Willie Nelson, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, Leon Bridges and others will come together on Friday, Sept. 22 for the largest live benefit concert in Texas.
Harvey Can’t Mess With Texas: A Benefit Concert for Hurricane Harvey Relief will take place at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin.
Performers include:
Willie Nelson
Paul Simon
James Taylor
Bonnie Raitt
Leon Bridges
Lyle Lovett
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
Edie Brickell & New Bohemians
Ryan Bingham
Ha*Ash
The evening will include special appearances by Matthew McConaughy, Dan Rather, Renée Zellweger, Luke Wilson, Austin Mayor Steve Adler, Houston Chief of Police Art Acevedo and many more. Charlie Sexton will serve as Music Director, with Asleep at the Wheel sitting in as the house band.
Tickets go on sale today at 4 p.m. ET at www.rebuildtx.org, with prices ranging from $30-$199.
Eleven Texas stations will exclusively broadcast a one hour, commercial free special, “Texas Strong: Harvey Can’t Mess With Texas,” from 10 to 11 p.m. ET. The concert will also live stream internationally during the broadcast hour on YouTube.com/TexasStrong.
Google will match the first $500,000 of donations through a pledge challenge. Volunteers from Google’s Austin office and our station employees will staff the phone banks at select station locations across the state.
All viewers can support the relief efforts in post-Hurricane Harvey Texas by calling 1-833-2-HELPTX, or online at www.RebuildTX.org to make a donation.
Stations airing the broadcast concert include: WFAA, Dallas; KHOU, Houston; KVUE, Austin; KENS, San Antonio; KBMT, Beaumont; KCEN, Waco-Temple-Bryan; KAGS, College Station; KIII, Corpus Christi; KYTX, Tyler; KIDY, San Angelo; and KXVA, Abilene. These are all stations owned by our parent company, TEGNA.
“We got lucky when Hurricane Harvey avoided Austin, but though it missed us, it hit our neighbors hard. Every time I’ve asked you to help our neighbors you’ve risen to the challenge,” said Austin Mayor Steve Adler. “Now we have an opportunity to do good by being our best, and that means putting on a show and having a good time. Let’s show the world what it means to be the Live Music Capital of the World in the greatest state in the Union. I’ll be there and hope to see you, too.”
Proceeds will benefit Rebuild Texas Fund. Rebuild Texas Fund was created by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. The four focus areas of the fund include: health and housing; schools and child care; workforce and transportation; and capital for small businesses. The Dells are working to raise a total of $100 million for the long-term relief, recovery and rebuilding efforts for all affected communities in Texas. “For us, this is personal,” said Susan Dell. Both Michael and Susan Dell are Texas natives and Michael Dell is from Houston. “This fund was created to help rebuild all of the communities – big and small – that have been devastated by Hurricane Harvey. We will be rebuilding for years to come,” said Michael Dell.
Harvey Can’t Mess With Texas: A Benefit Concert for Hurricane Harvey Relief is generously organized with donated efforts and services by Springboard Productions, Solomon Group, Big House Sounds, Soundcheck Austin, The Frank Erwin Center, Hotel Van Zandt, GSD&M, Andy Langer, Texas Music Office, and the City of Austin, as well as media partners KUTX, KGSR, Texas Monthly, Austin American Statesman, and Austin Chronicle. TEGNA is producing the broadcast in partnership with Debra Davis Productions. Austin-based C3 Presents will proudly produce the live event with all services donated.