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Country music is a hallmark of America — but where do some of today’s biggest artists get their inspiration?

Scotty McCreery and Carly Pearce are among the many country artists who turn to the people and places they grew up in to shape their music and their ever-changing musical dreams.

The singers — as well as members of Old Dominion and other A-listers from the genre — exclusively tell Us Weekly in the “Country Artists Celebrate America” issue which locations make them feel most at home in the U.S.A.

Scroll down to see which country stars a.k.a Us’ “hometown heroes” attribute their all-American upbringing to their success as we head into Fourth of July weekend.

Plus, pick up the latest issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now for more from the “Country Artists Celebrate America” feature.

Scotty McCreery

Hometown: Garner, North Carolina

“I grew up on the same street as my bud — dies that I’m still best friends with today,” the season 10 American Idol winner exclusively tells Us. “We went to school together, played baseball together, went to church together. I remember the first time I sang in front of my friends. I was just nervous as all get out. It was a pool party … and it went well. So, I was like, ‘Oh, maybe I’ll keep doing this!’”

Carly Pearce

Hometown: Taylor Mill, Kentucky

“That’s the town that made me,” the Grammy winner tells Us while hosting Carly’s Closet to benefit the CMA Foundation. “I think about my grandparents a lot. They knew that country music was what I wanted to do. And even today I was texting with my mom, and I was like, ‘Can you believe that I’m singing with Rascal Flatts at CMA Fest in the stadium?’ All these years later, it’s still a very wild thing to think about all of the shows. I’m very, very proud to be from there. It’s definitely the heart of who I am.”

Brad Tursi

Hometown: Westport, Connecticut

“I was lucky enough to grow up right on the water on the Long Island Sound,” the Old Dominion guitarist tells Us. “I spent a lot of days and nights on boats just hanging out with friends, wakeboarding, that kind of thing.” (The band will release their sixth album, Barbara, on August 22, and are currently on the How Good Is That World Tour.)

Matthew Ramsey

Hometown: Buchanan, Virginia

“I grew up in a very small town. It’s about 900 people and everybody knows everybody, and that entire community has supported us on our journey,” the Old Dominion lead singer tells Us. “It’s a beautiful place with a lot of love. [As a kid], I remember loving riding my bike on all the three streets that were there! It was a great place to grow up.”

Geoff Sprung

Hometown: Richmond, Virginia

“I grew up in Northern Virginia, and I miss all the cool free museums,” the Old Dominion drummer exclusively shares with Us. “A favorite memory is learning to play music with people while growing up being in garage bands.”

Trevor Rosen

Hometown: Woodhaven, Michigan

“I grew up in the Detroit area, so the music history is amazing. We have Motown and so much good music,” the Old Dominion guitarist and keyboardist tells Us. “We have great sports teams. And it’s Michigan, so you drive a few hours and you’re in the most beautiful outdoor landscape. People don’t think of Michigan when they think of country, but I grew up fishing and hunting, doing all the things we sing about.”

Harper Grace

Hometown: McKinney, Texas

“My grandparents live in West Texas, and my favorite memory is my grandmother playing the accordion,” the American Idol alum says, referring to their home in Midland-Odessa, Texas. “It’s why I fell in love with country music. She’d play all the classics like Dolly [Parton] and Loretta Lynn, and I’d dance around.”

Kameron Marlowe

Hometown: Kannapolis, North Carolina

“It’s the home of Dale Earnhardt, so racing is definitely in our blood,” the Voice alum exclusively tells Us. “My favorite memory is catching my very first personal best bass with my grandpa, and him being so fired up for me. That was just a sweet moment that I hold onto.”

Gavin Adcock

Hometown: Watkinsville, Georgia

“I grew up on a cattle farm working with my daddy,” the singer recalls. “I’d go to the stockyards. My dad would buy cattle, and I’d go in the back and work with the rough hands as a real little kid. I’m lucky to be here, honestly!”

Riley Green

Hometown: Jacksonville, Alabama

“I still kinda live in my hometown,” the “Worst Way” singer shares with Us. “I loved that I could get outta school and go see both sets of my grandparents, and if I went by my grandmother Nancy’s house first, she’d call my grandmother Jean and tell her. So, I had to go to the other one and vice versa.”

Parker McCollum

Hometown: Conroe, Texas

“I still got a lot of family, and I love the pine trees and my grandparents’ barn,” the “Burn It Down” singer says of his Texas hometown. “That was like the center of my universe.”

Brian Kelley

Hometown: Ormand Beach, Florida

“I am a big believer that the people make the place,” the former Florida Georgia Line member tells Us. “I am very lucky. I love where I grew up. My favorite memories are tubing down the Tomoka River. River days, seeing manatees and alligators, I love all that. I still live on the water — living the dream!”

Jordan Davis

Hometown: Shreveport, Louisiana

“It was a great place to grow up. My favorite memory is AA baseball,” the singer recalls to Us. “We had the Shreveport Captains. My dad took us to probably 100 games. Me, my brother, sister and my dad. That was really cool.”

RaeLynn

Hometown: Baytown, Texas

“Everybody truly is rooting for each other,” says the songstress, who spoke to Us while participating in Folds of Honor: Rock ’N Jock Celebrity Softball Game, of her birthplace. “We might leave — I moved [to Nashville] 12 years ago — but when I go back, everybody’s still so proud. And that’s really just the best hometown feeling.”

This 4th of July weekend, country music’s biggest stars are ready to celebrate America.

“Being on the lake or in the mountains with my family and friends,” Tyler Hubbard exclusively shared with Us Weekly when asked about the best way to celebrate the festival holiday. “A close second would be playing a sold out show to a ton of good-time-having, country-music-lovin’ proud Americans!”

