Tim McGraw Lets Swampstock Go

Singers Faith Hill and Tim McGraw arrive to the 50th Annual GRAMMY Awards at the Staples Center on February 10, 2008 in Los Angeles, California. Credit: Steve Granitz/WireImage.com

Sept. 8, 2008 — Tim McGraw revamped his Swampstock benefit concert from an annual event to one that happens every two years, but Hurricane Gustav forced him to — in the words of his current hit — let it go by the wayside this fall.

The Swampstock concert was originally slated for this Saturday, September 13, but Louisiana has been declared a disaster area in the wake of Gustav, and the Neighbor’s Keeper Foundation, which was producing this year’s concert, decided the show would distract the organization too much from its recovery efforts. That means Faith Hill, Dierks Bentley, Jason Aldean, Halfway To Hazard and Catherine Raney all have unexpected holes in their schedules.

"Neighbor’s Keeper Foundation wants to lend its support to those relief efforts," Tim reflects. "Although Faith and I are personally disappointed, we understand that the priority is people’s homes and livelihood."

That means it’ll be a three-year wait, instead of the usual two, between Swampstock events.

In the meantime, there’s no delay on the progress of his current single, "Let It Go." It edged into the Top 20 last week on the Country Aircheck chart, a fact that reinforces Tim’s good feelings about the song. He liked it so much, he made it the title for his most recent studio album.

"I loved the song and loved what it had to say and the groove," he told Dial-Global. "After the album was done, I was kind of looking for what I wanted to call it. That song just kept coming back to me. You know, turning 40 and having a little bit of wisdom but still being young and dumb. And it was time to kind of just take another step forward in life and cut some things loose, and it sort of made sense."

"Let It Go" will also be featured on Tim’s Greatest Hits 3, set for release Oct. 7.