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Darius Rucker Announces Annual St. Jude Benefit

Darius Rucker will return to the historic Ryman Auditorium on Monday, June 3 for his 10th Annual Darius and Friends concert benefitting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The event, which…

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Darius Rucker will return to the historic Ryman Auditorium on Monday, June 3 for his 10th Annual Darius and Friends concert benefitting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

The event, which unofficially kicks off CMA Music Fest in downtown Nashville and has raised $1.6 million to date, will celebrate hitting the decade mark with an all-star roster of friends to be announced in the coming weeks.

“This event is always special because I love seeing my friends come together to support St. Jude and the amazing work they’re doing for families,” shares Darius. “When we were planning the upcoming Hootie & the Blowfish tour, it was important to me that we kept this show on the schedule. Of all the exciting things to come this year, this night will still be a highlight.”

Rucker was honored with the ACM Gary Haber Lifting Lives Award last year for his efforts and will receive the Harry Chapin Memorial Humanitarian Award at the upcoming 2019 Music Biz Awards. He made a commitment to support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital specifically in 2008 after touring the facility known around the globe for treating childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

-Nancy Brooks

Nancy Brooks has been working in the country music industry for almost 30 years. She has interviewed pretty much any country star you can think of. In the late 1990s, she started working with Dolly Parton. And yes, Nancy reports that Parton is as sweet as you would think. She loves her life in country music and has been backstage at every CMA Awards show since the late 1990s. Many of her stories are from her one-on-one interviews. She was there at the beginning of the incredible careers of many music superstars today, including Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Blake Shelton, and has interviewed them multiple times throughout the years.