Hunter Hayes Finally Got the Chance to Trick Out His Tour Bus With . . . Recording Equipment!

Here's a reason why I'm thinking HUNTER HAYES will have a long career. When he finally got the chance to design his own tour bus, he tricked it out to score maximum action with the ladies. Just kidding.  He did the total opposite. Hunter gutted the back of his bus and installed a recording studio. He said, quote, "I went completely geeky in it. I'm in my dream world. "When I was in high school, I had binders with pictures of tour buses. I drew my set on the side of my notebook. "It's cool to finally see all those pictures in reality 'cause they look a lot better now than they did then."

Country Stars Preparing and Eating Big, Home Cooked Meals This Thanksgiving.

Since most country stars are either from the south or live there now, you can bet home cooked meals play a huge role in their Thanksgiving celebrations. Carrie Underwood is one of the stars cooking up a feast in her kitchen this Thanksgiving. She's inviting a bunch of her friends over to join her and husband Mike Fisher at home in Nashville for the holiday. She says, "There's a lot of us that don't have a whole lot of family that live nearby, so it's kind of a bunch of family-less people hanging out together eating and cooking and drinking wine and just having a good time." For the members of Rascal Flatts, Thanksgiving is all about those home-cooked delicacies like lead singer Gary LeVox's mother's lumpy mashed potatoes and his wife's corn casserole. His band mate Joe Don Rooney is a fan of green bean casserole and ham and turkey at Thanksgiving, and the Flatts' Jay DeMarcus swears by his grandmother's macaroni and cheese recipe.
Jay tells ABC News Radio, "It doesn't have that thick hard layer on top of it. It's creamy all the way through, so you don't have to deal with that burnt sort of top layer of cheese. It's creamy all the way."
Florida Georgia Line's Tyler Hubbard calls his grandmother's sweet potato casserole his "jam" on Thanksgiving.  He tells ABC News Radio, "I love it all. You know, green beans, macaroni and cheese and all that, but, man, that sweet potato casserole that my nanny makes, it's what I look forward to all year."
Justin Moore's family keeps things pretty simple when it comes to their Thanksgiving fare with turkey and dressing on the table. He says, "The dressing, I think is, to us, more important than the turkey. We’ve got a family recipe that’s, to us, really, really good." Jana Kramer loves getting back home to her grandparents' house on Thanksgiving thanks in large part to the food. "My favorite things to eat at Thanksgiving when I'm home is my grandpa's stuffing 'cause it's so good," Jana says. "And then I have one of my favorite deserts, which is made by my grandma, and it is pumpkin pie. Yum!" Hunter Hayes heads down south to see his family in Louisiana on Thanksgiving each year. Both of his grandmothers are masters in the kitchen, and he says, "One in particular will cook for days for this meal, and it is epic. My grandmother goes all out. She cooks the best -- she cooks everything under the sun."

Hunter Hayes Explains Why He Played All the Instruments on His Debut Album

I always thought HUNTER HAYES played every instrument on his self-titled debut album because he wanted to impress people. But no, Hunter says he only did it because he didn't have money and, well, because he could! He told VH1, quote, "It's a process born out of the way I used to do my demos because I didn't really have a choice. I knew a couple of instruments, and I had a bunch of gear. "And if I was gonna write songs, I'd never hear them finished until I'd actually cut them myself. I didn't have money to do demos, and there was nobody else really around at the time. So it just kind of became a way I'm used to working, and we ended up making the whole record that way."

By the way... Check out the video. It's Hunter at age 4 on stage with Hank Jr.! AMAZING!

CMA New Artist of the Year Nominees Look Forward to Thursday Night's Ceremony.

The CMA New Artist of the Year category is of the biggest indicators of which country stars are going to be around for the long haul, and the nominees don't take that recognition lightly. Though he's just 21 years old, Hunter Hayes has been dreaming of getting this nomination for a long time now. It finally happened thanks in large part to his #1 hit "Wanted." "It's such an honor to be recognized by the family of musicians that I've grown up listening to and all these artists that I respect so much," Hunter says of his New Artist nomination. "This whole industry sort of looks at you and says, 'Yeah, here's your nomination for an award you've been wanting to achieve for a long time.'" Lee Brice is honored to be nominated for New Artist of the Year, but he won't be worried about winning the trophy on his way to the show Thursday night. Lee is taking his fiancé Sarah with him to the CMA Awards this year, and the day of the event is all about getting her ready and out the door. It all starts with Sarah getting her outfit on and fixing her makeup throughout the day. Lee is there every step of the way answering every time Sarah asks him how she looks.  It continues as they make their way to the CMA Awards in the car. Lee says when they finally get out of the car on the carpet, "She's worried about getting out and tripping over her feet. So really, it's more about me just making sure Sarah's all right." Love and Theft will be attending Thursday night's CMA Awards as first-time nominees in two categories -- New Artist of the Year and Duo of the Year. They know the competition is pretty stiff in both categories, and the duo's Eric Gunderson says, "We're just excited to be in good company, and we'll see what happens." Love and Theft's nominations come after they scored their first #1 hit, "Angel Eyes," earlier this year. They've also been on the road opening for Brad Paisley and Jake Owen. "We've just worked as hard as we can this year," Eric says. "I know everybody else has too.  So, hopefully people recognize that." Brantley Gilbert and Thompson Square round out the New Artist of the Year category.

(ABC Country)

Hunter Hayes' Hit "Wanted" Has Turned Into a Wedding Song Favorite.

I once heard ROBERT PLANT refer to LED ZEPPELIN'S "Stairway to Heaven" as "the wedding song". Meaning that it went from being something hip . . . to the silly song your drunk Uncle Tony dances to at your cousin's reception. Well, HUNTER HAYES says his song "Wanted" has become a wedding favorite . . . but he isn't the least bit disappointed about it. He says, quote, "This one girl actually sent me a Facebook message at the time and she said, 'I just want you to know, my fiancée and I have been looking for our first dance, the perfect first dance, fighting over it the whole time.' "And she said, 'For the first time ever we looked at each other halfway through this song and we both knew what we were thinking and we both want this to be our first dance at our wedding.'"

Would You Like to Vote for Country Music's Sexiest Bachelor?

Taste of Country is asking fans to choose country music's sexiest bachelor. They have a list of eight candidates . . . leave off Jake Owen, Randy Houser and Lee Brice because recently got married.
Here are the choices ladies, going from youngest to oldest: Scotty McCreery, Hunter Hayes, Chris Young, Brantley Gilbert, Chuck Wicks, Jerrod Niemann, Billy Currington and Kenny Chesney.
You have a week to cast your vote at TasteOfCountry.com. They'll announce the winner NEXT Wednesday, June 27th. As of last night, Chris Young was destroying the competition . . . but Kenny Chesney had a strong showing!

Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley and More Performing with Joe Walsh on CMT's Crossroads!

Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, Sara Evans, Luke Bryan and Hunter Hayes will join Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh for the special CMT Crossroads: Joe Walsh & Friends premiering Saturday, June 23 at 11 p.m. Eastern. Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top will also perform on the show. The stars will collaborate with Joe on his solo hits, as well as a few of his Eagles classics. Joe says, "Nothing beats country music with a little rock & roll sprinkled on top. We're going to mix up a batch and see what happens. I got a real good feeling about it." Joe's new solo album, Analog Man, is coming out June 5.