Troy Gentry Foundation to Launch With Grand Ole Opry Concert
Blake Shelton, Rascal Flatts, Dierks Bentley, Chris Janson, Dustin Lynch and Montgomery Gentry's Eddie Montgomery will play a launch party for the Troy Gentry Foundation in January. The show at the Grand Ole Opry will benefit a variety of charities.
Troy Gentry's wife, Angie, says that she and some of the late singer's friends wanted to keep Troy's generous spirit alive and honor his memory. "Troy was taken too soon, but we felt his dreams and dedication to helping others needed to continue," she says, per All Access.
The military, cancer research and music education are three causes that were very important to Gentry before he died in Sept. 2017. Moving forward, the Troy Gentry Foundation will provide financial support to organizations that aid those three causes. On Jan. 9, 2019, Shelton and Storme Warren will co-host a kickoff concert at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry. Money raised on that night will also go to the Opry Trust Fund, T.J. Martell Foundation, Make-a-Wish and the Journey Home Project, as well as provide scholarships and instruments for music education in Kentucky schools.
The 50-year-old Montgomery Gentry singer died when a helicopter he was riding in crashed prior to a show in New Jersey last fall. The tragedy stunned a tight-knit country music community and left the future of the duo's music in doubt. They had just completed a new album, which Eddie Montgomery would go on to release while keeping tour commitments in 2018, including a stop at the Taste of Country Music Festival.
Jimmie Allen, Halfway to Hazard, Justin Moore, Craig Morgan, Jon Pardi, Rascal Flatts, Jeffrey Steele and Neil Thrasher are a few more who will play the January concert. Tickets will be available through the Troy Gentry Foundation's website.
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