‘Find Out Who Your Friends Are’ Rings True at John Berry Benefit Concert

A star-studded lineup led by some of County music’s notable royalty donated their talent and time for the We All Come Together benefit concert for singer/songwriter John Berry that was held on April 23 at City Winery in Nashville. Not only did the Berry family benefit from the proceeds, so did hundreds of other music professionals by way of the incredible work of the Music Health Alliance.

Through ticket sales, an online auction, and the generosity of donors both known and unknown, over $300,000 was raised to assist Berry and those associated with the music industry who struggle with high health care costs.

Find Out Who Your Friends Are

Like sports or politics, music can catapult an unknown artist into a sensational orbit of sudden stardom. When success arrives, people show up in droves, eager to cling on tightly or somehow share in another’s good fortune.

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When a star begins to fade, the very ones so motivated to benefit from the lift-off can disappear faster than they arrived. That is unless you’re a great guy. According to his fellow country music artists and colleagues, Berry isn’t just a great guy; he’s a super guy. John and his wife of 32 years, Robin, definitely found out who a few of their real friends are during his recent bout with cancer.

Tracy Lawrence, one of many performers and friends who showed up to support their friend and colleague, sang the song that captured the evening’s mood with his 2006 hit, “Find Out Who Your Friends Are.”

“Everybody wants to slap your back
Wants to shake your hand
When you’re up on top of that mountain
But let one of those rocks give way then you slide back down look up
And see who’s around then…”
(Verse from “Find Out Who Your Friends Are,” written by Casey Beathard and Ed Hill)

Hard Work, Talent & Fairy Dust

Thousands of aspiring singers, songwriters, and instrumentalists venture to Music City, USA each year with dreams of standing on an elevated stage, feeling the warmth of spotlights while looking into a sea of blank faces swaying and singing along to their latest hit song. Only a select few realize their ultimate dream and Berry was one of the lucky ones privileged enough to have tasted the sweet nectar from the vine of Country music.

RELATED: Heidi Newfield Colors Outside the Musical Lines

“Success in the music business involves lots of hard work, some talent and a generous sprinkling of fairy dust,” Berry said in a phone interview after the show.

Born in South Carolina before moving to Atlanta, Georgia as a child, Berry began his music career by honing his skills in a rudimentary recording studio at his home on Thomas Road in Decatur, Georgia. Years later, and like others before him, he paid his early dues playing in the bars and venues surrounding the picturesque college town of Athens. Gifted with the ability to tug at people’s heartstrings by combining lyrics and melody, the long-haired Georgia Bulldog fan had his sights set on becoming the mid-1980s version of Dan Fogelberg.

Berry found success, but not in the pop/rock genre of his early musical idols like Jim Messina. It was Country music that made room for this rising star. After submitting a song and winning a talent contest in 1986, Berry and his band earned the opportunity to open for the Oak Ridge Boys, and then the Country/Rock group Alabama.

A Defining Moment

Berry’s car radio was playing Joe Diffie’s hit, “Ships That Don’t Come In,” when he was driving home around 2 a.m. after performing a local gig. Emotions engulfed the young singer as the song spoke to him, forcing him to pull to the roadside. It wasn’t just a moment for John Berry; it was a defining moment. The limited success he was enjoying wasn’t his end goal, and Berry realized if his career had any chance of reaching Nashville, he needed a plan of action.

Rushing through the door when he arrived home, he woke up his sleeping wife, who then spent the next several hours helping him draft the strategy which ultimately led to his first contract with Capitol Records in 1992. Next came a series of blockbuster hits such as, “Your Love Amazes Me,” “Standing On The Edge of Goodbye,” and “She’s Taken A Shine.” And as anyone in the performing arts will tell you, you’re only as good as you are today in a town and industry many argue is more political than Washington, DC.

“I always felt like an outsider in Nashville,” explained Berry. “Not because of how my fellow artists treated me, but from the executives and business side of the industry.”

Other artists have expressed similar sentiments through the years, preferring to spend their time writing or performing, rather than sucking up to the music industry brass who can make or break a career in an instant. Not only did Berry have to navigate the minefields of 18th Avenue and the potholes of the music business, but his most significant obstacle was health-related.

Walk The Path

From the beginning, Robin Berry has not only stood by her man; many times she had to gently nudge her husband during some lean years. “‘Walk the path that God has put us on’ is mine and Robin’s mantra,” her husband passionately explained.

Most performers are accustomed to handling the ups and downs of an entertainment career. They struggle for years, opening for larger acts before headlining major arenas. A handful can remain at the top for a decade or two, yet many artists find themselves once more on smaller stages, almost right back where they began.

Faith and a firm reliance on God have served Berry well through the years. “I became a Christian when I was 10. It wasn’t something that others forced on me; rather it’s something I felt led to do.”

Robin and John had their first scare when he underwent surgery on his brain around the time they were having and raising three children. Taylor Marie is a flight attendant for a Georgia-based airline; Sean Thomas is a talented singer in his own right, followed by Caelan, who currently plays drums in his dad’s band.

Next was surgery on his vocal cords; similar to a gifted surgeon undergoing a procedure on their hands. This time was different because recovering from that procedure kept Berry on the sidelines for about a year, and in the music industry, out of sight can mean out of mind.

Something that has kept the Berry family focused and grounded even through the toughest of times is Philippians 4:13 (I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me). “That passage has been our go-to Bible verse all these years,” noted the regenerated performer.

Three Strikes Doesn’t Mean You’re Out

The third and most recent health scare was cancer of his tonsils, which not only required surgery but 35 exhausting treatments at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville. You might think someone with Berry’s track record would be swimming in cash, but that’s not the case, even for many successful artists.

“The public thinks we’re all millionaires and living large. We’ve had our struggles, and some were financial,” Berry added. Such advanced treatment isn’t cheap, and that’s when the first of many friends started to step up.

Brian Smith of Leadership Artists has known Berry for many years and has managed his career for the last three. Smith and Berry’s publicist, Bev Moser of B! Noticed Public Relations, were instrumental in putting the benefit together.

“I was fortunate enough to produce the show, but it was beyond my wildest expectations,” Smith told me a couple of days after the benefit.

“When we started putting everything together, lots of artists wanted to participate and practically everyone we asked said, ‘yes.’ What’s incredible is several performers, including Garth Brooks and his wife Trisha Yearwood, Trace Adkins, and the Oak Ridge Boys to name a few, rearranged performing and production schedules to make the show. It was nothing short of amazing, and it showed their desire to make this event a huge success.”

Where The Rubber Meets the Road

This is where the rubber meets the road
This is where the cream is gonna rise
This is what you really didn’t know
This is where the truth don’t lie
(Verse from “Find Out Who Your Friends Are,” written by Casey Beathard and Ed Hill)

The annual CMA and ACM award shows televised annually and viewed by millions of diehard Country music fans often doesn’t feature the quality of artists that appeared on behalf of Berry and Nashville’s Music Health Alliance, a non-profit that serves countless other music professionals in need of affordable health care.

In addition to Lawrence, some of the notable artists performing included: James Wesley, Bryan White, Mark Wills, Exile, Shenandoah, Jimmy Fortune, Lee Roy Parnell with Lisa Stewart, Radney Foster, Jeannie Seely, Clint Black, Darryl Worley, Jim Messina (Loggins & Messina), T. Graham Brown, Heidi Newfield, Crook & Chase (Lorianne Crook, Charlie Chase), Darin & Brooke & Aldridge, Suzy Bogguss, Travis Tritt and Vince Gill.

RELATED: Darryl Worley Hasn’t Forgotten His Roots

Like others that graciously donated their time and energy, many of these performers are no strangers to cancer. Some have seen friends and family members suffer. A few had received a cancer diagnosis themselves.

Darryl Worley, who like Berry, grew up in a small, blue-collar southern town prior to penning such hits as “I Miss My Friend,” “Awful Beautiful Life,” and “Have You Forgotten,” recently released “Second Wind,” the title song from his latest album entitled, “Latest and Greatest.”

“I don’t know if people will care about what I say – and not that it even matters – but John is such a wonderful person and a true friend,” said Worley. “God has shown up in this because he needs and uses good people like John and Robin Berry. He is such a humble individual. Everyone loves John and his family, and we’re praying for his complete recovery. Heck, Heidi [Newfield] proclaimed John healed on stage, and I believe he is. The only thing more powerful than a song is God Himself.”

Worley’s good works have also benefited thousands of others through the Darryl Worley Foundation and the Darryl Worley Cancer Treatment Center in his hometown of Savannah, Tennessee.

MHA Assists Industry With Health Care Needs

Others may not have Berry’s deep pocket of real friendships, but what they do have is a dedicated organization working on their behalf. Established in 2006 by Tatum Allsep, MHA helps those in the music industry secure health insurance, deal with the red tape of insurance companies and hospitals, and most importantly, pay medical bills that are beyond their reach.

Shelia Shipley Biddy is the COO of MHA and an expert on individual health care insurance. Most fans think performers and artists have access to everything, but Biddy was quick to point out that 76 percent of people in the music industry doesn’t have access to employer or group health insurance plans.

“People in the entertainment industry are like family,” said Biddy. “However, a lot of people in the business don’t know what we do until they need us and we’re here for them. We help guide them through the maze of health care.”

What did Biddy and the MHA team think after the concert? “The entire evening was incredibly moving.”

Speechless

It wasn’t surgery on his vocal cords or even cancer, that left Berry without words for the first time in his life. But other moments left him speechless.

What did the recording artist think as he was sitting in the audience and watching his friends perform on his behalf?

“There aren’t words to describe how I felt. It was beyond anything I could have imagined.”

Hopefully, Newfield’s prophecy is true, because not only was Berry able to perform at his benefit, three days later he appeared at a fundraiser for a Christian college in Mississippi. Beginning May 2, Berry has three shows scheduled with Clint Black and Trace Adkins.

Berry has built a unique path lined with a treasure trove of friendships seemingly more enormous than any venue he’s ever played. John and Robin are richer than most of us because they know who their real friends are. And given their tremendous hearts and genuine concern for others, the list will likely continue to grow.

You find out who your friends are
Somebody’s gonna drop everything
Run out and crank up their car
Hit the gas get their fast
Never stop to think ‘what’s in it for me?’ or ‘it’s way too far.’
They just show on up with their big old heart
You find out who you’re friends are…
(Chorus from “Find Out Who Your Friends Are,” written by Casey Beathard and Ed Hill)