Country Music News

Tamales and Christmas Day chili: Brett Young’s got some unusual holiday traditions

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Brett Young grew up in a family with plenty of holiday traditions, although some were a little quirkier than the usual traditions of caroling around a tree or decorating cookies.

“For me, there were weird ones,” the singer says. “Every Christmas Eve — my dad was a pastor, and a woman from my dad’s church would make him homemade tamales. Not a Christmas dish, but we would have tamales every Christmas Eve.”

The unusual holiday eating didn’t stop there: “My mom, every Christmas Day, would make homemade chili,” he continues. “Not a Christmas dish, but it was our Christmas thing.”

These days, Brett and his wife, Taylor, celebrate the holidays with their own young family: they’ve got two little girls, Presley and Rowan. The family welcomed baby Rowan this July, so she’ll only be a few months old this Christmas, but Presley — who turned two in October — is starting to understand some of the spirit of the season. That means it’s time to start establishing some new holiday traditions, Brett goes on to say.

“She’s talking, and she’s active, and so I think this is the year where the traditions will start,” he relates. “I think this is the first year where Presley is old enough, where I think things will start locking in and become traditions. And I don’t know what those will be yet, but I’m excited.”

Making this year even merrier is the fact that Brett has a new holiday album out: Brett Young & Friends Sing the Christmas Classics. It’s a collection of holiday hits, sung by Brett and a host of musical pals.

As an additional pre-Christmas gift to fans, Brett just shared a behind-the-scenes video about the making of that album.

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