by Anne Paquin | Mar 6, 2013 | News Slider
At the ioStudio Charlie Daniels’ Scholarship for Heroes Tour Tuesday night in Allen Arena, the stars performed on stage to give their thanks to Yellow Ribbon students who have fought for their freedom. In this video, the musicians were given the opportunity to speak directly to veterans, thanking them for their service. Artists include Charlie Daniels, Chris Young, Jason Aldean, Keni Thomas, Mark “Sparky” Matejka from Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jamie Johnson and Terry Eldridge of The Grascals and Lee Greenwood, as well as the evening’s host, Storme...
by Cory Woodroof | Mar 6, 2013 | News Slider
A packed house rocked out to free music for a great cause in Allen Arena Tuesday night as country music legend Charlie Daniels and a host of others headlined the annual ioStudio Charlie Daniels’ Scholarship for Heroes Tour. In its fourth year, the show, always led by Daniels, helps benefit the Yellow Ribbon initiative, a program that pledges to help post-9/11 GI Bill veterans receive an education with little-to-no cost at Lipscomb University. This year, there are around 200 Yellow Ribbon students that attend school. Alongside Daniels, The Grascals, Chris Young, Keni Thomas, Bleach and surprise guest Jason Aldean all played a mix of current hits and classics in order to give the Yellow Ribbon students in attendance an exciting night to remember. Before the show, Daniels met with the Yellow Ribbon students and posed in a group picture. Daniels said that the veterans are brave individuals who endure daily strife all for the ultimate aim of receiving an education. “It takes something that a lot of people don’t have to get out of a bed, to turn off the pain medicine and to walk into a situation where you’re trying to better yourself,” Daniels said. “Just the act of getting out of bed every day is a bigger job than most of us can ever even imagine.” To Daniels, the Yellow Ribbon students – and all those who serve in the military – may have different stories, but all deserve to be recognized in the highest regard for their service to the country. “Everybody’s story is different, but everybody’s got one, and everybody has really struggled to be...
by Kyrsten Turner | Mar 4, 2013 | News Slider
Charlie Daniels may be sending the devil down to Georgia, but he’ll be back in time to headline Tuesday’s Scholarship for Heroes Tour. “It’s an amazing night,” April Herrington, the assistant director of Lipscomb’s veteran services, said. “You’ll get to see Charlie Daniels perform. I know a lot of the students here are probably not familiar with Charlie Daniels, but he is a great supporter,” Herrington said. “He has been on this walk with us for four years. Ever since we started, he’s been right behind us to support us.” The concert series first started four years ago as a way to recognize Lipscomb’s Yellow Ribbon students. “That was the original start of the Charlie Daniels concert,” Herrington said. “Then it was called Operation Yellow Ribbon. Now, it’s been changed to Charlie Daniels’ Scholarship for Heroes.” “The concert raises money for scholarships to help pay for students who were not 100-percent eligible for free tuition. The money goes toward them to help supplement their cost so that hopefully, when we raise enough money, they can go to school, tuition free as well.” Herrington said donations of over $30,000 were collected at last year’s concert and Lipscomb was able to award 10 scholarships for the current year. They hope to raise even more Tuesday night. There are approximately 175 yellow ribbon students, so every little bit helps. A reception will be held Tuesday night before the concert for veterans and sponsors. The veterans will also have a special meet-and-greet session with the artists before the big performances. “We have several great performers coming,” Herrington said. “Basically, the concert is going...
by Cory Woodroof | Mar 8, 2012 | News Slider
To honor those who both attend Lipscomb and have served our country in the past ten years, Charlie Daniels returned to Lipscomb Tuesday night to headline the third annual concert benefitting the campus’ Yellow Ribbon program. Founded in 2009, the Yellow Ribbon program helps post 9/11 GI Bill veterans to obtain an education for little-to-no charge on their behalf at Lipscomb University. The current program currently offers more than 150 veterans the chance to attend the university. Daniels expressed enthusiasm in getting another opportunity work with the program. “I can’t think of a bigger honor or a more necessary thing to do than to try to take care of people who have literally gone out and stood between us and the enemy,” Daniels said. “I think that a lot of our servicemen and women have changed their dreams in midstream. Maybe they had something planned to do when they came back from the service that injuries may have precluded them to do, and this program helps prepare them for the rest of their lives. So, I don’t think we can ever do enough for our service people.” The musician has a long history of holding servicemen and women in a very high regard.Daniels said that “you cannot beat the people in our military.” Daniels was very excited to play in front of a large crowd in Allen Arena Tuesday night and was not hesitant in saying so. “It’s like when I hit stage, a crowd is a crowd and a show is a show, and I’m there to give everything all I’ve got,” Daniels said. Daniels also offered...
by Stewart Williams | Dec 15, 2011 | News Slider, Opinion
O.K., so I’m sitting there and here comes Keith Urban. And Eric Church … and, well, it’d be easy to lose count after spending the evening of Nov. 9 as a seat-filler at the 45th annual CMA Awards here in Nashville. Freshman Megan Anderson and I were two lucky Lipscomb students, among students from other schools, chosen to be seat-fillers because of our involvement in CMA EDU, a country music program that meets monthly on campus. Several hundred seat-fillers met outside Bridgestone Arena where their IDs were checked, and they were given wristbands and directions for the night. Of course, the purpose of seat-fillers is simple: to fill the seats. Those seats are empty when the stars go onstage to perform or to present awards, so our job was to keep the arena looking filled up for network cameras. A group of aisle-fillers wore pink wristbands, and the seat-fillers wore blue wristbands. Each group was assigned a general area to sit or stand throughout the show unless they were separately asked to go somewhere else. Megan and I sat in the back-upper section of the arena with a clear view of the main stage. About eight rows in front of us was a small stage, where several artists such as Church, Urban, Chris Young and Scotty McCreery performed throughout the night. As seat-fillers, we weren’t allowed to bring phones or cameras to the show to be as professional as possible. Going from watching the CMAs on TV to seeing it live on stage is amazing. Megan and I couldn’t believe our eyes. The biggest country award show I watch every year on TV,...
