1 month ago
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Last week, Hurricane Helene rampaged through the American southeast, devastating the city Asheville and much of the surrounding area in Western North Carolina. Asheville artist MJ Lenderman had to postpone some tour dates, while Indigo de Souza shared photos of her destroyed home. Now, Eric Church and Sturgill Simpson, two very different artists who could both be considered iconoclastic country stars, have both announced their hurricane-relief efforts — Church with a new song, Simpson with a benefit show.
Eric Church is a native of Granite Falls, a town in Western North Carolina. A few days ago, Church mourned the late Kris Kristofferson by sharing his unreleased song “Kickin’ It With Kristofferson.” Today, Church has released “Darkest Hour,” his first proper solo single in three years. It’s a soulful, gospel-inflected track with a whole lot of falsetto singing. According to a press release, Church has signed all of his publishing royalties for the song to “the people of North Carolina.” Here’s what Church says about it:
From Western North Carolina, East Tennessee, Upstate South Carolina, parts of Georgia and even Florida which took a direct hit, there are so many places that were impacted. Specifically in the area that I’m from, the mountains of Western North Carolina were devastated. There are places that are just biblically gone. These are our family members, they’re our friends, they’re our neighbors — and they’re in dire need of help. And I’ve been in the studio for a while, trying some different things and exploring creativity. I had this song that I’d written, and the line that struck me in light of the recent devastation was “I’ll come running,” because there are a lot of people out there right now who are in their darkest hour and they need people to come running. We were going to wait to release music until next year, but it just didn’t feel right to wait with this song. Sometimes you give songs their moment, and sometimes they find their own moment.
This song “Darkest Hour” was the best way I could think to try to help. We’ve been helping with boots on the ground efforts, but this is something that will live beyond just the immediate recovery. This is not a quick thing to fix, so hopefully “Darkest Hour” will be able to contribute to that for a long time to come. This song goes to my home, North Carolina, now and forever.
“Darkest Hour” is a song dedicated to the unsung heroes, the people who show up when the world’s falling apart. This is for the folks who show up in the hardest times, offering a hand when it’s most needed, and standing tall when others can’t. Even in your darkest hour, they come running. When the night’s at its blackest, this is for those who are holding the light, guiding the lost and pulling us through. The message of the song specifically in this time is about Hurricane Helene and the people that need help, but in a broader view, it’s about any challenging times that we have in our life, which we’ll all have. And it’s always important to know that in your darkest hour, there are people that will come running, there are people that will help. And I think it’s also important to be one of the people that go running when other people need help.
Listen to “Darkest Hour” below.
Meanwhile, Sturgill Simpson is currently on a reportedly-incredible tour, heavy on cover songs, in support Passage Du Desir, the album that he released under his new Johnny Blue Skies alter ego. Simpson was scheduled to play Asheville’s ExploreAsheville.com Arena on 10/21, but that show had to be canceled because of the hurricane. Instead, Simpson will play a special benefit show that night at Cary, North Carolina’s Koka Booth Amphitheatre, with all proceeds going to the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund.
English (US) · 