The 1st annual Songs of Deep Emotion and Bright Light benefit in support of the Nic Pagano LGBTQIA+ Scholarship Fund for Recovery announced who will be joining them at the City Winery in New York on Thursday, Jan. 26. The event will feature performances by Steve Earle, Rosanne Cash, Marshall Crenshaw who will each showcase a short set that illustrates their connection with the cause. 

The Nic Pagano LGBTQIA+ Scholarship Fund for Recovery, based at Caron Treatment Center in Pennsylvania, was created in partnership with The Release Recovery Foundation to enable ongoing assistance for families and individuals in the LGBTQIA+ community in need of financial assistance after agreeing to treatment for a substance use disorder.

“We started The Release Recovery Foundation to help individuals who just didn’t have the same access to treatment that I had growing up,” said Zac Clark, a Caron Board Member who co-founded the foundation. “We identified the LGBTQIA community as one where we could make a difference.” 

On top of Earle, Cash, and Crenshaw, it has been revealed that Amy Helm, Bettye LaVette, Willie Nile, Kate Pierson, Rachael Yamagata, Rich Pagano, and Martha Redbone have also been added to the roaster, with additional national and local artists to be confirmed in future weeks. According to organizers, the waves of music will range from “melancholy blue to electric heat.”

The fundraiser is additionally set to feature an auction segment where the Phillips Auction House will bid coveted music-related photographs donated by noted patrons, including Mark Seliger, William Coupon, Bob Gruen, The Gordon Parks Foundation and more.

Since its inception after the accidental death of Nic Pagano due to fentanyl poisoning on July 2, 2021, the Nic Pagano LGBTQIA+ Scholarship Fund has awarded six financial scholarships to clients in need of substance use treatment. Services also address stigma, heterosexism, internalized homophobia, and discrimination, as well as addiction.

Accidental overdose deaths have risen 25% in New York City over the past 18 months overall, while overdose deaths in the LGBTQIA+ community have risen an additional 5%, often due to a lack of treatment information or fear of marginalization. 

Get tickets to the 1st Annual Songs of Deep Emotion and Bright Light Benefit Concert and learn more here.