On July 22, Gary Allan raised $225,000 for children with DiGeorge Syndrome. The concert was held at the House of Blues in Chicago and was sponsored by the Ryan and Jenny Dempster Family Foundation, to honor their 15-month-old daughter, Riley, who was born with DiGeorge syndrome. The concert also featured Jaron and the Long Road to Love as the opening act. Also present at the event were many professional players from the Chicago Cubs, Bears and hockey teams.
Source
Warner Bros Recording Artist James Otto and Republic Nashville’s Sunny Sweeney will perform an acoustic set in Akron, OH on August 19 with proceeds benefiting the Akron Police K9 Unit. The show will begin at 7pm at The New Buffalo Hill Bar and Grille.
Tickets are $10 and are on-sale now. Click here for more information.
The Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt is auctioning off two sets of 2 tickets to an upcoming Lady A show. All proceeds go to help children fighting all sorts of serious illnesses and diseases.
There will be two auctions – the first runs now through July 27 and the second runs July 27 through August 3. Click HERE to learn more and make a bid.
SOURCE
The ICM Awards is proud to announce the Top 10 category nominees for the 16th Annual Inspirational Country Music Awards Show (ICM Awards) will be held on Thursday, October 14, 2010, at 7 PM CST at the Trinity Music City USA Auditorium located in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
The following 2010 Top 10 nominees are listed in alphabetical order within each category:
Mainstream Inspirational Country Song
My Best Days – Danny Gokey
Muddy Water – Trace Adkins
Love Like Crazy – Lee Brice
That’s A Man – Jack Ingram
That’s God – Jo Dee Messina
The House That Built Me – Miranda Lambert
The Man I Want To Be – Chris Young
There Is A God – Lee Ann Womack
This Ain’t Nothing – Craig Morgan
Temporary Home – Carrie Underwood
Mainstream Country Artist
Carrie Underwood
Chris Young
Craig Morgan
Danny Gokey
Jeff Bates
Josh Turner
Martina McBride
Oak Ridge Boys
Ricky Skaggs
Rodney Atkins
Video
All I Ask For Anymore –Trace Adkins Label: Capitol Nashville Director: Deaton-Flanigen
American Honey – Lady Antebellum Label: Capitol Nashville Director: Trey Fanjoy
Dancing In Circles-Love and Theft Label: Carolwood Director: Kristin Barlowe
Love Like Crazy – Lee Brice – Curb –Director Eric Welch
Outside My Window – Sarah Buxton Label: Lyric Street Records Director: Mark Hudson
Temporary Home – Carrie Underwood Label: Arista Nashville Director: Deaton-Flanigen
The House That Build Me – Miranda Lambert Label: Columbia Nashville Director: Trey Fanjoy
The Man I Want To Be – Chris Young Label: RCA Nashville Director: David McClister
This Ain’t Nothing – Craig Morgan Label: BNA Nashville Director: Steven L. Weaver
Unstoppable – Rascal Flatts Label: Lyric Street Records Director: Shawn Robbins
For the complete list of nominees click HERE.
The Craig Morgan Charity Ride is set for Saturday, August 7th and Sunday, August 8th, 2010, in Morgan’s hometown of Dickson, Tenn. (30 miles west of Nashville). Proceeds from the two-day event, which includes a ride and concert will benefit the Craig Morgan Charity Fund.
On Saturday, August 7th, the event will kick-off in Van Leer, TN (near Dickson), where you can join professional motocross riders Kevin Windham, Cowboy Kenny Bartrum, Fred Andrews, Barry Hawk and others for a motocross exhibition and a group trail ride – fun for the entire family. Gates will open at 8:00 am, exhibition and ride begin at 10:00 am and lunch will follow at 11:00 am.
The Ride tickets are as follows:
Pre-registration: Ride Tickets $40.00 and includes lunch
Day of Registration tickets $45.00 and includes lunch
Spectator tickets are available for $15 and include lunch.
Sunday, August 8th, Craig will host an acoustic concert with special guest Aaron Tippin at the Dickson Middle School in Dickson, TN. Doors will open at 6:00 pm the show will start at 7:30 PM. Tickets for this event are $35.
This years sponsors include: Fly Racing, Tennsco, The Dickson Herald, Tri Star, Whitt’s Barbecue, The Dickson Shopper, Dikson Graphics, Mary K, McNeal M.D. and the Tennessee Bun Company.
