ACM Awards news

Country star Parker McCollum to headline 2024 ACM Awards benefit in The Colony

Parker McCollum will headline the 2024 ACM Awards Lifting Lives concert in DFW.

Photo via Parker McCollum/Facebook

UPDATE 4-23-2024: The entire concert lineup has been revealed and includes Old Dominion, Jordan Davis, Kameron Marlowe, Ashley Cooke, along with additional surprise guests.

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The ACM Awards will make Dallas-Fort Worth a country music mecca for the second year in a row when they arrive in May. Among the many Awards-adjacent events will be the ACM Lifting Lives LIVE benefit show, headlined by Texan Parker McCollum.

Officially called "Parker McCollum and Friends: ACM Lifting Lives LIVE, Presented by Choctaw Casinos & Resorts," the concert, a release says, "will raise money and awareness for ACM Lifting Lives, which works to improve lives through the power of music with a specific focus on health-related initiatives that use music therapy as a way of healing."

The show will take place on the golfing green at Topgolf in The Colony on May 15, the night before the 59th ACM Awards at The Star in Frisco. (Also exactly a month before McCollum takes the stage in College Station with another Texan, country icon George Strait.)

Fans might remember that the ACM Lifting Lives benefit was the event that Morgan Wallen was slated to headline in 2023; he had to cancel due to illness the day before and was replaced by Jason Aldean. Also taking the stage for the sold-out show were HARDY, Lainey Wilson, ERNEST, Bailey Zimmerman, and DJ 13lackbeard.

Additional performers for the 2024 edition will be announced in the coming weeks, organizers say.

"I am truly honored that ACM Lifting Lives has given me the opportunity to host the Parker McCollum & Friends: ACM Lifting Lives event this year at Topgolf in The Colony, TX,” McCollum says in the release. “The work they do to improve lives through the power of music and the funds they raise are vital to helping folks in and out of our country music community. I can't wait to have some of my really talented friends join me for a great night supporting the mission of ACM Lifting Lives and help them continue their incredible work."

General admission tickets on the green will be available to ACM Members, ACM A-List subscribers, 59th ACM Awards ticket holders, and Topgolf Friends and Family through an exclusive presale starting Thursday, March 21 at 10 am. Remaining tickets will be available for a general public on-sale, beginning Friday, March 22 at 10 am, through ACMLiftingLives.org/Concert. Tickets are $150.

All proceeds will go to ACM Lifting Lives, whose beneficiaries include the ACM Lifting Lives Autism Lab at Vanderbilt Kennedy Center and their annual Music Camp for individuals with Williams syndrome. The nonprofit also gives to various organizations that provide mental health support for the country music community, the release says.

McCollum, a native of Conroe outside Houston, earned his first ACM Award for New Male Artist of the Year at the 2022 ACM Awards. He also won “Breakthrough Video of the Year” (a fully fan-voted honor) at the 2022 CMT Music Awards and earned two back-to-back CMA Awards nominations (2022 & 2023) for New Artist of the Year. He made his RodeoHouston debut as the Opening Day act in 2023.

He's currently on the road for a 41-date "Burn it Down" tour in support of his latest album, Never Enough.

“We have been massive fans of Parker for years, and we couldn’t be more excited that he chose to volunteer his time to help us raise money and awareness in his home state, says ACM Lifting Lives Executive Director Lyndsay Cruz in the release. "We can’t wait to party with the fans in North Texas so soon.”

acm awards country music celebrities concerts lifting lives parker mccollum benefits-galas

Movie Review

Leviticus is a chilling horror film with a timely message

Photo courtesy of Neon

Stacy Clausen and Joe Bird in Leviticus

One of the most well-known horror tropes of the 1980s was that anyone who had sex in a particular film would inevitably be killed shortly thereafter. The new horror film Leviticus updates that trope for the 21st century, with an added bonus of pointed commentary that unfortunately remains as relevant as ever.

Naim (Joe Bird) and his mother (Mia Wasikowska) have recently moved to a new town in Australia. Naim hasn’t made many new friends except for Ryan (Stacy Clausen), with whom he is exploring a rundown factory as the film begins. The teenage boys discover an attraction toward each other, something they try to keep hidden since the church they both attend abhors homosexuality.

When Naim sees Ryan kissing another boy, he rashly tells a church elder about it, leading to the church forcing Ryan and the other boy - and eventually Naim - to go through a conversion ceremony. But instead of making them believe they’re not gay, the rite conjures a demon, invisible to anyone but them, that takes the form of the person to whom they’re attracted.

Written and directed by first-time feature filmmaker Adrian Chiarella, the film is the latest example of Australia being a hotbed for horror movies. Referencing the same-named Bible book that some interpret as forbidding homosexuality, it turns into an intense and clever journey into paranoia. Ryan and Naim still see each other all the time, but they can never trust that the person in front of them is real.

Chiarella makes the most of his limited resources, utilizing dark scenes and dirty locations to complement the already-creepy vibe. But what makes the story hit the hardest is the understanding that boys like Naim and Ryan are almost literally trapped in their small town, unable to find a safe space to be who they are. An unseen demon trying to kill them is one thing, but the unsympathetic people around them feel almost as malevolent.

While the 90-minute film maintains its momentum for the most part, there are times when Chiarella loses the thread on his story logic. At first, it seems as if the demon only attacks when one of the boys gives in to temptation. But as the film progresses, the filmmaker plays a little fast and loose with that reasoning. Certain decisions by the characters also strain credulity, lessening the impact of the story to a degree.

Both Bird (Talk to Me) and Clausen give naturalistic performances that rarely feel as if they’re acting. Wasikowska, who was the “It girl” for a while after starring in two Alice in Wonderland movies, is the only face American audiences will likely know. She does well, especially considering it’s difficult to believe she’s already old enough to credibly play a mother of a teenager.

With a timely theme about the harmful effects of conversion therapy on gay people and a twist on a tired horror trope, Leviticus is another notch in the belt for 2026 as a great horror movie year. With more experience under his belt, Chiarella will likely be able to figure out how to smooth over the bumps in the storytelling he showed this time around.

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Leviticus is now playing in select theaters.

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Movie Review

Leviticus is a chilling horror film with a timely message