To kick off 2026, Jay DeMarcus of Rascal Flatts is keeping Katie Neal company, here to talk about the group's upcoming 'Totally Private' show with Audacy, the 20th anniversary of their album, 'Me And My Gang,' and their plans to see fans on the road throughout 2026.

Rascal Flatts is back on the road this month, performing for fans across the country and continuing their 'Life Is A Highway' run. "The tour was so successful last year that we wanted to just keep it moving forward," admits DeMarcus with fresh dates through 2026.

This year also marks 20 years since the 'Me And My Gang' album, which features several of the group's signature songs like "My Wish," and "What Hurts The Most." The project was the top-selling album of the year after its release, and Jay still remembers taking it all in on music's biggest night.

"The whole 'Me And My Gang' record is kind of our 'Joshua Tree,'" shares Jay inside our Nashville studios. "I think all the stars aligned, came together."

"At the risk of sounding, you know, egotistical, that record that year sold more records than any other record in the world," DeMarcus reveals. "We were sitting at the GRAMMYs, and I never will forget during commercial break, Gary leaned over to me and he said, 'Hey, cuz, look at the people that we're sitting in the room with, there's Beyoncé, there's JAY-Z, there's Lady Gaga, Elton John. And I was like, 'yeah, I can't believe this, man. We're sitting in the same room.' And he goes, 'now think about this, we sold more records than anybody in here this year.' That's one of those memories that like chokes me up."

"When you dream about being an artist, you hope you make it to the GRAMMYs. You hope you have a hit song. But that's one of the memories that I'll always share with Gary that was uniquely our own. Just between the two of us," he adds. "Well, not anymore."

"But sitting during commercial break and having that little moment between the two of us, I'll never forget that as long as I live."

To hear more stories behind the songs of 'Me And My Gang' and more from Jay DeMarcus, check out the full interview above.

No matter how you measure it, Jordan Davis had a massive 2025. The 'Learn The Hard Way' singer released a new album, welcomed a new baby, and played headline shows around the globe, and now he tells Katie Neal, during the final 'Superstar Power Hour' of the year, it's time for something different for 2026.

"I'm actually looking forward to a year that's a little lighter than what we've been doing," he shares, "mainly because I think as busy as I've been with touring and making 'Learn The Hard Way,' I really haven't been able to really sit down and write like I've wanted to."

"I've either been coming into town and writing for a couple days or bringing buddies out and writing on the road, so I'm really excited for next year to continue writing and making a new record. I feel like I'm really excited to get back to songwriting, and I'm glad that next year is a little lighter so that I can do that."

Back here, we're closing out 2025 and starting 2026 in style by giving one lucky listener the chance to attend a 'Totally Private' show with Jordan Davis in Nashville. We had to ask Jordan, if he had his own 'Totally Private' dream show, who would be on the stage for him?

"John Prine would have been the guy that I would have given every cent I had to be in a room to just hear stories and listen to him sing," Davis admits. "If I had to say anybody, it would be John Prine. He was why I fell in love with it, why I started writing songs. That would have been my dream living room show."

To hear more from Jordan Davis, check out the full interview above.

There's a lot to celebrate in the world of Lady A, as the group returned this year with another collection of Christmas songs, a holiday tour making its way across the country, and a few more family members to join the crew.

As guests on this week's 'Superstar Power Hour,' the trio tells Katie Neal that they are in their "baby boom era," as they have welcomed two new additions to the Lady A family in the past year, and one the previous year. "We're in a baby boom era," shares Dave Haywood. "That's our new mood."

Amongst all the life changes, the time felt right for the group to do a new holiday album, their first in 13 years, with the goal of taking it on tour to spread the Christmas cheer. "We really wanted to do a Christmas tour because in our entire career we have never," says Hillary Scott. "We've done a Christmas special. We've done 'CMA Country Christmas.' We've done some performances, but, we've always just talked about at some point we would love to tour for Christmas and so we thought, well, if we're touring we might as well freshen it up with some new music and so we got in the room and wrote two new originals and then, found a few of our favorite classics, and reimagined them."

