Billy Gilman Celebrates 25 Years of Music With a Home-State Show at the UNITED (postponed)

NOTE: This event was postponed due to the nor’easter.

Billy Gilman Celebrates 25 Years of Music With a Home-State Show at the UNITED Saturday, Sept. 26, bringing the Rhode Island singer back to Westerly for an anniversary concert that looks back at one of the more unusual careers in modern country music.

25 Years of Hits & Showstoppers begins at 7:30 p.m. in the UNITED’s Black Box Auditorium. The fully seated, all-ages performance will mix songs from Gilman’s career with classics, covers, and stories from a musical journey that began when he became nationally famous before he was even a teenager.

For this particular anniversary show, the location matters. Gilman was born in Westerly and grew up in nearby Hope Valley. Twenty-five years after his childhood career put a Rhode Island kid on country radio across America, he’s returning home to celebrate the music that followed.

When “One Voice” Changed Everything

Gilman’s career exploded in 2000 with “One Voice.”

He was only 11 when the song became a major country hit, making him the youngest solo performer at the time to reach Billboard’s country charts. The song also crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100.

His debut album, also titled One Voice, followed and became a major commercial success. Suddenly, a child from Rhode Island was sharing the country music conversation with established Nashville stars.

Then came the Grammys.

“One Voice” earned Gilman a nomination for Best Male Country Vocal Performance at the 43rd Grammy Awards, putting the 12-year-old singer in a category alongside adult country performers. The songwriters also received a nomination for Best Country Song.

Gilman went on to release Classic Christmas, Dare to Dream and Music Through Heartsongs during a remarkably compressed period of childhood fame.

What Happens When a Child Singer Grows Up?

Gilman’s story became more complicated as he got older.

The voice that had made him famous as a child inevitably changed during adolescence. For most singers, that’s an ordinary part of growing up. For Gilman, his career had been built around a voice millions of people already knew.

His recording career slowed considerably.

That could easily have been the end of the story: a former child star remembered primarily for one extraordinary period at the beginning of the 2000s.

Instead, Gilman eventually found another national stage.

A Second Introduction on The Voice

In 2016, Gilman auditioned for Season 11 of NBC’s The Voice.

This time, audiences weren’t meeting an 11-year-old country prodigy. They were hearing an adult singer essentially asking to be judged again.

His blind audition of Adele’s “When We Were Young” turned all four coaches’ chairs. Gilman chose Adam Levine’s team and ultimately made it all the way to the season finale, finishing as runner-up.

The appearance reintroduced him to a national audience more than 15 years after “One Voice,” while also allowing him to move beyond the expectations attached to his childhood sound.

That arc gives the title 25 Years of Hits & Showstoppers more weight than a standard anniversary concert. It’s a career that has effectively contained two introductions to the American public.

Coming Home to Westerly

Now 38, Gilman returns to the town where he was born for a show built around that entire journey.

The UNITED describes the concert as a combination of familiar songs, heartfelt classics and powerful covers reimagined in Gilman’s current style, with storytelling connecting different periods of his career.

The setting should make this one particularly intimate.

Rather than the UNITED’s larger configurations, the concert is a fully seated performance in the Black Box Auditorium, with reserved seating selected when tickets are purchased.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m., with the show beginning at 7:30. Tickets are $35 with fees included.

For longtime Rhode Island fans, there is an obvious full-circle element to the night. The kid from Hope Valley who became a national country star at 11, disappeared from the center of the industry as his voice changed, and then sang his way back onto national television as an adult is celebrating the anniversary close to where the whole thing started.

More information is available at the Event Website link below.

To purchase tickets, click the Event Ticketing link below.

Details

Event: Billy Gilman: 25 Years of Hits & Showstoppers
Date: Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026
Doors: 6:30 p.m.
Show: 7:30 p.m.
Venue: UNITED Black Box Auditorium
Address: 5 Canal Street, Westerly, RI 02891
Admission: $35, fees included
Seating: Fully seated show; seating location is selected when purchasing tickets
Age: All ages
Accessibility: The UNITED is wheelchair accessible and recommends contacting the box office before purchasing tickets to discuss the best location for accessible seating.
Ticket Policy: Tickets are non-refundable and non-exchangeable.

Featured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people, location, or activities shown.