Brett Young Shares Thanksgiving Pet Peeves and Other Memories

Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away, and just like you, country stars are thinking about what they do and don’t want to see on their dining room table.

Blake Shelton has been known to dust his turkeys in Flaming Hot Cheetos, while Jason Aldean is a big fan of an infrared fryer. Trisha Yearwood loves her set-it-and-forget-it method for cooking her turkey, and Brett Young is emphatically against canned cranberry sauce. However, it does hold some pretty special memories.

“My Grandma Bonnie, she’s not with us anymore; she would always spend a long time massaging the can so that the cranberry sauce came out in the shape of the can,” Young recalls. “I’ll never forget one Thanksgiving. I had just met my wife two days before. Grandma Bonnie perfectly got it out on the plate. My dad was giving the blessing, and my dad’s brother started smushing it up. And my grandma interrupted the prayer because he was ruining the perfect canned-shaped cranberry.”

Young admits the anecdote has nothing to do with his loathing of the congealed berry spread – but it’s a story that makes him laugh.

“But the point is, I hate that,” he said. “Fruit on meat never works for me. I never touch the cranberry, but it’s been a tradition in our family for as long as I remember.”

Young will head up “CMT CROSSROADS Christmas: BRETT YOUNG & FRIENDS,” which will air 8p/7c on Dec. 8. Special guests include Boyz II Men, Chris Tomlin, Colbie Caillat, Dann Huff, Darius Rucker, Gavin DeGraw and Maddie & Tae.