The 3rd Annual No Shave November benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®, has raised $115,000 toward this year’s goal of $150,000 thus far. Participants are awaiting The Beard Bash at Nashville’s Tin Roof next Tuesday, Nov. 26 at 6:00pm. Steve Wariner, Craig Campbell, Terri Clark, James Otto, Cowboy Troy, Anthony Smith and Austin Webb are scheduled to perform with ’90s Country cover band The Old 96ers. Additional artists will be announced closer to the date.

Various awards will be presented at the Beard Bash, and overall fundraising awards will be announced on Nov. 30. Local beard product company Beardition will provide prizes for all winners, while Dollar General has donated shaving cream and razors to No Shave November participants.
The 2013 Honorary Chairman Of The Beard, Keifer Thompson of Thompson Square, was last year’s top fundraising artist and is hoping to repeat this year. Team LOGS is currently in the fundraising lead, and Team UMG, lead by Captain Willie Robertson (who had a several year head-start on his beard) is currently in second place. Warner Music Group’s “Warner Whiskers” is in third, and Team Big 98/Bobby Bones Show and the Chris Young Fan Club round out the top five.
Each team and individual has been rallying friends, family, fans and listeners to make donations to St. Jude in support of the teams’ efforts. Donations raised during No Shave November will help St. Jude continue its lifesaving mission of finding cures and saving children battling cancer and other deadly diseases.
Visit waystohelp.st.jude.org to donate.

Deana Carter will release her first new CD in seven years, Southern Way Of Life, on her Little Nugget Records on Dec. 2, with preorders beginning Thanksgiving weekend. Fans helped select the first single from the project, “Do Or Die,” which will hit radio this month.
Produced by Carter and recorded at Hollywood Sound Studio, the new CD includes songs co-written with Kacey Musgraves (“I Don’t Want To”), Kimberly Perry (“You Can’t Stay”), Tyler Hilton (“Waiting For You To Come Home”), and more.
“Most of these songs mimic my own life,” says Carter. “Instinctively autobiographical, the project weaves through many levels of emotions and situations culminating with the title track that will make any Southerner smile.”
USA Today debuted a new video for “Do Or Die” online on Nov. 20, and Carter is also planning a re-release of her holiday album Father Christmas in December.

The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Nashville Entrepreneur Center honored the winners of the 2013 NEXT Awards during an event Thursday evening (Nov. 21) at the Music City Center in downtown Nashville.
The NEXT Awards were created to honor Music City’s groundbreaking entrepreneurs, as well as area businesses experiencing the most significant revenue and employment growth. Among those honored were FLO{thinkery}, which received the start-up honor in the Digital Media & Entertainment category, along with Thirty Tigers, which earned the Growth honor in the Digital Media & Entertainment category.
FLO{thinkery} builds successful businesses, working with entertainers and entrepreneurs to build new ventures in technology and entertainment, and focusing on consumer products, technology, and content.
Thirty Tigers offers a wide array of services, including artist management, publicity, marketing and distribution and radio promotion. The company also has its own label imprint.
The 2013 NEXT Award Winners:
Technology
Startup: Virsys12, LLC
Growth: LeanKit, Inc.
Market Mover: Qualifacts Systems, Inc.
Digital Media & Entertainment
Start-up: FLO (thinkery)
Growth: Thirty Tigers
Health Care
Startup: MDSave Incorporated
Growth: Shareable Ink
Market Mover: Parallon
Social Enterprise
Goodwill Industries of Middle TN, Inc.
Products & Services
Start-up: Southern Kitchen Nashville, LLC
Growth: Brand Imaging Group
Market Mover: LetterLogic, Inc.
Entrepreneurial Partner of the Year
LBMC
Youth Entrepreneur of the Year
Matthew Madlock, Unshatter
Entrepreneur of the Year
Beth Chase, c3/consulting