With Thanksgiving safely behind us, it’s time to look forward to Christmas: Bring on the gift guides and Christmas movies! Another tried and true part of the Christmas machine is music specials that are geared toward celebrating the holiday, and the CMAs do not disappoint with their own CMA Country Christmas special, that airs tonight at 8/7 central on ABC. In advance of that airing, here’s a couple of the standout moments that Uproxx was tipped off to watch for tonight.
Jennifer Nettles, Host Extraordinaire
Jennifer Nettles, who you might know as the twangy, lush voice behind Sugarland, is doing double duty this Christmas season. Aside from reprising her role as Dolly Parton’s mother in the upcoming holiday film Christmas Of Many Colors — a follow-up to the incredibly successful original Coat Of Many Colors, based off Parton’s song of the same name — Nettles also signed on to host the CMA Christmas special this year. In one of the night’s highlights, she’s joined by Broadway star Idina Menzel to duet on “Little Drummer Boy.”
Kelsea Ballerini Does Double Duty
Rising country star Kelsea Ballerini performed not once but twice at the special, doing a duet of “My Favorite Things” with Joey Alexander along with a solo take of “The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You).” She may have barely lost out the Best New Artist CMA to Maren Morris, but she’s been one of the greatest parts about country music in the last year, too, and tonight proves that.
Brad Paisley & Chris Young Bring Some Levity With “The First Noel”
Brad Paisley has been a pillar of the country music community for many, many years, and he’s not about to stop now. He and Chris Young brought a bit of levity to the evening with their take on “The First Noel,” a tender, reflective ballad made all the more poignant by the blending of these two masculine voices in a night that was otherwise dominated by women.
Kacey Musgraves Goes Hawaiian
It’s hard to think of anyone who is more popular in country music right now than Kacey Musgraves. She’s a crossover star in the making who refuses to back off her old school country roots, and is up-ending everyone’s expectations in the process. Her latest move was to release a Christmas album of her own, A Very Kacey Christmas, which also made our gift guide on its own merit, and at tonight she leaned even farther into her Hawaiian/easy listening/’70s country fusion by singing “Mele Kalikimaka.” This performance alone is worth tuning in for, folks.
Loretta Lynn Enlists Trisha Yearwood And Jennifer Nettles For A Good Ole “Country Christmas”
There’s nothing like honoring a legend at Christmas. Loretta Lynn put out a new album in 2017 — oh wait make that two new albums — at the tender age of 84. All your excuses for getting stuff done this year have been canceled. Following up this spring’s Full Circle with a Christmas record called White Christmas Blue, toward the end of the night, she showed up and enlisted Jennifer Nettles and Trisha Yearwood to help sing “Country Christmas,” a song she wrote that originally appeared on her 1966 album of the same name, and also appears on her new Christmas album. It was about as close to a perfect country Christmas song as it gets, and the perfect bridge between traditional country celebrations of the season and this year’s newest special.
That’s a great way to close out our anticipation of tonight’s show. Tune-in for the second airing on December 24 at 8/7c on ABC.
