I’m here, and I’m in the middle of something, and I see this girl, and he goes, ‘That’s really how we should take it,’ and that’s what we did, ’cause it’s really true to life. I think just about everybody’s had one of those nights — at least one — where you’re just like, ‘Naw, I’m gonna go home…oh, crap, I’m gonna stay.’”

  Carrie Underwood is grateful to all the fans whose support helped enable her Blown Away Tour’s donation to the Red Cross. (1:17)
“Well, we started the whole Red Cross thing at the beginning of the Blown Away Tour. It was almost like we knew that’s kind of where we should focus our energies before the tour even started. There’s been a lot that’s happened during the Blown Away Tour that us supporting the Red Cross and helpin’ them out and them being a part of the Blown Away Tour, there’s so much that’s happened that it makes it such a good thing that we are a part of the Red Cross. You know, you think about [Hurricane] Sandy and Boston and West Texas and now Oklahoma in Moore with the tornadoes. I mean, it’s so amazing that, you know, after all this stuff has happened and the Red Cross has been there helping out the whole way that we have been able, as soon as the tour wraps to just turn over a large sum of money that, you know, we all helped. This tour helped, and everybody that came to a show helped to donate, so I really hope everybody feels proud, being able to do that. I know there’s a lot more to go — there’s a lot left to do, especially in my home state, Oklahoma, and it’s just been devastating to see all of that. But just knowing that you were part of something that is helping them at their greatest time of need is really cool, and I look forward to seeing how we can help in other ways.”

  Carrie Underwood says that performing with The Rolling Stones was “one of the most amazing moments” of her life. (:46)
“The Rolling Stones are one of those bands that are so iconic, and everybody knows who they are, and I feel like they’ve always been in my life since birth. My dad is and was a huge fan and was always singing their songs around the house, so I know that they definitely…you know, I grew up having their music around me, all the time. So to actually be on stage with them, and you know, like, getting to, like, talk to Mick [Jagger] and Keith [Richards] and Ronnie [Wood] and Charlie [Watts] — you know, it was just such an amazing experience, and they were so nice and did everything they could to make me feel right at home. But it was just…it was one of the most amazing moments of my life.”

  Carrie Underwood was thrilled to get a pre-concert phone call from Mick Jagger. (:46)
“There is not just one moment of performing with The Rolling Stones that sticks out. I mean, the whole experience was absolutely amazing, but getting to, like…I knew Mick was gonna call me to talk about, you know, what song we were gonna sing. And for me to, like, answer the phone and you know, hear his voice on the other end of the line, and he first said, you know, the most important thing, you know, we have to figure out what we’re gonna wear, and then, you know, I guess, second, I mean, I guess we should probably figure out what we’re going to be singing. So, it was just so rock & roll and just, you know, like I said, talking to other people afterwards, I’m like, ‘Yeah, I talked to Mick on the phone, earlier today, and we decided…’ — I mean, it was just such a cool thing to be talking to Mick Jagger on the phone.”

In June…

• Love and Theft hit the airwaves with “If You Ever Get Lonely.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Kenny Chesney releases his new single, “When I See This Bar.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Carrie Underwood celebrates her fifth anniversary as a member of the Grand Ole Opry. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Miranda Lambert is a double winner at the 2013 CMT Music Awards, taking home the honors for Female Video of the Year (for “Mama’s Broken Heart”), as well CMT Performance of the Year for “Over You” from the 2012 CMT Artists of the Year special.
• Carrie Underwood wins Video of the Year for “Blown Away” at the 2013 CMT Music Awards.
• In an article proclaiming 2013 as “Country Music’s Year of the Woman,” NPR’s Ann Powers declares, “The most important new thing in mainstream country isn’t a trend, but a person: Miranda Lambert. Though she emerged in the first decade of this century, she’s ended up shaping the second.”
• Jake Owen celebrates his first Father’s Day since the Thanksgiving 2012 birth of his daughter, Pearl. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Miranda Lambert releases the single “All Kinds of Kinds,” from her hit-filled Four the Record album. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Jake Owen hits number-one with “Anywhere with You,” the fourth consecutive chart-topper from his Barefoot Blue Jean Night album. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

  Love and Theft’s Stephen Barker Liles talks about the duo’s single, “If You Ever Get Lonely.” (:13)
“You know, it’s about the one that got away, that you’re still in love with, that you would still drop the hat and do anything for. And so that’s kind of the vibe for that song, but it’s got a lot of emotion to it. I think even the track ended up having a lot of emotion, so we were real excited about that one.”

