Longview, Texas native Sunny Sweeney helped make history on Saturday night (1/21) during the five-hour long 42nd Annual West Texas Rehabilitation Center telethon. Raising over $1.3 million, this year’s event at the Abilene Civic Center was the most successful to date. This major fundraiser allows the private non-profit center to see more than 500 patients each day with a wide array of physical, communication and hearing disabilities and/or disorders.
Co-host of the legendary “Crook and Chase” TV and radio show, Charlie Chase, assumed hosting duties for a 12th year. Also on the bill were Texas legend Red Steagall, The Boys in the Bunkhouse, Brad Maule (General Hospital) as well as Bill and Susan Hayes (Days of Our Lives). Television stations throughout the region carried the show live during primetime and WestTexasRehab.org carried a live stream of the evening.
As the headliner, Sweeney performed songs from her critically-acclaimed Republic Nashville album, CONCRETE, which debuted at #7 on the Billboard Country Albums Chart and has sold over 400,000 digital tracks to date.
Rounding out 2011, Billboard ranked Sunny Sweeney as one of the Top 5 New Country Artists and included her record-breaking Top 10 smash, “From A Table Away” in the Top 100 Hot Country Songs. These accolades were foreshadowed when she landed on multiple “Ones to Watch in 2011” lists, including MSN, AOL, MAXIM and Country Weekly, and graced the cover of LoneStar Music Magazine. Next month, she will showcase her unique brand of Country music in front of industry insiders as one of the 2012 Country Radio Seminar New Faces. Previously Sweeney performed in front of over one million fans across America after earning a coveted spot on Brad Paisley’s H2O II: Wetter & Wilder World Tour and played support dates for Lady Antebellum and Darius Rucker.
