Artists for Friends of 1927: These Undowners, Cruz Contreras and Josh Oliver

The Birthplace of Country Music Alliance grassroots fundraising campaign, Friends of 1927, is simple. It’s 1,927 people giving $520 to raise $1 million to begin final construction on The Birthplace of Country Music Cultural Heritage Center. With less than $1 million of the $10.57 million project left to raise, the Friends of 1927 are key to achieving that goal.

Now local artists are getting into the act, using gigs they have already booked as fundraisers for Friends of 1927.

Last Wednesday Annie Robinette fans rallied their support of the artist, throwing fistfuls of cash into her tip jar until she reached her $520 pledge. With this contribution, Annie's name will now be displayed among the founding 1,927 Friends of '27 in the Birthplace of Country Music Cultural Heritage Center due to break ground next year.

Saturday, January 28th at 8:00pm Machiavelli’s will host another Friends of 1927 fundraiser for These Undowners. Special guests Josh Oliver (the everybodyfields/Jill Andrews) and Cruz Contreras (The Black Lillies) will also perform that evening. A third fundraiser will be held March 31st at Machiavelli’s for Bentley, Jared & Vanessa Bentley’s newly formed group. More dates with other area artists are in the works.

Visit www.BirthplaceOfCountryMusic.org for more information. If you are a local musician who wishes to use one of your gigs as a fundraiser for Friends of 1927, contact Charlene Baker at 423-573-1927.

Birthplace of Country Music Alliance is a nonprofit organization dedicated to telling the story of the living music heritage of the Appalachian Mountains and the cultural traditions that sustain it. The BCMA is funded in part by grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts, Tennessee Arts Commission, and National Endowment for the Arts. For more information, contact Charlene Baker, Director of Marketing/PR, at (423) 573-1927
or visit online at www.BirthplaceOfCountryMusic.org