Trisha Yearwood shared a heartfelt, empowering moment from the second annual Band As One Nashville Concert for the Cure: Trisha Yearwood & Friends event.
The Georgia-born country icon reminisced on highlights from the fundraising show in a compilation clip she shared on Instagram on Wednesday evening (March 25). Yearwood said to the audience, gathered at the legendary Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee, “we’re all connected by the fact that we know somebody, it’s been us, we’ve loved somebody who’s been through this or is going through this. And so, this is one of those songs that reminds us that we’re fighters, and that we gotta keep fighting no matter what.”
Yearwood’s compilation goes on to show glimpses of performances by Reba McEntire, Charles Kelley, The Band Loula, Ashley McBryde, Lukas Nelson, Rissi Palmer, War & Treaty, Hailey Whitters and more throughout the show. She set it to “Prizefighter,” which she released with powerhouse singer-songwriter Kelly Clarkson in 2014. Yearwood wrote in her caption, “thank you for coming to Band As One - we are in this fight together 💗”
Band As One Nashville Concert for the Cure: Trisha Yearwood & Friends raised $850,000, which surpasses the $700,000 raised at the inaugural event last year, Susan G. Komen confirmed in a press release.
“I'm thrilled [to return for another year of Band As One Nashville Concert for the Cure: Trisha Yearwood & Friends],” Yearwood told iHeartCountry before she took the stage at an intimate performance last month. “When we did the first one, they raised so much more money than they thought they were going to that first year, last year. And it just went so well. And the feeling was so good just that you're there and you're seeing great music and a variety of different kinds of music, but also, you're raising money for a good cause that affects all of us. There's not anybody that if you haven't been through it yourself that doesn't have a family member or a friend, we're all affected. And I think everybody in that room that night at the Ryman felt that. So, it was just a really special environment, so hopefully we can create that again. I know we can. …I said that night, ‘I hope this becomes an annual thing,’ and here we are.”
“It is just a reminder of how lucky we are. It's also a reminder of how hard people are working to find new ways to treat cancer, breast cancer in particular,” Yearwood, who received the Komen Promise Award during the event, previously shared. “And there were women in my life who were saved by drugs created after I lost my mom that probably would've helped her. So, her story helps the next person, and you just leave there after that night knowing that you've done something good. You've raised some money and you've gotten to hear a lot. And you pretty much won't ask anybody… If their schedule's open, they're going to be there because everybody's been affected by it. You are not going to meet anybody that doesn't have a mom or a sister or a husband affected by breast cancer.” — McEntire, for example, said in a statement earlier this month that she’s “seen how breast cancer impacts families, friends, and communities,” and she’s “honored” to join the lineup — “So, I'm just proud to be a part of it.”
Relive the second annual Band As One Nashville Concert for the Cure: Trisha Yearwood & Friends in photos below.