Dierks Bentley photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

A lot of virtual ink has been spilled over Jimmy Wayne’s attempt to walk from Nashville to Phoenix to raise awareness — and money — for agencies that deal with teen homelessness.

It’s a dramatic effort, especially since Jimmy’s had to battle extreme elements in the winter of our discontent, but he’s not the only act who’s been active in some form or another for charity of late. Dierks Bentley played for a crowd that included a controversial baseball figure at a fundraiser for animal rescue, Taylor Swift contributed to an auction for people in Haiti and Randy Owen’s Country Cares charity drew a slew of acts to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Here’s a look at country’s giving efforts, as well as an update on Jimmy’s progress:

• Dierks performed in St. Louis Sunday for Cardinals coach Tony LaRussa’s Animal Rescue Foundation. Hitting coach Mark McGwire, a home-run king who finally owned up last week to steroid use during his career, was in the crowd along with a number of other Redbird players and figures. Dierks turned in an acoustic set that included “Free and Easy (Down the Road I Go),” “Feel That Fire,” “I Wanna Make You Close Your Eyes” and “What Was I Thinkin’,” The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. “Red Light” singer David Nail was also part of the proceedings, as were former Styx member Dennis DeYoung, Journey alum Jonathan Cain, alt-rock band the Lovehammers and comedian Kathleen Madigan.

• While Jimmy Wayne’s walk from Nashville to Phoenix is expected to take more than two months, he does have some prior obligations in that time period, and he’s accommodating both by leaving his post on the Meet Me Halfway trail to do shows he’s booked in other cities. The first of those came up this weekend in Abilene, where he played… a benefit. He appeared on a telethon to raise money for the West Texas Rehabilitation Center, which brought in $1.2 million this year, according to The San Angelo Standard-Times. On Monday, he was back walking along the roadside in Tennessee. He stopped at a Cracker Barrel in suburban Lakeland at lunchtime and hoped to be in Memphis by nightfall.

• Randy Owen founded Country Cares in 1989 to raise money for St. Jude, and a bunch of his fellow stars went to Memphis over the weekend to visit with kids and learn a little more about how the hospital works. Among those on hand were Carrie Underwood, Little Big Town, Jewel, Danny Gokey, Steve Azar, Darryl Worley, Joe Nichols and Lynyrd Skynyrd. To date, Country Cares has reportedly raised more than $345 million for the charity.

• Randy is also taking part Friday in the auction of a Ford Mustang Challenge Race car signed by a number of NASCAR drivers at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event in Scottsdale, Ariz. Proceeds once again are earmarked for St. Jude.

• University of Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari aired a Hoops For Haiti telethon in Kentucky Sunday and raised more than $1 million between on-air donations and additional funding, The Danville Advocate-Messenger reported. Country stars are kicking in, too. An eBay auction is collecting bids on a pair of tickets to see Taylor Swift and Kellie Pickler, a Willie Nelson package that includes dinner for eight and an autographed guitar, Tim McGraw concert tickets and dinner for six with Coach Calipari and Wildcats supporter Ashley Judd.

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