After the holidays there's more Lady A to come, as the group shares there is a lot in the works for the next project. "We have a good hefty Dropbox file going of songs, and we're just excited," reveals Hillary. "We're creatively kind of brainstorming and talking right now, and then at the top of the year that'll be the focus of just digging in and seeing what stories we want to tell and, production. We want to just stretch ourselves more than we ever have. We've lived a lot of life since our last project. So, I think bringing in all that inspiration and, just discovering what we want to say and, and how we want to say it."

"I think we're definitely excited to explore to get, you know, maybe a little creatively uncomfortable."

"I think we've said a lot with the last few records, like we want to get back down back to the sound of kind of our first couple of records, and I think we've done that," adds Charles Kelley. "Now it's like we wanna get to a sound we've never explored and we don't know what that is. I think our voices are gonna be the thread of it, but I would love a risky, like she said, an uncomfortable feeling of production wise that we're not used to and embrace the imperfections, all those things, and so it's gonna be fun."

"This is the longest we've been in between records and I just think we're ready to kind of see if we can turn some heads, you know, in a cool way."

To hear much more from Lady A check out the full conversation above.

Last month before the 59th Annual CMA Awards, Riley Green made a bet with Katie Neal on Radio Row. Just hours before Country Music's Biggest Night, the "Worst Way" singer vowed to include "Scissor Wizard," the name of his former Alabama barber, in an acceptance speech if he won. However, if he failed to do so he would wear fake eyelashes during his next interview with Katie.

As it turns out Riley Green was one of the night's biggest winners at the CMAs in November, taking home 3 awards and thanking a lot of people. Unfortunately though, the Scissor Wizard did not make the cut. So when Riley joined 'Katie & Company' this week for the 'Superstar Power Hour,' he was ready to take his lashes... eyelashes.

"I thought that I would maybe not win, and not have to speak, and then that was how I'd get out of it," Green shares as he flutters his new eyelashes. "But then I did and I didn't say it, so I've got on eyelashes."

"I feel pretty," he laughs. "I feel 10 percent prettier than I did when I came in."

"Do you reuse these?" Riley asks. "I'm not gonna reuse those," laughs Katie, "you can take those with you."

"Weird when somebody comes over to my house, there's eyelashes everywhere," he smiles. "Like, 'what have you been doing?' They're mine. I promise."

To hear more from the beautiful and hilarious Riley Green about songwriting, his secret acting role, and his new bourbon business venture, listen to the full interview with Katie Neal above.

As the EOTY balloons float behind her, it's clear there's a lot of winning in the world of Lainey Wilson. The 'Entertainer of the Year' is coming off an acclaimed night hosting the CMA Awards, celebrating a trio of GRAMMY nominations including two for her song, "Somewhere Over Laredo," and she's planning her wedding to Devlin “Duck” Hodges. Somehow she managed to slow down long enough to check in with Katie Neal to talk about it all.

Never one to rest on success, Lainey tells 'Katie & Company' that she's already hard at work writing the next album. "Honestly, before the deluxe was even out, I was already working on the next project. That's kind of how I do it," she shares. "I want to make sure, because this job comes with a lot of different parts of it, I want to make sure that I'm always keeping the writing, the songwriting at the forefront. So no matter what, I put co-writes in there and try to just have time where I just like brainstorm and think of ideas and think about what direction do I want to go next, what have I not said, what part of me am I discovering that I feel comfortable sharing with other people."

"I feel like I'm constantly soul searching, and digging things up, and so it's important for me to be writing while I'm doing that soul searching."

2026 is already set to be another massive year for Lainey, with a headlining slot at Stagecoach, the possibility of new music, and a trip down the aisle with Duck. "I sat down this past weekend and we started kind of trying to brainstorm, so we'll see," she says of the preparations for the big day. "I mean, we gotta get on it, but I told him I was like, 'you gotta come home from the woods long enough for us to plan this thing.'"

