The Catskill Chronicle

SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY (January 20, 2012) – The Country Cares Seminar is the second largest gathering of country music industry professionals outside the Country Radio Seminar held in Nashville each year, with more than 1,000 attendees visiting the St. Jude campus last weekend to celebrate the impact the country music industry has on St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

The program began in 1989, when Alabama front man Randy Owen, at the request of St. Jude Founder Danny Thomas, challenged the country music industry to support the lifesaving work of St. Jude. Country Cares For St. Jude Kids was born.

The industry rose to the challenge by raising more than $400 million to date.

The 2012 Country Cares for St. Jude Kids seminar drew both new and established artists, including Lauren Alaina, Brent Anderson, Katie Armiger, Kelleigh Bannen, Lee Brice, Kix Brooks, Burns and Poe, Due West, Tim Dugger, Margaret Durante, Eden’s Edge, Eli Young Band, Andy Gibson, J.T. Hodges, The Farm, Steve Holy, Randy Houser, Jana Kramer, Love and Theft, Dustin Lynch, Martina McBride (pictured with Thunder 102 NY Market Manager Paul Ciliberto), Kip Moore, Lost Trailers, Jon Pardi, Thomas Rhett, David St. Romain, Canaan Smith, Glen Templeton, Josh Thompson, Darren Warren and James Wesley.

Country singer/songwriter John Rich received the first-ever Randy Owen Angels Among Us Award during the annual songwriter’s dinner at the Country Cares for St. Jude Kidsradio seminar in Memphis. Presented by Randy Owen, the award recognizes a member of the country music industry who demonstrates an immeasurable commitment to kids battling cancer and other deadly diseases at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Rich first walked through the doors of St. Jude more than 15 years ago with his guitar and entertained a group of patients. He continued his support of the hospital as a Country Cares artist. Last year, Rich competed on the hit NBC show “The Celebrity Apprentice” on behalf of St. Jude, winning more than $1.4 million for the hospital.

For rising country star Darren Warren (Thunder 102 plays his current single, Cowboy Up And Party Down), walking the halls of St. Jude is like coming home. Warren spent three years as a St. Jude patient, receiving treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Each time he comes back, he is awed by the changes that have been made. “Here I was, one day being treated at St. Jude as a patient—for three years—and I come back and see all the changes to the hospital. It’s incredible. And to see how much they’re progressing and the strides they’re making at changing children’s lives around the world … it’s just incredible. It doesn’t feel like a hospital. It feels like what it should feel like: a place of hope.”

To see a video of Darren Warren performing “Miracles In Memphis” from the Country Cares Seminar in Memphis, see the video below.

In addition to this array of artists, the seminar played host to nearly 800 radio and music industry professionals who work to execute annual radiothon fundraisers for St. Jude each year. Throughout the weekend, the seminar guests heard inspiring stories of hope from St. Jude patients. They had the opportunity to tour the hospital, as well.

Seminar attendees also heard from special guest speaker Marcus Luttrell on Saturday. Luttrell is a former petty officer first class and U.S. Navy SEAL who received the Navy Cross for his action in 2005 facing Taliban fighters during Operation Redwing. He also is author of the book “Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of the SEAL Team 10.”

And Thunder Country (Thunder 102 radio) was there proudly representing the thousands of Thunderheads –which is what fans of the station call themselves – who raised over $42,000 in their first Country Cares for St. Jude Kids Radiothon held over two days in September 2011.