James Taylor, Paul Simon, Bonnie Raitt and Willie Nelson are among the artists who will perform as part of the “Can’t Mess With Texas: A Benefit Concert for Hurricane Harvey Relief” that will take place on Sept. 22 in Austin.
The four-hour telethon will be broadcast on 11 TEGNA stations in Texas as well as on YouTube.com/TexasStrong, with proceeds going to the Rebuild Texas Fund (RebuildTX.org) in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Google will match the first $500,000 of donations, while volunteers from Google’s Austin office and TEGNA staffers will man the phone banks.
Simon’s wife Edie Brickell and her band New Bohemians will also perform, along with Lyle Lovett, Leon Bridges, Ryan Bingham and more. Bob Dylan band guitarist Charlie Sexton will serve as musical director, with Texas legends Asleep at the Wheel as the house band.
Actors Matthew McConaughey, Renee Zellweger and Luke Wilson and newsman Dan Rather will also appear at the event.
The Texas concert follows this week’s “Hand In Hand” telethon, which raised $44 million for hurricane relief.
Gary Graff is an award-winning music journalist who not only covers music but has written books on Bob Seger, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen.
