It’s a boy (well, it will be) for Parker McCollum and wife Hallie Ray! On Instagram, the couple posted a carousel of Christmas pics in front of their tree with 18-month old son Major, and the post was both a “baby on the way” announcement and a gender reveal. The caption alongside read, “McCollum party of 4 next Christmas!!!! Another BOY joining us summer 2026!!! Merry Christmas, everyone! Thank you, Jesus! HBD!!” Congratulations to the McCollums, and good luck to Hallie Ray, who’ll soon be outnumbered 3-1.

 

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Chris Young spent part of yesterday morning with “Live with Kelly & Mark” and the show’s viewers, and (perhaps surprisingly), didn’t perform a Christmas song. We say “surprisingly” since he just completed his hugely successful “It Must Be Christmas – An Acoustic Evening with Chris Young” tour. Instead, he went back to his latest album, performing the title track. Check out Chris’ performance of “I Didn’t Come Here To Leave” here. 

For the last two weekends. Jon Pardi was bringing the spirit of Christmas (musically) to Florida. His annual “The Christmas Show” was in St. Augustine, Hollywood and Tampa, and in each city, he brought more than just a holiday-centric performance.  Pardi also donated to charities local to each of the cities he played. St. Augustine Youth Services and St. Augustine Art Association, Little Smiles and A Kids Place of Tampa Bay each received donations totaling $40-thousand from Pardi and his wife’s Summer’s Starlight Fund. Talking to “People,” the singer explained, “There’s nothing like bringing Christmas to the stage and turning it into a full-blown party. A cowboy honkytonk Christmas complete with a horn section, all the hits, pyro, and everyone’s favorite holiday songs. And giving back to the communities that support us – that’s what Christmas is all about.” Ho ho ho!

“The Road” has crowned its winner. CBS’ live country music singing competition narrowed down its field of twelve to a single artist: Adam Sanders. Sanders was among the final three to perform at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville for the series finale, with Channing Wilson as the runner-up and Cassidy Daniels in third. After proving his mettle in a series of live shows opening up for Keith Urban, Daniels took home every aspiring country singer’s dream: a cash prize of $250-thousand, a slot at Stagecoach 2026, a performance at the Red Bull Jukebox show at The Pinnacle in Nashville next year, and (perhaps most important), a recording contract. Before appearing on the show, Sanders cut his teeth writing hit songs for other country stars, including Cole Swindell’s “Ain’t Worth The Whiskey” and Dustin Lynch’s “Hell of a Night.” He’s also written songs for Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Dierks Bentley and Scotty McCreery.

The NFL continues to cozy up to country stars for their halftime entertainment. After Post Malone blew fans away on Thanksgiving Day during halftime of the Dallas-Kansas City game, they’ve now invited Lainey Wilson to play during the break in the Christmas Day matchup between the Detroit Lions and the Minnesota Vikings. She’ll be joining Snoop Dogg and the real-life voices behind Hunter/X, though there’s no word yet on how those performances will be staged (solo or collab). Lainey has done the halftime thing before, performing during halftime on Thanksgiving Day 2024 alongside Jelly Roll. While the NFL continues to look elsewhere for their Super Bowl halftime shows, it seems country stars are more than welcome to perform at regular season games. The game kicks off at 4:30p ET on Netflix.