CMT Blog: Charity

Country music and professional sports are hopelessly intertwined. Country stars go to the games, athletes show up at their concerts, and then those stars go to even more games. It's like a never-ending circle of mutual admiration.

And on Nov. 13, it gets even better for Chicago. Greg Olsen, the Chicago Bears' tight end, is hosting a Shake the Lake country concert to benefit breast cancer, brain cancer and Children's Memorial Hospital. Keith Anderson and David Nail will both be on hand to entertain and raise a little cash.

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If you know anyone who takes country's drinkin' songs a little bit too seriously, then you will love what Joe Nichols is doing to help them kick some bad, bad habits. One of the songs off his new album is "An Old Friend of Mine." And it is basically a break-up song, only he's breaking up with the bottle. "Today I said goodbye to an old friend of mine/My hands were shaking and my knees were weak/As I poured my last shot and I drank my last drink/And I heard freedom ring when that bottle hit the floor and I just walked away not needing anymore." Very powerful words, especially with nothing more than some haunting piano behind Nichols' deep rich voice.

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My mom was a big supporter of thank-you notes until the day she died. Actually, supporter is probably not the right word. Tyrant might be better. I was not allowed to even open the Barbie box or make one measly cake in my Easy Bake Oven until I'd written the thank-you note to the gift giver. And it looks like Jamey Johnson and Randy Houser were raised the same way. Because while they are out on tour together, they are asking fans to write thank-you postcards to troops through the USO. "Those guys in the field need some emotional connection to home, and I think this project will bring a little bit of home to them," said Johnson. You can do it the old-fashioned way, with a pen and a stamp, and or go the virtual way by visiting the USO's Web site to tell the soldiers you appreciate their gift of service and that America hasn't forgotten them. The USO will print those online notes and give them to the troops serving overseas.

She's not shaming anyone into volunteering their time. She's just kind of encouraging it. Faith Hill is telling you to work as one, create something beautiful, start again, ease a burden and provide hope where there was none. Sounds easy enough, right? But to make it even easier, this group Hill has teamed up with -- iParticipate -- gives you actual times and places of where you can carry out her advice. So, say you live in Boston. You could go a couple of mornings this week to Rosie's Place to tutor homeless women or teach English as a second language. And this Web site lists a million other ways you can help, wherever you are. Not just the quit-your-job-and-join-the-Peace-Corps ways, but manageable ways so you can fit creating good into your schedule no matter how busy you get.

It was unofficially Tim McGraw Day everywhere yesterday (Oct. 20), because of his Southern Voice album release. But in Illinois, it was very officially Tim McGraw Day.

At Tuesday night's (Oct. 20) album release party in Chicago, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn took the little honky-tonk stage with McGraw to do more than just give him a pat on the back. The governor, a very devoted country music fan, gave a speech about why McGraw was worthy of a day to call his own and how he wanted to recognize McGraw's outstanding support of our veterans, service members and their families.

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Remember back when Ellen DeGeneres introduced a stunned Taylor Swift to her favorite musical crush, Justin Timberlake? Well, that was so last year. Now it looks like Timberlake and Swift are buds. So much so that she helped him out in Las Vegas over the weekend (Oct. 17) at his second annual Justin Timberlake & Friends concert. It benefits the Shriners Hospital for Children. When she took the stage, Timberlake told the crowd that there would be "no Kanye-style stage crashing on his watch." Swift did "Forever & Always," "You Belong With Me" and "Love Story." Then after all the artists had taken their turns on stage, it was time for Timberlake. And toward the end of the show, Timberlake reportedly took to the piano to do his "What Goes Around ... Comes Around." Since Swift covers that song during her own performance of "You're Not Sorry," it might've been cool to see the two of them collaborate on that one. Maybe next year.

Just because Brad Paisley's all clean-cut doesn't mean all the country stars need to be. Right? But Paisley took to Twitter to take a few good-hearted jabs at Keith Urban before they took the stage together for the We're All for the Hall show to benefit Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. I don't spend a lot of time on Twitter but almost 70,000 people are following Paisley and probably got a kick out of his thread of funny remarks about Urban. Like: "Get to jam with an up N coming young Australian guitarist 2night named, um, can't remember," "Starts with a 'k' I think, anyway, he's got potential ... Karl? Kelvin? Ken? ... Rural ... rural's the last name, I'm sure of that." And then: "Feel so stupid. His name is Keith Urban. Guess he's some sort of big deal. Certainly amazingly talented, great guy. Needs a haircut though." But by the end of the show he got all serious, tweeting "Hope they raised a lot of money tonight. Really was a blast."

Dierks Bentley says that one of his favorite songs is "Beautiful World" because of its inspirational message, but I'm wondering if it has something to do with the fact that he got to duet with the incomparable Patty Griffin. The song is about how there is a lot of negativity in the world, but if you choose to see the good in people and believe in something better, then it truly is beautiful. Its video is simple and understated, much like the song, and I like how as the two drink coffee and sing to each other you can sometimes see rain falling outside the cozy house. Somehow that seems to bring the message home. By the way, Bentley and CMT One Country are offering a free download of "Beautiful World" for a limited time. Beautiful indeed.

Dierks Bentley raised $215,077 for the Children's Miracle Network with his Miles & Music for Kids event yesterday (Oct. 11) and holding the giant check said, "I just can't believe it, looking at this number. Thank you all so much." Motorcyclists turned out in droves for the charity ride and concert, and after spending all day with his audience, Bentley was as comfortable as if he were at a backyard barbecue. He started his headlining set with "Sideways," and after thanking the crowd announced, "Let's keep this as down-home as possible. We're taking requests." He got plenty of those and ended up playing "Every Mile a Memory," "Lot of Leavin' Left to Do," "What Was I Thinkin'" and even brought 3 Doors Down frontman Brad Arnold out for a couple of tunes.

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Dierks Bentley will be riding his motorcycle into downtown Nashville on Sunday (Oct. 11) during his fourth annual Miles & Music for Kids event, with the charity ride culminating in an all-star concert. Yet, Bentley still remembers that first year, in 2006, when he was worried about the fundraiser for Nashville's children's hospital. "That was the big goal. We didn't know who was going to show up. We had a lot of artists donating their time, like Jeff Foxworthy and Montgomery Gentry," he said. "We ended up making $100,000 so it ended up exceeding expectations. I was nervous, you know, the first time trying to pull something off. You've got cops involved, a lot of volunteers and artists and fans, and you want to make sure it's a great experience for everybody. And it ended up working out."

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