USA Weekend has spent some time interviewing the four nominees who are up for the USA Weekend Breakthrough Video of the Year Award next week at the CMT Music Awards. The nominees are Luke Bryan, Laura Bell Bundy, Steel Magnolia (interview yet to be published) and Easton Corbin. Here are some excerpts from the interviews. Be sure to check out the full interviews at USA Weekend’s Who’s News Blog.
Luke Bryan
Do you have a favorite country music video?
That’s hard to say. I’d say Breathe is one of the best ones ever. They glamorized Faith Hill in it and made her almost a mythical-like creature. [Laughs]
You’re on a roll with the awards, your fall release of Doin’ My Thing and Celebrity Apprentice.
It’s certainly been the best year of my career. Things have really started to come together nicely. A whole lot more people are learning who I am, and that’s what this business is about: branding yourself and who you are. I’ve been real fortunate this year with that.
I also hear you have a new baby due in August.
Yeah, I’ve got a little baby boy on the way, so I’ve got that going on. I’ll be busy with that, certainly.
Do you feel you’re better prepared this time around than with your first child?
Oh yeah. Your learning curve deal gets handled on the first one. We feel like we’re parents at this point and got it all figured out, but there are always new things that come about. Certainly, the second one we won’t doubt ourselves or question ourselves about anything.
Laura Bell Bundy
Congrats on your CMT nomination. Is that almost as exciting as a Tony nomination?
[Laughs] Probably pretty equal. It’s different when you’re getting a Tony nomination for an entire body of work as opposed to just getting a nomination for a video.
Which was your first love: musical theater or country music?
Music in general and just entertaining. When you’re a kid, you’re not really genre-specific. You love singing and you love dancing and you love running around the house. My mom listened to a lot, but that was at a younger age more of an influence than musical theater. I got into musical theater when I was a little bit older and I saw my first Broadway show and I became interested in that, too. I like to tell stories in the most entertaining way possible, and you can accompany those stories with music and dancing and jokes and stuff like that. You can do that in musical theater, but I’m also figuring out that you can do that in this genre, too. I like doing it this way better actually because I don’t write the songs when I do Broadway shows and I have a vested interest.
How does it feel being a rising queen of country music?
It’s surreal and amazingm and I feel lucky and blessed and grateful and all that kind of stuff. But it’s also been constant work. So it’s exhilarating and exhausting. It’s almost like you’re on a bit of a runaway train. You have to keep looking forward, because if you look back, you get left behind. But it’s everything I ever wanted, and when that’s happening, you don’t care how exhausted you get.
Easton Corbin
What’s your favorite country music video of all time?
I didn’t really grow up watching a lot of country music videos. I don’t have a favorite, but I can say this: All My Rowdy Friends was a pretty cool video. And that’s back in the day, man. There were no special effects on that!
Was Hank Williams Jr. one of your childhood idols?
Absolutely, man. I love a lot of his music. He’s great.
You released your self-titled debut in March. Are you already working on a new album?
That process should never end, the writing and looking for songs for the next record. It’s never too early, I don’t think.
What’s this year been like? Are you seeing the fruits of your labor now?
It’s a dream come true. You work hard at it so long and you aspire to see it pay off. With that, the hard work continues and you’ve just gotta keep your nose down and keep focused. I’m just so happy we’ve had the album come out and we’ve got a No. 1 single here. It’s been a great year and I hope it continues to go well.
