Randy Houser is giving back to a man who made a difference in his life.

Growing up in a small town and perfectly content with playing his music, Randy doubted he would ever go to college. Yet the encouragement of a teacher by the name of Thomas Carson gave Randy the "little kick in the butt” he needed to not only pursue an education at East Central Community College in Decatur, Miss., but to ultimately propel him toward building a successful country music career.

“I was playing clubs at the time and the thought of going to school was foreign to me,” Randy tells CountryWeekly.com. “I was judging a talent competition one night and Mr. Carson came up to me and asked me if I wanted to go to college. Come to find out that Mr. Carson was and still is one of those people that take kids like me, recognizes their talents and often ends up giving them scholarships to go play music at East Central. I would have never had the money to go to school without his help.”

As the longtime director of bands at East Central, Tom Carson was diagnosed with esophageal cancer earlier this year.

Randy will play a benefit concert scheduled for Nov. 12 at Neshoba County Coliseum in Philadelphia, Miss., to help raise money toward treatments.

“I always knew that he believed in me and my music,” says Randy. “I’ll never forget the moment he looked me in the eye and said, ‘If you can get out of this town, you need to go’. I moved to Nashville soon after. He helped me. Now it’s time to help him.”

For more details, read about it on the Neshoba County website.