Carrie Underwood is scheduled to headline a Salute to the Troops Concert on Aug. 14. The concert is for soldiers and families of Fort Campbell, Ky., whose 101st Airborne Division will be returning from duty in the Middle East.
The show will take place over two nights, and will also feature one of my personal favorites – Jake Owen. Those of you in Northwest Tennessee and Southwest Virginia may remember that Jake will also be at our Washington County Fair in Abingdon, Va., on Sept. 19.
Carrie, our reigning ACM Entertainer of the Year, is one of many of our country artists who has spent part of their career entertaining our military. She did a USO Holiday Tour in 2006 in Iraq and Kuwait.
If you don’t have any idea how long that list of country artists who were part of the USO really is… here’s just a few of the entertainers who entertained for our troops all over the world. To name just a few – and going back as far as 1940, we had Gene Autry, Roy Acuff, Minnie Pearl, Little Jimmy Dickens, and Hank Williams in places like England, Germany and the Azores.
Jerry Reed and Patsy Cline went to Hawaii to perform in 1950, and Red Foley and Roy Acuff went on a USO tour with Bob Hope in 1961. After the Vietnam War, Loretta Lynn began touring with the USO in the 1980s. And Mickey Gilley and Kris Kristofferson toured with the USO in 1985.
The list goes on and on. Other names include Lee Greenwod, Ricky Skaggs, Holly Dunn, the Forrester Sisters, Clint Black and Lisa Hartman, Mark Collie, Charlie Daniels, Toby Keith, Brad Cotter, Darryl Worley, Mark Wills, Kellie Pickler and Rascal Flatts. You can read a great article about Country Music and USO here.
Remember Carrie’s new CD is scheduled for release on Nov. 3. We’re still waiting for the title of the new CD, which will be on 19 Recordings/Artisia Nashville. She’s working with producer Mark Bright again, he also worked on her 2007 album Carnival Ride, and on seven songs from her debut album, Some Hearts.
Here’s Part 2 of Kellie Pickler’s USO Diary.
Time for me to go get my Saturday started. Drop me a line – let me know what you guys did with your weekend! I’ll talk to you all soon.
Country
country@countryschatter.com
It’s wonderful to see country artists doing things like this for people who need some cheering up. Carrie Underwood has done a lot recently and cannot wait to see what she’ll be doing next! Great blog!