OXFORD, Miss. – Country music superstar Vince Gill brings his spellbinding vocals and emotionally powerful lyrics to the University of Mississippi April 17 to help raise funds for student scholarships.
Joining Gill for the 8 p.m. concert at the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts are three Ole Miss alumni who have made names for themselves in the music industry: Mary Donnelly Haskell, Bryan Kennedy and Rivers Rutherford. They also are contributing their time and talent for the fundraiser, which benefits the Ole Miss First scholarship program.
“I’m looking forward to being in Mississippi and helping out my friends,” Gill said.
Concert tickets, priced at $33 to $40 for various seating, are available by calling 662-915-7411 or by visiting the UM Box Office in the Ole Miss Student Union from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. or the Ford Center Box Office from noon to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
“Vince Gill is an enduring entertainer with universal appeal,” said Norm Easterbrook, Ford Center director. “His music is deservedly popular, and it’s clear that he is a powerful force in country music entertainment. We are further pleased to present Mary Haskell, Bryan Kennedy and Rivers Rutherford in what promises to be a fun opening.”
Gill, one of the most popular and most recorded singers of the past quarter-century, has become the measure of excellence in country music. He achieved his big breakthrough in 1990 with “When I Call Your Name,” which won both the Country Music Association’s Single of the Year award and a Grammy for Best Country Male Vocal Performance.
Since then, Gill has won 17 more CMA honors, including Song of the Year four times, and his Grammy awards now total 20. While earning these distinctions, he has sold more than 26 million albums. His high, pure tenor voice and unerring sense of harmony have caused dozens of artists, from Reba McEntire to Dolly Parton to Barbra Streisand, to embrace him as a duet partner.
Since graduating from Ole Miss in 1981, Haskell has enjoyed success as a singer, actor, author and illustrator. A successful television actress and children’s recording artist, she is noted for her live performances at such venues as the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and with symphony orchestras across the United States. Her albums include “Power of the Cross,” a collection of contemporary inspirational songs, and “Just In Time for Christmas,” which includes some of the most well-known holiday classics.
Kennedy has written six hits for country singer Garth Brooks, including three No. 1 radio hits, “Good Ride Cowboy,” “Beaches of Cheyenne” and “American Honky Tonk Bar Association.”
He attended Ole Miss on a football scholarship, eventually earning the John Howard Vaught Award of Excellence his senior year. He left Ole Miss in 1983, just six hours short of graduation, but returned 20 years later and completed a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
A piano scholarship enabled Rutherford to attend Ole Miss, where he earned a degree in English in 1989. A country music writer since 1996, he has penned several No. 1 hits, including “Ain’t Nothing ’bout You” by Brooks and Dunn, “If You Ever Stop Loving Me” by Montgomery Gentry, “When I Get Where I’m Going” by Brad Paisley and Dolly Parton, and “Real Good Man” by Tim McGraw. In 2005, Rutherford released his first solo CD, titled “Just Another Coaster,” which is primarily his own renditions of songs he’s written for other singers.
The concert is sponsored by Newks and Rebel Rags of Oxford, Flag Star Construction of Brandon and BancorpSouth of Tupelo.
Created in 2002 by Chancellor Robert Khayat, Ole Miss First is a university-wide initiative to provide scholarships to deserving UM students. Ole Miss First scholarships are unique in that each scholar is assigned a mentor during his or her tenure at the university. For more information or to contribute to Ole Miss First, go to http://www.omfirst.olemiss.edu/ .
For a complete schedule of events at the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts, visit http://www.olemiss.edu/fordcenter/ . For assistance related to a disability, call 662-915-7411.