Eric Church has new music on the horizon, and I can’t wait.
Yesterday, he and Luke Combs announced a massive benefit concert to support Hurricane Helene relief efforts called Concert for Carolina, which will take place on Saturday, October 26th at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Of course, Luke and Eric are western North Carolina natives, with Luke growing up in Asheville and Eric in nearby Granite Falls. Both attended Appalachian State University, and got their start playing in the same bars around Boone. Billy Strings and James Taylor are also listed as headliners, which more artists to be announced soon.
They spoke in-depth this morning on Fox & Friends about why this was so important to them, and Eric also explained his decision behind releasing “Darkest Hour,” the song he put out this past Friday. He notably signed away all of his rights and royalties to the song to the people of North Carolina to help provide relief for those affected by the storm.
The song was already being worked on for a forthcoming (unofficially announced) project he’s working on for next year, but he quickly realized in the aftermath of Helene that the song “found its moment” and he needed to put it out early for this purpose.
He noted the line specifically that says “In your darkest hour, I’ll come running,” which is how he feels about helping his home state right now:
“Well, I was in — I was in the studio and it’s actually, you know, sometimes you give a song its life and its moment, and sometimes they find their own.
And when I wrote this song, I never envisioned this scenario of how this song would come out and this unfolding, but when it did, there’s a line in this song called, ‘In your darkest hour, I’ll come running.’ And the people of Western North Carolina right now, and the whole area affected, they need us to come running.”
He continued, saying he knew he would “regret it” if he let the moment pass without releasing it:
“And I was going to regret it if we — I was — I was looking at the project next year, but I was going to regret it if we didn’t take this moment and give the song life. And then we decided to — to give the song to the people in North Carolina forever.
And they can have the monetary parts, one thing, but the awareness is what’s important here because in the life we live now, everything, everybody focuses on this for a month or two, and then we focus on something else.”
While the concert and this song will obviously raise a ton of money, and that’s amazing, it’s so much deeper than that, Eric says. He ultimately wants everyone to be aware of the devastation going on, and that’s why he’s doing all of these things:
“The people here are going to need more than a month or two. So the more light we can shed on this community and rebuilding this community, the better off we’re going to be.”
Tickets for the benefit concert will go on-sale this Thursday, October 10th at 10AM , and all proceeds from the event, including sponsorships, will be split 50/50 between Combs and Church’s Chief Cares Foundation to administer to organizations of their choosing in support of relief efforts across the Carolinas and the Southeast.
Combs’ portion will be distributed between Samaritan’s Purse, Manna Food Bank and Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC (all very legit, and great places to donate if you’re wanting to make a personal donation as well).
Church’s Chief Cares is focused on helping established charities and organizations that are well managed, organized and can expedite aid directly to the families affected by Hurricane Helene.
“Darkest Hour”