To hear more about Lainey Wilson's holiday plans and her experience hosting the CMA Awards, check out the full conversation above.

Blake Shelton is our plus one this year at Thanksgiving with 'Katie & Company,' as Katie Neal talks with the singer about his "simple man" holiday wishlist, his latest projects like his show with Keith Urban, 'The Road,' and why Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday.

"I grew up in a really big family with lots of cousins and aunts and uncles, so Thanksgiving was the one where, because for Christmas a lot of them would go off and do their own Christmases, Thanksgiving was the one holiday that there would be like 100 people there," recalls Blake. "We would all get together and I just, I love food, honestly. I just, I love food."

Though he says it sounds "corny," Blake is most thankful for his family this year. "We're all just healthy, knock on wood, and it feels like everybody's in a good spot," Shelton shares. "I'm really thankful for that. The older I get, the more I realize, if you don't have your health you don't have anything, and so far so good for us right now."

Blake is lucky to have Gwen Stefani at home, serving up some of the best dressing in Oklahoma, but in true form he also didn't skip a beat when asked who the "worst cook" was in Country music.

"I would say Dustin Lynch," Shelton says. "I've spent a lot of time around Dustin. I had him out on tour with me, and he's actually came out to the ranch and hunted with a group of guys one time, and he really doesn't contribute, in any way. He's more, Dustin's a guy that even when he's hunting, he spent 45 minutes in front of the mirror that morning, getting his camo, making sure the patterns are right, that this green shirt isn't more faded than these green pants and he's just, that's Dustin. So I can't imagine him ever cooking. I've never seen him cook, so I'm just gonna go ahead and throw his name out there. Screw him when it comes to cooking."

It's going to be a cold cuffing season for Dustin Lynch, but what do you expect when you're hunting buddies with Blake. A self-described simple man, Shelton also shared what was on his holiday wishlist this year. "I love corn. I love to plant corn. I love bags of corn. I love corn chips, corn tortillas, cream corn," says Shelton. "I love corn on the cob, and so just anything corn. People sometimes will throw like a little stuffed animal corn on the cobs on stage. I had a song on one of my records a few years ago called 'Corn,' and I'm obsessed with corn."

Ok, so corn. Check. Anything else on the Blake Shelton shopping list? "You know, you can use corn to make vodka," he adds. "If someone out there wanted to buy me something, or I wanted to buy myself something, it would maybe be in the vodka category."

"That's pretty much it, corn and vodka."

To hear more from Blake Shelton on leaving 'The Voice,' hangover cures, and more check out the full 'Superstar Power Hour' interview above.

Carly Pearce is gearing up for her fifth studio album, and it sounds like nothing is off limits for the soaring songstress. The "Dream Come True" singer recently joined Katie Neal during the 'Superstar Power Hour' to talk about her vulnerable new track, her family, and why she's making the album she always wanted to make.

"I went in to write this particular day, and if I'm honest, I was just feeling really low. This career has had really, really high highs and it's had really, really low lows, and I was feeling a little lost and just kind of having that feeling that anybody who has a dream, their are sacrifices to make the dream come true," Pearce says of writing the new song, "Dream Come True."

"I was kind of just in my feelings about that and wrestling with all of those different kind of feelings of, well, 'I have this, but I didn't get this' and 'I thought I'd have this' and 'I don't have this' and do people care? Do I matter? Do I have, you know, a viral moment? Can I compete? Am I too old? Do they care? All these different feelings and I just wanted people to know they're not alone in all of those feelings."

The song rings true for Pearce, right down to the last lines about her mother being sick and unable to come to shows like she used to. It's not something Carly has talked much about, but she did give us an update on her mother's health.