Tickets may be purchased by clicking here, or you can visit your local Tri Star Bank. Check local listings for locations.
Source
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s All for the Hall fundraiser will return to Los Angeles for a second consecutive year. The event, which will take place on Thursday, September 23, at Club Nokia, will again follow a “guitar pull” format featuring performances by Country Music Hall of Fame members Emmylou Harris and Kris Kristofferson, superstar Taylor Swift, and a very special fourth chair that must remain anonymous.
The evening offers a unique opportunity to see these acclaimed singer-songwriters interact with one another as they take turns swapping songs, stories and personal recollections. The “guitar pull” is a Nashville specialty; it originated in the homes of Nashville songwriters who gathered to try out new compositions for their peers.
“This year especially, the event will provide much needed support as Nashville works to recover from the devastating impact of a once-every-500-years flood,” said Director Kyle Young. “While our exhibits and collections are all on upper floors and never in danger, flood waters did reach ‘five feet high and rising’ in our ground-floor Ford Theater.”
“Our All for the Hall Los Angeles debut gave us an opportunity to focus on West Coast country music history and remind our guests that these artists and executives and their songs are a part of the story we both preserve and teach at the Museum,” said Young. “By design, guitar-pull content is unplanned and unrehearsed. It was very exciting to see West Coast country spontaneously become the theme of the 2009 performances, which included musical salutes to Gram Parsons, Buck Owens and Cindy Walker, among others,” he said. “We are grateful for our warm welcome last year and look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones in September.”
All for the Hall Los Angeles patrons are offered their choice of seating for 10 for $10,000, or seating for five for $5,000. Individual tickets are available at $1000 per seat. A cocktail reception and dinner will precede the guitar pull. To purchase tickets or for more information, patrons may contact Holly Lane at hlane@countrymusichalloffame.org or telephone (615) 416-2035 or (800) 852-6437.
Source
Chuck Wicks will perform at a party in California this month that will raise money for Nashville flood relief efforts.
“I’m excited,” Chuck tells The Boot of the July 31 Grammy Block Party, being hosted by the Los Angeles chapter of the Recording Academy. “I was floored when they asked me to do it, because I’m the only country act there. It’s going to be great. I feel honored; it’s a cool thing that [the Recording Academy] thought enough of me to ask me to be a part of it.”
Other performers on the bill for the event are R&B artist Raphael Saadiq, pop singer Charice, singer/songwriter Aka Cassidy and Latin group La Santa Cecilia. Musician Rickey Minor will serve as musical director. He is best know for fronting the ‘American Idol’ band and was named bandleader for ‘The Tonight Show’ last month.
The event will raise money for the Nashville Flood Relief Fund recently established by the Recording Academy’s charitable arm, MusiCares. The money collected will be used to help musicians and other members of the local music community that were victims of the catastrophic May flood in middle Tennessee. The party will be held at the Recording Academy’s headquarters in Santa Monica, Calif.
SOURCE
Lee Ann Womack and special guest Mark Chesnutt will perform at the gorgeous Morton Arboretum on Saturday, August 7. Ticket prices range from $35 – $45. According the the Arboretum’s site: “Your boots will be scootin’ to the tune of two-time Grammy Award winner Lee Ann Womack whose hit single ‘I Hope you Dance’ reached number 1 on the Billboard Country Chart. Special guest Mark Chesnutt will sizzle up the summer night with some hot country hits.”
The mission of the Morton Arboretum is to make the world a greener, healthier, and more beautiful place! Concert tickets and parking fees cannot be refunded for any reason including inclement weather, parking purchased for the wrong date or time, lost or forgotten parking tickets. Extreme weather may impact a performance. The Morton Arboretum reserves the right to shorten, delay, or cancel a performance for any reason at any time. Safety is our first concern. We will make every attempt to present the performance if it is reasonable to do so.
Purchase tickets HERE.
For a limited time “Nashville Lifestyle” magazine will be giving a free t-shirt with a paid subscription and donation to flood relief. There are a few subscription options to choose from. In order to receive your free shirt enter the promotional code “REBUILD” and select your shirt size!
Subscribe now HERE.
Little Big Town‘s charity motorcycle ride and concert featuring Luke Bryan, Randy Houser, Josh Thompson and The Band Perry raised more than $55,000 for the T.J. Martell Foundation on Sunday, July 11. The Ride for a Cure event began at the Tin Roof in Nashville and concluded at the Harley-Davidson Superstore in Columbia, Tenn., and also featured morning sets by new artists Brett Eldridge, Randy Montana and Cali Rodi. The T.J. Martell Foundation supports leukemia, cancer and AIDS research.
