by Mckenzi Harris | Jul 8, 2020 | Arts and Entertainment, News, News Slider
Charlie Daniels, who died Monday at age 83, used his stardom and energy to help veterans’ causes, including helping provide the educational costs for veterans attending Lipscomb. Daniels, a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, died after suffering a stroke. The funeral for the Grand Ole Opry member, best known for “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” and with his Charlie Daniels Band helping to define the “Southern Rock” genre, is at 11 a.m. Friday at World Outreach Church in Murfreesboro. Sellars Funeral Home in Daniels’ adopted hometown of Mt. Juliet will host a visitation from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. Thursday. The singer played a part in Lipscomb’s Yellow Ribbon scholars program, which — along with the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill and Veterans Administration — funds the education of Post 9/11 veterans. For five years, Daniels put on a concert at Lipscomb for the Copperweld Charlie Daniels’ Scholarship for Heroes to raise funds for Lipscomb University’s Yellow Ribbon Enhancement Program. The first installment of the Copperweld Charlie Daniels’ Scholarship for Heroes concert was held in spring 2010. “Charlie Daniels was a talented musician, a man of deep conviction and principles, and a patriot,” said Lipscomb President Randy Lowry. “But most of all he was a compassionate person who tirelessly invested his time, talents and resources to make the lives of others better.” Daniels was best known for his crossover hit from 1979, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” which remains a staple on country and classic rock radio stations. The song made it to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won Daniels the Grammy for...
by Kayla O'Connor | Mar 26, 2015 | News Slider
The sound of Charlie Daniels’ fiddle will no longer echo throughout Allen Arena, but the money will continue to roll in for Lipscomb’s veteran scholarships. On Aug. 12, the Charlie Daniels Band’s 40th anniversary Volunteer Jam will take place at Bridgestone Arena. Profits from the event will go toward The Journey Home Project, a non-profit organization that connects donors to veterans, and The Predators Foundation, a charity organization that uses fan fundraising to help the community. A portion of The Journey Home Project’s proceeds will fund Lipscomb’s Scholarship for Heroes program. “Charlie Daniels is a huge veteran supporter, and he loves Lipscomb,” said April Herrington, director of Lipscomb veteran services. “He had a concern with the fact that we were moving it from campus, but once he realized that it was going to support us even more than it had, he was thrilled about the event.” Herrington said she hopes to increase the cap on the scholarship with the bigger venue. “All in all, I think it’s a great move, and I think it’s going to benefit our program a lot,” Herrington said. “It’s going to be a lot bigger than it could have ever been on campus.” From 2010 to 2014, Daniels partnered with Lipscomb to host his Scholarship for Heroes concerts to benefit Lipscomb’s veteran students and their dependents with tuition cost. Last year’s event rewarded over $52,000 to veteran students. First-year nursing student and veteran Rachel Lanahan is a recipient of the Scholarship for Heroes. After eight years of medical work in the military, Lanahan was offered an intelligence job that involved flying unarmed aircraft oversees. After a few years, she said...
by Logan Butts | Mar 26, 2014 | News Slider
Although Tuesday began with the chill of unexpected snow flurries, it ended with Charlie Daniels and a group of his high-profile musician friends heating up Allen Arena. The fifth annual Copperweld Charlie Daniels’ Scholarship for Heroes concert — the first installment of which was held in spring 2010 — raises funds for Lipscomb University’s Yellow Ribbon Enhancement Program. The program allows post-9/11 military veterans, as well as their family members, to pursue undergraduate or graduate degrees from Lipscomb, either tuition-free or at greatly reduced costs. All proceeds from the concert go towards the scholarships of the more than 200 Yellow Ribbon students at Lipscomb. “War was very real to me,” Daniels said, “I realized that only two things protect America, and that’s the grace of God and the United States military. It’s that way then, it’s that way now, and as long as there’s an America, when these folks go and lay their lives on the line for us and come back, we owe them. I don’t view [the concert] as something glorious that I do, I view it as it is my duty.” Lipscomb students, Nashville music fans and a flurry of other folks poured into Allen Arena to see Daniels and his band, Kellie Pickler, Clint Black, The Grascals, Lee Greenwood, the U.S. Navy Band Sea Chanters and the American Hitmen. The host for the night was Music City broadcast personality Storme Warren, described as the “Dick Clark of Nashville” in a profile by The Tennessean morning newspaper. Director of Veterans Services Jim Humphrey, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, provided the invocation. Humphrey, also associate dean of students and the head of Lipscomb Security, will be leaving the...
by Kyrsten Turner | Feb 7, 2014 | News Slider
Music legends are heading to Lipscomb this spring for the fifth annual Copperweld Charlie Daniel’s Scholarship for Heroes event. The concert, which will be on Tuesday, March 25 at 7 p.m. in Allen Arena, will feature performances from Charlie Daniels, Kellie Pickler, Clint Black, The Grascals, the American Hitmen, the Navy Band Sea Chambers and other special guests. The Charlie Daniels Scholarship for Heroes tour is a benefit to raise funds for American veterans’ education. The event was started in March 2010 by Daniels to promote the Yellow Ribbon education program. Lipscomb participates in the Yellow Ribbon program at the highest level, offering free tuition for eligible military veterans and their families. Veterans may pursue an undergraduate degree through the program. Specific master’s programs are also available tuition-free. Servicemen and women, veterans and their families are invited to the concert as guests of corporate sponsors. In Lipscomb’s press release about the event, Jim Humphrey, the associate dean of campus life and director of veterans services, thanked Daniels for his support of veterans and the Yellow Ribbon program at Lipscomb. “We appreciate Charlie Daniels and his organization as well as those artists who have joined us for this event the past five years,” Humphrey said. “The awareness and funds that they raise for our program are impacting the lives of our veterans and their families in significant ways.” “Our veterans know that freedom isn’t free, but we think their education should be,” Humphrey said. “At Lipscomb we have a very unique opportunity to help open doors for our veterans through higher education.” Tickets are available to the public through to the generosity...
by Janice Ng | Jul 2, 2013 | News Slider
Originally written for lipscomb.edu. People of all ages filled Collins Alumni Auditorium on Monday, July 1, the second day of Summer Celebration, to hear Lipscomb presidential spouse Rhonda Lowry interview legendary singer, guitarist and fiddler Charlie Daniels about his faith in God and how it has impacted his life. Traditionally at Summer Celebration, Lipscomb’s annual festival of faith, fellowship and fun, Lowry interviews celebrities and people of note about their faith walk. Daniels has become a good friend to Lipscomb as he has partnered with the university for four years to hold an annual concert to raise funds for military veterans to attend college. At a very young age, Daniels formed a love and appreciation for the service men and women of America that would last him a lifetime. Today, at 76 years old, Daniels still remembers the events of World War II. “I remember D-Day in 1944,” Daniels said. “I was 8 years old at the time. My mother got me up early and said we were going to church to pray for the men who had been hit at the beach at Normandy. That day, I felt that America really came together under the grace of God.” Throughout his illustrious career, Daniels has not only prayed for the troops, but has reached out to them as well through his musical talent. “We go to these places called Forward Operating Bases and entertain the troops there,” Daniels said. “It’s such a gratifying thing to be able to play for them. When they say thank you, I don’t understand. I want to say thank you to them for what...
