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

'Tony' offers a revealing look at Anthony Bourdain before fame

Photo courtesy of A24

Antonio Banderas and Dominic Sessa in Tony.

The reason that most biopics fail is because they try to do too much, telling a “cradle-to-grave” story or one taking place over a long period of time that only scratches the surface of understanding the full measure of a particular person. A better approach is the one taken in the new film Tony, which uses a formative period of time in the life of Anthony Bourdain to identify a larger truth about him.

The film finds Tony (Dominic Sessa), as he liked to be known at the time, in his early college years, trying to BS his way through life. He tells lies to professors, his parents (Dagmara Dominczyk and Rich Sommer), his old classmate Nancy (Emilia Jones), and even himself in an attempt to skate by without actually doing anything.

When one con falls through, he follows Nancy to Provincetown, Massachusetts to try to find her. A series of events result in him getting drunk in a restaurant owned by a chef (Antonio Banderas), who takes him in. Tony starts working as a dishwasher and hanging out with Sal (Leo Woodall), who barely has his own act together. With no other options, he spends his summer on Cape Cod, hoping something will happen to change his lot in life.

Written and directed by Matt Johnson (Blackberry) and co-written by three others, the film gives barely a hint of the man who would go on to become a celebrity chef and acclaimed author. It does indicate that his brashness was always there, but this Tony is aimless and too often rash in his decision-making. His biggest success in the film only comes when he finally recognizes that lying has brought him nothing but misery, and that telling the truth, even if it’s painful, sets him free.

The restaurant at which Tony works, the now-defunct The Flagship, is the heartbeat of the film, containing a motley crew of people who bond over slinging mostly mediocre seafood. Johnson evolves Tony’s relationship with the chef (who’s never given a proper name) into a strong one as Tony spends each night in a hammock on the chef’s porch, only to be woken up each morning with a pot of water thrown in his face.

Tony continues to pursue Nancy for most of the film, and even though their relationship is not fruitful in terms of storytelling, it serves to enforce the mindset of the young man. Nancy only exists as an object of desire for Tony, with just the barest touch of an interior life of her own. While the intent of including a romantic interest for Tony makes sense in a way, it ultimately is the weakest part of the film.

Sessa, who made a bold film debut in 2023’s The Holdovers, has turned into one of the industry’s bright young stars. He embodies the moodiness of Bourdain, stalking around the town with a scowl and lanky walk that tells the audience everything they need to know about the character. Banderas and Woodall (Tuner) bring different types of great energy, and while Jones’ part is not great, she proves that - following CODA - she’s going to be around for a long time, as well.

Fans of Bourdain may lament that Tony doesn’t show anything from the years in which he became famous, but the small and personal film makes a great case that the period it depicts is equally significant to his life. It demonstrates that Tony’s summer on Cape Cod gave him some direction, a reason for being that allowed him to become who he eventually became.

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Tony opens in theaters on August 21.

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