Country Music Star Steve Wariner to Serve as Grand Marshal of the 55th Annual Nashville Christmas Parade Hosted by Piedmont Natural Gas and Presented by Southeast Financial Federal Credit Union

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Nov. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Piedmont Natural Gas announced today that GRAMMY Award winner and Country Music Star Steve Wariner will lead marching bands, parade floats and giant helium balloons down Broadway as the Grand Marshal of the 55th Annual Nashville Christmas Parade hosted by Piedmont Natural Gas and presented by Southeast Financial Federal Credit Union, to be held on Friday, December 7th at 7:00 p.m.

The recipient of numerous CMA and BMI awards as a vocalist, guitarist and songwriter, Steve's introduction into the music industry came at the early age of 9, when he started playing bass, and later drums, in his father's band.

Wariner's musical "break" came at the age of 17 when Dottie West heard him playing in a club in Indianapolis. She hired him on the spot as her bass player, and he toured with her for three years. Steve went on to play bass with Chet Atkins and in 1982, RCA released the album Steve Wariner which contained Steve's first #1 hit, "All Roads Lead To You". Since that first hit, Steve has had 13 other #1 singles including "Holes In The Floor Of Heaven", "What If I Said", and "Tips Of My Fingers". He has also accumulated numerous awards including 2 Grammys, the first in 1992 for Best Country Vocal Collaboration and the second in 2000 for Best Country Instrumental. Wariner has had several albums certified Gold along with numerous songwriting credits and #1 singles to his name.

A native of Noblesville, Indiana, Wariner was influenced by his father, Roy Wariner, and by notables such as Chet Atkins, James Burton, Jerry Reed, The Beatles, Merle Haggard and Glen Campbell. Steve is also known for giving back to the community, being awarded the Minnie Pearl Humanitarian Award in 2002 for his charitable work. Steve is excited to be the Grand Marshal for the 2007 Nashville Christmas Parade. "I'm really looking forward to servings as the Grand Marshal for this year's Nashville Christmas Parade. This is such a special time and Nashville is a very special place to me. I'm really looking forward to the evening."

"We're very excited to have Steve Wariner serving as the Grand Marshal for this year's Nashville Christmas Parade," commented Tim Greenhouse, Regional Executive for Tennessee Operations with Piedmont Natural Gas. "Steve is such an accomplished artist and is so versatile that his music touches many, many people. We are very fortunate to have him serve the Parade in this role."

Piedmont Natural Gas will also be making a $1,000 contribution to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in honor of Wariner's participation as Grand Marshal.

Southeast Financial Federal Credit Union will serve as presenting sponsor of the Nashville Christmas Parade for the third year in a row. Community sponsors include AT&T, Clear Channel Radio, Lamar Advertising, Purity Dairies, the firm of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, Nashville Downtown Partnership, Nashville Sports Council, Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, Metro3, and Performance Cosmetic and Costume Company. If you have any questions about the parade, please log onto our web site at http://www.nashvillegas.com/ or contact Pam Thomas at (615) 734-1707.

About Piedmont Natural Gas

Piedmont Natural Gas is an energy services company primarily engaged in the distribution of natural gas to more than one million residential, commercial and industrial utility customers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, including 62,000 customers served by municipalities who are wholesale customers. Our subsidiaries are invested in joint venture, energy- related businesses, including unregulated retail natural gas marketing, interstate natural gas storage and intrastate natural gas transportation. Additional information about Piedmont is available on the Internet at http://www.piedmontng.com/.