Tracy Lawrence and friends in Nashville for the 5th Annual Mission Possible Turkey Fry.

Here’s yet another incredible example of how country music artists continue to give back to their community and help those in need…

Tracy Lawrence along with some famous Music City friends, MTSU students, local media and volunteers from the Nashville Rescue Mission joined together on Tuesday, November 23 for the 5th Annual Tracy Lawrence Mission Possible. Held for the benefit of the Nashville Rescue Mission, the philanthropic group—comprised of over 100 volunteers—fried-up turkeys for the meal kitchen’s Thanksgiving dinner and Wilson County’s homeless.

Some of Music City’s biggest and brightest names gathered to cook and visit with volunteers and fans. Joining the Master of Ceremonies, Tracy Lawrence, in the “group fry” were his friends in music and entertainment: Brad Arnold (Three Doors Down,) GAC’s Suzanne Alexander, Bo Bice, Burns & Poe, Chelsea Field, Matt Gary, LoCash Cowboys, Lathan Moore, Lorrie Morgan, Danielle Peck, Matt Kennon, The Roys, radio personalities Big D & Bubba and the Titans Cheerleaders. Continue Reading

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Little Jimmy Dickens and Brad Paisley at the Grand Ole Opry House on Tuesday, September 28, 2010. © 2010 Grand Ole Opry® Hollo Photographics

Five months after a flood left the hallowed stage of Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry House submerged under 46 inches of water, the venue reoped Tuesday as the Opry held a three-hour event — two hours airing as a GAC special, Country Comes Home: An Opry Live Celebration.

The flood’s assault on the Opry House has been the biggest story in country music this year, so it’s only appropriate that the evening was heavy on music from 2010: Jason Aldean’s “My Kinda Party,” Blake Shelton’s “All About Tonight,” Brad Paisley’s “Anything Like Me” and Keith Urban’s “I’m In,” among them.

But the night also included performances that offered a smattering of country music history — of which, the Opry has been central. Dierks Bentley and Del McCoury injected bluegrass into the proceedings with a cover of Bill Monroe’s “Roll On, Buddy, Roll On.” Martina McBride and Connie Smith traded lines in the 1964 classic “Once A Day.” Charlie Daniels teamed with Montgomery Gentry on a sizzling version of “The Devil Went Down To Georgia.” And Josh Turner and Lorrie Morgan turned in a stunning version of the George Jones & Tammy Wynette hit “Golden Ring.” (Lorrie, incidentally, wore a leopard-patterned dress — not something in red…)

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Jason Aldean photo courtesy of Broken Bow Records.

The stage of the Grand Ole Opry House was buried under 46 inches of water when muddy waters overflowed the Cumberland River in Nashville in May during a horrendous flood.

The Opry House was immediately closed for reconstruction while the Grand Ole Opry radio show wandered from venue to venue in Music City — temporarily homeless but doggedly determined.

The Opry returns to the Opry House on Tuesday with an all-star lineup, including Trace Adkins, Brad Paisley, Martina McBride, Josh Turner and Montgomery Gentry, and you can catch the historic evening during a two-hour GAC special, Country Comes Home: An Opry Live Celebration.

The floods were cruel to some people, kind to others. Dierks Bentley had water in his basement, Kenny Chesney’s home took water into the second floor, and a bevy of artists — including Vince Gill, Toby Keith and Keith Urban — lost instruments in the water. Then there were the folks like Jason Aldean, who didn’t sustain any damage whatsoever.

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Grand Ole Opry members Brad Paisley (l) and Little Jimmy Dickens (r) unveil the refurbished 6-foot circle of wood (taken from the historic Ryman Auditorium when the show moved to the Grand Ole Opry House in 1974) that was damaged in the May 2010 Nashville flood. Photo courtesy of the Grand Ole Opry.

When Nashville was flooded in May, the tragedy was best symbolized for the world by the Grand Ole Opry House. Muddy water from the Cumberland River stood nearly four feet over the Opry stage, and the manager of the Opry literally surveyed the damage by kayaking through the venue.

