Alabama, Brad Paisley, Martina McBride + More Join Forces for Bama Rising Benefit Concert

Alabama hosted their Bama Rising benefit concert last night, June 14, in Birmingham, Ala. The concert was set up by the trio and state natives in order to help the victims affected by the devastating tornadoes that swept through Alabama.

Some of country's brightest stars showed up for the live show to play a few songs for the crowd. In addition to their performances, stars like Brad Paisley, Martina McBride, Luke Bryan, Jake Owen and the guys from Alabama took some time to speak about what this cause meant to them personally.

"It's gonna be like [a] historical kind of night for our state and for the people that are hurting so much," the guys from Alabama said, according to Aristomedia. "Our hope and our wishes are that people understand, 'Hey, people really do care about us.' We're very, very humbled. [We've] been amazed at the quality and how big these stars are that came down here to be a part of this."

Brad Paisley also spoke about the connection between musicians and their fans, and the need for music during tough times. "That's what's important about this ... donations are nice and they're very much needed; But at the same time, nothing says 'I love you' like showing up," Paisley explained. "And all of these artists that showed up today are really doing that. They're saying, 'We love you enough to come down here and give you a little bit of a distraction.' And that's almost as necessary right now as any sort of monetary compensation that people can get."

Martina McBride spoke about the immense struggles the people in Alabama are going through in the wake of the natural disasters. "I tried to sit down and process what it would be like to lose everything and to start over. Where do you stay? How do you go about building a new house? How do you go about finding clothes and food and water?" McBride said. "And I think that once you get those immediate needs filled, there's still long term needs. So we need to remember that we need to keep giving and keep these people in our thoughts and prayers."

Luke Bryan said it was "really an honor" being able to help out the people in Alabama, while Jake Owen is happy that he's "at the point finally now in [his] life where [he's] able to get on that platform in order to have a voice in order to help people." Also on the bill were Sheryl Crow, Montgomery Gentry, Darius Rucker, Little Big Town, and more.

The concert ended up raising more than $1 million dollars for the relief efforts in Alabama. Like Brad Paisley said, though, we also hope this night of entertainment helped ease the grief for the people of Alabama, if only for a few hours.

Watch a Clip of Alabama Performing 'Tennessee River' at Bama Rising