Alan Jackson Honors Fallen Miners

Alan Jackson
Alan Jackson honored the fallen miners and rescue workers from April's Upper Big Branch mining disaster in West Virginia with a tribute concert on Saturday at the Charleston, West Va. Civic Center.
 
Free tickets were offered to the 31 families and 230 rescue workers affected by the nation's biggest mining disaster in four decades.
 
Before the show, the 27 families who lost loved ones and two whose family members survived met with Jackson, including the family of Cory Davis, who would have been 21 on Saturday. His family presented Jackson with a bracelet with Davis' birthday on it, Jackson wore the bracelet throughout the show.
 
Jackson kicked off the concert, a part of his Freight Train tour, with his No. 1 hit, "Gone Country."
 
"We're here to honor the ones that we lost or were injured," Jackson said. "We're going to celebrate their lives with some music."
 
Jackson's long time pedal steel player Robbie Flint, a West Virgina native himself, performed "Coalwood" as the faces of miners flashed on two screens on either side of the stage. Cheers reverberated through the crowd as each name and face appeared. Jackson followed the tribute with his post 9/11 anthem, "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning."
 
Profits from the concert went to the Montcoal Mining Disaster Fund, administered by the West Virginia Council of Churches.
 
Rev. Dennis Sparks, Executive Director of the Fund said, "Alan Jackson was the right music star for the moment to come to West Virginia and honor the memories of the miners lost at the Upper Big Branch and to all miners who go into the mines each day; his music and performance offers a genuine expression of the hearts of our people. We offer a heartfelt thank you to Alan Jackson, his band and his entire team. The Montcoal Mining Disaster Fund will be enormously enhanced through his concert."
 
Jackson was named an "Honorary West Virginian" by Gov. Joe Manchin's office for his efforts on behalf of the community.