  Kenny Chesney says that he looked to a friend to help him get “When I See This Bar” just right. (:41)
“I wrote three different melodies to ‘This Bar,’ and it all seemed forced, it all seemed — I don’t know — a better word, it just, it didn’t seem perfect. It didn’t seem as heartfelt and as natural as the lyrics came or how I lived that song. And so, my friend Keith Gattis, I just gave him the lyric, and I said, ‘Do something with it.’ I said, ‘Impress me!’ (laughs) And boy, he sure did! He called back (laughs), and that’s how this whole record, you know, where this record, with that song, all of a sudden had something to build around, and I’m proud of that song.”

  Carrie Underwood is very happy to be celebrating her fifth anniversary as a member of the Grand Ole Opry. (:33)
“There is so much I love about the Opry, and I can’t believe it’s been five years already. It’s certainly flown by. I love the whole concept of the Opry. I love that it is a part of country music history, country music present, and country music future. It’s the heart and soul, the center, of country music. And while the members…you know, there’s people that have been around for forever, there’s people like me, who are just babies in the family, but it is a family, and that’s a really cool thing to be a part of.”

  Jake Owen says that his personal life has changed fast, but in the most awesome ways. (:25)
“I didn’t think that, a couple years ago, that if someone would have said, ‘Hey, man, in two years, you’re gonna be a dad, and you’re gonna have your first Father’s Day with your little girl who’s laughing and smiling every morning when she wakes up lookin’ at you,’ I don’t know if I would’ve believed them, but you know, you never know. Things happen quickly in life, and here we are, two years later, and my wife and I have a little girl, and it’s pretty awesome. There’s nothing more fulfilling than bein’ a dad. That’s for sure.”

  Jake Owen feels very blessed that he now lives in a home occupied by “The Owens.” (:47)
“I mean, it’s hard not to light up when you’re talkin’ about someone that, you know, you created. My wife and I — I look at my wife all the time, and as any married couple, you know, married couples always have their things they go back and forth on. But one thing that’s consistent, I can tell you, with my wife and I is that every time I look at her, I see my little girl in her, and then I see myself in my little girl, as well, and I just realize how lucky I am that the good Lord took two complete strangers, brought them together, and created another beautiful life with the both of us. And we have a really special thing goin’ in our little family now. It’s crazy, you know? We’re the Owen household now. It’s not just me anymore. It’s my wife and little girl, and it’s pretty neat. I need to get one of those mats that go outside our front door that say, ‘The Owens.’” (laughs)

  Miranda Lambert talks about her single, “All Kinds of Kinds.” (:31)
“‘All Kinds of Kinds’ is such a different song. To me, I heard this — my producer sent it to me — and I don’t know, I just identified with it immediately. I don’t really know why, but it just…all these characters in this song, and I’m finally in…I found my niche, I found my spot in country music, and everyone’s uplifted me through that, and winnin’ awards and havin’ hits, but I still feel like I’m a little bit different. And I’m glad for that. But for ‘All Kinds of Kinds,’ it’s just talkin’ about all kinds of scenarios and how it takes so many different characters to make the world what it is.”

  Jake Owen recalls a great prediction from his auto mechanic. (:48)
“I can honestly tell you, my buddy who works on my car, I had my truck in gettin’ serviced, and like an old friend, he was honest with me about things, and he doesn’t, you know, he doesn’t have anything to gain one way or the other about that kind of thing. And he looked at me when he heard Barefoot Blue Jean Night, he goes, ‘Man, I really believe that this is gonna change your life. This album, after listening to it, I think it’ll change your career.’ And I remember goin’, ‘Brad, aw, man, I appreciate that. Thanks, man.’ He goes, ‘No, I’m serious, man!’ He’s like, ‘I listened to this album more than a few times.’ He said, ‘I really believe that this one’s gonna change your life.’ He’s like, ‘Mark my word.’ And sure enough, I gotta say, one of these days when I go back and see Brad, I gotta say, ‘Dude, you were right because it’s been a pretty surreal experience and feeling to not only have one number-one — my first number-one off this record — but then four in a row is pretty amazing.”

