Six Texas country music artists took the stage in New Caney to help raise funds for residents in east Montgomery County whose homes were affected by May floods.
The concept of the “Flooded with Love” disaster relief concert held June 22 started with a question.
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“Why doesn’t east Montgomery County not have some type of flood fund since it floods there so often?” asked Joshua Mason, development director for the H-Town Dream Center, a nonprofit that has served the community since 2010.
Using music to help with flood recovery
So the Splendora-based organization, alongside Porter musician and 2016 “The Voice” winner Sundance Head, set out to raise $100,000 in relief funds at the concert held with 400 in attendance at A.V. “Bull” Sallas Park off McCleskey Road.
The nonprofit raised roughly $70,000 and plans to continue to raise money for the rest of the year.
“It was amazing to have $70,000 come in with the short time that we had, but you can imagine what we can do in a year,” said Shannon Nelson, co-founder of the nonprofit, alluding to plans of raising twice as much for a future event or potentially more.
The goal for the next event is $250,000 to $500,000, said Shawn Nelson, the nonprofit’s other co-founder and husband to Shannon.
“The sky is the limit,” Shawn Nelson said. “We’ve got about a year and four to five months to put it together.”
Region recovering from May floods
Head helped organize the disaster relief concert after the county saw heavy rainfall in May for several days, resulting in 1,500 flooded homes, according to a Houston Chronicle report. Head took to Instagram after touring his home, which was also affected by flooding, to announce a potential relief concert — stating he really wanted to help the community.
“It was the fourth time for my home to be flooded,” Head said, noting that he and his family had lived in the area since the 70s. “I know how difficult it is to have to figure out everything on your own and come up with the resources to get your house back in order.”
A disaster relief concert is something he and his father, singer Roy Head, had talked about for a while before he died in 2020, Head said.
“He always wanted to know how we could do it,” he said, noting that the he wanted to find a way to honor his father as well.
After his Instagram post went viral in the community, Head met with Montgomery County Precinct 4 Commissioner Matt Gray and Montgomery County Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace Jason Dunn to organize the event and connected with the nonprofit, he said.
A day after the event, he announced on Facebook that he had plans for another concert in October 2025.
During the concert, several performers took the stage, including three-time Grammy award winner Sunny Sauceda, Texas Female Artist of the Decade Bri Bagwell and Texas Country singer Ryder Grimes. But next year, Head hopes to book a national headliner, he said.
“We’re gonna try to get a real major name in here to get people to come out and support the event,” Head said.
Although nothing is set in terms of musicians for the next disaster relief concert, that didn’t stop Shawn Nelson from fantasizing about next year’s lineup.
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“A dream on would be Blake Shelton, who was the winner with Sundance in The Voice in 2016,” he said. “That would be off the charts. Luke Wilson would be great. (But) listen, the four people that were there put on an amazing show. All great artists. These are pretty much local people that we had. But it was an amazing show.”
As for the recent event, Mason called it a “beacon of hope for the community.”
“The overwhelmingly generosity and support from attendees, sponsors and the community was more than inspiring,” he said. “We’re just blessed and grateful to be a part of it.”
Head shared the sentiment.
“I support the community,” he said. “I love the community. I’m from the community. All of my family have been born and raised, and passed here. This is where my roots are. And just really proud to have been able to see this come to fruition.”
For those that wish to donate to the disaster relief fund and buy a T-shirt from the event, visit floodedwithlove.com.
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