Kissel benefit concert for Nashville tornado victims raises $57,000

EDMONTON – Canadian country music star Brett Kissel’s benefit concert in Edmonton has raised $57,000 for victims of last week’s tornadoes in Tennessee.

Proceeds from all ticket sales, and money raised through action items, will be donated to the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee’s emergency response fund.

The twister tore through a 16-kilometre stretch of downtown Nashville early on March 3 and narrowly missed Kissel’s condo in the trendy Germantown neighbourhood.

He has said when he heard about the people who died in the storm and saw homes and businesses demolished, he knew he had to do something to help.

Kissel, who is from Flat Lake, Alta., says he was floored by the level of compassion Edmonton showed for its sister city, Nashville.

He says $3,200 was raised by auctioning off two toilet paper rolls at Wednesday night’s concert — a nod to the shortages at many stores amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on March 12, 2020.