Dolly Parton proves she is the total embodiment of the Christmas spirit as she continues to give back and spread hope and cheer during this holiday season. Today, she kicked off a virtual “Jingle Challenge” for Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt on her Facebook and Instagram pages, encouraging fans to spread messages of hope, with a goal of 10,000 holiday messages to children and staff at the Nashville children’s hospital.

Artists Blake Shelton, Lauren Alaina, Jon Pardi, Rascal Flatts, Lady A, Abby Anderson, Travis Denning, and more will join Dolly this month to participate in the Jingle Challenge. Starting today, individuals nationwide can customize a photo with Dolly on Santa’s sleigh in the Hannah Dennison Butterfly Garden located inside the children’s hospital and send a message to patients, families and staff. The butterfly garden was renamed in 2018 in honor of and dedicated to Dolly’s niece Hannah Dennison, a survivor of childhood cancer who received her care at Children’s Hospital.

Participants can download and share their special photo with Dolly to their social media pages to help spread awareness and call on others to participate in the challenge. In addition to being featured on the Jingle Challenge landing page, fans around the world can also find the virtual postcard via Dolly’s own ‘Dolly Digital Sleigh’ campaign.

“Knowing that kids at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt will get to see how many people across the world are thinking of them this holiday season makes my heart happy,” said Parton. “You know, The Hannah Dennison Butterfly Garden is something we dedicated a few years back, so I know adding this picture of hope to our Dolly Digital Sleigh campaign will be a blessing to all the families.”

When individuals participate in the challenge by sending a message to the children’s hospital, they will receive a special image to post to their social channels to show that they’ve joined the challenge.

“We are so grateful to Dolly, all the participating artists and our larger community for virtually delivering messages of encouragement and support to our children, their families and our amazing staff,” said Meg Rush, MD, MMHC, President of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. “It is heartwarming to know that during this holiday season our hospital is wrapped in the caring spirit of our community, which serves as the foundation of the work we do every day as we provide hope and healing to children and families all year round.”

Taylor Swift. Photo: Beth Garrabrant

Taylor Swift has given fans a sneak peek at her re-recording of her 2008 hit “Love Story,” by including the new recording in a Match.com advertisement featuring a wholly appropriate “match”: Satan and the year 2020.

Swift shared the advertisement, which features a snippet of the newly-recorded version of “Love Story,” on social media, and noted that Ryan Reynolds chose to include the clip in the advertisement, which is produced by his production company Maximum Effort.

“Okay so while my new re-records are NOT done, my friend @VancityReynolds asked me if he could use a snippet of one for a LOLsome commercial he wrote so…here’s a sneak peak of Love Story!” Swift told fans via Twitter on Wednesday. “Working hard to get the music to you soon!!”

Okay so while my new re-records are NOT done, my friend @VancityReynolds asked me if he could use a snippet of one for a LOLsome commercial he wrote so…here’s a sneak peak of Love Story! Working hard to get the music to you soon!! https://t.co/0vBFXxaRXR

— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) December 2, 2020

Last month, Swift confirmed that Shamrock Holdings had purchased her master recordings from Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings.  In a social media post, Swift said she “received a letter from a private equity company called Shamrock Holdings, letting us know that they had bought 100% of my music, videos and album art from Scooter Braun. This was the second time my music had been sold without my knowledge. The letter told me that they wanted to reach out before the sale to let me know, but that Scooter Braun had required that they make no contact with me or my team, or the deal would be off.”

In that same letter to fans, Swift noted that she had begun re-recording her older music. After the original recording of “Love Story” released in 2008, the track reached the Top 5 on Billboard‘s Hot 100, reached No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart, and has since been certified 8x multi-Platinum by the RIAA.

Chevel Shepherd is releasing a new 12-song holiday album, A Good Ol’ Country Christmas, on Dec. 11.

The season 15 winner of NBC’s The Voice recorded the collection of holiday cover tunes spanning generations, from Bill Monroe’s 1951 “Christmas Times A Comin’” to the contemporary classic from The Polar Express “When Christmas Comes to Town,” in Durango, Colorado, and co-produced the album.

“This holiday season, more than any other, feels like one we should all give what we can and for me, that’s singing,” shares Shepherd. “My family has several Christmas traditions and singing carols has always been a big part. A Good Ol’ Country Christmas reminds me of home, the people who raised me and the traditions we hold dear.”

Shepherd made her debut earlier this year with “Everybody’s Got A Story,” penned by Kacey Musgraves, Shane McAnally and Brandy Clark, and “Mama Got the Chair,” a clever call-and-response to George Strait’s 1985 hit “The Chair.”

A Good Ol’ Country Christmas Track List:

1. Country Christmas
2. Let It Snow
3. Mary Did You Know
4. Up On The Rooftop
5. Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town
6. Rudolph
7. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
8. Christmas Times A Comin’
9. It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas
10. Go Tell It On The Mountain
11. Winter Wonderland
12. When Christmas Comes To Town

Pictured (Clockwise from top left): Gordie Sampson, Alex Orbison (Co-President, SWM), Sara Beal (Publishing Director, SWM), Emily Olson (Creative Director, SWM), Jesse Willoughby (GM, Kobalt Nashville), Kevin Lane (Creative Director, Kobalt Nashville)

Still Working Music and Kobalt have extended an exclusive worldwide publishing deal with Gordie Sampson, who has co-written hits including Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus Take The Wheel,” Hunter Hayes’ “Storm Warning,” Florida Georgia Line ft. Backstreet Boys’ “God, Your Mama, and Me,” and Luke Bryan’s “Knockin’ Boots.” Most recently he’s had additional songs released by Tenille Townes, Caylee Hammack, Lindsay Ell, Adam Hambrick, Scott Helman, Caitlyn Smith, and Mickey Guyton.

“I couldn’t be more excited to extend our deal with Gordie Sampson. He has immense talent and I am looking forward to our continued partnership!” said Still Working Music’s Alex Orbison.

“I am beyond thrilled to continue working with Gordie alongside Emily and the Still Working Music family. Gordie’s talent and drive make him a dream to represent and I can’t wait to see what he accomplishes next.” said Kobalt’s Kevin Lane.

Still Working Music writers include Jon Randall, Chase Bryant, Lance Miller, Rachel Reinert, and Ian Christian. Still Working Music proudly partners with BMG, Kobalt, and others.

Kobalt is a music and technology company built for artists, songwriters, publishers, labels, film and television production companies, studios and networks as an alternative to the traditional music business model.