The next big thing in country music has never made a record and the most identifiable members of the group don’t even sing. And it’s likely their debut album will end with a prayer, include humor and stories, and feature men who get their grooming tips from ZZ Top. Yes, the family from “Duck Dynasty” is making a Christmas album.
The Robertsons of Monroe, La., stars of A&E’s “Duck Dynasty,” launched their musical campaign — clearly targeted at country fans — at the annual Country Music Assn. (CMA) festival in early June after receiving hearty ovations at the Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards in Las Vegas. Having conquered the duck call business and reality TV, their next stop is around the Christmas tree.
“Their popularity is bigger than any artist we have on this label,” Universal Nashville senior VP of marketing Cindy Mabe says. “I have never seen anything like it.” (The label is home to Josh Turner, Easton Corbin and Scotty McCreery, whose “Christmas With Scotty McCreery” has sold 349,000 since its release last October, according to Nielsen SoundScan.)
The CMA Music Festival was the kickoff event for “Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas” that Universal Music Group Nashville will release Oct. 29. With about 40 members of the Robertson family in tow, the “Dynasty” hosted one of the CMA fest’s nights at the LP Field football stadium in Nashville, but the real scene was backstage.
“It was amazing watching the artists go up to them and take pictures with them,” says Universal Nashville senior VP of A&R Brian Wright, who handled the music presentation that led to the Robertsons signing with the label for the album. “They represent the core country fans with their faith and family.”
Wright has already made two trips to Monroe, headquarters of the Robertson family business, Duck Commander, to begin recording various family members. Tracking sessions are being done in Nashville; Buddy Cannon, an ACM producer of the year, is producing.
“With their busy schedule,” Wright says, referring to “Duck Dynasty” shooting four days per week and the Duck Commander business taking up another day or two, “they can’t come up here to do vocals so we go down there.”
“Duck Dynasty” appears to have come out of nowhere to become the leader of so-called “redneck TV” and set ratings records for A&E during the last year. In December, the show’s “Redneck Christmas” episode was the most-watched program in A&E history with 6.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen. The season-three finale in April generated another record — 9.6 million viewers — mof which 5.5 million were in the advertiser-coveted demographic of 18-49. The show beat “American Idol” in the demo by 34%.
The appeal extends beyond the TV audience. This year Duck Commander CEO Willie Robertson was mobbed at the Cable Show in Washington, D.C., and treated like royalty at the Walmart shareholders meeting alongside wife Korie. That’s natural: “Duck Dynasty” merchandise is in six Walmart departments and will be expanded to 13 by the holiday season — music being one of them — and “DD” T-shirts are Walmart’s biggest sellers for men, women, boys and girls.
“Walmart has a huge campaign from August through October, the back-to-school window, and [“Duck Dynasty”] pretty much owns Walmart,” Mabe says, noting campaign details haven’t yet been solidified. “They said, ‘We understand our power and our brand, but we’re very careful with what we put out. We want to be vey close to this every step of the way.’ They wanted to make sure we understood that.”
Willie Robertson, who put his MBA to work by turning his father’s successful duck call business into a multimillion-dollar outdoor empire, became aware of the family’s popularity with country music fans at the CMT Awards in December. After introducing his friend and business partner in Duck Commander, Jason Aldean, at the ceremony, his phone started ringing with offers for music projects.
He reached out to his TV agent at William Morris Endeavor, who in turn set up a meeting with Nashville agent Joey Lee. “He at least spoke my language — slower and with a dialect,” Robertson jokes. “So we got to talking and he said, ‘Let me do some calling around.’
“Somehow they came up with the idea of a Christmas album, and we met with several labels. It’s fine to me. Everybody gets together, and we mix the family aspects of our show with the comedy and Christmas music. I thought it made a lot of sense.”
Wright, Mabe and Universal Music Nashville Entertainment chairman/CEO Mike Dungan made the presentation that clicked with Robertson, who says his musical tastes are rooted in classic rock and ’80s pop, though he does like Bruno Mars.
“The album will have some traditional stuff, some new stuff,” Robertson says, noting that his sister-in-law Missy is a trained singer. “Some of it will be ensemble-type songs, a couple of readings, songs you can sing along with.”
Robertson got his first taste of songwriting penning a tune with Dallas Davidson, and he figures he’ll call on his friends in country music — Aldean, Luke Bryan, Darius Rucker and Eric Church — as guests.
“When I watch television, I’m either watching sports or ‘Duck Dynasty,'” says Rucker, who featured the Robertson family in the video for his recent hit “Wagon Wheel,” which topped Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart and reached No. 15 on the Hot 100. “I’m obsessed with the show.” Rucker’s wife pushed him to have the Robertsons in his video, and he was surprised they agreed. “Even though I had not met them until that day, I think they had seen my tweets for a year saying what a fan I was and decided it would be fun. For me, their appearance made the entire video. Their family is so genuine that meeting them just made me a bigger fan.”
To promote the album early on, the label will reach out to the show’s sizable online following — 5 million fans on Facebook, about 1 million each for the Twitter feeds of Robertson and the show, plus 400,000 on Instagram — with webisodes.
The label is in discussions with A&E about a “Duck Dynasty” Christmas show to promote the album, and the Robertsons — Willie, Korie, matriarch Miss Kay, father Phil, brother Jase and Uncle Si, along with assorted children and spouses — will make the rounds on such holiday TV shows as TNT’s “Christmas in Washington.”
“Duck Dynasty,” shot as a reality show yet presented like a sitcom, is about halfway through filming of the fourth season. The show will go on hiatus in November, just in time to start “ducking” the halls, and resume shooting in January. While Robertson has befriended country musicians, he doesn’t see “Duck Dynasty” expanding its musical offerings, but it does have an effect on the Christmas album’s creation.
“We only have 22 minutes, and you don’t want to cram it full of everything you can think of,” he says. “We’re passionate about music — my dad was an old rocker — and since I’ve been around music the last few years, I have friends I can call and ask questions while we’re making the record.
“The show has helped me in writing [music]. It’s storytelling and the language you use — it’s about making it real and authentic to yourself. It’s also got to translate to not just my family or Louisiana but [the entire country]. I think that’s what our show does.”