NEW YORK (REUTERS) -American singer Taylor Swift, actor Bradley Cooper and Australian singer Keith Urban have donated guitars to a celebrity country music auction, as they bid to raise funds for everyday workers in the industry whose livelihoods have been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.
Swift's signed black Gibson acoustic guitar that she played for the live debut performance of her new song Betty in September, comes along with nine of her custom picks in a lot that could fetch US$25,000 (S$34,000) to US$40,000, Christie's auction house said on Thursday (Oct 15).
The electric guitar Cooper played as washed-up country singer Jackson Maine in his 2018 film, A Star Is Born, is also up for sale, with an estimate price of US$2,000 to US$4,000.
The auction, starting on Thursday and running until Oct 29, will benefit the Academy of Country Music's Lifting Lives Covid-19 Response Fund, which was created to support people behind the scenes in the country music industry centred around Nashville.
"When the pandemic hit in the spring, Nashville was hit pretty hard," said Ms Nancy Valentino from Christie's business development department.
"This is one of the instances where you have the artists helping the people who work with them - tour bus drivers, roadies, session workers, caterers - no one is working," she added.
Other auction items include a bedazzled dulcimer owned by country singer Dolly Parton for 30 years (US$50,000 to US$100,000), Grammy-winning musician Sheryl Crow's vintage Baldoni accordion (US$8,000 to US$12,000) and guitars owned by singers Keith Urban, Dwight Yoakam, Blake Shelton and Vince Gill.
In addition to the instruments, country singer Tim McGraw is auctioning his F131 Hellcat motorcycle, while former American Idol winner Carrie Underwood donated the gown she wore to the Academy of Country Music awards show in Nashville in September.
"We were so impressed by how quickly artists volunteered to donate, and donated things that are so special to them,"Ms Valentino said.