SOURCE
Find more information on the event HERE.
IT PAYS TO PLAY!
ONLINE COUNTRY MUSIC VIDEO CHALLENGE
LAUNCHES TODAY BENEFITING NASHVILLE FLOOD RELIEF
Country Music Fans Can Test Their Country Music Trivia Knowledge,
Assist With Flood Relief, AND Win a Guitar Autographed by Brad Paisley
and a Trip To Music City All By Playing Online Trivia Game
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – (July 12, 2010)
* What movie has Darius Rucker seen more than 100 times?
* What did Carrie Underwood say when she was surprised with an invitation to join the Grand Ole Opry?
* In what state was Taylor Swift born?
* Which of Dolly Parton’s duet partners inspired her monster smash “I Will Always Love You”?
Beginning today, country music fans can test their country music knowledge by answering these questions and hundreds of others like them in the Grand Ole Opry’s new online Country Music Video Challenge to benefit flood relief. The Challenge is found HERE.
The Country Music Video Challenge features video clips of country music performances followed by questions about those clips and the artists featured in them. Throughout the Challenge, players are invited by their favorite country stars to donate to the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee’s flood relief efforts. Additionally, Opry Presenting Sponsor Humana® has pledged to donate $1 for each of the first 25,000 fans who play the game.
In addition to showing their country music trivia mettle and assisting with continuing flood relief efforts, fans who play the game will also be entered to win one-of-a-kind Challenge prizes, including a Gibson guitar autographed by Brad Paisley, $500 cash, and a trip to Nashville including VIP tickets to the Opry.
Players will be able to challenge their friends in the game via Facebook and Twitter.
“Friends from around the world have communicated with us via Facebook, Twitter, and email, asking what they can do to help after this spring’s floods,” said Angie Reynolds, Opry Interactive Manager. “The Challenge is a great way for country music fans to assist with Nashville flood relief from their computer keyboards, competing with their friends to see who best knows their Kenny Chesney from their Kenny Rogers and their ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart’ from their ‘Before He Cheats.’”
The Opry was itself temporarily displaced from its permanent home, the Grand Ole Opry House, by the May floods. The Opry has not missed a show due to the flood, however, and is scheduled to be staged from the Ryman Auditorium throughout the summer. The show will return to the Opry House amid much fanfare in celebration of its 85th birthday in October.
Play now HERE.
Joe Nichols will open for Alan Jackson on July 15 at a benefit show in support of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Lorain County Ohio. This is the major fundraiser of the year for the club which will be held at All Pro Freight Stadium in Avon, OH. Tickets for the event are still available and may be purchased here or you may call 440-934-3636.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Lorain County serve more than 5,800 children ages 6 to 18 with programs that emphasize education, career development, life skills and character development. More information.
Here’s the audio from our weekly chat with Froggy in case you missed it or don’t live in the area!
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Be sure to check out http://www.froggy103.com/
Follow Froggy on Twitter: http://twitter.com/froggy1037
WQBE/Charleston, WV morning co-host Jeff Whitehead helped 10-year-old cancer patient Elizabeth Pitts realize her dream to make the acquaintance of Josh Turner. Pitts was scheduled to meet Turner through the Make-A-Wish Foundation at his Valdosta, GA tour stop July 17 until a family friend wrote Whitehead June 30 saying her condition had deteriorated. The message made its way to MCA’s Joe Putnam and Turner’s management and, on July, 1 a post was added to Pitts’ blog “Elizabeth went to heaven today after having Josh Turner call and sing to her just after noon.” Whitehead adds, “Josh has gently reminded us of what makes country music and its artists so special.”
SOURCE
Chris Young, David Nail, Josh Thompson, and Jerrod Niemann all donated their time and talent on June 30 for An Evening for St Jude to benefit the St. Jude Childrens Research Center. The event was held in Birmingham, Alabama and sponsored by country radio station 102.1 The Bull. It was a sold out event and raised over $10,000.
One of our readers, Sarah was in attendance at the event and said “It was an acoustic, round table kind of thing…each artist played 5 songs and it was TONS of fun!” Sarah also provided a few photos from the event which are below.
Thank you, Sarah! If YOU attend a benefit show or event we would love to post about it! Send your review and photos to countrymusiccares@hotmail.com