Concert will benefit “Love Your Brain,” which helps individuals with traumatic brain injuries
By Tom Ayres , Senior Staff Writer
Upper Valley music aficionados — and especially fans of the high-spirited Americana sounds of acclaimed jam-and-roots rocker Chad Hollister — are in for a rare treat on Friday evening, Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. at Woodstock’s Town Hall Theatre.
Hollister is bringing his nine-piece, guitar-, horn-, and percussion-driven band to the intimate performance space in Woodstock Village for an evening rife with the deep-seated spirituality, compassion, and commitment to community that are musical hallmarks of Hollister, who calls Worcester, Vt., his home base. It’s a rare opportunity for music lovers: Hollister typically tours regionally, nationally, and internationally in acoustic solo, duo, trio, and quartet formats, and very rarely ventures on stage with his large ensemble, the Chad Hollister Band.
Chad Hollister began performing his American rootsinflected music while still a student at the University of Vermont in the 1990s and early 2000s. Photo Provided
There’s an added incentive to catch the upcoming Town Hall gig, too: a portion of the proceeds from the performance and a night-of-show silent auction will benefit Love Your Brain, the nonprofit organization formed a decade ago by then-Upper Valley-based brothers Kevin and Adam Pearce to help individuals in recovery from traumatic brain injuries (TBIs).
Kevin, the son of vaunted Quechee glassmaker Simon Pearce, is a former professional snowboarder who sustained a traumatic brain injury that ended his career just shy of the 2010 Winter Olympics. Motivated by his experiences in rehabilitation and recovery, Kevin Pearce set out with his brother Adam to inspire and help people better understand that most vital and fragile of human organs: the brain. Adam took a leave-of-absence from his job in 2009 to be by Kevin’s side during his arduous rehabilitation. He then went on to serve as the co-producer and videographer of the acclaimed documentary film about his brother Kevin, “The Crash Reel,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013, helping to spur the founding of the Love Your Brain charity one year later. Today, Adam Pearce is the executive director of Love Your Brain and Kevin is the organization’s principal public face, appearing all over the world at motivational speaking engagements, retreats, workshops, and educational programs.
Chad Hollister first encountered Kevin Pearce about a decade ago, shortly after Love Your Brain got its start. Hollister was getting ready to go on stage at a summertime music series at Battery Park in Burlington when he caught sight of a man teaching his nine-year-old son to ride a “one-wheeler,” also known as a unicycle. Intrigued, but also concerned for his son’s safety, Hollister spoke with the man — who turned out to be Kevin Pearce — simply to make certain that his child was wearing proper safety gear, especially a helmet. Pearce, five years removed from his traumatic brain injury while practicing for the Olympic snowboard half-pipe event, assured Hollister that everything was in order for his son’s safety, especially helmet-wise. The musician and the former Olympics-bound snowboarder struck up a friendship and the encounter fostered an interest in TBIs on Hollister’s part — an interest that was further sparked several years later, when one of Chad’s closest friends, a veteran mountain biker, suffered a near-death, severe brain injury in a crash while she was riding out West.
“Those two experiences — meeting Kevin years ago and then my friend’s more recent experience with a TBI — led to my thinking, ‘Hey, let’s bring a benefit show back home to Vermont — we have a history of doing benefits with the big band — and so let’s tap into wonderful local sponsors and ask the community to help out Love Your Brain,’” Hollister noted in a phone conversation last weekend. “My songs are thoughtful, intentional, and about family, love, community, and positivity, which are really what is important these days,” Hollister told the Standard prior to a duo concert in Pomfret earlier this year. Those themes will certainly resonate with the audience at the Love Your Brain benefit.
Adam Pearce, left, founded the Love Your Brain nonprofit organization with his brother, Kevin Pearce, right, in 2014. Love Your Brain provides support, motivation, workshops, and educational programming for people with traumatic brain injuries and their families and advocates. Photos Provided
The Chad Hollister Band includes a wealth of Vermont and regional folk, rock, and jazz luminaries, including front man Hollister on guitar and lead vocals; Jeff “Primo” Parenski on lead guitar and vocals; Rudy Dauth on bass; Tommy Diehl on drums; Yahuba Garcia on percussion; Chris Peterman, Mike Szoldos, and Jake Whitesell on saxophones; and Kevin Avery on trumpet. Woodstock’s own Ben Kogan will join the band as a special guest for the evening, playing upright bass. A close friend and fellow international touring musician of Hollister’s, Kris Gruen, will open the benefit show at Town Hall with his own set. Gruen and Hollister are nearby neighbors in Worcester and this will be a rare Vermont concert appearance for Gruen.
Ten percent of the profits from the Chad Hollister Band’s Town Hall performance will go directly to the Love Your Brain organization. In addition, a bevy of sponsors have contributed goods and services to the benefit silent auction that will be held at the concert. The sponsors include the Woodstock Inn & Resort, Blizzard Skis, Godin Guitars, Barr Hill Distillery, Splash Naturals, Lawson’s Finest Liquids, The Tea House, Woody’s Mercantile, and the Minuteman Press. Concert attendees may also make additional contributions to Love Your Brain via a dedicated web page at give.loveyourbrain.com/chadhollisterband.
General admission tickets for the Town Hall performance on Friday evening, Oct. 11 are $35 each plus a service fee. A limited number of VIP tickets, which include priority seating, a meet-and-greet with the band, and a signed, limited edition show poster, are $60 each plus a service charge. Tickets and more information are available at brownpapertickets.com/event/6369129.