Country artists are spreading Christmas cheer by singing loud for all to hear. CMA recently unveiled the set list for the 2023 CMA Country Christmas special that finds hosts Trisha Yearwood and Amy Grant, along with guests Lainey Wilson, Ashley McBryde, Lady A and more, performing holiday classics. In addition to sharing hosting duties, Yearwood and Grant will perform a pair of songs, “”Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” and “Joy to the World,” that latter featuring an appearance by acclaimed violinist Lindsey Stirling.
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Another dynamic duo is that of Wilson and Christian singer Zach Williams, who will sing the faithful “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” while McBryde will pair with Stirling on “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.” Jon Pardi brings some original flavor with “Beer for Santa” off his 2023 debut Christmas album, Merry Christmas From Jon Pardi, and Jordan Davis sings the classic “O Come All Ye Faithful.” Lady A will harmonize on Stevie Wonder‘s “What Christmas Means to Me,” while husband-and-wife duo The War and Treaty will lend their sparkling harmonies to Darlene Love’s “Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home).”
The special was filmed in front of a live studio audience in Nashville on a set decorated by Balsam Hill.
In 2023, Grant released a pair of new songs, “Trees We’ll Never See” and “What You Heard,” along with the live album, Lead Me On Live 1989. “I’m writing a lot because to me, once you know what you’re going to say, or when you have an idea of what you want to say, then you just have to find the path to get there,” she shares with American Songwriter. “I go to music to fill up, whether anybody’s listening to me sing, whether it’s a song I write, if anybody listens to it. It hit me—there are a lot of people like me who go to music to fill up.”
CMA Country Christmas airs at 8 p.m. ET Thursday (December 14) on ABC.
Photo Credit: Acacia Evans/CMA
