Paisley is the voice of Hallmark Channel’s 16th Annual Countdown to Christmas
Brad Paisley has a busy holiday season as he shares new Christmas music with several songs tied to Hallmark Channel’s 16th Annual Countdown to Christmas campaign. The global country star has penned and recorded the original song, “Counting Down the Days,” as the official anthem of the 2025 Countdown to Christmas on-air campaign. Paisley also lends his talents to A Grand Ole Opry Christmas, with two original songs — “Leave the Christmas Lights on for Me” as performed in the movie by fictitious duo Winters & Wade (Rob Mayes, The Rookie & Luke Benward, Miss Valentine) and “Falling Like the Snow,” which he performs on the famed Opry stage. In addition, Paisley’s version of “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” is a purr-fect part of the soundtrack in Christmas at the Catnip Café. All three songs appear on Paisley’s upcoming Christmas album Snow Globe Town, due on November 7th via MCA.
In a recent roundtable discussion in Nashville, Paisley tells us that Hallmark approached him for original Christmas music for the season, which led to his first Christmas album since 2006.
“If you had asked me what my next project was in July, I would have told you, ‘Well, I’ve got these songs I’m writing. So sometime next year we’ll probably put an album out or something’,” Paisley says. “I didn’t know I was doing a Christmas album, and it was around that time that Hallmark approached and said, ‘So we’re doing this Opry.’ They had already asked about being a part of this Opry movie, and I said, ‘Sure.’ And then they’d asked if I would write a song, and then they asked if I would write three songs, and then they asked if I had anything else. They said, ‘If you’re going to do an album or if you feel like doing a Christmas album, it’s a great time. And because we’re going to tie in all of these promotions, we can kind of work with you on it.’ And that’s when I said, ‘Well, what would that even be?’ So when we sat down to write, myself, and Chris Dubois wrote the three songs that are in the Hallmark Opry movie The Opry Christmas.”
Paisley says the film is special as the Opry is more festive than ever for the movie and its yearlong 100th anniversary celebration.
“It’s the 100th anniversary of the Opry, which is really special, and I feel like almost everybody loves the Hallmark Christmas movie thing. So you mesh those two together and then you get to be a part of it,” Paisley continues. “The Opry looks, from what I’ve seen of it, as good as it’s ever looked. It’s filmed with cinematic quality and something here because it’s different than a TV special, which we’ve done many times, where we film something. The Opry House is in everything we’ve done over the years in country music, but this is a movie, and I don’t know if there’s been a movie that’s shot in the Opry House like this… It is the Opry at its most festive, and I think there’s another aspect to this. Nikki DeLoach is the star of this movie. I just finished doing a bunch of promos with her, and we talked a lot about. I didn’t realize how emotional this was for her. Her father passed away from dementia. years ago, and his dream was to take her to the Opry. And he never got to do that. And I’m sure she’s done some interviews where she talks about this. She said she cried every single day. She arrived at the set at the Opry House. She just cried thinking of him and what it would have meant to him that she’s singing on the Opry stage as an actor, playing a country star and a songwriter.”
A Grand Ole Opry Christmas is described as Gentry Woods (DeLoach), daughter of late country music icon Jett Woods – half of the famed duo Winter and Woods – abandoned her dream of a songwriting career and distanced herself from her father’s legacy following his tragic car accident 30 years prior. When the Grand Ole Opry invites her to represent Jett at their centennial celebration at Christmas, she’s hesitant to return to the place steeped in bittersweet memories. Encouraged by her good friends, Gentry visits the Opry and, while seated in one of the vaunted venue’s oak church pews, is suddenly transported to 1995. Gentry’s lifelong friend Mac (Kristoffer Polaha), a country music talent manager, finds himself in 1995 as well. Thanks to some Christmas magic, Gentry gets precious time with her father, creative inspiration to finish the song she began decades earlier as a teen and learns surprising answers to questions about her father that have followed her for the last three decades.
A Grand Ole Opry Christmas also features Megan Moroney delighting with “All I Want for Christmas is a Cowboy,” while the sister-act duo of Tigirlily Gold brings a joyful spark with “Mistletoe Tipsy.” Mickey Guyton, who also has an acting cameo in the movie, debuts two new songs from her upcoming album, Feels Like Christmas.
