Country star Mo Pitney to headline benefit concert for Rockford Rescue Mission

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Rockford Rescue Mission will celebrate its 60th anniversary later this month with a benefit concert featuring country star Mo Pitney and his cousin Luke Pitney.

Mo and Luke Pitney are the grandsons of early mission leaders the Rev. Gerald and Nadine Pitney. Gerald Pitney served as the nonprofit’s first director about a year after it was founded by Ray Stewart in 1964.

The concert is slated for 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28 at Rockford Rescue Mission, 715 W. State St. It’s preceded by a ticketed Mo Pitney meet and greet from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and a meal.

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Music by the Pitney family has played a large role in the Rescue Mission’s history. Mo and Luke Pitney’s parents all performed in a bluegrass group called The Pitneys, which helped fund the nonprofit in the 1980s and 1990s. Before that, Gerald and Nadine Pitney led music and played piano in evangelistic crusades.

“In the past 30 years, the mission has sponsored concerts and music festivals,” the Rescue Mission said in a news release. “So it’s only natural that this year of celebrating our 60th anniversary culminates with great music.”

Mo Pitney’s debut album, “Behind This Guitar,” landed on Billboard’s Top 10 country albums chart in 2016. He followed that with 2020’s “Ain’t Lookin’ Back.” His song, “Country,” reached Billboard’s Top 40 Hot Country Songs.

Luke Pitney, who runs a custom homebuilding business and is the son of Rescue Mission CEO Sherry Pitney, is also a country music artist whose debut album “Where I’ve Been” was released in 2013.

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The Rockford Rescue Mission offers Christian-centered care to people struggling with homelessness, poverty, abuse and addiction. Its crisis centers provide food and shelter to hundreds of men, women and children each day.

It also offers Life Recovery programs designed to provide long-term, Christ-centered help to people struggling with addiction, escaping domestic violence or other desperate circumstances.

Know before you go | Benefit concert

When: 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28 (5:30 p.m. meet and greet; 6 p.m. dinner)

Where: Rockford Rescue Mission, 715 W. State St., Rockford

Cost: $35 (concert only); add the meal for $10 more; For $100, you get entrance to the meet and greet, the meal and premier seating for the concert

Tickets: Go HERE

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas