Jarred Pierce performs holiday benefit concert for PCHS
Jarred Pierce, Lauren Jenkins and Ingrid Andress put on a show at Phil Campbell High School.
By Nicole Burns for the FCT
Frog Pond’s Jarred Pierce came home to his alma mater Dec. 12 to help Phil Campbell High School.
Pierce and two of his Nashville, Tenn., friends, Lauren Jenkins and Ingrid Andress, put on quite a show.
“It’s been several years since I’ve been to Alabama. We’re really lucky that he invited us to come and be a part of this,” said Jenkins. During the show Jenkins and Pierce talked about his front porch in Frog Pond, where he wrote his new single, “Home.”
The two-hour show was packed full of Christmas classics with each artist sharing personal favorites. Pierce wowed the crowd with his rendition of “Christmas in Dixie.” “When I think of Christmas, this is the song that comes to mind,” Pierce told the crowd. The trio also sprinkled non-Christmas hits throughout the set.
Pierce also called up PCHS sophomore Kayla Hamilton to share a Christmas classic. Pierce said he wants to encourage other high school musicians and singers to follow their dreams.
Pierce said he was able to drive the band around his hometown area to show them a bit of what Franklin County has to offer. “It’s great. We were driving through on the bus, and I want to go and do a photo shoot here. It’s so unique and has so much character,” said Jenkins.
Colorado native Ingrid Andress said she’s enjoyed touring the southern states since moving to Nashville, Tenn., two years ago. “Everything is pretty awesome,” said Andress. “The wildlife here is so beautiful.”
Jenkins said the landscape of the state looks different than it did her last trip to the heart of Dixie. “My church, Elevation Church, in North Carolina, was part of the rebuilding and outreach here to Alabama. A big group of us came down after the tornadoes came through,” said Jenkins.
Pierce graduated from PCHS and said he wanted to come back and do something to help the school – a benefit concert. He hoped to raise the money the school needed to help with sound issues they have in the gymnatorium. Thanks to the more than 15 local sponsors and community support, Saturday’s concert was a successful fundraiser. “I appreciate Jarred coming home to help out our school. It was a great show,” said PCHS Principal Gary Odom. “If you missed it, you missed a fantastic show.”
Odom said Pierce is trying to work out details to come back in the spring for a second concert.
