Country star Brett Kissel is holding a relief concert in Edmonton to help those affected by tornadoes that tore through Tennessee this week, destroying homes and leaving dozens dead and injured.
The Flat Lake, Alta., singer is playing Wednesday, March 11 at The Station on Jasper Avenue, with 100 per cent of ticket sales going to The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee‘s tornado relief efforts.
The show sold out in five minutes, Kissel said in an update on Twitter.
One of the twisters tore through a 16-kilometre stretch of downtown Nashville early Tuesday, and narrowly missed Kissel’s condo in the trendy Germantown neighbourhood.
The multiple Canadian Country Music Association Award-winning singer has lived in Nashville since 2012, but says he spends a lot of time in his home province too.
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Kissel and his wife were in Nashville this week to watch the Edmonton Oilers take on the Nashville Predators, and went out after the hockey game to celebrate the Oilers’ win.
“It was like a scene out of a movie,” he said while speaking to CISN Country on Friday morning about the devastation the twister left behind.
When he heard about the people who died in the storm and saw homes and businesses demolished, Kissel said knew he had to do something to help.
Kissel said the fundraiser in his first home city of Edmonton will raise money for his second home city, and Edmonton’s sister-city, Nashville. The bond was established by both city councils in 1990. Representatives from each city visit periodically to exchange ideas.
“With my heart really being in both communities and everybody loving country music the way that they do, I wanted to put on a concert,” he said, adding it is the best way he can give back to his community.
Kissel said the beneficiary — The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee — is helping those most critically affected.
“It’s immediately relief for those affected.”
Those who were unable to get tickets but still want to support disaster relief can do so online.
At least 24 people were killed and many more were injured in the band of severe weather the Nashville area. The storm system left scattered rain in its wake as it moved east through Alabama, eastern Tennessee and the western Carolinas.
— With files from The Canadian Press