T.J. Martell Foundation Gala Boasting Intimate Morgan Wallen, HARDY & ERNEST Performance Helps Raise $2.6 Million
These days, Morgan Wallen typically plays for crowds that number in the tens of thousands – but on Tuesday (Sept. 17) night in New York City, the country juggernaut performed a pared-down set alongside HARDY and ERNEST for an audience that measured in the hundreds at the 2024 T.J. Martell Foundation gala fundraiser.
The trio of Big Loud artists delivered a performance that felt like a casual writers’ round – the kind of thing you’re more likely to see at Nashville’s Bluebird Café than the Midtown Manhattan Cipriani. Carrying their own gear up to the stage, Wallen, HARDY and ERNEST perched atop stools and strummed their signature songs on acoustic guitars, occasionally leaning into the microphone to add backing vocals to each other’s songs when moved by the music.
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The genre-melding HARDY kicked things off with a stripped-down version of his fist-pumping Country Airplay topper “Truck Bed”; ERNEST and Wallen blended voices effortlessly on their collab “Flower Shops”; and Wallen (along with guitarist Dominic Frost) even trotted out his unreleased song “Love Somebody,” marking the live debut of the tune on American soil. (Yes, he also played the crowd-pleasing Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “Last Night,” which had everyone’s phone up in the air and recording.)
Few people could pull together a night of this caliber, but Seth England is not like most. The Big Loud partner/CEO was honored Tuesday night by the T.J. Martell Foundation – which funds trailblazing research in the fight to end cancer — with the lifetime music industry award. And the crowd that turned out to help raise money and honor England was packed with artists (such as Miranda Lambert), songwriters (including Craig Wiseman, England’s partner at Big Loud), producers and music industry executives from Nashville to New York to Los Angeles and beyond.
“When I asked Seth England to be this year’s honoree, he didn’t hesitate, he didn’t need to check his schedule, he just said ‘yes,’” said Steve Gawley, the foundation’s chairman-elect of the board of trustees. “Seth’s only question was, ‘How do we make the most impact?’ Because Seth always thinks big.” England’s ability to bring his country music Rat Pack together for the gala certainly paid off for the good cause – the T.J. Martell Foundation reports it raised a record-breaking $2.6 million for 2024.
“It was an incredible night for me both personally and professionally. To have that kind of attendance and support from my personal family, our Big Loud artist roster and label family, and our partners from Nashville, New York, and beyond — and to raise a historic amount of money for such a worthy cause: it is a career highlight for me,” England tells Billboard. “It was an honor to receive this year’s lifetime music achievement award, and something I’ll never forget.”
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