The 4th of July weekend is upon us and we thought we would share some of the country music stars’ plans, memories and more about the birthday of the USA.
What does Jason Aldean have planned for the 4th of July?
“We have a place down in Florida so we’ll go down there and hang out for a couple weeks before we come back and really finish the tour out. But, July 4th is kinda always a time where I carve out a week or two there just to go down and hang out and have a little bit of a vacation.”
What memories does Luke Bryan have of past Fourth of July holidays?
“Some of my favorite Fourth of July memories were spent on Lake Blackshear down in Georgia with my family. I was always kind of in charge of driving home from Tennessee and picking up all the fireworks and my nieces and nephews always got excited when I rolled in because they knew I had all the fireworks. But, it was always a great memory, and I miss not getting to do that as much as we used to.”
What does “patriotism” mean to Keith Urban?
“For me, the definition, it’s common, shared beliefs and identity. And I think at its core, it’s an incredibly strengthening, vital thing for our people to have, and it’s particularly gratifying in the midst of so much separating of ideas that it can get fractious. And it’s kind of nice that a sense of patriotism can remind everybody of the unity.”
What does the opportunities in the United States of America mean to Carrie Underwood?
“America really is, you know, the land of opportunity. It’s the only place in the world that I could try out for some show and win and…amongst hundreds of thousands of people…and go on to do great things. I mean, it’s just the land of ‘anything could happen.’ The people in it are what makes it great.”
How did Eric Church spend the Fourth of July when he was young?
“The Fourth of July growing up, for me, we would always go to the lake, we didn’t live on the lake but we would all go to the lake. Had a buddy who had a pontoon and we would always get on the pontoon and you go out and you’d tie all the pontoons together and just have a big time. You know, and this was before, I was younger then, the adults were having more fun than we were, but you know it was just to go swim in the water and shoot off fireworks. Basically, water tailgating is what it was, you know.”
What is one of Randy Houser‘s favorite 4th of July memories?
“My dad had a buddy who was a shrimp boat captain. So they were doing the fireworks, they were shooting all the fireworks on the beach. It was just a real exciting thing to go out on a shrimp boat and watch the fireworks from like a mile out. It was just a really cool experience that I’ll remember with my dad and my sister and us being kids and just a fun, really cool Fourth of July.”
Dierks Bentley is an American History buff who thinks about and reads about the USA all the time.
“I’m extremely patriotic. I love this country, and I love the history of this country. I read books on this country. I spend my time on the road traveling physically throughout the country. The soldiers and their families are constantly on my mind. We work closely with the Wounded Warriors Project. We think about this stuff all the time.”
What are Chase Rice‘s Fourth of July Weekend plans?
“I’m actually going up to Saranac, New York, there’s a lake up there. One of my old Young Life leaders from high school…I stayed buddies with him for a long time. And, he’s up there and I’m gonna go visit him, his family, and just kinda relax and have my own little cabin. I’m kinda getting away for four or five days and just kinda doing my own thing.”
What Fourth of July tradition did Thomas Rhett participate in that wasn’t very safe?
“We used to have bottle rocket wars in our backyard and we would all get in tree houses and shoot bottle rockets at tree houses, which, looking back, we could all be blind by now with all the bottle rockets we shot at each other. I never really worked the firework tent, but a lot of my buddies used to work firework tents so I’d always go get discounts on fireworks and shoot ’em off.”
Sam Hunt says his grandfather would always drive to the Alabama state line from where he grew up in Georgia to buy fireworks for their annual Fourth of July celebration.
“He would always take a lot of pride in going and finding all the good stuff, and coming back with a big pile. He’d have his torch out there at the end of the driveway and we’d all eat homemade ice cream and put down towels on the driveway and he’d shoot off fireworks for 30-45 minutes. Such a good time.”
What does the Fourth of July mean to Darius Rucker?
“The Fourth of July to me is a day to celebrate freedom. We get to travel all over the world and see a lot of stuff, and I’ve been to a lot of countries that aren’t like ours and that’s when you really appreciate the fact that you can do whatever you want. As long as you’re willing to deal with the consequences, you can do whatever you want, you know? [I] appreciate those soldiers who died for us to be sitting here doing this, and we live in the greatest country in the world.”
What does Craig Campbell think is the best way to celebrate the Fourth of July?
“When it’s 4th of July in our house, it’s kind of like New Years Eve, but in the summertime and on a lake. A lot of fireworks, a lot of beer drinking. So we always have a lot of fun on the 4th of July and I think that’s what the 4th of July is for! Fireworks, celebrating our independence with a cold beer.”
You can watch Little Big Town celebrating the Fourth of July this year as they will be part of the annual Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular will air on CBS TV Monday, July 4th starting from 9:00–11:00 PM ET (8:00-10:00 CT/delayed PT).
Whatever you do celebrate the birth of our great Country, remember the American military (past, present and future) who keeps this the Land of the Free because of the Brave!
Have a Happy and Safe Fourth of July from all of your friends here at Bloomington-Normal’s #1 Country, B104!
By: Buck Stevens
