Keith Urban, Sheryl Crow and Bailey Zimmerman have been added to the lineup for the Concert for Carolina. The benefit show to help Hurricane Helene victims was announced earlier this week. Luke Combs is headlining the show along with Eric Church, James Taylor and Billy Strings. The concert is taking place October 26th at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.
Jelly Roll's new album, Beautifully Broken, is being released on Friday. The new project features 22 tracks, which he has said is "the most music I've ever dropped at once." Three tracks feature artists from outside the country genre. Machine Gun Kelly joins Jelly Roll on "Time of Day." Other collaborators are rap superstar Wiz Khalifa and singer-songwriter Ilsey, who released her debut project as a recording artist in 2023 after a long career of writing hits for stars like Beyonce and Miley Cyrus.
Taylor Swift has made a $5 million donation to help with relief efforts from both Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton. Her donation will go to Feeding America. They posted a statement on social media, saying, "We're incredibly grateful to Taylor Swift for her generous $5 million donation to Hurricanes Helene and Milton relief efforts. This contribution will help communities rebuild and recover, providing essential food, clean water, and supplies to people affected by these devastating storms."
Luke Combs and Eric Church will be headlining a concert to benefit Hurricane Helene relief efforts. Concert for Carolina is scheduled for October 26th in Charlotte, North Carolina. Other headliners include James Taylor and Billy Strings. "I told y'all I had something big planned for Carolina," Luke wrote on social media. "This concert took so much planning, work and coordination from so many people. I'm so thankful to everyone who helped make this a possibility on such short notice." Hedge fund manager David Tepper, who owns the Carolina Panthers, and his wife Nicole provided Charlotte's Bank of America Stadium as the venue for the concert.
Luke Bryan wants to make it very clear that he has no problem with Beyoncé. He took to social media after his tour wrapped to thank his fans and to address recent headlines regarding Beyoncé's exclusion from the CMA Awards nominees list. He stands by the comments he made during an interview on Andy Cohen Live, but he thinks the headlines were "ridiculous" and gave people a false impression of how he feels about Beyoncé and her venture into the country genre. "I feel in my heart I could not let media create a false narrative," Luke says. "As I read thru the comments of some of you, I just want to say that I encourage all of you to listen to the interview instead of reading click bait headlines. You will hear my tone and intentions which were not negative. I respect Beyoncé and I love how loyal her fans are. I spend a lot of time supporting other artists. I want everyone to win. Love y'all." In the interview, Luke said that he believed the country music industry had a positive reaction to her country album, Cowboy Carter, which came out in March. However, he also said that she might have received some CMA nominations if she had spent more time connecting with the country music world in person. "If you're gonna make country albums, come into our world and be country with us a little bit," he said."...Like, Beyoncé can do exactly what she wants to do. She's probably the biggest star in music. But come to an awards show and high five us. And have fun and get in the family too." Luke will co-host this year's CMA Awards show with Peyton Manning and Lainey Wilson on November 20th.
Dolly Parton is giving $2 million to help people in need after Hurricane Helene. In a press conference on Friday, she shared that she will personally donate $1 million from her bank account. The businesses Dolly owns are matching that with another $1 million. All of the money will go to the Mountain Ways Foundation to help those affected by the flooding in her native east Tennessee.
Eric Church has released a new song called "Darkest Hour (Helene Edit) to help victims of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. According to the press release, Eric will donate all of his publishing royalties for this song to the people of North Carolina. He was already working on the song, but ended up releasing earlier than he had originally planned. "I had this song that I'd written, and the line that struck me in light of the recent devastation was 'I'll come running,' because there are a lot of people out there right now who are in their darkest hour and they need people to come running," Eric explains. "We were going to wait to release music until next year, but it just didn't feel right to wait with this song. Sometimes you give songs their moment and sometimes they find their own moment." While proceeds from the song will help North Carolina, Eric's charity, the Chief Cares Fund, will help all of the communities that were affected by the storm.
Miranda Lambert and her MuttNation Foundation have created a fundraiser to provide relief for the people and animals affected by Hurricane Helene. Fans can donate through the MuttNation Relief for Rescues Fun and 100% of donations will be sent to the cause. Miranda has already donated $100,000 to help animal shelters hit by the storm, as well as emergency response efforts. "It's a very dire situation because many of the shelters that got hit were already struggling with overcrowding," she explains. "As we've been in contact with the shelters, we're also hearing really heroic stories. People are risking their lives to help. It's that type of courage that gives me hope that we'll all get through this."