Jennifer Nettles Takes Over Christmas With Three Holiday Performances This Week

Country star Jennifer Nettles will be taking over Christmas this week, as she headlines three different shows with Christmas cheer.

JENNIFER NETTLES 3-DAY CHRISTMAS

Last night, she hosted and performed in the CMA Country Christmas holiday variety show. The show was filmed earlier in the month and aired last night, and featured performances by top acts such as Idina Menzel and Kelly Clarkson. Nettles describes the special as, “welcomes anybody who wants to come and celebrate the holiday through music.”

“For me,” she continued, “it harkens back to the old variety shows that the whole family could watch together.” This is Nettles’ seventh year hosting the special. “For me, having done the CMA Country Christmas show for seven years, I have had an opportunity to audition for myself all of these different songs, all this different wonderful holiday music, and see what I like the best and offer it to the fans,” she says. “It was a real treat to do.

After watching the special on Monday, fans can see Nettles again on Tuesday night, as she sings as a guest on the semifinals of The Voice.

Wednesday, Nettles will perform alongside Dolly Parton for a duet of “Circle of Love.” “I had to learn that song for the movie because my character [Avie Lee Parton] sings a snippet of the song within the movie as sort of a lullaby and when I had to learn it, I fell in love with it and knew I was doing a Christmas record,” she explains. “I reached out to Dolly and asked her if I could use it, and she said yes. I was blown away and thrilled. She is so gracious and so smart and so talented. As a woman in this business and in an industry that has changed so much over the years, she is one to emulate for sure.”

Nettles plays Parton’s young mother in Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love, a musical special about Parton’s life. It airs Nov. 30 on NBC, and will be available on DVD and Blu-ray Dec. 20.