Lonestar Fills In For Tim McGraw At Charity Event

Nashville, TN. (Top40 Charts/ Spinal Cord Injury Foundation) - Tim McGraw, asks his friends LONESTAR to perform in his place at the "Friday Night Lights'" Stars for Spinal Cord Injury Benefit in Austin, Texas.

Lonestar, during a busy week of spreading the news of their new single to radio at Nashville's Country Radio Seminar (CRS) received a call from their friend Tim McGraw this afternoon to play in his place for the participants of the Beyond the Lights Celebrity Golf Tournament, as Tim McGraw has been not feeling well. LONESTAR will be playing an intimate acoustic set of some new music and many of their number 1 hits. LONESTAR will complete a full schedule at CRS on Friday, and then board a plane to Texas to play for a welcoming audience at the event.

Tim McGraw and LONESTAR recently announced their collaborative efforts at CRS this week, but as for this event, "This was just an opportunity to help a friend, said Dean Sams of LONESTAR. The show is hosted by Kyle Chandler and Brad Leland of NBC's "Friday Night Lights." The tournament and concert will take place on Friday, March 7th, 2008, at the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort, with proceeds going to both the Gridiron Heroes Spinal Cord Injury Foundation and The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis.

McGraw appeared in the Friday Night Lights feature film in 2004, also produced by Peter Berg, honorary Chairman of this year's event. Berg, McGraw and Friday Night Lights star Billy Bob Thornton organized a benefit concert in the spring of 2004 for Gridiron Heroes, which supports high school football players who've suffered spinal cord injuries while playing.

Gridiron Heroes is a cause that has special meaning to McGraw. Not only is he a former high school football player himself, but, "As a parent," he said, "there's a camaraderie that you have with other parents when something happens to their children. Your heart goes out to them."