In Pictures: RaeLynn, Dolly Parton, Cold River Records

RaeLynn Hosts Words & Music Night At Country Music Hall Of Fame And Museum

Pictured (L-R): Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s VP of Development Lisa Purcell, Singer-Songwriter RaeLynn and Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s Director of Education Ali Tonn

On May 16, the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum hosted its annual year-end celebration in honor of education program Words & Music. Middle Tennessee students and their families gathered in the museum’s Ford Theater for Words & Music Night along with the evening’s host, singer-songwriter RaeLynn.

Throughout the night, selected students performed songs they composed through the program alongside a professional songwriting partner. For 39 years, Words & Music has connected young people to Nashville’s music community by pairing classes with songwriters who transform student lyrics into finished songs which are then performed in an interactive workshop. More than 110,000 students have had the unique opportunity to learn from songwriters the core curriculum, lessons in musical composition and language skills.

Dolly Parton Dedicates Newly-Named Butterfly Garden At Vanderbilt

Pictured (L-R): Jeff Balser, MD, PhD, President and CEO of Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Richard Dennison (Hannah’s father), Hannah Dennison (Dolly’s niece), Dolly Parton and Rachel George
(Hannah’s mother).

Dolly Parton and her niece Hannah Dennison were honored Thursday (May 17) at the dedication of the newly named Hannah Dennison Butterfly Garden at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. The dedication came after Parton announced a $1 million gift to Children’s Hospital’s Pediatric Cancer Program last October while visiting patients with her niece, Dennison, who was treated for leukemia as a child at Children’s Hospital for four years, beginning in 1993.

Parton said the gift was made “in honor of my niece Hannah, my sister Rachel, Hannah’s dad, Richard, and Dr. Naji Abumrad. It was important to me to make a donation to the Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt because of Hannah’s care and just how well they do for everyone. It’s been a good hospital for us. This is just a great group of doctors and nurses that provide the best of care, and it was the least I could do.”

Music Industry Execs Gather For “Poor People’s Foursome”

Pictured (L-R): songwriter Nate Montgomery, Cold River/IMA’s John Ettinger, iHeart’s Jackie Tigue and Rod Phillips, artist manager Sean Pace, and Cold River’s Marie Wapelhorst and Taylor Eschbach.

A group of music industry friends gathered Friday (May 18) for a restart of “Poor People’s Foursome,” which features coffee, conversation and golf.