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A spirit that is not afraid

Country stars shine for families in need

(Contributed)

Put on your cowboy boots.

Country music artists Justin Moore, Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice, Josh Thompson and Luke Bryan will take the stage at the Auburn Arena Thursday at 8:45 p.m. and Friday at 6 p.m. for the 2011 Hudson Family Foundation homecoming benefit concerts.

Tickets are between $30 and $50 and are available at the arena box office, Kinnucan's and J&M bookstores.

All proceeds benefit the Hudson Family Foundation, which serves children and families in need in Georgia and Alabama.

"We love country music, and we knew it would be great for our area and thought we would get a lot of support with the college students and business owners in the Lee County area," said Kim Hudson, Auburn alumna and co-founder of the foundation.

This is the third concert Hudson and her husband have organized to raise money.

"We picked the (Country Music Television) tour because we really love Luke Bryan and have seen him in concert before and knew that he would be a popular draw," Hudson said.

Moore and Gilbert will perform Thursday night, with Bryan, Brice and Thompson taking the stage Friday as part of CMT's "Tailgates & Tanlines" tour.

Auburn is Brice's last stop on the tour.

"We have been having the time of our lives out here every weekend, so I'm sure it wont be any different in Auburn," Brice said. "I have personally hung out there on campus before, and it's always a good time."

Brice said he is also excited to play his new single.

"Folks are just starting to get to know it," he said. "There is nothing like people singing along with me at the top of their lungs."

Hudson said she thinks the arena will be a great venue for the concert.

"It's on the smaller size, and it's more intimate," Hudson said. "We've seen almost all these guys in concert before and know that they put on a good show, which is why we chose them to come to a college town."

Brent Hall, event coordinator for Hudson Family Foundation, said he's been working with the University for a little more than a year to organize the concert.

"When the students attend the concert, they need to know that they are going to be helping dozens of nonprofit organizations who are benefiting from the proceeds of this event," Hall said.

Hudson and her husband, Tim, started the foundation in 2009 when they saw children and families in areas of Alabama and Georgia whose financial needs were not being met.

"We just decided that we should form something on our own so we could be more strategic and be able to meet those needs that we were seeing," Kim said.

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Kim said she hopes Auburn will become home base for the foundation's charity work.


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