Fred Foster

Veteran record label executive and producer Fred Foster and music icons Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson have been selected as the 2010 recipients of the Leadership Music Dale Franklin Award, it was announced by the board of directors of Leadership Music. The three country music trailblazers, whose careers intersected at Foster’s uniquely successful independent record label, Monument Records, will be honored at a gala tribute banquet on Sunday, August 29 at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Nashville.

Kris Kristofferson

The Leadership Music Dale Franklin Award, named for the first executive director of Leadership Music, was created in 2004 to recognize a music industry leader who exemplifies the highest quality of leadership and leading by example. Foster, Kristofferson and Nelson join previous Leadership Music Dale Franklin Award honorees Tony Brown (2004), Gerry House (2005), Emmylou Harris (2006), Frances W. Preston (2007), The Bradley Family: Owen (posthumously), Harold, Jerry, Connie and Patsy (2008), and Garth Brooks, Jim Foglesong and Allen Reynolds (2009).

Willie Nelson

“Individually and collectively Fred Foster, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson have been and continue to be iconic leaders in the industry by influencing popular music in countless ways over the past six decades,” says Pat Collins, President of the Leadership Music Board of Directors.” Their contributions to the art of music are immeasurable. To say that Leadership Music and its alumni are proud and delighted to honor these creative geniuses who have brought such distinction to our city is a vast understatement. It will be a night every music lover will long remember and cherish.”

Tickets to the invitation-only event will be available in July.

Chris Young

A second annual Guitars of the Stars Benefit Auction will be held on Friday, June 11 at 3:00 PM at the Ryman Auditorium. The event will give fans in town for CMA Music Fest the opportunity to bid on acoustic guitars decorated by some of country music’s hottest stars. All proceeds from the auction will benefit the Opry Trust Fund and will be earmarked for victims of this month’s Middle Tennessee floods.

Among the stars confirmed to contribute guitars they’ve designed in celebration of their current singles, hobbies, favorite country songs, or country music heroes are Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Danny Gokey, Alan Jackson, George Jones, The Judds, Jake Owen, Rascal Flatts, Darius Rucker, and more.

Other guitars up for bids will include a custom Gibson Ebony LP guitar to be signed by artists at the 2010 CMT Music Awards and a guitar designed by the artists on this spring’s Country Throwdown Tour.
RCA Nashville artist Chris Young will kick off the event with songs from his current album, The Man I Want To Be, followed by the auction. Young will also contribute a guitar personalized for a winning bidder that afternoon. GAC-TV and 650 WSM radio personality Bill Cody will be on hand as emcee.

For more than 40 years, the Opry Trust Fund has assisted members of the country music community in need of help with medical bills, living expenses, utilities, rent, and food. Proceeds from this year’s auction will be earmarked to benefit victims of the floods that ravaged Middle Tennessee earlier this month.

RCA Nashville artist Martina McBride has signed a management deal with Clint Higham, President of Morris Artist Management, this week. Higham, who manages Kenny Chesney and Jake Owen, is based in Nashville and has been with Morris Artist Management for 18 years.

“Excited is an understatement when it comes to how I feel about starting this partnership with Clint,” says McBride. “He has strong and focused ideas about my career and the opportunities that lie ahead. I have the utmost respect not only for his talent and passion as a manager, but also for his integrity both professionally and personally.”

“My team and I cannot be more thrilled and honored to represent Martina,” says Higham. “She is an artist who inspires all those around her as well as millions of fans everywhere. Martina is a superstar at the top of her game but I believe there are many layers to her career that have yet to be explored. I look forward to an exciting future with her.”

Knoxville Habitat for Humanity and the Charlie and Moll Anderson Family Foundation are teaming up with America’s talented musical artists to build a ‘Music Row’ in Knoxville. Only this ‘Music Row’ serves to provide local families with simple, decent and affordable housing.

Today, Brooks & Dunn’s Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn participated in the dedication of the ‘Brooks & Dunn’ house, the first of the ‘Music Row’ houses made possible by the Charlie and Moll Anderson Family Foundation. The home is located at 1717 LeFlore, formerly Bonny Ave., in Knoxville.

“The work of Habitat for Humanity is extraordinary and inspiring. It is an honor to be part of this project and have our names on one of Knoxville’s new ‘Music Row’ homes,” said Brooks & Dunn.
‘Music Row’ will be a collection of numerous houses built by Knoxville Habitat for Humanity on LeFlore Ave. in the Lonsdale community. The houses, each of which will be built during the next 10 years, are underwritten by the Charlie and Moll Anderson Family Foundation from an annual benefit concert featuring a country music act. Brooks & Dunn performed at the first event in 2008 and the first house is built in their honor. Next year, a home will be built in honor of recording artist Martina McBride, who performed at the 2009 benefit.

Even though the homes are underwritten by the foundation, the homes are not given away. In lieu of a down payment, all Knoxville Habitat for Humanity homeowners are required to complete 500 hours of sweat equity, mostly in the form of budgeting and homeowner classes. In addition, the family pays a mortgage on the home that is at zero-percent over 25 to 30 years.

Besides a visit from country duo Brooks & Dunn, the dedication included remarks from Knoxville Habitat for Humanity’s president and CEO, Kelle Shultz and Charlie and Moll Anderson of the Charlie and Moll Anderson Family Foundation.

“Today we’re celebrating new homeowner Stephanie Davis, thanks to the generosity of the Charlie and Moll Anderson Family Foundation,” said Shultz. “When Brooks & Dunn hand Stephanie the keys to her new house it will unlock her dream of home ownership.”

“Home ownership has an incredible generational impact on families,” said Charlie Anderson. “According to a 2001 Harvard University study, children whose families own a home have better home environments, higher cognitive test scores and fewer behavioral problems than do children of renters. The positive affect that a steady, grounded home environment can have on a child is amazing.”

“We are thrilled to be a part of the ‘Music Row’ here in Knoxville,” said Moll Anderson. “One of our Foundation’s key philosophies is to provide basic human needs, and shelter fits into that category. Working with Knoxville Habitat for Humanity is a perfect way for us to focus on something that’s so important for all humans – a safe and healthy home.”

Brooks & Dunn along with Charlie and Moll Anderson talk with new Habitat for Humanity homeowner Stephanie Davis and her family in front of their new home on ‘Music Row’ in Knoxville, Tenn.