The Journal Record (July 7th 2006)

Country star donates concert money for wildfire victims

[edited version]

Business owners, together with the faith-based community, stepped in to help when the government ran short on assistance for Oklahomans who lost their homes to wildfires and tornados over the past several months.

When the businesses and charities ran short of funds, well, then it was time to play some country music. So top 40 country music recording artist Blake Shelton held a benefit concert that yielded $108,000 for Project Rebuild.

…

And the extent of the damage is such that even the Project Rebuild alliance does not have the resources to help everyone who qualifies, Young said. Despite the heat, some houses were built without air conditioning simply because resources did not allow for the expenditure on a heat and air system, she said.

Shelton, an Oklahoma native known for a string of country music hits that include Some Beach, Austin and Nobody But Me, said when he came home to Oklahoma for the holidays, it was a tough thing to see the smoke in the air and the news reports about the wildfires.

“I wanted to do something, Shelton said. “I'm the guy people call for a concert or a party or something. I thought, that's the one thing I guess I'm good at. So we decided to do Raindance.”

The benefit concert brought people from as far away as Colorado, Arizona and Arkansas to Shelton's hometown of Ada, he said, and raised $108,000 to support the efforts of Project Rebuild.