Grammy Award Winner Tim Mcgraw Co-Writes and Performs Original Song for National Geographic Documentary Films’ Free Solo, from Acclaimed Documentarian Duo Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin

National Geographic Documentary Films taps Grammy award-winning legend Tim McGraw to perform an original song for its upcoming feature documentary FREE SOLO. From award-winning documentary filmmaker Chai Vasarhelyi and world-renowned photographer and mountaineer Jimmy Chin (“Meru”), the highly anticipated film documents “one of the greatest athletic feats of any kind ever” (The New York Times) and will premiere at the Telluride Film Festival this weekend and be released in theaters on Sept. 28. McGraw Music LLC/Columbia Nashville will release McGraw’s song, Gravity, digitally later this year. Click here for a sneak peek.

Performed by McGraw, the song was co-written by McGraw and Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Lori McKenna (“Humble and Kind”, “Girl Crush”), and complements the intensely intimate, personal story of climber Alex Honnold in FREE SOLO.

“There are few people who pursue their passion with the fearlessness of Alex Honnold. It’s both terrifying and exhilarating to be on that journey with him when you watch FREE SOLO. Lori McKenna and I wanted the lyric of ‘Gravity’ to be a reminder that fear is a battle fought on a variety of planes, from mental to spiritual to physical. We tend to think ‘fearlessness’ is synonymous with big bold gestures, but there’s also a fragility inherent in risk — and we wanted that to come through. In the studio, Byron Gallimore and I wanted a track that sonically resonated with Marco Beltrami’s score and felt as big as El Capitan,” said McGraw.

“It was an honor to work with Tim McGraw and he truly delivered a stunning song with ‘Gravity,’” says the film’s Music Supervisor Tracy McKnight. “The song perfectly captures the heart and soul of this remarkable film and Alex Honnold’s extraordinary achievement.”

“We are thrilled to be partnering with two of the most phenomenally talented artists in the world — music superstar Tim McGraw and top-tier songwriter Lori McKenna,” says Ashley Winton, vice president, music, National Geographic Partners. “Their genuine passion and honesty shines through in the track, ‘Gravity,’ further connecting audiences to the profoundly aspirational story told in FREE SOLO.”

FREE SOLO is a stunning, intimate and unflinching portrait of free soloist climber Alex Honnold, as he prepares to achieve his lifelong dream: climbing the face of the world’s most famous rock … the 3,200-foot El Capitan in Yosemite National Park … without a rope. The edge-of-your seat thriller is an inspiring portrait of an athlete who challenges both his body and his beliefs on a quest to triumph over the impossible, revealing the personal toll of excellence.

Link to FREE SOLO trailer here.

High-res Tim McGraw photo here.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTARY FILMS PRESENTS

A LITTLE MONSTER FILMS PRODUCTION

AN ITINERANT MEDIA PRODUCTION

A PARKES+MacDONALD/IMAGE NATION PRODUCTION

A FILM BY ELIZABETH CHAI VASARHELYI & JIMMY CHIN

For more information, visit www.natgeotvpressroom.com, or follow us on Twitter using @NGC_PR.

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ABOUT TIM MCGRAW
Tim McGraw has sold more than 50 million records worldwide and dominated the singles charts with a stunning 43 No. 1 singles. He recently had three singles in the top 20 at the same time on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, a feat he was the first to achieve — and the first to achieve twice. His most recent album, and first-ever joint album with his wife, Faith Hill, “The Rest of Our Life,” was released in November 2017 and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and No. 2 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. McGraw has been the most played country artist since his debut in 1992, with two singles spending over 10 weeks at No. 1 (“Live Like You Were Dying” and the genre-breaking “Over and Over”). His multiweek No. 1 single “Humble and Kind” from 2015’s “Damn Country Music” won the Grammy for Best Country Song, spawned a New York Times best-selling book and won a coveted Clio Award for Best Integrated Campaign. McGraw recently starred in and narrated the hit movie “The Shack,” adding it to such other film credits as “Friday Night Lights” and “The Blind Side.” The movie’s end credit song — “Keep Your Eyes on Me” — was performed by McGraw and Hill and is included on the official soundtrack, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Christian Albums chart in March 2017. McGraw is currently on tour with Hill on their record-setting Soul2Soul World Tour, which kicked off in April 2017 with 80 sold-out shows and continued in Europe and the United States throughout 2018.

ABOUT NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTARY FILMS
National Geographic Documentary Films is committed to bringing the world premium, feature documentaries that cover timely, provocative and globally relevant stories from the very best documentary filmmakers in the world. National Geographic Documentary Films is a division of National Geographic Partners, a joint venture between National Geographic and 21st Century Fox. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 130 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers … and reaching over 730 million people around the world in 172 countries and 43 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the nonprofit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information, visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
For National Geographic:

Kathryn Kennedy
212-656-0714
kathryn.kennedy@natgeo.com

Erin Griffin
202-912-6681
erin.griffin@natgeo.com