Jason Aldean, who was performing at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas when a gunman sprayed the crowd with bullets, said Sunday he’s going to keep on playing country music.
“I spent a lot of time, a long time, trying to make it in this business and doing something that I really enjoy. And I’ve loved getting up every day and playing music, playing shows for you guys,” the singer told the crowd at the Country Rising Benefit Concert in Nashville.
“And I’ll be damned if anybody’s ever going to stop me from doing that.”
The all-star show raised funds for victims of the mass shooting as well as recent hurricanes in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Lady Antebellum, Sam Hunt, Martina McBride, Keith Urban, Dierks Bentley, Jon Pardi, Little Big Town, Reba McEntire, Chris Stapleton, and George Strait performed.
“There’s a whole lot of healing that’s gonna happen tonight,” said Charles Kelley of Lady A. “But there’s also a whole lot of fun.”
Bentley said he was honoured to be part of the country music community. “The line between singers and fans is so thin in country music,” he said. “This is what country music is all about, this community, this family.”
Strait’s show-closing performance was introduced by Garth Brooks, via video.