(To download audio, select the track you want, then click the down arrow in the top right corner. Transcripts for all tracks can be found below the playlist)

CARLY PEARCE:

1. Carly Pearce – flip the switch with Michael

:34 Carly Pearce addresses the ‘flip the switch’ video she and Michael Ray did, where he ended up in her lingerie, and how they’re adjusting to being home together and figuring out what to do with the time.

“You know what’s funny, it was really his idea. We’re goofy were funny. I think that we’ve settled in, to be honest with you, the first few days were not good.  I’ve had a roller coaster of emotions of not being able to do what you love, and being in the house and trying to figure out what that means, and we’re both driven by work, and to not be working in the conventional way that we’re used to. But it’s kind of fun. We’ve had a really good time figuring out things. But we’re trying to make the best of it and be funny and just enjoy the time that we have because we may not get this again.”

2. Carly Pearce – life without touring 

:59 Carly Pearce shares how she and so many of her peers are feeling during this time, not being able to tour and get out and promote their music and do what they love to do.

“It is not fun. It is really difficult to be holding all this new music and be so excited and have a tour that you don’t know if it’s going to happen and have all these plans for the year that kind of came to a very screeching halt. Thankfully we’re all in it together and we’re all trying to figure it out together, and hopefully we will be able to find creative ways to get to fans. It’s very weird for us. You know, everybody’s kind of jumping all of the sudden like, ‘Oh my God, we’ve gotta do live streams,’ and I’m just trying to like, not panic and figure out what does the landscape of the next few months or six months or year look like for us, and we’ll all figure it out. I think I’ve gone through the roller coaster ride of feeling responsible for my band who’s not on salary, watching my husband have to take his band off of salary, watching other artists feel this and talking to them.  And we’re all trying to figure out what this means for all of us, but we’re going to try to get music out in the best way we can and then hopefully have like, the surge of fans ready for it when we do get to come back.”

3. Carly Pearce – lots of extra time with Michael

:42 Carly Pearce talks about what it’s been like spending so much time at home with her husband, Michael Ray, and how they’ve been adjusting to their new normal for the time being.

“I mean, I think that, you know, when you put two artists in a house that aren’t used to being … we actually Facetimed with Brantley Gilbert last night, and the three of us all kind of talked about the fact that we’re going through this kind of weird thing of, wait a minute, this is not normal.  We’re only used to being home three days out of the week. But I think that Michael and I, we’ve never had this much time to just rest. We’ve never had this time together, we’ve never been able to just really be normal.  So, I take it as a blessing. We’re actually we’re leaving today. He left to go to Florida to see his family for a few days I’m leaving to go do social distancing with my mom who’s has a lung disease, but we didn’t want to leave each other. So, we’re figuring it out.  It’s hard.”

4. Carly Pearce – message for people at this time.

:58 As people try to deal with the effects the coronavirus is having on our lives, including putting so many things in our lives on pause, Carly Pearce offers a message of hope.

“My big thing right now has been faith over fear and believing that this too shall pass.  And I’m trying to look at it as a message from God that he’s telling us all to slow down, and that life as we know it can be taken away very quickly if we take it for granted.  And in a lot of ways I think I took my everyday life … I thought I’d be on stage.  I thought I had this year in the bag, like, I was already looking to the next year.  And in a second, you can be left in your thoughts, and you have to remain grateful and believe that this is time that will not last forever and that you can find good in this, and hopefully give yourself the room to deal with the emotions that you have. I’ve had days where I’ve cried my eyes out over this, and then I have days that I’m okay.  And I think just giving yourself permission to that, but also just really looking to God for your faith and your hope and all of that.”

5. Carly Pearce – what she and Michael are binging

:27 Carly Pearce reveals what she and her husband, Michael Ray, are binge watching during their unexpected time off because of the coronavirus.

“Now, our current obsession together is Tiger King. I don’t know how to even begin to explain what I feel about that. It is out of control.  If none of you have watched it, you have to watch it. Michael and I aren’t finished with it but there’s a few parts in it that like, I can’t physically watch. It’s too much for me. What a weird group of people in society that you didn’t even know was real. I mean, I just can’t believe it.”

DANIELLE BRADBERY:

6. Danielle Bradbery – coronavirus check-in

:36 Danielle Bradbery checked in to let fans know what she’s up to while we’re all practicing “Safer at Home” guidelines in Nashville.

