DALLAS, Texas, Sept. 23, 2021 – Country Music Hall of Fame members Brooks & Dunn capped the inaugural All for the Hall Dallas benefit, presented by Winston & Strawn LLP, with a rousing performance Wednesday, Sept. 22, at The Statler hotel in support of the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum. The two-day event was the museum’s most successful benefit offered outside of Nashville to date, raising more than $630,000 in support of the museum’s educational mission, including its flagship Words & Music program.

“Welcome to the first-ever All for the Hall Dallas event,” said Steve Stodghill, event co-chair. “Tonight, we’re here for an evening of music and friendship, in support of the nonprofit Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum; in support of its community outreach work; and in support of its educational initiatives that are changing lives in this community and around the world.”

Lisa Purcell, the museum’s senior vice president of external affairs, underscored how the generosity of the event’s supporters benefits the museum’s educational outreach. “Our Words & Music program is now helping students learn to do what many people think is a mysterious and even impossible thing: write songs that express their inner lives and their relationships with other people and the world,” Purcell said.

Purcell thanked and recognized Stodghill; his wife, Anne; and their co-chairs, Katy and Lawrence Bock, Terri and Kurt Johnson, Jonika and Corky Nix, and Sunie and Steve Solomon for their support and leadership. She also recognized presenting sponsor Winston & Strawn LLP, platinum sponsor the Willard & Pat Walker Charitable Foundation, eleven gold sponsors, twenty-six silver sponsors and the generosity of many others who bolstered All for the Hall Dallas’s success.

"Because of your unwavering friendship and philanthropy, and with the help of some remarkable songwriters,” Purcell said, “I am pleased to say that the museum is bringing Words & Music to ten classrooms within the Dallas Independent School District this school year.”

The flagship program of the many educational offerings provided by the museum, Words & Music is designed for school-aged students, from pre-kindergarten through high school. The program encourages participants to tell their stories through writing original song lyrics while developing language arts and social-emotional learning skills. School classes are paired with professional songwriters, who share the beauty of songwriting through interactive performance workshops. Since the program’s inception in 1979, more than 150,000 students in the United States and internationally have participated in Words & Music.

On Sept. 21, Grammy-winning recording artist Trisha Yearwood kicked off the two-day All for the Hall Dallas festivities with a special acoustic performance at the home of event co-chairs Steve and Anne Stodghill. The couple hosted a Patron Party in appreciation for the Dallas community and those who made leadership gifts in support of the event.

On the second night, Sept. 22, Brooks & Dunn brought their current tour, REBOOT 2021, to the stage of The Statler hotel’s ballroom. Touring nationally for the first time in a decade, Ronnie Dunn and Kix Brooks repeatedly brought the crowd to their feet, with many of the guests crowding in front of the banquet tables to dance, sing along and cheer. “I know we’re in Texas now,” Brooks crowed after a rowdy reception from the audience.

In an 80-minute set, the Grammy-winning duo showed why they are members of the Country Music Hall of Fame, rocking through hit after hit, including “Boot Scootin’ Boogie,” “My Maria,” “Red Dirt Road” and the show-opening “Brand New Man.” They also made the most of playing to a more intimate crowd, interacting with the audience and even joking about how they support Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum by dropping off their laundry—then explaining that they’ve donated stage clothing, instruments and other artifacts to the museum.

Yearwood and Brooks & Dunn generously donated their time to the benefit event. The All for the Hall campaign began in 2005 when Country Music Hall of Fame member Vince Gill suggested country music artists contribute the proceeds of one annual performance to benefit the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Launched in 2007 in New York, the series has alternated between New York and Los Angeles in succeeding years, with Gill and fellow Country Music Hall of Fame member Emmylou Harris as hosts. With Keith Urban, Gill also co-hosts an All for the Hall concert in Nashville at Bridgestone Arena. This is the first time an All for the Hall concert has been held in Dallas.

Including the proceeds from the Dallas campaign, All for the Hall concerts have netted more than $6 million in support of the museum’s educational initiatives, which in most years serve more than 100,000 people through in-person instruction guided by museum educators and musicians.