Entertainment Music Joe Walsh Launches Veterans Foundation with Inaugural Benefit Show Featuring Keith Urban, Zac Brown Band and More The Eagles guitar icon is launching a foundation to support the troops—and to set it in flight, he's staging a star-studded benefit show By Jordan Runtagh Jordan Runtagh Jordan Runtagh is an executive podcast producer at iHeartRadio, where he hosts a slate of pop culture shows including Too Much Information, Inside the Studio, Off the Record and Rivals: Music's Greatest Feuds. Previously, he served as a music editor at PEOPLE and VH1.com. He's written about art and entertainment for more than a decade, regularly contributing to outlets like Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly, and appearing as a guest on radio and television. Over the course of his career, he's profiled the surviving Beatles, Brian Wilson, Aretha Franklin, Roger Waters, David Byrne, Pete Townshend, Debbie Harry, Quincy Jones, Brian May, Jerry Lee Lewis, James Taylor and many more. A graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, he lives in Brooklyn, where he can be found DJing '60s soul records. People Editorial Guidelines Published on July 17, 2017 09:00PM EDT Photo: Michael Tran/FilmMagic Eagles guitar legend Joe Walsh is launching a foundation to support the troops—and to set it in flight, he’s staging a star-studded benefit show. On Monday, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer announced his inaugural concert to benefit VetsAid, his new non-profit to lend a hand to veterans and their families. Keith Urban, Zac Brown Band and Gary Clark Jr will be joining Walsh on the bill Sept. 20, 2017 at the EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Virginia, with more artists to be announced soon. It’s a cause that hits close to home for Walsh, 69. His father, a flight instructor, died in a plane crash while stationed on the Japanese island of Okinawa. Walsh was just 20 months old when the loss devastated his family. “War is hell for everyone involved,” he says in a press release. “I lost my father when I was a baby, before I could even make a memory of him. I stopped counting the number of friends I lost in the Vietnam War or that came home forever scarred mentally or physically or both. We’ve only just begun to appreciate the long-term impacts on our troops home from Iraq. And in Afghanistan, the longest war in American history continues to drag on with no end in sight and just last month this administration committed to send thousands more of our young men and women into the conflict with no defined goal or strategy.” FROM PEN: George Michael’s Philanthropy Will Be Remembered as Fondly as His Music A longtime activist for veteran relief—he recently gave guitar lessons to patients at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center—Walsh aims to use his new platform to raise funds and awareness for the significant needs of the more than 51,000 soldiers who have returned home wounded from American military action in the Middle East since 2001. According to a 2015 report, veterans have a 50 percent higher suicide rate than civilians. “I had to do something and rock and roll seems to be what I do best,” Walsh continues. “It’s also the least I could do for those who have served and continue to serve our country. We’re all in this together as Americans and seems to me lately that people are forgetting that. I asked my buddies Zac, Gary and Keith to step up and I’m so grateful that they did. Let’s put on a show, raise some money and celebrate our vets—and let’s do it every year!” To learn more about VetsAid, visit their website here.