“Hey guys, it’s Danielle Bradbery.  I’m trying to stay sane during this quarantine.  I hope everybody’s staying home, staying safe and healthy, keeping yourself entertained.  Some of the things I do is little workouts, try to read a book, binge watch Netflix shows, just try and relax, keep myself healthy.  Try to think of what I’m going to do after this quarantine, music-wise.  I’m brainstorming like crazy.  New music is coming, I promise, and I’m so excited to share that with you guys.  So I can’t wait.  I miss everybody, so, prayers, have faith, stay strong and I’ll see y’all after this.”

FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE:

7. Florida Georgia Line – I Love My Country right time

:19 There was no way they could have planned it, but Tyler Hubbard feels like FGL releasing their new feel-good, party anthem, infectious song, “I Love My Country,” couldn’t have come at a better time.

Tyler Hubbard – “It’s just wild, the timing now that we are where we’re at with everybody being on lockdown. This song is just so much fun and it feels like something that can kind of bring a little joy, a little positivity, a little encouragement to some people in this time that we’re all kind of living through the unknown and figuring it out together.”

8. Florida Georgia Line – quarantine pitfalls

:27 Like everyone else, Brian and Tyler of Florida Georgia Line are trying to navigate this new normal we’re all living in, thanks to the coronavirus, and Tyler admits that he sometimes catches himself slipping into some bad habits.

Tyler Hubbard – “For me, I think the Kelley’s too, I mean, we’ve all just tried to hunker down in our house and enjoy family time and do unique things.  We definitely try to do a workout or something active.  What’s easy for me, personally, is to start doing all the things I shouldn’t be doing, like I’ll just eat all day long, or I’ll start making cocktails at, like, 2 o’clock.

Brian Kelley – “I’m not the only one, huh?”

Tyler – “And I’m like, ‘What am I doing?’  This is not a real vacation.  This is like, a lifestyle that I need to figure out how to adapt to.”

9. Florida Georgia Line – quarantine positives 

:27 While Florida Georgia Line is social distancing at home with their families, Tyler Hubbard says they’re trying to stay positive and make the most of the situation.

Tyler Hubbard – “It’s been fun to try to push yourself to do things that you typically wouldn’t do, like try to eat healthy for a week and then workout steady, and then also, just spending time with the family and investing in our marriage and investing in our children.  It’s just been a lot of fun.  We’re staying positive and we know this is eventually gonna be over and life will resume as it once was.  And so, we’re just trying to learn from this and remember what we’re grateful for, and the things that we maybe took for granted before this.”

LADY ANTEBELLUM:

10. Lady Antebellum – after quarantine Dave  

:54 In addition to touring and seeing the fans, Lady A’s Dave Haywood talks about what he misses the most while being on lockdown at his house during the coronavirus pandemic.

Dave Haywood – “I don’t think I realized how much I miss day-to-day life with Charles and Hillary.  I’m not trying to be cheesy, but I haven’t seen them in over four weeks. I mean it’s been over a month since I’ve seen them, which is probably the longest time in our entire career that we haven’t been together for. And so, I think I just miss face to face connection with the fans. I just want to be at a show on stage where I can high five Charles and Hillary, we’re playing our music together, and you can look down and see those first few rows of people singing along face to face to your music. You know, we’re all trying to stay connected through the Internet and through technology. But I just can’t wait to give them a big old hug when this is all over. It’s been a long time since I saw them and I don’t think I realized how much we all walked through our day to day lives together with our own kids and families and what we’re working on, and I just miss that face to face interaction and I cannot wait to be back on stage and see people out there again.”

11. Lady Antebellum – quarantine time Dave  

1:13 Dave Haywood of Lady Antebellum shares what life is like at his house during the coronavirus shut down, and what he and his family have been doing to stay busy.

Dave Haywood – “Well, we’ve got a five year old a two year old, so pre-K.  So, the worksheets and the homework are not too terribly long. I mean, we do like 30 minutes of stuff and then everyone’s hit their quota. But we’re doing the best we can. I mean, honestly, like it ends up being a lot of Frozen 2 and Trolls movies and just all kinds of kids’ movies half the day. But we’re trying to do some arts and crafts, let the kids play outside in our yard. But, you know, for my wife and I, we’re just kind of keeping our head above water best we can and surviving. I mean, I’ve been working downstairs on different Lady Antebellum songs that we’re trying to put up, where I’m working on the tracks and Charles and Hillary send me their vocals from their phone.  And we’ve been putting up some performances of some of our songs just to stay active, and we may start writing some over Zoom or FaceTime, but I don’t know. I try to stay busy. It’s hard for me to kind of sit still for too long. I get kind of antsy, so I stay down kind of working on music or trying to find things to do with the kids. I actually started doing some Sous Vide cooking, if you’ve heard of Sous Vide.  So, I’ve been working at home trying to figure out how to do different steaks and salmon and stuff like that, for fun. But we’re trying to fill our time as best we can, but we have watched every movie that Disney has ever put out I can tell you that.”

