Fowler, Randall King & Aaron Watson will hold a benefit concert in Texas this weekend
In response to the devastating wildfires that have swept through West Texas recently, three renowned Amarillo-native country artists, Randall King, Kevin Fowler, and Aaron Watson have joined forces to present The Pandhandle Boys: West Texas Fire Relief Concert. The fundraiser is set to take place on Sunday, March 24th, at the picturesque Starlight Ranch in Amarillo, TX and all of the proceeds will benefit The Panhandle Disaster Relief Fund.
Earlier this week, Fowler chatted with us about the benefit that will provide vital assistance to ranchers affected by the massive fires in the Texas Panhandle.
“Me and Aaron Watson and Randall King all grew up in Emerald, Texas and, lately, they’ve had these huge historic fires up there to the tons of families and, it’s just been, it’s just been amazing heartbreak to see what’s been going on there, and we wanted to do something to try to help our you know our own community,” Fowler tells us. “We’re always asked to do stuff for people we don’t know or for causes that we aren’t really connected to, but these are our people — These are people we grew up with. There are a lot of ranchers and a lot of small towns around there just totally wiped out. Not only do they pasture and make their living, but also, you know, they’ve lost their livestock and it’s just really sad what’s going on. So we just wanna do something for our own, and we put together this Panhandle Boys concert, and it looks like it can be a huge success to try to raise a lot of money and hopefully help the folks out.”
The intimate acoustic in-the-round event will allow attendees to experience heartfelt performances in a stripped-down, soulful setting, creating an atmosphere of unity and support for the West Texas communities in need. The trio of artists, each deeply rooted in their love for the Texas Panhandle, showcase their Texan spirit and genuine concern through the swift organization of this benefit concert, demonstrating the power of solidarity in times of need.
“We’re gonna have the whole live music aspect of it. We’ll all play,” Fowler states. “We’ll kind of do a scaled-down kind of semi-acoustic thing. We’ll have players backing up, but, it’s not gonna be the full-blown rock and roll show. It’s a Sunday afternoon. We have an auction with some items to just try to raise as much money as we can.”
For three weeks, more than one million acres of land burned through the area between the Smokehouse Creek Fire and Windy Deuce Fire. The Texas A&M Forest Service declared that the fires were 100% contained as of March 16th with no further threat.
“These are the legacy ranches that they have been forever. These folks spent generations building up their herd and their foundation stock, and now a lot of them have lost it all,” Fowler shares. “Not only that, but fences, barns, and pastures. Where are they going to pasture their cattle when they get in the new head? A lot of people are impacted by [the fires]. Also not just that, a lot of small towns over there… Hopefully, everybody had insurance, but, a lot of people just need a little stopgap measure, you know, a little help along the way. I think that’s really what this is gonna help provide.”
Fowler says there’s room for additional guests at the concert as the venue can accommodate a couple of thousand people. “I think we’re already at 1400 people coming to the thing, so it’s gonna be a huge success and the whole community is really rallying around it,” he adds.
Fans who want to purchase tickets or make donations can do so at PanHandleBoys.com. Attendees can also participate in an in-person auction.