NASH2O Launch Party Tomorrow

Dozens of instruments belonging to Peter Frampton, Brad Paisley, Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, Vince Gill and other stars are headed for the online auction block through nonprofit organization NASH2O (nash-2-oh), starting tomorrow (10/12) to support local flood relief.

NASH2O’s official launch kicks-off tomorrow (10/12) at 4 PM with a VIP reception and press conference at the Hard Rock Café in downtown Nashville, featuring appearances by artists, a silent auction, and the display of some instruments from the auction. Industry guests RSVP to Jayne Rogovin at jrogovin@mac.com.

Following the May floods, instrument gurus and musicians George Gruhn, Joe Glaser, and Bruce Bouton organized NASH2O to benefit flood victims. The NASH2O auction is unique because the instruments offered for sale are musical artifacts from the record flooding that tore through Nashville. As Gruhn explains, the instruments themselves are unlike what is usually available to fans. “It’s fairly common to see instruments, signed by artists, for sale in charity efforts or given as contest prizes,” he says. “But those are almost always pieces donated by a manufacturer for that purpose. They’re handed to the artist, he signs them, and that’s really the only connection he has with them. The NASH2O pieces are the artists’ personal instruments. [We are auctioning] Peter Frampton’s Les Paul, and Brad Paisley’s Tele-style guitar. You hear that guitar on the records. You saw it in his hands in concert. These are very personal, cherished tools of the trade, and buyers can own a piece of that history, that pedigree.”

Instruments were donated by Peter Frampton, Keith Urban, Vince Gill, Duane Eddy, Amy Grant, Keb Mo, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, John Hiatt, Brent Mason, Raul Malo, Kathy Mattea, John Jorgenson, Chris Leuzinger, Bill Cooley, Steve Farris, Jerry McPherson, Kevin Grantt, Martin Guitars, Paul Reed Smith, Collings Guitars, Fender and more. The public online auction opens tomorrow (10/12) and runs through Dec. 10 at http://nash2o.org.

Proceeds will go to MusiCares Nashville Flood Relief Fund for music industry professionals, Nashville Musicians Association Flood Relief Fund for those musicians that were uninsured, and Middle Tennessee fire and rescue departments.