12. Lady Antebellum – What I’m Leaving For coronavirus  

:39 Dave Haywood of Lady Antebellum talks about how the band’s song, “What I’m Leaving For,” is really resonating with the healthcare community, and has taken on new meaning, during the coronavirus pandemic.

“I think ‘What I’m Leaving For’ has taken on a whole new meaning for us. You know, now living in this pandemic, we’ve really dedicated this song to the doctors and nurses and all the health care workers that are out there on the frontlines really risking it, walking into these hospitals, walking into the E.R., and really taking a huge risk to protect us. And that song has been resonating with them, when you really listen to the words.  We wrote it about leaving our families for touring, but really, getting up, looking at your beautiful family and then walking out that door. That’s what they’re leaving for. And so it’s really resonated with the health care community during this coronavirus time and I really think it’s taken on a completely new meaning for us.”

MIDLAND:

13. Midland – Mark things you can do at home

:55  “Hey y’all, this is Mark Wystrach from Midland.  And if you’re looking for something new to binge watch or something to pass the time, can I suggest not watching TV.  There’s so many apps out there where you can learn a language.  There’s so many books that you can read, either on your iPad, your iPhone, or maybe you’ve got some books that have been laying around the house and you haven’t dared to crack one of ‘em open yet.  Pick up a pen and paper, try drawing.  You can go on YouTube, you can watch all these ‘how to draw’ tutorials.  Maybe you’ve been wanting to play along to some Midland songs.  Maybe you need to bust the guitar out and do some lessons on that.  But whatever it is, let’s not just vegetate.  Why don’t we educate, and why don’t we grow ourselves while we do have this extraordinary time at home, and we do find ourselves with a lot of time.  Also, don’t forget some exercise, and also eat well.  Keep your bodies, your minds and your spirits happy and healthy, y’all.”

PAYTON SMITH:

14. Payton Smith – how handling stay at home

:27 Payton Smith shares how he is spending his time while Nashville is under a Safer At Home order due to the coronavirus.

“For me, you know, during this time, it’s something I’ve never gone through before and certainly nobody’s gone through before. But I’m still trying to find ways to be productive with music. So, I am trying to co-write some songs with some of my favorite writers using Skype, using Zoom, calling into radio stations and seeing, you know, ‘Hey, what can I do to help?’.  Anything like that is just staying productive.  For me, that’s what I’m trying to do, and then spending time with family and doing a lot of reflecting, making sure that I stay grateful.”

15. Payton Smith – quarantine appreciation

:33 Payton Smith is staying grateful during this time that he is unable to be out on the road touring and promoting his debut single, “Like I Knew You Would.”

“I think that especially after being out on the road for … we were out on radio tour for four weeks before all this happened, so, I was in very much sort of a routine. It was going out on the road for five days, then it would be going out and headed to somewhere else and then being home for two days. So it was sort of a routine I got really comfortable with and sort of started taking for granted a little bit.  And to have this opportunity to kind of sit back and just take a breath, being at home, being with family, it just sort of makes you go like (exhale). Be grateful, be thankful, those kind of things.”

THOMAS RHETT:

16. Thomas Rhett – Be A Light

:31 Thomas Rhett talks about the song he released earlier this week, on his 30^th birthday, called “Be A Light,” featuring Keith Urban, Hillary from Lady A, Reba and contemporary Christian singer Chris Tomlin.

“I wrote this song last year.  I’d had this title written in my phone, ‘in a world full of hate the light,’ and I think it came a little bit from the Bible verse talking about ‘a lamp on a hill should not be hidden’ – just being a light in a dark place. And for some reason I just was looking at Instagram and Twitter and all this stuff, just seeing so much hatred and people commentin’ on people’s stuff, just being super negative, and it drove me nuts.  And I think at this point in time, I was like, man instead of like addressing the meanness and the negativity, why don’t we just address for people just to be kind, and that’s really where this inspiration of this song came from.”