SATURDAY’S SOLD-OUT STADIUM CONCERT FEATURED PERFORMANCES BY STAPLETON ALONG WITH WILLIE NELSON AND FAMILY, SHERYL CROW AND MADELINE EDWARDS
Chris Stapleton’s “A Concert for Kentucky” stadium show raised over $1 million dollars for the Outlaw State of Kind Hometown Fund. Held this past Saturday night, the sold-out event was the first concert ever held at the University of Kentucky’s Kroger Field and featured performances by Stapleton along with Willie Nelson and Family, Sheryl Crow and Madeline Edwards.
An arm of Chris and Morgane Stapleton’s Outlaw State of Kind charitable fund, the Hometown Fund is administered by the Blue Grass Community Foundation and supports a variety of causes close to the couple’s heart in Chris’ home state of Kentucky. Initial Hometown Fund grants include $250,000 to The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation as well as additional pledges to the American Red Cross, UK Healthcare Kentucky Children’s Hospital, the Community Foundation of Western Kentucky’s Disaster Relief Fund, and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Additional Hometown Fund grants will continue to be made throughout the year.
Of the evening, Stapleton shares, “Every night we walk on a stage, we do our best to help people forget their troubles or celebrate or remember or hope or heal. Every night we play, a portion of those profits always goes to charity. As a musician I can’t think of a greater honor than reaching a point where we can play a show for 40,000 people and give all of the profits back to a community that has been so unfailingly loyal and supportive. It is a tremendously pure and rewarding moment to get to provide the medicine that is music in that space. I’m grateful to everyone who came to the show and to all of the musicians, managers, agents and crew members that made this moment possible.”
Stapleton will continue his extensive “All-American Road Show” tour throughout the year with upcoming stops at Los Angeles’ The Forum, Denver’s Ball Arena (two nights), Chicago’s Wrigley Field, DC’s Merriweather Post Pavilion and Long Island’s Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater among many others. See below for complete details.
The tour celebrates Stapleton’s acclaimed album, Starting Over, which recently won three awards at the 67th Annual GRAMMYs: Best Country Album (Starting Over), Best Country Solo Performance (“You Should Probably Leave”) and Best Country Song (“Cold”). Stapleton also performed “Cold”—a song written with his longtime bandmates J.T. Cure and Derek Mixon along with Dave Cobb—during the live awards broadcast, of which Rolling Stone praises, “the country singer growled his way through the Best Country Song winner and plucked out an electrifying guitar solo.” Watch/share HERE.
Kentucky-born Stapleton is an 8x Grammy, 14x CMA and 10x ACM Award-winner and one of the country’s most respected and beloved musicians. Following 2015’s quintuple platinum breakthrough solo debut album Traveller, Stapleton released two #1 albums in 2017. Both From A Room: Volume 1 (certified platinum) and From A Room: Volume 2 (certified gold) take their name from legendary RCA Studio A, where they were recorded with Cobb. Released to overwhelming critical acclaim, The Tennessean praises, “Both are rich with the textures of Stapleton’s vocals that make him one of country music’s most beloved artists, classic country sounds and thoughtful articulate lyrics about love, life and pain.” He was also recently announced as the first-ever “Artist-Songwriter of the Decade” recipient by the Academy of Country Music.
Photo by Andy Barron
