Benefit concert brings Western music to USU
Local western music star Brenn Hill from Hooper, Utah played a concert at the Taggart Student Center Tuesday night. The concert ended with the College of Agriculture donating all the proceeds of the concert to help with the cancer treatment of Hill’s son.
Hill has a young son undergoing brain stem cancer treatment. A fund has been set up to help cancer patients, called “Team Briggs.” The donation came as a big surprise to Hill, who had no idea the concert was being held to help with his son’s cancer.
“I really appreciate being back in Cache Valley and USU and you guys are so good to me,” he said after receiving the donation.
When Hill was called back onto the stage after the concert and told of its real purpose, he said he was very thankful to the College of Agriculture and all those who came to the concert.
Hill was not the only one that got something that night. All the people that came to the concert had a night full of entertainment and western music. Hill described his music as western because it embodied the western lifestyle and, as he phrased it, “cowboy music.”
He has unique songs that cover a wide range of topics, from drug cartels in “The Ballard of Ed Cantrell,” to love, in “Hell on Yer Women.” He also tapped into the different emotions of the crowd with comical songs like “Caffeine,” to a theme song of his son’s cancer treatment and the trials that come with it in “Monster on Your Back”.
Because of his ties to the west, many people in the audience felt a strong connection to the songs.
Many of the people in attendance voiced a positive opinion of the Hill and his concert.
“He is one of my favorite artists,” said Eric Olsen, director of the Taggart Student Center.
Hill’s concert was opened by USU student Sarah Olsen, a music therapy major who sings country music and released her first CD last May.
Olsen is also a songwriter and was able to share some of her songs with the audience. She said she has been involved with music for more than five years and is inspired by a number of different things. For example, she said one of her songs came to her after riding her horse, which prompted her to write a song about being close to land called “Going Home.”