- And joining me once again is country star
and my duet partner, Brett Eldrege,
give it up for him! (clapping)
Woo woo woo! - Hey!
(crowd cheering)
- We are currently basking in the glow
of the holiday season.
As everyone knows, Christmas is about giving.
And we've actually,
Brett connected on the spirit of giving back.
Because Brett and I are both involved
in an organization that brings live music to hospitals
all over America.
It's Musicians On Call, and they enlist an army of musicians
from all over the country.
And this is what we call Good Neighbors.
(funky music)
(clapping)
♪ Good neighbor. ♪
Joining us to talk about Musicians On Call
is the President and CEO of the organization.
Say hi to our friend, Pete Griffin, give it up!
(clapping) (cheering)
What's up, Pete?
- How's it going, Kelly and Brett?
- How are you, my friend?
- We're living our best holiday dream, Pete.
- [Brett] We got it.
Life is good.
- I'm so, I've always been so honored to work with you guys.
For people that don't know,
can you explain what Musicians On Call is all about?
- Of course, so Musicians On Call is a national non-profit,
and what we do is we bring live and recorded music
directly to the bedsides of patients
and healthcare facilities, all around the country.
And you know, a lot of people know about us
because we have these amazing artists like you guys,
and Bruce Springsteen, and Jason Derulo,
and Sia and Blake Shelton, volunteering with us,
but most of the musicians that volunteer with us
every day around America
are local professional musicians and songwriters
that are really looking to do something in their communities
to bring some happiness and healing to folks
that are in hospitals.
- Well Pete, this year has been tough for you guys,
obviously you've turned it into an opportunity
but COVID-19 has kind of sucked the life
out of everything this year, (chuckling) so.
But you've, you've taken the challenge on, right?
- We have, you know, when March came around,
we had to end our in-person programs
which was basically most of what we did,
and we had to move completely to virtual.
And so now, we have live musicians
playing for hospital patients all around America,
virtually, every single day,
to the point where we're now playing for more people
after the pandemic started than we did before.
- Wow.
- And so the isolation that people are feeling,
because, they're now in the hospital,
and I'm talking to kids who can't even have both parents
visit them at the same time.
Or can't see their siblings or extended family
because of the restrictions of the pandemic.
And so stress levels are so high,
so we wanted to do something extra special this year,
so we're putting together a huge concert for patients,
where we're gonna have amazing artists like Dolly Parton,
and Josh Groban, and Shawn Mendes and others,
actually perform just for hospital patients
this holiday season,
which is gonna bring some happiness and joy
where I think people need it the most right now.
- Well I understand that you have a surprise for me,
so what's that?
- I do, Kelly, and listen.
I've spent time with you in the hospital,
and I know how humble you are.
But I think for a lot of people watching,
they're probably like, "I know who Kelly Clarkson is,
"but what is she like in real life?"
Well, for everyone out there, I can tell you,
Kelly Clarkson is like Kelly Clarkson in real life.
And I wanna tell you something that--
- Oh, are you gonna make me cry?
- [Brett] That's awesome. - Oh man.
- I'm gonna tell you something that Kelly did,
that nobody knows, which is that,
and during the holiday season,
Kelly would work with Musicians On Call to set up
a Christmas concert at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital.
And she would decorate this whole room,
and have patients come down and see her and her band
perform holiday songs, which was amazing.
And it's done without fanfare,
there's no press or cameras or anything there,
but what people don't also know is that after that was over,
Kelly would go room to room,
to visit with all these patients and kids,
that couldn't come down to the concert.
And if that doesn't tell you a little bit,
something about who Kelly is, I don't know what does,
but Kelly, my surprise for you,
aside from ratting you out on how good you are,
is that we actually have a video from one of those patients
that you visited back then. - Oh!
(gentle guitar music)
- Hi Kelly, my name is Lara, and this is my son, Cullen.
Six years ago, we were in-patient
at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt,
in Nashville, Tennessee.
And right around Christmas-time,
you came in for a surprise visit
with the kids and the patients,
to kind of help brighten their spirits.
Cullen loves music, and you noticed Cullen,
and took time to talk with Cullen.
Somebody got him a stuffed giraffe,
and Cullen told you that the giraffe's name was Sunny.
And you quickly responded that
you had an old yellow truck named Sunny.
And that's something that has really stuck with us,
over all these years.
Yeah, you remember that day?
These days, Cullen is doing actually well.
From a mama's heart to another,
I just wanna say thank you again, so much.
You bring so much hope and joy to these kids and families,
that means the world,
more than you'll ever know.
- Oh my God. (crowd clapping)
(Brett chuckling)
- Wow.
- I'm literally just sitting here like,
try and keep it together.
Um, that, it's such a beautiful experience though.
I just need everybody to know, I know it looks like,
oh, she's so giving.
We get so much from those moments, selfishly,
like we get so-- - Huge.
- It's such, you meet such amazing people,
like going through amazing,
especially times like this,
everybody's going through a hard time in COVID.
And it, it's just,
it not only brings perspective, but it just,
it brings a certain warmth to your heart,
like just being involved around people like you,
that do this on the daily.
I mean you're talking about every musician out there
that is spending time to do this
and lift people's hearts and spirits,
it's a really, really beautiful thing that you're doing.
Thank you, Pete.
And if you want to help Musicians On Call
this holiday season, which you should,
head to my Insta story to find out how.
In fact, we know so many organizations can use
extra support during the holidays, especially in 2020.
So this week, I'm making it a point to mention
organizations that have been on our show in the past,
places that have captured our hearts.
One of those is Thistle Farms,
it's another actual Nashville-based organization
that's amazing, that I've worked with over the years,
and they're all about women
lifting up other women in big ways,
they help survivors of trafficking,
prostitution and addiction.
You can find out more about Thistle Farms
along with a whole bunch of charities and businesses
we've featured over the years, at kellyclarksonshow.com.
Remember, these places need your support more now than ever.
And however you can, I don't know if you go to church,
but that whole thing when that old lady can only afford
like, you know, two pennies or whatever it was,
it was like nothing, but it meant something,
and all that adds up.
So whether it's five dollars or 5,000, it doesn't matter,
it all counts.
So please do your part and help someone out this season
if you can, all right.