ABC/Mark Levine Backstage before shooting CMA Country Christmas in September, Trisha Yearwood was feeling confident about singing and hosting, but she was a little worried about her wardrobe.
“I have never had a quick-change room in my life,” she admitted, “and I have one tonight! And I’ve never done this before, and that’s the thing I’m most nervous about.”
“I’m actually not nervous about the songs or the hosting. I’m nervous about the clothing changes,” she laughed. “But we’re bringing it! For hosting, we’re bringing it. There’s a lot of glitz. There’s a lot of sparkle. It’s gonna be cool.”
The two-time CMA Female Vocalist of the Year opens the show with a medley of “Silver Bells,” “Jingle Bell Rock,” and “Winter Wonderland.”
“I talked to Robert Deaton, who directs the show,” she explained, “about loving that whole production number stuff that Jennifer Nettles always did that I can’t do.”
“I’m not gonna jump on a piano and dance. I mean, maybe at home, but not on a TV show,” Trisha jokes. “But I love that energy. So he created this really cool opening number that is a production number with dancers. But I don’t have to dance. I have to sway. I can do that. So I’m excited about that.”
“And then there’s a collaboration with all the females on the show and I get to sing with them,” she adds. “So that is the thing I think I’m most looking forward to.”
Trisha does the classic “Children Go Where I Send Thee” with Lady Antebellum‘s Hillary Scott, Kristin Chenoweth, CeCe Winans, and Tori Kelly.
Watch for Chris Janson, Rascal Flatts, Dierks Bentley, Chris Young, Runaway June, Brett Young, and more when the two-hour CMA Country Christmas premieres tonight at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.
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