"So she has Stage 4 COPD, which is a lung issue. that has been really advanced in the last few years and caused me to not be able to see her as much. She's doing really well right now," reveals Carly. "This is obviously a piece of my story that I've kept pretty quiet, but I think it's important."

"It's an important piece that I wanted to share just of parents getting older, parents being sick, and my mom completely devoted her life to chasing this dream for me, and it's been hard over the last 5 years for her to not be able to be there with me, and me feeling that guilt of not being able to be with her."

"That last line where it says, 'she says I can quit, but all of her prayers would be in vain, she worked her whole life to make this dream come true.' That's really honest, and I'm sure a lot of people feel that way."

The first sample of Carly's upcoming album is obviously packed with emotion, and she tells Katie Neal that the rest is no different, revealing and writing in ways she never has before. "I think I've stretched what I write about, and I've stretched kind of just giving more point of view on some different topics that people have never heard me sing about, which I'm excited about," Carly admits.

"This is what I wanted to do, and I think that's why I have so much peace about it. But it started because of this song and just having to figure out like, I need to return to the dream."

To hear more from Carly Pearce check out the full Superstar Power Hour interview above.

A fake eyelash threatened to ruin Katie Neal's talk with Riley Green, but in the end we learned a lot, and now we have something special to watch for during the 59th Annual CMA Awards.

Almost losing an eyelash as the "Worst Way" singer approached, Riley couldn't help but joke with Katie, what it would be like for him to wear some lash enhancements. "What's fun for me to think about if we did an interview and I had fake eyelashes on to see if people would talk about it," laughs Green. "You know why I wouldn't do it? Because what if I looked really pretty and then I had to do it all the time, and that's one more thing I've got to do in my regimen in the morning."

Sure, a normal fear that we've all had. But what's so intense about your routine now that there's no room for improvement? "I've washed my face with like bar soap," he admits. "I have no regimen."

Any lotion? "Yeah, I got like some men lotion, like face, you know, I don't know, Nivea or something."

Perfect, Riley Green is just walking around looking like this with soap and a CVS ExtraCare card. Makes total sense. We do feel for him though, as he says he was recently "tricked" into getting a haircut that wasn't what he had in mind.

"It wasn't a planned thing," he admits of his new haircut. "The lady was cutting my hair and she tricked me."

"She got after it. She gave me what I would call racing stripes."

Green had never met his latest stylist, after sadly having to part ways with his normal barber in Jacksonville, Alabama, the "Scissor Wizard."

"I had a barber in Jacksonville, Alabama. It was my dad's cousin," Riley tells Katie. "He was the Scissor Wizard, which is the greatest barbershop name ever. He started painting houses and quit cutting hair, so I just get my hair cut wherever I'm at now."

"I would love for you to try and work in Scissor Wizard if you win a CMA award," challenges Katie. "I'd like to thank, all of my team back home, Scissor Wizard, and my mom and dad, and, I can do it," accepts Green.

See if the Scissor Wizard works his way into Country Music’s Biggest Night. Get ready for the 59th Annual CMA Awards, hosted by Lainey Wilson, LIVE Wednesday, November 19 at 8/7c on ABC.

One of the toughest categories for Country Music's Biggest Night is for 'New Artist of the Year' at the 59th Annual CMA Awards. Before the call was made, nominee Tucker Wetmore told Katie Neal backstage how impressive this year's category was.

"It's all over the place too," says Tucker of this year's batch of nominees. "It's all Country, but it's different kinds and different aspects of Country, and it's just, it's so amazing to be a part of it. There's so much talent and whoever wins it is more than deserving."

With a big performance set for the show and his song, "3,2,1," now entering the top 10, everything is coming together for the Washington native. "I feel like everything correct is happening," he smiles. "Everything good that could happen is happening, and I'm just sitting back and just enjoying it all."

Country Music’s Biggest Night is back! Get ready for the 59th Annual CMA Awards, hosted by Lainey Wilson, LIVE Wednesday, November 19 at 8/7c on ABC.