The 39th annual American Music Awards took place on November 20, 2011, at the Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE in Los Angeles. (ABC televised the show in the U.S.) Gavin DeGraw was one of the presenters at the show. Here is what DeGraw said backstage at the 2011 American Music Awards.You’re going to have a part in the 2011 CMT Artists of the Year special. Who is one of your favorite country artists?Current or past? Good question. CMT, country music. I’ve got a lot of history with country music, as far as taste is concerned. Old-school, I like Marty Robbins, “El Paso,” particularly because my granddad was buried to that song. And a lot of Hank Williams original, right on up through up to now.Kenny Chesney. I love the Chesney. I saw Chesney play in Tacoma, Washington — and it was massive! A lot of people didn’t realize there were a lot of country fans not just in the South. I mean, Tacoma, like stadium, you know what I mean? [Tim] McGraw (because his name sound like mine. Garth Brooks, clearly. Randy Travis. I’m a big, big fan. Advertisement What do you think about the Top 40 music scene today?Well, I guess you can have a lot of mixed opinions on it. Typically, I’m more of a fan of music that’s melodic with rhythm. I like seeing that type of thing that’s coming into the Top 40 market right now — groups like OneRepublic and Maroon 5. To me, those types of acts are more up my alley, as far as taste goes. Not ruling out the other acts but that tends to be where I lean: melodic tunes with rhythm. As far as the landscape goes, I see it going more in that direction, as far as Top 40 is concerned.How have you healed from the attack that left you hospitalized in August 2011? And what can we expect from you in 2012?I had a bad time this summer. It was August 8, and I had a bad night. Actually, it wasn’t a bad night. It just ended really poorly. But I’m back to myself.I had a little broken nose and some fractures in my face, but I got all fixed up, and I look like my mother again. Other than that, everything’s been going great. I just got off tour after that incident. I finished my tour with Maroon 5 and Train. And I just did a tour of the U.S.And I’m going to take a little bit of this holiday time to say “hey” to my family, of course, and then do a bunch of radio shows around the country. And then in the new year, I’m going to do a European tour. I’ll headline a tour in Europe. And then I’ll come right back [to the U.S.] after that.If you could collaborate with someone who isn’t necessarily in your music genre, who would it be and why?Out-of-the-box, not in my genre? I really like Mary J. Blige. I think she’s a very legit singer. So that would be in the R&B world. She’d be probably my top vocal choice. Outside of that, death metal bands. I’m just kidding. You know I love my death metal!It’s hard to say, but there’s a couple of great singers from other genres, as you know. I think Adele is fabulous. I love Anthony Hamilton. I think he’s a great singer. There’s some good ones out there.In my genre, I think Bruno Mars is a fantastic singer. Kelly Clarkson is killin’ it. And actually tonight, at the performance, I thought it was very brave for Katy Perry to do something acoustic and taking it down. That was audacious of her, so I actually really respected that she had done that. Oh, and country-wise, I do like the Chesney.Do you have any special plans for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year?This Thanksgiving, I’m going to go over to Nashville to see some family, some friends. I’ve got a bunch of friends over there. They have the same interests as me, which includes nightlife. That’s what we’ll be doing for Thanksgiving. I’ll be eating at a friend’s house. Family’s going to come over. We’ve got some family friends over there. So that’s what we’re going to do for Thanksgiving.And then Christmas time, I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I’m thinking about going down to Florida, but I think I’m going to have to spray-paint my yard white, because I like snow on the ground for Christmas. So I think I’m going to have to paint the floor.[As DeGraw is speaking, David Hasselhoff is shown on the American Music Awards taking off his pants on stage.]What’s going on TV? Something good happened. What did the Hoff do? He took his pants off? That’s Hoff the charts! For more info: American Music Awards websiteRELATED LINKS ON EXAMINER.COM:American Music Awards news and reviewsAmerican Music Awards interviews