As America gets ready to celebrate its 243rd birthday July 4th, Thomas Rhett, Carly Pearce, Brett Young and more country music stars share their thoughts and some memories of the Fourth of July…

Dave Haywood of Lady Antebellum is always up for a party on the 4th of July because his birthday is JULY 5th.

“My birthday is July 5th, so July 4th is always a big family vacation. We’d go to Hilton Head (birthday party), South Carolina, shoot fireworks, have barbecue and just kind of hang out with the family. But yeah, we would, we’d have to drive to South Carolina to get fireworks because they weren’t legal in Georgia when I was young, and I’d love to get out with my buddies and light something on fire in the woods. But it was fun. It’s always my big birthday celebration. So, it’s an exciting time.”

Midland will likely be celebrating this 4th of July with their family and friends as they have the weekend off.

“The thing that America is built on is diversity, and that’s what’s amazing about traveling through the United States” the trio’s Mark Wystrach shares, “Not only geographically is it diverse, but the people are diverse, the cultures are diverse. But, there is that thing, that linear thread that makes everybody American, and I think that’s a love and a respect for one another, and the spirit that has been in this country to kind of always reach over and maybe help your neighbor, help your family, help your friends, help the community, help make it better. And hopefully 4th of July is the time where everybody comes together and takes a moment and looks at the positive things, the things that we should be grateful for livin’ in this country, cause it’s not perfect, but it’s our country and it’s the best country in the world and we should celebrate it.”

The 4th of July for Carly Pearce means family, fireworks and some funny moments with her dad.

“I feel like every Fourth of July we always went to my grandparents’ house and just had a big cookout and shot off illegal fireworks that we weren’t supposed to. And my dad would always almost get burnt up by one and we used to always joke that he always, every year got chased by at least one firework.”

Usually on the Fourth of July, Thomas Rhett and his family heads to his farm down in Georgia, where they celebrate with fireworks and lots of family fun.

“My wife, growing up, celebrated every holiday. I mean, like, we wear green on St. Patrick’s Day, we go all out on fireworks for 4th of July, Veterans Day, Memorial Day. We do try to do stuff for every holiday because it is technically a day that you’re supposed to do something, you’re supposed to hang out, you’re supposed to remember the fact that why it’s happening. And so yeah we go all out for a lot of the holidays.”

Brantley Gilbert is a fan of fireworks and the 4th of July, but he admits that it can be dangerous if he’s not careful.

“I was at a buddy of mine’s lake house, Amber and I were, and me and him set off a bunch of them. One of ‘em like shot across the lake and hit the bank and got into like a brush pile or something and we thought we’d about burned down that whole little community there for a minute. But thankfully it went out before it spread too crazy.”

 

Tyler Rich grew up loving neighborhood 4th of July celebrations.

“When I think of 4th of July, I think of cul-de-sacs, small neighborhood, barbecues going off, smoke in the air from cooking, and smoke in the air from tons of fireworks that are trapped in a cul-de-sac. Basically, everybody, all your neighbors, you know, you come together and put all your fireworks next to each other and then the bravest dad or whatever gets really close and lights ‘em all on fire all night and, just ridin’ my bike around and … yeah one of the best holidays as a kid.”

The Eli Young Band encourages us all to turn down all the “noise” this Fourth of July.

“I think we’ve watched as there’s just been more and more noise,” the group’s Jon Jones says, “people telling us how divided we are. And I think that’s a huge problem that we’re facing right now. I think it’s a bigger problem is the noise, it’s more noise than actually being divided, and I feel like there are some days like the Fourth of July, where we can put all that aside, put the noise, turn it down a little bit and remember why we are all here. We’re all Americans, we all share some of the same ideals and I hope that we can sometime soon do that all year round.”

Brett Young says his ideal way to spend the Fourth of July is safe and on the beach.

“I’m not really big into fireworks. I’ve gone from being a daredevil child to being a very, like nervous adult. I kind of stay away from things that explode. I don’t think human beings need to be near them. I don’t skydive, I don’t bungee jump, I’m kind of boring. But I think in a perfect world, I spent so many Fourth of July’s on the boardwalk in Newport Beach jumping from house party to house party, and I love being in the sunshine and being by the water. And so we don’t get to do that that often. We’re usually blessed with a really good Fourth of July gig or something on that weekend. But left to my own devices we’d probably hitch a flight back to Southern California to be in Newport Beach for 4th of July.”

Fireworks are illegal in many parts of the southeastern United States, but Alabama, where Riley Green was born and raised, is not one of those places.

“You know in Alabama you can buy fireworks, I don’t know that you can do that everywhere. It’s like when you go to Georgia and Florida, as soon as you cross the line, there’s lottery tickets everywhere. I feel like everybody comes to Alabama to get fireworks. So, that was definitely a big part of Fourth of July for us, was getting out and setting stuff on fire, or shooting off, blowing stuff up. I feel like any kid that grew up in the country has gotta love that kind of stuff.”