Craig Campbell is hosting a benefit at the Ryman Auditorium, to benefit a cause that is very personal to him. Campbell will headline the Kenny Campbell Foundation Benefit Concert, named after Campbell’s late father, who passed away from colorectal cancer. The concert, taking place on July 24th, will also include performances by Bradley Gaskin, along with Michael Ray, Bryan White, Hailey Benedict and Taylor Holder.

“My dad was 36 years old when he died of colon cancer,” Campbell tells Everything Nash. “So for the past 15 years, everything – all the charity stuff that I’ve kind of focused my time and energy towards, has been towards colorectal cancer awareness, raising money for that, in honor of him. So we decided this year to go big or go home. The idea popped up. Let’s just book the Ryman, and do a show at the Ryman.”

The Ryman show comes after Campbell hosted his 11th annual Cornhole Challenge last month, to help kick off CMA Fest, raising more than $30,000 for the Kenny Campbell Foundation. In addition, the father of two also reveals that Mattie Pruitt, who landed in the Top 7 on the most recent season of American Idol, will perform, along with his own daughter, Preslee.

For Campbell, raising money to advance research for the prevention of colorectal cancer means even more to him, especially now that he is a father of two.

“I was 11 years old when he died,” the singer reveals. “He and my mom had divorced when I was a kid. So even the time that I did get to spend with him, I didn’t get to spend a whole lot of time with him. It was like the every other weekend kind of thing. But I was 11.”

At the time, Campbell admits it wasn’t as shocking to him that he lost his father. But now as a 46-year-old, he realizes how much precious time he lost with him, unnecessarily.

“I was 11, so everybody was old to me. I was like, ‘That’s just what people do. They die,'” Campbell recalls. “But when I got older, and I started thinking about having a family of my own, I started doing research. I was like, ‘Well, what took my dad away from me?’ And when I started doing some research, I found out that what he died from was very preventable. And so that put me on a path to basically eliminate that as a possibility of what was gonna take me out of this world. And I said, ‘I’m gonna do everything I possibly can to stay in my babies’ lives for as long as I can.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by C R A I G C A M P B E L L (@craigcampbelltv)

The Ryman benefit comes as Campbell is back at radio with his single, “Missing You,” a song he is releasing on his own.

“The song has a deep history with me,” Campbell explains. “I actually recorded this song over ten years ago. And when I was signed to a record label, they didn’t really love the song as much as I did. So, fast forward a few years, in 2018, we decided to put out an EP, and this song was on it, but it was called ‘Me Missing You.’ And then not long after that, me and that record label, we we went our separate ways.”

Interestingly, it was Drew Baldridge‘s “She’s Somebody’s Daughter,” which became a No. 1 hit for Baldridge as an independent artist, that inspired Campbell to also take “Missing You” to radio on his own.

“Honestly, I didn’t think I could have a hit at radio without a record deal,” Campbell admits. “And then when I saw Drew do what he did, it was like, ‘Man, wait a minute. He has broken the algorithm.’ And so I decided to take a chance at radio. And I, I just knew that there was that ‘Missing You’ had to be the song.”

Tickets for the Kenny Campbell Foundation Benefit Concert are available at Ryman.com. Find “Missing You” and all of Campbell’s music and upcoming shows at CraigCampbell.tv.

Click here to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Photo Credit: CMA / Peyton Bredemeier