Artist Updates (11/4/13)

Dolly Parton and Desiree Ross

• Dolly Parton will star in the upcoming Lifetime movie A Country Christmas Story, which will air Saturday, Nov. 9, at 8 p.m. ET. The film, about a young bi-racial Appalachian Mountain girl who dreams of becoming a country star and journeys to Dollywood to a singing competition hosted by Dolly herself, also stars Megyn Price, Brian McKnight, Desiree Ross, and Mary Kay Place.

Craig Morgan

• Kix Brooks and Craig Morgan are teaming up with Kidde Fire Safety to unveil a new national awareness campaign about fire prevention and safety. Morgan will appear in TV and digital spots for the new “Be A Safety Hero” initiative, which encourages the public to follow five simple steps to fire safety. Brooks will voice radio announcements for the new public service campaign’s alarm pledge program, which asks families to commit to being fire safe in their homes. Kidde is donating 1000 new Worry-Free smoke alarms to fire departments at 10 stops on Morgan’s 2014 tour, which will be installed in local at-risk homes.

Branch & Dean

• Branch & Dean have been named the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s newest ambassadors. The cause is very personal to the duo, since Branch lost his only son Theron, to the disease earlier this year at age 23. In their role, they will spread awareness about CF and help advance the mission of the Foundation.“When my son passed, it changed our whole lives. Suddenly, our music wasn’t just country music. It became music with a purpose,” Branch said. “We want to do everything we can to help the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation find a cure for this devastating disease.”

Austin Webb

• Austin Webb will make his Grand Ole Opry debut Saturday, Nov. 9 at the historic Ryman Auditorium. He will perform during the Opry At The Ryman shows at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. The evening’s lineup includes performances by Holly Williams, Sam Palladio, Del McCoury Band, and more.  ”Being asked to perform at the Grand Ole Opry is the highest honor I’ve ever known,” said Webb. “I’m blessed, humbled and grateful to have this opportunity.”

• Buck ‘Em!, the autobiography of Buck Owens will be released on Backbeat Books. The book is being released seven years after Owens’ death in 2006. In the late ’90s, Owens began working on Buck ’Em! speaking into a cassette tape recorder recording nearly 100 hours of memories of everything from his early days wearing hand-me-down clothes in Texas to his glory years as the biggest country star of the 1960’s and beyond. Author Randy Poe assembled Owens’ stories and transcribed them so that they are in his own words in the book, which features a preface by Dwight Yoakam and a foreword by Brad Paisley.

• Show Hope, the nonprofit orphan care ministry founded by Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife Mary Beth, will hold their Ten-Year Anniversary Fundraising Banquet at the Music City Center in downtown Nashville on Nov. 9. The event will feature the Chapmans and includes a reception, dinner and program. Olympic Gold medalist, Scott Hamilton, who was adopted as an infant, will emcee the special evening. To celebrate their 10 years of service, the fundraising banquet is open to the public for the first time. Limited seats are still available for purchase here.