Country Music Hall of Fame’s All for the Hall Benefit Highlights Timeless Music, Electrifying Performances: 5 Top Moments

The tradition of the Country Music Hall of Fame benefit concert All for the Hall returned to Nashville Tuesday evening (Dec. 5), led by four-time Grammy Award winner Keith Urban and Country Music Hall of Famer Vince Gill.

They led a cavalcade of artists to perform some of their biggest hits — and highlight their personal favored songs from other artists — onstage at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. Joining Gill and Urban were Kelsea Ballerini, ERNEST, Riley Green, Mickey Guyton, HARDY, Old Dominion, The War And Treaty, Trisha Yearwood and Country Music Hall of Fame members Brenda Lee, Brooks & Dunn and Patty Loveless.

The War and Treaty offered up towering renderings of “Mr. Fun” and the holiday classic “O Holy Night.” Gill performed “Don’t Let Our Love Start Slippin’ Away,” as well as the Joe Walsh/Barnstorm song “Rocky Mountain Way.” Riley Green offered up “I Wish Grandpas Never Died,” before tipping his hat to Alabama’s classic “Dixieland Delight.” Meanwhile, Ballerini was all sass and starpower on “If You Go Down (I’m Goin’ Down Too),” before showing her tender side with a cover of Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend.”

Brooks & Dunn, like all of the artists on the bill that evening, were backed by an ace band that included Gill and Urban — making for a star-studded performance of B&D’s “My Maria,” followed by the Waylon Jennings classic “I Ain’t Livin’ Long Like This.” ERNEST offered “Kiss of Death” and “That’s the Way Love Goes,” while Old Dominion — who will themselves headline a show at Bridgestone Arena on Dec. 15 — performed “Memory Lane” and “Alive.”

In the process, this year’s show raised nearly $1 million (over $900,000) — the largest amount raised in the event’s eight-year history- -to support the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s education programs.

Though the evening featured numerous musical heavy-hitters, it also put the CMHoF’s Words & Music program in the spotlight. The program pairs students with professional songwriters to teach writing and language arts through music, and has had more than 8,000 students take part this year. Songwriter Paulina Jayne and Abigail Sowards, a senior at Stewarts Creek High School, performed the song “These Moments” with her fellow classmates John Dechira and David Guydon.

It was perhaps HARDY, who has been vocal about his own struggles with anxiety in recent months, who summed up the main emotion that flowed through the evening’s music and stories: gratitude.

“The holidays, stress and mental health, anxiety, whatever, whatever you’ve got going on– it’s always good to take a look around and realize you’re breathing, we’re all here and we’re all lucky to be alive,” HARDY told the crowd.

Here, we take a look at five top moments from the evening: