Some of today’s country music stars have shared their thoughts and memories of the Fourth of July.

Travis Denning recalls how big the Independence Day celebrations were in his hometown of Warner Robins, Georgia:

“Fourth of July in Warner Robins, Georgia, is an event. It’s something else. In fact, forever they’ve thrown an Independence Day concert, and back in the day, it was huge. And, I mean, one year they had Wynonna play and then they had Josh Turner one year, Darius Rucker. I mean it was like a big deal, and there’d be 15,000, 20,000 people there.”

When Maddie & Tae’s Maddie Marlow celebrates America’s birthday this Saturday (7/4), she’ll also be ready to mark her own special day:

“My birthday is July 7th, so I always get built-in fireworks for my birthday, and sometimes we actually celebrate it on the 4th, because there’s fireworks everywhere, so it’s perfect. I don’t have to pay for it and it’s great.”

Maddie & Tae’s Taylor Dye recalls the Independence Day family tradition where some of her favorite holiday memories were made:

“One of my favorite Fourth of July traditions – I’d say it’s a tradition ’cause it happens every year, but I’m not always able to make it – is that we go to my grandparents in Oklahoma, and we all line up lawn chairs right in front of their garage and we just light fireworks. We always do it far away and then we light it, and we always run back and watch the fireworks, but that’s probably one of my favorite memories.”

Jordan Davis recalls how his family usually celebrated the Fourth of July holiday where he grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana:

“Firework shows at baseball games. We’d go to Shreveport Captains games, so yeah, we’d do that or barbecues and fireworks. I can remember being on the lake for a couple of Fourth of Julys. We’d take the boat out and we’d watch the downtown fireworks show from the boat, which was really cool.”

Josh Turner says a big fireworks show was always part of his family’s Fourth of July celebrations growing up, and it even became a friendly family rivalry:

“All the individual families had a lot of competition with each other and tried to outdo each other to try to see who had the biggest and baddest fireworks and all that. [laughs] My daddy, I think, was the smartest one. He just went out and bought maybe $25 worth of fireworks and let everybody else put on the big show, so he saved a lot of money.” [laughs]

While our country may seem pretty divided right now, Midland’s Jess Carson doesn’t see it that way at all:

“America is not as divided as the news and all that would have you believe. We want the same things. We’re striving to find meaning and to make some sort of a difference. But fundamentally I think there is an American thing that we all share.”

Carly Pearce says her dad tends to be a magnet for the rogue fireworks during their Fourth of July celebrations:

“My dad, it was kind of an ongoing joke with our family that fireworks, when he would light them, they would chase him. And no matter what he was shooting off, at least one to two fireworks would chase him every single year. And it was really funny.”

Thomas Rhett’s wife, Lauren, loves going all out for holidays, so it’s no surprise that their Fourth of July celebrations are usually pretty festive:

“My girls love to put red, white and blue face paint on. Lauren usually puts ’em in, like, an American flag ballerina outfit, and they love watching fireworks. They love grilling hot dogs and making s’mores, and we usually do it out at our farm with like 150 people. But this year it probably is gonna look like we’re gonna have a few less people hanging out with us, but we do love to hang at Fourth of July and love getting to just celebrate that good American tradition.”

When Brantley Gilbert celebrates the Fourth of July holiday, he thinks about all the men and women who serve this country and allow us to enjoy our freedom:

“Fourth of July is an important day for me, obviously. For me, a big part of that day is just taking a moment to appreciate our history and appreciate the guys and girls that ‘all gave some, some gave all’ for this freedom we’ve been blessed with.”

There are many good reasons to love the Fourth of July holiday, and Justin Moore says he has a few of his own:

“4th of July is my favorite holiday ’cause you don’t have to worry about gifts and all that good stuff. And it’s also Kate’s favorite holiday. Her birthday’s the 5th of July, so she does a whole birthday week. And we’re always at the beach for 4th of July. That’s when we take our longest vacation of the summer, I love the fact that I ain’t gotta buy nobody gifts or get any gifts [laughs].”

Brett Young loved his southern California beach 4th of July celebrations:

“I used to spend every single Fourth of July down in Newport Beach, which is the neighboring city to Huntington where I grew up. And they closed down the whole peninsula, and it’s just a foot traffic only no cars, and you just get down there on your beach cruiser and you ride around, and all the houses on the boardwalk there are having some sort of party on their patio and you’re gonna know somebody every fifth or sixth house. And you just kind of drive down, pop in, see your friends, and by the time you’re done you’re sunburned and exhausted and you ride back up the hill and you call it a day. And from the bluffs you can see fireworks in both Corona del Mar, Laguna Beach and Huntington to your right.”

Lady A’s Dave Haywood appreciates the pre-party America throws for his birthday:

“My birthday is July 5th, so it’s a special kind of week for us to get together as family and have the 4th together. And I love fireworks. We grew up in Georgia and I think fireworks were illegal most of our life. We would always buy them and sneak them in from South Carolina and shoot off sparklers and Roman candles and black cats and all the fun stuff you’d buy at the fireworks store. So, it’s a special holiday for a lot of reasons. My mom used to tell me the fireworks were always for me, for my birthday, so I’ve always believed that that holiday was celebrating my birthday the next day.”