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ReTune Nashville Raises $35,000 for Flood-Affected Musicians

Anniversary Celebration brought top talent, high bidders

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – (May 6, 2011) – ReTune Nashville’s Anniversary Celebration Tuesday brought in $35,000 for musician’s flood relief through the sale of more than 80 pieces of artwork created from flood damaged instruments in the live and silent auction.

The art items included collector’s pieces such as a Nashville Predators themed guitar autographed by the 2010-11 team, a Brad Paisley guitar reworked by Steve Wariner, and a Peter Frampton guitar body with a drawing by Nashville Cartoonist Guy Gilchrist.

The items bringing in the most money were a crystal studded piano bench covered in guitar picks acquired from top music performers in all genres, the Brad Paisley guitar and the highly anticipated and Nashville representative piece “Play On” by Joel Anderson.

The Joel Anderson piece was purchased by Soundcheck and is proudly displayed in the lobby of their building to commemorate the rebuilding.

Nashville Mayor Karl Dean attended the event and gave high praises to the Nashville community and ReTune Nashville for coming together to help the city recover from the devastation caused by the 2010 flood.

ReTune Nashville founder Sheri O’Neal presented a brand new Paul Reed Smith (PRS) guitar to Nashville guitarist and Rascal Flatts guitar tech, David Graef, to help fill a very small portion of the enormous loss he suffered in the flood. Graef lost 98 out of 122 guitars including sentimental pieces, tools of his trade, and investment and vintage pieces.View Graef’s video detailing his experience and loss.
          
Other highlights include a medley of music from hit songwriters John Ford Coley, and Don Schlitz, an impressive performance by young Australian guitar virtuoso Joe Robinson, sibling harmonies by The Harters, and high-energy performances by Craig Wayne Boyd, Chad Warrix, and Keith Anderson to round out the night.

O’Neal overjoyed by the response, and shared her sentiments on the final flood relief efforts for Nashville’s musicians. “I am incredibly humbled. The turnout and supporters for this event, the time and talent donated by the visual and performing artists, and the fact that we were able to sell every single piece of art in our auction in one night.”

She continued, “This is probably the most amazing thing I have ever been a part of in my entire life. The fact that a small idea to help people could turn into something so big is an inspiration. A few weeks ago, we interviewed about 20 musicians and shared their stories on our YouTube page so that our supporters could see where their money was going. To see that ReTune’s efforts are really helping the music community, even one year later, makes me feel really good.”

All monies raised through ReTune Nashville will be directly donated to MusiCares Nashville Flood Relief to support the recovery efforts of Nashville musicians.

To keep up with ReTune Nashville, visitretunenashville.org.
 

About ReTune Nashville
Founded as a nonprofit organization following the devastating floods in May 2010 by Nashvillephotographer Sheri O’Neal and members of the Nashville music and art community, ReTuneNashville exists with a mission to provide relief to uninsured Nashville musicians through the sale of artwork created from flood damaged musical gear. All proceeds are donated to MusiCaresNashville Flood Relief and the Nashville Musicians Association Flood Relief Fund for distribution to those uninsured musicians. retunenashville.org

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