Big names from all music genres are coming together for a benefit concert Tuesday to help victims of last month's devastating flood in Nashville.
Faith Hill, who is leading the Nashville Rising concert with husband Tim McGraw, said just bringing everyone in the Nashville community together in the same venue will be powerful.
"Sometimes the only way we can possibly do that is to experience a tragedy like we did in the last couple of months," she said. "The musicians on stage have gone through it. Some of them have lost every instrument they ever owned, and some in the audience have lost their homes and their businesses. So we've been through this together, and we're going to pull ourselves up."
The all-star line up for Tuesday night's concert includes McGraw, Hill, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride, LeAnn Rimes, Toby Keith, Miranda Lambert, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Lynyrd Skynrd, Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith and ZZ Top.
A statement on the Brooks & Dunn Website said the duo had to pull out due to illness.
Performer Julie Roberts is a flood victim herself.
"We went upstairs to the second floor and had to wait to be rescued for about 5 1/2, 6 hours. We lost our home that day. We lost all of our belongings, all of our cars, but we were rescued and my four dogs were rescued."
She also broke her ankle during the ordeal.
"It can heal," she said, with a quiet peace about her. "I'm alive and my mom's alive and my sister's alive, and I'm here to talk about it, and I'm here to sing tonight. So I feel very blessed."
McGraw said the timing of the concert — nearly seven weeks after the flood May 1 and 2 — was intentional, to bring another wave of disaster relief funds to the city.
"What's really the part that is the most work right now is neighborhoods, where people live and where their families live," he said. "That's where the focus is for us now is families and neighborhoods and for people to get their homes and their lives back together."
Ellen Lehman, president of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, says Nashville is moving from the stabilization phase to the restoration phase where the unexpected expenses of a disaster are most acutely felt.
"Since the flood, (families) are not only required to pay their mortgage and the rest of their bills, but they're also needing to pay rent," she said. "Going forward...they're going to have to find the money to rebuild. That is a huge unexpected burden, and there will be people who can't financially put together a package that will allow them to do that, and they're going to have to walk away from their homes."
Lehman said over 37,000 people have filed claims with FEMA throughout 40 counties in middle Tennessee. Officials say the flooding caused over $2 billion in damage.
Jason Aldean said he is grateful to McGraw and Hill for organizing the event.
"All of us, all the artists involved in this thing have all adopted Nashville as our home," he said. "It's our community, and our city, and we want to help out as much as anybody. This town was built on music and who better to help the community out than the artists that kind of helped to build the city?"
Organizers hope to raise upward of $2 million.
The sold-out concert is Tuesday at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena.