WAVERLY, TN (CelebrityAccess) — Three months after deadly flash flooding in Tennessee’s Humphreys County, country music icon, Vince Gill and singer/songwriter Alex Hall have partnered with instrument distributor KHS America to announce the donation of $100,000 worth of musical instruments to a local high school.
Both Gill and Hall were on hand at Waverly Central High School on Monday to surprise the student body with replacements for the musical instruments that the Waverly high school and junior high school bands lost during the flood.
“I’m a small town minded guy. I know what it feels like. This is a place where everybody knows everybody,” Gill shared with “CBS Mornings” host Mark Strassmann, who was on hand in Waverly to document the event. “I often feel like we should be like this all the time. That’s my dream. Let’s not just be kind when somebody’s struggling; let’s just be kind.”
“Most people were smiling; I could see the glowing intentions in their eyes,” added seventh grade clarinetist Harmony Sanders, whose family lost her home in the flood. “I think everybody can just be happier now and have less weight on their shoulders.”
KHS America, which was connected with band director Joseph Bullington as well as Gill and Hall via the CMA Foundation, donated over 40 instruments from their brands: Jupiter wind instruments, Majestic concert percussion (including concert toms, a concert bass drum and a concert snare drum, as well as a marimba and a xylophone), three XO Brass professional trombones and a Mapex drum set.
Percussion tables and a bell stand from Hercules were also included, according to a press statement.