Before the music plays and the fireworks are launched, a few more familiar faces in Nashville like Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley and Jessie James Decker shared the clothes, pastimes and traditions of the U.S.A. that they love.

In honor of Us Weekly’s Country Stars Celebrate America issue, see what your favorite country singers love most about the USA.

From Outsider to Superstar: Inside Shaboozey’s Journey in Country Music

Kelsea Ballerini

Kelsea Ballerini didn’t hesitate when asked about her favorite food.

“Hot dog. Hot dog. Hot dog. Hot dog!” she told Us while promoting SoFi’s Rising Stars program. “That’s my favorite part about playing fairs — we can get a corn dog, a hot dog, a funnel cake and bring it back to the bus, and it’s a little treat.”

Jessie James Decker

Jessie James Decker is a proud American and uses her vocal talents as proof.

 “Anytime I’m asked to sing the national anthem, I’m like, ‘Sign me up.’ My grandpa was in the Vietnam War. When I was a little girl — he’s passed away now — he used to ask me to sing [it]. He’d make me turn away. He didn’t want me to see him because he’d cry, it meant so much to him. I loved to sing it for him.”

Tyler Hubbard

Florida Georgia Line alum Tyler Hubbard had a hard time narrowing down his favorite pastimes, but there was a clear winner!

“Baseball, cars, hats, fishing… there are so many,” the “Back Then Right Now” singer tells Us. “I do love riding motorcycles, and this summer, I’m looking forward to picking up a brand-new custom Indian Chieftain PowerPlus that Forever Rad is building for me.”

Jay DeMarcus 

“Red, white and boom!” Rascal Flatt’s Jay DeMarcus tells Us. “Every summer downtown [in Columbus, Ohio], they’d block the streets off and blow the roof off of that place. It was amazing.” The group’s latest album, Life is a Highway: Refueled Duets, is out now.

Ashley Cooke

“Jeans and boots are a staple in my closet,” Ashley Cooke says. “They personify American style. During CMA Fest, I had on a Stella McCartney denim suit with my favorite cowboy boots, and I love a bustier top with a Wrangler denim coat. These things just remind me of what it means to grow up proud of where you’re from — and to never lose sight of those roots, no matter where your dreams take you,” says the singer, whose new single, “The F Word,” was released in April.

Dierks Bentley

“One of the greatest American pastimes for this generation is live music,” Dierks Bentley, whose latest album, Broken Branches, was released on June 13, tells Us. “Concerts bring you together. Country music is such an American creation. And tailgating is a rite of passage. One of the things I love about our concerts is how many people show up to tailgate and hanging out with them. I have a Jeep Wrangler I carry behind my bus. We cruise through [and] see them playing beer pong, getting the funnel out. You haven’t lived if you haven’t been to a country concert and tailgated.”

For more from your favorite country music artists, pick up the latest issue of Us Weekly — on newsstands now.

© Jason Kempin/Getty Images for the Grand Ole Opry

As decades-long tension among Aaron Rodgers’ immediate family continues to simmer, his biographer explained where things currently stand with the quarterback and his parents.

In an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, author Ian O’Connor, who profiled Rodgers, 41, in 2024’s Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers, revealed Rodgers was in touch with his father Ed and mother Darla as recently as last year. 

“In the early fall of 2024, there were a couple of hopeful emails exchanged between Aaron and his parents,” O’Connor said. “But by the end of the 2024 football season, the tone of their communication had changed and that cautious optimism about a potential reconciliation faded.”

The emails came on the heels of Ed and Aaron crossing paths at the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament in 2023, their first interaction in nearly nine years. 

‘He Keeps People Guessing’: Insiders Tell Us About the Real Aaron Rodgers

“Aaron saw his father Ed in the crowd at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe and walked over to hug him and tell his dad that he loves him,” O’Connor said of the interaction.

O’Connor said there are “a hundred reasons” for the Rodgers family breakdown, which also trickles down to Aaron’s brothers, Luke and Jordan. 

“The estrangement between Rodgers and his family has lasted more than a decade,” O’Connor said. “Religion was a big part of it early on – Aaron’s parents built their lives around the Neighborhood Church in their hometown of Chico, California, which was part of the evangelical Christian and Missionary Alliance, and Aaron never connected with it. He didn’t want to be there.”

After high school, Aaron attended college at the University of California-Berkeley, where O’Connor said he “got exposed to so many different people from different backgrounds.”

“Aaron questioned and challenged everything, because that’s how he was wired,” O’Connor explained. “He even questioned the role of his family in his life and came to believe that some family members were laying claim to his fortune and fame. And as Aaron’s longtime friend Jordan Russell told me, ‘If Aaron feels his family or other people in his life have laid claim to something based on his efforts, Aaron will then go out of his way to make sure they earn their own way.’”

O’Connor referred to “The Island,” where Aaron will castaway family members and friends who he believes have earned his distrust. 

“You don’t want to be sent to The Island,” O’Conor said, adding that, “If you become a perceived obstacle in his path, you will be removed from his life.”

Aaron Rodgers Slams Interest In His Marriage, Calls Wife a 'Private Person'

Aaron’s current estrangement from his family was evidenced during an appearance on ESPN’s The Pat McAfee Show last month, where he discussed his recent marriage to his wife, Brittani. 

In discussing his wedding to Brittani “a couple of months ago,” Aaron mentioned his family, saying, “I don’t talk to” them. 

“They wouldn’t know any information about me,” Aaron added.

For more on Aaron Rodgers, watch the exclusive video above and pick up the latest issue of Us Weekly — on newsstands now.

© Joe Sargent/Getty Images ; Courtesy of Luke Rodgers/Instagram

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