The Opry House reopens Tuesday, September 28 with an all-star Opry edition that airs on GAC at 9/8c as Country Comes Home: An Opry Live Celebration. The lineup features a ton of artists, including Trace Adkins, Keith Urban, Josh Turner and the two men who helped put a famous wooden circle back in the restored Opry stage: Brad Paisley and Little Jimmy Dickens.

The wood is a six-foot section of oak taken from the stage of the Ryman Auditorium, the previous home of the Opry, when the Opry House originally opened in 1974. At the Ryman, that wood supported the likes of Patsy Cline, Hank Williams and Johnny Cash. But the Opry has now been at the Opry House for 36 years — longer than any home it’s previously occupied.

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Tammy Wynette photo courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

The Country Music Hall of Fame will open a new exhibit Friday that honors one of the legends of the genre, though it’s clouded by the death of her former husband.

Tammy Wynette: First Lady Of Country Music, Presented By Great American Country Television Network is loaded with memorabilia celebrating the singer, who died in 1998 just months before her induction into the Hall of Fame.

But when the exhibit opens, it won’t be seen by her last husband, George Richey, who died earlier this summer. The death was not made public, though Music Row magazine reported George has already been laid to rest near Tammy in Nashville’s Woodlawn Cross Mausoleum.

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Craig Morgan photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

The Grand Ole Opry has plenty of tentacles in the Nashville community, and several of its members — including Craig Morgan, Lorrie Morgan and Charlie Louvin — are part of the headlines in Middle Tennessee.

In Lorrie’s case, it’s for a bit of charity work in a suburb. Craig and Charlie, meanwhile, are facing major milestones in their lives. Here’s the latest Opry-related news:

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Faith Hill photo by Andrew Southam, courtesy of Warner Bros. Nashville.

Intentionally or not, a number of country’s bedrock performers — including Faith Hill, Diamond Rio, Trace Adkins and Tracy Lawrence — have all found themselves linked to politics or politicians this week.

For two artists, those connections involve actual campaigning for gubernatorial candidates. The others are tied to honoring people’s lives or accomplishments: Faith and Emmylou Harris will be performing at the White House; Trace and Diamond Rio paid their respects to 11 workers whose deaths are part of the tragic oil spill that has become a political nightmare.

The stories:

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Lady Antebellum on stage at the Ryman Auditorium during the Music City Keep On Playin' benefit concert. Photo credit: Photo by Ed Rode/edrode.biz.

The stars came out in a big way, as did a number of companies and the American people when GAC presented Music City Keep On Playin’ — A Benefit For Flood Relief.

Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum and Dierks Bentley were among the artists who delivered nearly 20 songs during Sunday’s three-hour live special from Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. The event raised more than $1.7 million as of midnight CT and counting.

Music City Keep On Playin’ was the first national fundraiser organized to aid victims of a devastating flood that engulfed much of Nashville two weeks ago. In a scant 48 hours, the city took in over 13 inches of rain, more than the Middle Tennessee ground could absorb. The Cumberland River swelled over its banks, damaging some of the city’s landmarks, including the Grand Ole Opry House, LP Field, Bridgestone Arena and the Country Music Hall of Fame.

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Tim McGraw and wife Faith Hill. Photo courtesy of Curb Nashville and Warner Bros. Nashville.

In response to last week’s devastating Tennessee floods, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill have assembled a jaw-dropping lineup of talent for a June 22 benefit concert at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, one of the downtown venues that took in water when the Cumberland River overflowed its bank.

“Nashville Rising: A Benefit Concert For Flood Recovery” will also feature Brooks & Dunn, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, Luke Bryan, Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, LeAnn Rimes, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Martina McBride. Even more acts are expected to be announced at a future date.

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Laura Bell Bundy photo courtesy of UMG Nashville.

Hot off her performance at last Sunday’s Academy of Country Music Awards, Laura Bell Bundy planted herself in an enviable position this week as Achin’ And Shakin’ debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard Country Albums chart.

Laura Bell is a new artist to many — if not most — country fans, but she’s got a long list of entertainment credentials backing her up. Most of them stem from the theater, where she’s appeared in productions of Legally Blonde: The Musical, Wicked and The Sound Of Music. But she released an album in 2007 and got a very concentrated push for her new project, which got its Achin’ And Shakin’ title because one half is songs of heartache and the other is for shakin’ your booty.

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