In July…

• The Henningsens make their debut on Good Morning America performing their hit, “American Beautiful,” on the Fourth of July.
• Brad Paisley hits number-one on the radio with his song, “Beat This Summer,” from his Wheelhouse album. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Tyler Farr continues to climb the charts with his future number-one single, “Redneck Crazy.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

  Brad Paisley talks about the musical “loop” in his chart-topping smash, “Beat This Summer.” (:28)
“That was a loop created by Luke Laird that I wrote that with, and he hit ‘play’ on his computer, and it was (vocalizing the instrumentation) — just like that. In fact, we used a lot of his loop. And we just dumped that in the computer and started recordin’ the band from it and said, ‘Here it is: this is it.’ And before he did that, I just thought to myself, ‘Well, I’ve got this summer title. That feels like summer,’ and that’s the first thing I thought of was that sounds like a summer song.”

  Tyler Farr says that he’s gotten at least one unexpected reaction to his smash single, “Redneck Crazy.” (:22)
“Some people said they’ve cried, like it hits ‘em right there, and I’ve not in a million years would I have ever thought a song called ‘Redneck Crazy’ would make you cry. But, however it affects somebody, that’s my job is to reach in and tug on the heartstrings of people or make ‘em laugh or make ‘em feel somethin’. If we’re makin’ ‘em feel somethin’, we’re doin’ our job.”

In August…

• Kenny Chesney reveals that he’ll be taking the year off from touring in 2014 to focus on a new album.
• Family trio The Henningsens wrap up their summer on the road opening Brad Paisley‘s Beat This Summer Tour. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• On August 6th, Casey James kicks off two months on the road as a guest on Taylor Swift’s The RED Tour. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood are officially announced by the Country Music Association as the hosts of The 47th Annual CMA Awards on November 6th, marking their sixth year hosting the show. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Chris Young’s mid-August health scare has a very happy ending, with Chris expected to make a full recovery after a small cut on his leg developed a dangerous bacterial infection. While on tour, Chris began to go into septic shock and was taken by ambulance to Denver’s Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center, where an emergency surgery removes the infection from his leg. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Miranda Lambert releases the music video for “All Kinds of Kinds.”
• Kelly Clarkson debuts the music video for her single, “Tie It Up.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Carrie Underwood releases her first-ever concert DVD, The Blown Away Tour: LIVE, on August 13th. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• “See You Again” becomes Carrie Underwood‘s 18th number-one smash and fourth consecutive chart-topper from her Blown Away album. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

  The Henningsens’ Clara Henningsen talks about the trio’s time on tour this summer with Brad Paisley. (:29)
“Being on the Brad tour this whole summer has been a great experience! It’s been…you know, learning so many different things, it’s…how everything functions being a part of a big production like that. It’s so cool to kind of…you know, we’re just the opening act, and it’s really cool for us to sit back and just watch it all happen, and we just get to go on stage and play, and it’s really…it’s been honoring. It’s been awesome. We’re excited that we had this opportunity.”

  The Henningsens’ Brian Henningsen says that the band is grateful to have enjoyed the chance to open Brad Paisley’s tour this summer. (:16)
“We’ve had a…really a great time, and just gettin’ the opportunity to play in front of that many people just night after night with it has been an awesome experience. You know, we’re really grateful to Brad for thinking enough of us to include us on it.”

  Casey James says it’s really cool to see fans singing along to songs that haven’t been on the radio. (:38)
“The coolest thing is to see people singin’ songs that are not on the radio, because then you know, ‘Well, these people have bought my record.’ And maybe I’ve never even seen this person. This might be…maybe they heard the second or the first single and went out and bought the record, and this is the first time that I’m comin’ to see, you know, them in this town since then. And so I’ve never met this person, but they’re singing along to songs that I wrote and that even haven’t been on the radio. I mean, does it get any better than that? And that’s because of radio. That’s…thank you, God, you know what I mean, that somebody’s playin’ the music out there, and they actually give an opportunity for new people to hear my music.”

013 REWIND: The Year in Review" src="http://prep.hearsomethingcountry.com/audio.gif" width="16" height="14" />  Carrie Underwood shares some thoughts about her pal, Brad Paisley. (:35)
“Brad and I — I’ve always said, he’s like my big brother. I didn’t have brothers growing up, but if I had one, I would want him to be like Brad, and he has, you know, the best family. [His wife] Kim and his kids are just absolutely amazing, and they’ve always been super-sweet to me. And it’s just nice to have people that you work with that you really enjoy, and you enjoy being around. And he and [my husband] Mike have hung out together, and it’s just nice to have that in your life, where you can have people that are kind of in all aspects of your life — your work life and your personal life.”

