Tears and Cheers Flowed at the Station as Brett Kissel Hosts Benefit Concert in Edmonton

It was an emotional event at The Station in Edmonton last night as Brett Kissel hosted a benefit concert for the Community Foundation of Middle Nashville. Money from the tornado response fund is awarded to organizations that apply for tornado relief grants to address needs spanning from emergency shelter, food and clean-up to mortgage, rental and rebuilding assistance, legal and mental health counseling, and more.

As quickly as the Station on Jasper Ave in Edmonton announced that Brett Kissel would be preforming a special benefit concert for the victims of the devastating tornado in Edmonton’s sister city, Nashville Tennessee, the tickets sold out in five minutes. As Kissel says, “From fans, to media, to sponsors, it was special to me and I’m excited to do my part through music.”

 

When Brett KIssel decided to throw a relief concert for the foundation he works closely with, he didn’t expect this kind of response in such a short time, I sat down with Brett just before the show and he said, “I’m overwhelmed by the huge show of support from Edmonton in such little time.”. He added, “It goes to show you that Edmonton’s has a huge heart for other cities. It proves we truly are a global community. The support has been amazing.” The damage to Nashville was close to Brett. As he says, “It was right there, a block away from my condo. Schools were torn apart in my neighbourhood. The only blessing is that the tornado struck the school at midnight and not at noon when it would be full of kids. Seeing that damage in my community puts it into perspective” Finally he added, “I’m doing what I can for Nashville. There’s still no power in our neighbourhood and across the path of destruction. It’s devastating to our community. When we get home, we will be rolling up our sleeves and getting back to work to help out as best we can.” Brett’s wife Cecilia posted on Instagram, “I’m grateful to be married to a man who when presented with an idea calls on all of our friends for support to see what we can do for this city.” Music heels indeed.

Brett started the night out with an emotional three song acoustic set beginning with Tough Times Don’t Last, Tough People Do.  He had a sad story where he told of a friend who woke up to the destruction and when they went to part of the house where their four year old daughter was, it was destroyed. Many a tear was shed over that story. He wrapped up the acoustic moment with 3, 2, 1 and  Coffee With Her. 

At this point in the night the rest of the band joined him on stage for some good old country music. Kissel dropped a hint about an upcoming major tour this fall as a headliner, actually he dropped more than a hint, he said the date and venue, but also added, “You didn’t hear this from me. The official announcement will be in April. So act surprised.” He told about the time he first played Rogers Place in Edmonton and was blessed to open for one of his major influences, Garth Brooks. The band then jumped right into a great cover of Calling Baton Rouge. Each song had a good story including apologies to Edmonton for using McLeod river in a song, “Because nothing rhymes with North Saskatchewan.” Brett wrapped this part of the show up with a song he preformed at the CFR Talent search when he was just 10 years old. “I didn’t win, but that didn’t stop me. I never gave up on my dream” He used the Hank Snow classic I’ve Been Everywhere to warm up his voice for the auction part of the show.

Brad Paisley, who’s currently on a small cities tour across North America, autographed a Fender Telecaster for the event. That fetched $4,500 and then Brett pulled out another autographed Paisley guitar which also went for $4,500. He auctioned off autographed Oilers jerseys with luxury box seats that Brett Kissel will be the bartender and those items raised $3,800 each. Four tickets and VIP access to his upcoming tour in any city of the winners choice and an autographed Brett Kissel designed Gibson Epiphone acoustic guitar sold for $5,000 each, and he surprisingly had three of those for auction. The local Boston Pizza offered up food for a year and Brett threw in some more concert tickets and on a lark he added the hottest commodity going, an autographed roll of toilet paper.

The night wrapped up with a few more rocking songs, including Drink About Me and We Were That Song. Brett was alone on stage as the night started and he played Tough People Do one more time to emphasize the resiliency of the human spirit. It was clear from the get go that the night wasn’t about merchandise. It wasn’t about CD sales. I wasn’t about self promotion. I was about one thing and one thing only, music heals. The final tally for the night was $57,000. Not bad for an impromptu decision to come to Nashville’s sister city for a night of music and close connections. This will forever be remembered as one of those, ‘I’m glad I was there’ moments for the capacity crowd. I’ve been fortunate enough in my life to see some major names in small intimate venues, but this night was more than special. It was emotional. You could see the impact of the devastation on Brett’s face every time he spoke about the disaster. The bar where he played his major fundraiser for the Fort McMurray wildfires was destroyed in the tornado. The Community Foundation’s tornado relief fund will help rebuild that bar. As he said earlier, “There’s nobody who has a bigger heart than people from Edmonton or our province” Take a bow Edmonton and Brett for a job well done.

To donate to the Middle Tennessee Emergency Response Fund visit https://www.cfmt.org/story/middle-tennessee-emergency-response-fund/