Music legends Alabama will headline a concert on Wednesday, September 26 at Burgess-Snow Field to benefit Jacksonville State University (JSU). The Charlie Daniels Band will join them, as will other well-known entertainers with Alabama roots, including Jamey Johnson, Shenandoah and Jason Isbell.
Per WHNT, when the EF-3 tornado rolled across JSU’s campus in March, founding Alabama band member and JSU graduate Randy Owen could only think of one thing.
“Well, I hope nobody’s killed, honestly. That was the big thing,” Owen said. “I’ve got lots and lots of friends in that part of the world. Besides family, it was obviously, hopefully, nobody at the university gets hurt.”
His biggest concern “was the people.” “That’s the first thing that went through my mind,” Owen added.
After the storm, he knew that he wanted to help.
“We’ve been given this really great opportunity to help people. So why not do that while you’re alive in this world,” Owen advised.
Owen also serves on the JSU Board of Trustees and Jeff Cook’s wife, Lisa, is a fellow graduate, too. When he went to Jacksonville and saw the damage done to his beloved school, it reportedly broke his heart.
“Once I talked to Teddy and he said ‘Hey, we’d love to do something’ and then I got in touch with Jeff. I knew that we wanted to do something similar to what we did with Bama Rising in Birmingham,” he reflected to WHNT. “I really thought it was important, for as far as the healing process, to do it on campus with all the kids and the alumni from all over, that they could be part of it and help.”
The tornado relief concert will be at Burgess-Snow Field at JSU Stadium on Wednesday, September 26. This will be the only chance to catch Alabama in concert in the Yellowhammer State this year.
“I want to do something spectacular for the university and once again, to bring the spirit of everybody up as much as we could because that’s what we do, we play music and try to bring hope and happiness and a look toward the future for everybody for Jacksonville State because we need it,” Owen added.
“If that spirit can be lifted up any more, we hope to do,” he emphasized. “It’s important to the university. It’s important to the spirit of our school.”
The concert starts at 6:00 p.m. and will be held rain or shine. For ticket information, click here.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