  Chris Young says that he got some good-natured teasing around his recent hospitalization. (:28) (note content)
“I’m still in the hospital, and people are like, ‘Aw naw!’ So it’s like, that was funny. I was crackin’ up readin’ stuff, and of course, like, all of my friends are the friends that are like, ‘Are you okay?’ and then laugh at you. So, I had one of my buddies text me, and he goes, ‘Dude, are you okay?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, they should be movin’ me out of the ICU tomorrow,’ and he went, ‘Damn! I had a whole bunch of your stuff that I was gonna unload if you weren’t doin’ so hot.’ (laughs) I was like, ‘Thank you, I really appreciate that. I’m glad you care.’”

  Kelly Clarkson talks about her music video for “Tie It Up.” (:19)
“We started with ‘Tie It Up’ obviously because it’s my life right now. And so, it’s a fun video. We got a bunch of fans involved in it, and it’s my first official country video that wasn’t a performance on something! (laughs) So, we were excited about that, but anyway, yeah, it was just a fun video to make, and it’s just kind of my life right now, so it’s a good chapter to sing about.”

  Carrie Underwood talks about her concert DVD, The Blown Away Tour: LIVE. (1:18)
“We were never really planning to do a DVD. We always tape things; we always get things on film because I feel like as your career goes, it’s fun to look back on things or fun to draw on inspiration from stuff you’ve already done, and you can build off that, and it’s important for one’s career to have those things in the archives. But I had so many people asking me for one, and I have for the past few years. You know, people just kind of want that ultimate memorabilia thing to take home with them so they can re-live that concert or concerts that they came to. So, we just decided, ‘Well, we might as well!’ We had a lot of, you know, behind-the-scenes footage and a lot of things about preparing for the tour. And in the end, I’m really happy with the way it turned out, and I do feel like the people that came to a show or multiple shows really can re-live it at home. But also people that didn’t get to come out, you know? They can sit in their living rooms, they can turn the volume way up, grab some popcorn — you’re in the comforts of your own home. You’re not in, like, a little hard chair that’s sitting out in the audience in an arena. No traffic! It’s gonna be awesome. Hopefully, they’ll really get a sense of what being at the show was like, and live it with us.”

  Carrie Underwood says that someday it’ll be fun to be able to share her DVD with her kids. (:13)
“I think someday it’ll be really great for me to be able to show my kids when I’m old and wrinkly, you know (laughs), be able to look back at ‘oh, my gosh, I can’t believe I actually did that.’ So, it’s cool to have that DVD for myself, as well.”

  Carrie Underwood recalls the origin of her smash, “See You Again.” (:29)
“‘See You Again’ actually started – we were writing for The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and I loved ‘See You Again’ and honestly thought they might pick that one for the movie. And I was like, seriously, like, whatever we don’t use, I want for my album. But ‘See You Again’ fit. It fit this album. And I’m so glad. That was the first one we had in the can. It’s like, ‘Okay, well, that one’ll be on the album.’ And I’ve loved it for that long.”

In September…

  Carrie Underwood says that being a part of Sunday Night Football is a huge thrill for her. (:18)
“I’m so excited that I’m a part of that. I have always, always…I grew up on football, you know? Yes, I’m married to a hockey player, but I had to learn hockey (laughs) at age 26. I have known football since birth, so it’s really cool to be able to be a part of that.”

  Haiti figures prominently in Brad Paisley’s upcoming film inspired by his song, “I Can’t Change the World.” (:49)
“One of the major plotlines of this movie involves an orphan in Haiti and her situation and the woman that wants to adopt her, and, you know, and that’s a major cause for me. I really have started to feel very strongly about our responsibility as the United States of America, closest to the poorest nation in the world, which is Haiti. It’s ours to fix, and when you go there, and you see how messed up that place is, it’s just…it’s one of those things where you’re just thinkin’ to yourself, ‘How do we do this?’ You know, ‘Where do we start?’ Well, it’s…you start with the orphan that…like, I bonded with a particular orphan at an orphanage where we go where he and I…he was an orphan that was really good at drawing. He had a great artistic ability. We sat down and drew for two hours.”

