Country music star Steven Cade hooked up his microphone stand as he set the stage. He strummed the chords of his guitar and practiced singing a few verses. The singer was no stranger to concerts, taking the stage with big names like Jason Aldean and Keith Urban, but on July 9 at St. Ann’s Center for Children, Youth and Families, his performance wasn’t quite like any other musical tour.
There was no roaring crowd. No crazy setlist. No pyrotechnics: just a dozen picnic tables, three songs, and an acoustic guitar slung over his shoulder. Yet for Cade, who has traveled from coast to coast, his music carried just as far at the intimate concert at St. Ann’s.
Young moms sat around the tables; their children running around excitedly.
“Are y’all ready to hear some music?” Cade asked.
For the past three and a half years, Cade and his family have toured across the country performing at shelters, foster homes and youth centers as part of his non-profit organization, the Giving Guitars Foundation. At each center Cade visits, he performs a few of his songs, meets with some of the residents, and donates a brand-new acoustic guitar for residents to check out and play.
The 10-time Grammy nominee said he wanted to use his gift to inspire those experiencing homelessness or facing other difficult situations. At St. Ann’s, services focus on helping young mothers and pregnant women overcome poverty.
“People start to focus on the things that are negative,” Cade said. “There’s got to be something that becomes a light in your life. Some people don’t know Jesus yet, but they do know a song. Healing doesn’t always come with money or even medicine. Sometimes it just comes with a melody.”
The performance started with the tap of his foot, then the pluck of a string, and then the bob of his head. Cade played his hit songs, Big Picture Thinker, Love Louder and Country Thing to Do.
Toddlers squealed joyfully as they bounced to the beat of the music. Mothers clapped their hands together. Bodies swayed to the twang of the Nashvillian’s voice.
The songs sang melodies of having a steadfast faith in God, encouraging to love each other unconditionally and being a good Samaritan.
Sister Nancy Downing, a religious sister in the Congregation of Notre Dame who is the CEO of St. Ann’s, sat at the edge of the audience. A grin beamed across her face as she clapped with the others.
“Seeing people like Steven Cade come out just really lifted up the spirit of the moms,” she said. “He was really good, even after he sang and talked with the moms one-on-one and shared more of his story. I think that was also helpful for them to hear.”
At the end of the concert, Sister Nancy, joined Cade, his wife, Kellee, and children Levi and Eliana on stage as they handed her the center’s very own acoustic guitar for residents to reserve and check out like a library book.
“My hope is that you’ll take this guitar gift, and learn to play it. It will give you something to refocus on because we all go through different challenges in life,” Cade said.
Before the concert, resident Paige Jefferson did not consider herself to be a country music fan. Now, she says the performance broadened her horizons.
“I was very shocked by it,” Jefferson said. “I did not expect to like the country songs, but they inspired me… I love God so much, and it’s just another way to praise. I really appreciate it because praising is everything.”
Jefferson said that she used to be a musician herself when she was younger, taking up the French horn, and even dabbling with guitars. The 26-year-old said she even knows how to string and tune the instrument, just never learned the coordination.
As of the performance at St. Ann’s, Cade has visited 141 shelters across 23 states and donated more than 250 guitars. As his organization grows, he hopes to create music therapy programs, songwriting classes and audio production centers for lower-income individuals to pursue music.
“I would like to continue to move forward. There’s over 11,000 shelters in our nation, and over 7,000 people who are homeless right now… People need inspiration these days,” Cade said. “I’m always going to go to homeless shelters forever and ever until the Lord takes me home.”
(Elizabeth Polo is a journalism student at the University of Maryland and is a contributing writer for the Catholic Standard.)
