CMA Country Christmas is upon us! The 13th annual holiday special airs on ABC on Thursday and will feature performances by a slew of country music stars, including Dan + Shay, Scotty McCreery, Old Dominion, and more.
Carly Pearce, who is returning to host for the second consecutive year, will also perform during the festive one-hour broadcast.
Pearce returns to the show after co-hosting the 12th annual CMA Country Christmas alongside Gabby Barrett.
“Oh my goodness. When I got the call that I got to come back to host, it was a no-brainer,” Pearce shared. “Hosting is something that’s really special to me and something that I really want to continue to do so I feel very lucky.”
CMA Country Christmas will also feature performances from Steven Curtis Chapman, Maren Morris, Molly Tuttle, and The War And Treaty.
The show will take viewers inside a beautifully decorated home reminiscent of classic Christmas television specials of the past, inviting viewers to sit back and enjoy the season in a warm and intimate setting with their families.
In partnership with Balsam Hill, who provided realistic artificial Christmas trees and holiday decor, CMA will truly bring the magic of Christmas to life in the makeshift home. Information on the products seen on stage during the show can be found HERE.
Ahead of the show, several artists shared their excitement over the opportunity to perform on CMA Country Christmas.
“It’s my first time performing on CMA Country Christmas in like a decade, which is nuts you know? I had so much fun when we got to do it before,” McCreery shared. ”I sing Christmas music all year long, like ask my band, ask my family. So to get to do this with all the artists on the big stage is pretty cool.”
“CMA Country Christmas is one of our favorite things to do every year and this year we get to do two songs which is amazing. Two original songs, we’re doing ‘Officially Christmas’ and ‘Holiday Party.’ ‘Holiday Party is a brand-new song, we’ve never performed it anywhere, so hopefully, we remember the words,” Dan + Shay’s Dan Smyers joked. “But if we don’t, no one knows the song yet, so it’s a good place to debut it. Christmas is always an exciting time for us. We love Christmas music and to get invited here with so many amazing artists at CMA Country Christmas, it’s a blast. Hopefully we get invited back next year.”
“This show is special in a way that it is always the first thing that gets me excited for actual Christmas. When I walk in and see the set I’m like… It’s very warm and inviting and we get to play something we don’t normally play,” Old Dominion said collectively.
“I am most looking forward to seeing the set and the band and I am also really excited to get to be singing ‘Merry Christmas Baby’ because it’s one of my favorite Christmas songs,” Morris said. “So many people have covered it over the last hundred years, so I’m kind of like combining a bunch of them into mine, but yeah I’m looking forward to it.”
“This is our first time performing on Country Christmas and we’re performing ‘O’ Holy Night’ I can’t even talk about how excited we are,” The War And Treaty admitted. ”We watched it last year sitting at home in our house and it was just a dream we were like ‘wow, could we do this.’”
Below is a list of all the songs being performing during the 13th Annual CMA Country Christmas.
Carly Pearce – “Here Comes Santa Claus” and “Man With The Bag”
Steven Curtis Chapman – “Precious Promise”
Dan + Shay – “Officially Christmas” and “Holiday Party”
Scotty McCreery – “Holly Jolly Christmas”
Maren Morris – “Merry Christmas Baby”
Old Dominion – “What Christmas Means To Me”
Molly Tuttle and Pearce – Bluegrass Medley – “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” “Let It Snow,” “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” “Winter Wonderland,” and “Christmas Time’s A-Comin’”
The War And Treaty “O Holy Night”
CMA Country Christmas will premiere on Thursday, December 8 at 9/8c on ABC.
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