Riley Green Headlined ACM’s Big Vegas Bash—and Helped Raise $20K for a Sweet Cause
Lauren Alaina, Rodney Atkins and more joined Green for a night of music and golf before the Academy of Country Music Awards
Key Takeaways
- Riley Green headlined the ACM Lifting Lives Country on the Green event at Topgolf Las Vegas.
- Lauren Alaina, Rodney Atkins and Randy House all performed at the pre-ACM charity event.
- The event raised $20,000 for Lifting Lives, which has donated over $12 million since 2006.
The Academy of Country Music (ACM) awards are tonight, but before the celebrities take the stage, they must hit the town—more specifically, ACM Lifting Lives Country on the Green: Riley Green & Friends. Below, we recap what went down at the highly talked about event and reveal the super sweet organization they raised $20,000 for.
What to know about the ACM Lifting Lives Country on the Green event
On Friday, May 15, a variety of country music stars gathered at the Topgolf Las Vegas location for the ACM Lifting Lives Country on the Green event. It was filled with food, drinks, music, and, of course, golf! It was headlined by Green, but also had a variety of special performances from Avery Anna—who is nominated for ACM New Female Artist of the Year—Lauren Alaina, Randy House and Rodney Atkins.
In total, Alaina, House and Atkins sang four songs each. Green closed out the event, singing a total of nine songs.
“All my exes would agree that we kicked off ACM weekend right last night on our first of many STAGES in Vegas,” Alaina wrote on Instagram yesterday. “Who’s excited for the @acmawards tomorrow?!”
Atkins also commented on the event, writing, “Just landed in Vegas for the @acmawards. Look forward to seeing y’all @topgolflasvegas for the @acmliftinglives event and at the awards on Sunday. Gonna be a great time, y’all.”
The sweet cause behind the ACM Lifting Lives Country on the Green event
ACM Lifting Lives Country on the Green was created to raise money for Lifting Lives, a philanthropy dedicated to improving people’s lives through the power of music.
“We’ve had so much feedback over the years about that and how that made a difference in people’s lives, helped them stay in Nashville, helped them stay on their career path, all those kinds of things,” ACM CEO Damon Whiteside told Billboard earlier this year. “That’s what I love about ACM Lifting Lives—we can actually help people individually like that in times of need.”
ACM Lifting Lives executive director Taylor Wolf added to that, telling the outlet, “We couldn’t do it without [the ACM] staff leaning in and providing supplemental support for marketing, finance, events and more.”
“But the ACM Lifting Lives team is very small and nimble. We’ve helped thousands of individuals,” Wolf continued. “Unfortunately, you can’t help everyone at one moment in time, so we made it a point to narrow our mission a couple of years back to deepen impact.”
Thanks to the event, the ACM Lifting Lives Country on the Green raised $20,000 to support the organization’s work and causes. In total, the Lifting Lives organization has donated over $12 million to more than 150 causes since its founding in 2006.
“If one group could solve all the problems of the world, they would. But unfortunately, the need is too great. So the more of us that are committed to working against the struggles that people are facing, the better,” Wolf told Billboard. “ACM Lifting Lives is a little bit of everyone that’s committed to caring and giving and talking about it for the last 20 years. It’s just an honor to be a part of it.”
How to watch the ACMs tonight
The 2026 Academy of Country Music Awards air live from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas tonight, Sunday, May 17, streaming on Prime Video at 8 p.m. ET, with simulcasts on Amazon Music’s Twitch channel and the Amazon Music app.
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