Singer/songwriter/instrumentalist Charlie Worsham is partnering with the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee to create The Compadres Fund. The fund will support non-profit organizations that help with arts education and mental health services.
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Worsham started his career a decade ago. Since then, he has been heavily involved in local and national charity campaigns, according to Music Row. In 2016, he began working with the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee to establish his Follow Your Heart Scholarship Fund. That fund helps graduating seniors or graduates from Grenada, Mississippi pay for college if they’re working toward an undergraduate academic major in the arts. The Compadres Fund is a natural extension of Follow Your Heart.
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“The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee has been my good ‘compadre’ for a long time,” Worsham shared in a statement. “It’s where I met my bride. It’s also where I’ve been proud to grow a scholarship fund for kids from my hometown following their hearts. The logical next step in following my own heart was to establish The Compadres Fund, with my bride Kristen, to continue to support arts education, mental health services like Porter’s Call, and provide help to those who need it most,” he added.
Country legend, fellow Mississippian, and genre historian Marty Stuart gave Worsham the name of his first charitable fund. When Worsham was in his mid-20s, his parents bought a book of photography from Stuart and asked him to sign it. They wanted him to write “To Charlie, follow your dreams.” Instead, he wrote “Follow your heart,” according to the fund’s website.
On the site, Worsham also explained why it is important to him. “If we are to continue to have great artists from Mississippi succeed in today’s world, we have to invest in their hopes and dreams,” he said.
Worsham’s upcoming Every Damn Monday show at The Basement East in Nashville will support his new fund. All proceeds from the December 11 concert will go directly into The Compadres Fund. Additionally, Worsham will perform at the annual Carols By Candlelight to support Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego.
Featured Image by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for BMI