  Chris Young is thrilled at the release of his fourth album. (:23)
“I don’t want to say it every time, like, ‘Ahh, it’s a big deal, another record!’ But you know, it is. It’s what I grew up wantin’ to do, from the time I was a little kid on. And so it’s not only an accomplishment in me moving forward and continuing to grow by making another record and putting new music out there, but it’s also a…you know, it’s still livin’ that dream that I had when I was a kid. So it’s fun.”

  Chris Young talks about the inspiration behind his latest album title. (:18)
“Everybody always says nothing good happens after midnight, but there’s plenty of stuff that’s great that happens after midnight. You know? Whether it be partying, whether it be fallin’ in love for the first time, or whether it be working through something in your relationship and gettin’ to that point where it’s like, ‘naw, we’re gonna stay together.’ You know, all those things can happen in the A.M., and so that’s why we named the record that.”

  Tyler Farr shares his biggest goal for his album, Redneck Crazy. (1:00)
“My biggest goal is to make music and have songs on the album at the end of the day, after it’s done, that people can relate to at certain times in their life. You know, you listen to a song like ‘Hello Goodbye’ — when you’re happy, you know, you may not want to listen to it, but that doesn’t mean there’s a million other people out there that aren’t goin’ through it, and it helps ‘em get through somethin’. You know, so, this album, I, with the help of my producers and these songwriters created to make people feel somethin’ and get somethin’ out of it, whether it’s relief, or whether it’s happiness, or whether they just need to drive and listen to one of the sad songs on there and just cry their eyes out. There’s songs on there that whatever mood you’re in, or whatever it is that you need, I’m providing it on the album. That’s the best way I can describe why I made the album and how I…why I made it the way it is.”

In October…

  Leah Turner talks about her debut single, “Take the Keys.” (:15)
“A girl wants a man who’s in control but also can be spontaneous and allows her to be a strong woman. And it does take a strong man to have a strong woman, and that’s vice versa, so wanted to really get that across that at the end of the day, we still want you to ‘take the keys.’”

  Kelly Clarkson talks about life and love. (:29)
“I just thought life couldn’t be like this. I sound like a nerd, and I’m totally cool with that, but it’s awesome. I love my life,  I love my new kiddos that I have with Brandon, and I love comin’ home — it’s like living with a best friend, but you’re intimate with, as well, you know, like on a different level than you are with your friends, so it’s like…it’s just a different level of intimacy that’s awesome. And it’s grounding. And I felt like my whole life I’ve been a balloon. So, I’m now a balloon with someone holding onto the string. (laughs) There’s a song in there somewhere!” (laughs)

  Jerrod Niemann recalls hearing “Drink to That All Night” for the first time. (:32)
“My buddy Lance Miller said, ‘Hey, man, I sent you a song,’ and I looked at the e-mail, and it said, ‘Drink to That All Night,’ and I was like, ‘Man, come on! Just ‘cause it’s a drinkin’ song doesn’t mean you have to send it to me! I mean, surely how different can it be?’ And then I listened to it, and I thought, ‘Whoa! This is somethin’ else.’ I mean it was…it instantly just put me in a mood to just have a good time, and I listened to it probably like ten times in a row. And I just sent it to my producer, and I just said, ‘Hey, man, what do you think of this?’ And we both just fell in love with the song, and man, I’m just so glad that they saved it for me and didn’t pitch it to somebody else.”

  Kelly Clarkson is thrilled over her new Christmas album, Wrapped in Red. (:23)
“I gotta be honest with you, my Christmas album is like my favorite thing that I’ve ever done on the planet. It is so amazing. I’m a nerd about Christmas music. Bing Crosby’s Christmas CD, like ‘White Christmas’ album, is like, oh, my gosh, I love…and ‘White Christmas’ with Rosemary Clooney and Bing and all the other two, like, and Mariah’s when I was a kid and loved Reba’s. There’s so many Christmas CDs that I just am in love with, and so I was really excited about making it.”

In November…

• The Swon Brothers, Zach and Colton Swon — finalists from Team Blake [Shelton] on Season 4 of NBC’s The Voice — sign a record deal with Arista Nashville, with a first single due in early 2014.
• Tyler Farr follows his number-one smash, “Redneck Crazy,” with “Whiskey in My Water,” which arrives as the most-added new single on Mediabase. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• At The 47th Annual CMA Awards, Miranda Lambert wins her fourth consecutive CMA Female Vocalist of the Year trophy, a distinction that now ties her with Reba McEntire as the only women in country history to win that title four times in a row.
• Kelly Clarkson announces that she is expecting her first child with husband Brandon Blackstock.

