Brandi Carlile put on quite the show at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium in March and – bonus! – it was for a good cause. The live-streamed event ended up raising over $100k for two roots-related music ventures, Rainey Day Fund and Color Me Country. Proceeds also benefitted Nashville music store, Fanny’s School of Music.
Apple Music host and Holler contributor Kelly McCartney co-founded Rainey Day Fund, which supports BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and disabled roots artists. Its very first initiative became country music artist Rissi Palmer’s Color Me Country Fund, which supports underrepresented voices of BIPOC country artists. “Color Me Country…is reaching out to artists of color who are pursuing country music,” Palmer told McCartney for Holler’s “In Conversation” series. “We’re trying to make sure that money isn’t the reason why you can’t create and exist in these spaces.” (Read more.)