Award-winning Nashville recording artists and local country western band, Gunsmoke is performing its latest Music for Hope benefit concert, “A Country Christmas,” on Dec. 1 at the Piedmont Club in Darien.

Proceeds from the concert will be donated to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. Also performing at the benefit, and back by popular demand, is classic rock and soul band, The Law.

Gunsmoke performs regularly at Broadway’s Opry City Stage and has recorded six albums, performed for two sitting Presidents of the United States, and has been enshrined in the Connecticut country music hall of fame.

The band was formed by brothers Jeff and Nick DeMaio Jr. of Darien, and has been performing classic country, western, swing and rockabilly music for over 25 years. In addition to Jeff and Nick, Gunsmoke includes band members Christina Mae, Van Manakas and Nick DeMaio III.

The Law performs classic rock and rhythm and blues music and consists of Luke Appleton-Webster, Frank LaVelle, Nick DeMaio III, and Matt Pavia.

Gunsmoke established Music for Hope in 2010 to raise funds to fight cancer on both the local and national level. Through concerts, dinner dances and recordings, Gunsmoke and friends have raised thousands of dollars for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, The Bennett Cancer Center at Stamford Hospital and The Whittingham Cancer Center at Norwalk Hospital.

In 2018 the band raised funds for the Red Cross and Samaritan’s Purse for hurricane relief. This year, the band has added the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund as one of their beneficiaries.

The Piedmont, Darien’s Italian American Club established in 1916, serves as the meeting place for many town groups and civic organizations. It also hosts blood drives, sponsors youth sports, gives scholarships and hosts a monthly Men’s Dinner.

The Piedmont has partnered with Music for Hope and Gunsmoke in past years for their benefit concerts. This year’s menu of food available for purchase includes pasta, a steak, pepper and cheese wedge, and a meatball parmigiana wedge.

Admission for the Music for Hope benefit concert is $15. Reservations or donations may be made in advance at 203 655-7884. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for the show, which begins at 7 p.m. The Piedmont Club is located at 152 Hecker Ave., Darien.