  Tyler Farr says that “Whiskey in My Water” will offer fans a different side to his musical personality. (:39)
“‘Whiskey in My Water’ is definitely more of a little bit softer side of me, as soft as it could be. And it’s talkin’ about a girl, and not a ‘Redneck Crazy’ type of way. It’s more about a girl that you’re head-over-heels for and think she’s the best thing since sliced bread, and it’s a country boy’s way of tellin’ a girl that he’s really into her by sayin’, you know, ‘You’re the moon in my shine, the whiskey in my water.’ So yes, it’s definitely a different take and a different aspect for people to look at me in a different light, so I’m excited for ‘em to hear that and hear the rest of the album, and, you know, dig a little deeper into who I really am as an artist.”

In December…

• Love and Theft’s Stephen Barker Liles and his fianceé, Jenna Michelle Kennedy, celebrate the arrival of their first child, a boy, Jett Barker Liles, born in Nashville on December 2nd. Stephen’s Love and Theft partner, Eric Gunderson, also became a first-time father back in March. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Jake Owen releases his new album, Days of Gold, on December 3rd. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• On December 3rd, Sony Masterworks releases “The Sound of Music” — Music from the NBC Television Event, featuring studio recordings of all of the musical numbers performed by Carrie Underwood and all the cast in the live broadcast.
• On December 5th, Carrie Underwood delivers a ratings bonanza as she stars in NBC’s hit three-hour production of The Sound of Music Live!, based on the original musical.
• Miranda Lambert is nominated for a GRAMMY® award for Best Country Solo Performance for “Mama’s Broken Heart,” which also garners a Best Country Song nomination for writers Brandy Clark, Shane McAnally, and Kacey Musgraves.
• Kelly Clarkson picks up a country GRAMMY® nomination for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “Don’t Rush,” featuring Vince Gill. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• At the fan-voted American Country Awards on December 10th, Miranda Lambert wins Artist of the Year: Female, as well as Single of the Year: Female for her Platinum-certified number-one smash, “Mama’s Broken Heart.”
• Carrie Underwood takes home Music Video of the Year: Female for “Blown Away” at the American Country Awards, marking her 12th overall win and extending her streak as the most-awarded female artist in the show’s four-year history.
• Brad Paisley performs his new single, “The Mona Lisa,” at the American Country Awards and is honored with the special Video Visionary Award, presented only once previously, in recognition of creative excellence across his nearly 15 years of music videos.
• The Swon Brothers return to NBC’s The Voice on December 10th to perform “Later On,” a song from their upcoming album, with the digital single hitting number-one on the iTunes Country Top Songs chart within 24 hours of the performance.
• On December 17th, The Sound of Music Live!, starring Carrie Underwood, releases on DVD.

  Love and Theft’s Stephen Barker Liles says that he may not have to rely on his musical partner Eric Gunderson for too much “new dad” advice. (:13)
“I mean, I’ll obviously ask him questions or whatever, but I have a younger brother that was a surprise in the family. I was 16 when he was born, so I pretty much helped raise him, so I’m used to the whole baby thing.”

  Jake Owen says that being a dad didn’t really change the music on his new album. (:46)
“Everybody asks me that now. I think they thought that since I got married and had a child that I need to be like the ‘Barefoot Diaper Night’ guy or something. But nah, it’s just…it’s made me a better person, and personally, I’ve become more patient, and I’ve become more understanding of a lot of things. But with a child you can’t really control it. It just happens the way it happens, and so…but none of that’s really kind of trickled into my music yet, but I’m sure at some point it will. I mean…but this time around, I was already in the process of really kind of diggin’ in on what I wanted to do, and I’ve been working for so long on my career and the brand of what we do and the kind of music that we make that I kind of stuck with what was working.”

  Kelly Clarkson talks about working with producer Dann Huff on her GRAMMY-nominated collaboration with Vince Gill on the song “Don’t Rush.” (:25)
“I was fortunate enough to get to work with Dann Huff on it again. I love him — he is so awesome to work with, and I begged him to ask Vince Gill (laughs) to sing with me ’cause I was like, ‘This sounds like such a Vince Gill song!’ ’cause it’s such, like, a R&B / country song, like it’s very soulful. I don’t know — I was excited to hear him on it, and I just think he sounds so amazing on it, and he’s just known for being, like, the best male vocalist ever, so I was pretty stoked that he said, ‘Yes.’”