Jamey Johnson, Shooter Jennings, Jessi Colter + More Raise $70,000 for Cancer Research

Some familiar country faces came together to play to a sold-out crowd on July 9 at Nashville's Marathon Music Works to benefit the Nikki Mitchell Foundation.

Jamey Johnson, Shooter Jennings and Jessi Colter hosted the event, which featured performances from Chris Stapleton, Jerrod Niemann, Josh Abbott and Waylon Jennings' longtime backup singer Carter Robertson and her three daughters, Carter's Chord.

"Waylon was and still is a huge part of our lives," Carter's Chord's Joanna Ott tells The Boot. "We grew up watching our parents onstage with him. His music changed the course of country, and it has inspired us personally over the years. We miss him very much, and it was an honor to sing some of these songs we've been singing all our lives, sharing the stage with some incredible artists and friends. Felt like a big family reunion."

Shooter Jennings' band served as house band for the first part of the night, which featured covers of Waylon Jennings songs. The Nikki Mitchell Foundation is named for his manager of 22 years, who died of pancreatic cancer.

The second half of the evening shifted focus, with Johnson's band taking over to play tunes by Hank Cochran, who also passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2010.

The show and live and silent auctions raised over $70,000 to aid in pancreatic cancer research.

"Nikki Mitchell was one of the most incredible women to walk this earth, and anyone who knew her would say the same thing," Ott says. "She touched so many lives. Pancreatic cancer took hers too soon, as it does so many people. The foundation donates money to research for early detection and the cure of pancreatic cancer. It's a great cause and her legacy lives on through it."