Home Free Talk About Their Roles On Thanksgiving

How do you contribute for Thanksgiving?

Home Free Talk About Their Roles On Thanksgiving
Home Free; Photo credit: Olena Noelle

Thanksgiving is a day when people are busy in kitchens all over the country cooking up a delicious meal for friends and family. In order to pull off such a feat, everyone must have a role. The members of five-man a cappella group Home Free aren’t likely to be found taking the lead on the cooking operations on the big day, but they did reveal some of their favorite ways to help out on the holiday exclusively to Sounds Like Nashville.

“Over the last two or three years, my uncle – who usually carves the turkey – has been passing off the knife to me,” says Austin Brown. “Spoiler alert: I’m still not great at it. You’d think he would have given up on letting me take the reins by now, but he lets me give it my best shot until it’s clear he needs to step in and make the best of my poorly whittled turkey. I just try to remind myself that it at all tastes the same, regardless of how skilled the turkey carver is – thank goodness for that!”

Band members Rob Lindquist and Adam Rupp also try to stay out of the kitchen on Thanksgiving, but they do pull their weight doing other tasks. Lindquist says he specifically volunteers for one of the most dreaded parts of the big meal.

“To be completely honest – nobody deserves to have to consume my cooking,” says Lindquist. “I’m always down to help clean up the giant mess after everyone is stuffed, though. That’s pretty much my only contribution for Thanksgiving – but we all know the cleanup is the worst part.”

“I stay as far away from the cooking as I can,” adds Rupp. “If you’re looking for me, I’m probably on the couch watching football. Or, if the weather is just right, I might even be outside doing some yard work, chopping wood or something that makes me feel productive while the chefs of the family handle the real important tasks in the kitchen.”

Tim Foust, on the other hand, does enjoy bringing something to the table for the holiday celebration. He has a special dish that has become a Thanksgiving tradition in his family.

“I come from a family of food enthusiasts, and we tend to overeat all week,” he says. “On Thanksgiving day, I just try my best to stay out of the way – but in the days leading up to it, I’m known for my buffalo chicken dip. It wouldn’t be a Foust Thanksgiving week without that dip making an appearance.”

Lastly, band member Adam Chance told Sounds Like Nashville that, while he is a talented cook, he prefers to leave the Thanksgiving cooking to the experts. Instead, he focuses more on everyone’s favorite part of the holiday: the eating.

“I love to cook,” says Chance. “My go-to dishes are Thai yellow curry and pretty much any taco you can imagine – but when Thanksgiving rolls around, for some reason, that’s the one day of the year that I pretend like I can’t cook. It’s also the one day of the year that I ignore my natural instinct to stop eating.”