North Carolina’s Eric Church Releases Music For Those Affected By Hurricane Helene

We knew country music artists would show up and show up quickly. Leave it to one of our amazing artists from the Tar Heel State. North Carolina's Eric Church releases music for those affected by Hurricane Helene.

According to not only our sources here at the radio station but also the Charlotte Observer, Church said; "It just didn't feel right to wait". And the good folks of Western North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina thank you Eric, I have no doubt.

The 47 year old Granite Falls, North Carolina native released a surprise single called "Darkest Hour",for “the unsung heroes, the people who show up when the world’s falling apart.” Not only that but the Appalachian State University graduate signed over all the publishing royalties for "Darkest Hour" to the people of North Carolina.

“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 from an Eric Church press release about the music.

Funds raised from "Darkest Hour" will go into and distributed from Church's "The Chief Cares" charitable organization. "Chief" if you remember is a nickname passed down to him from his grandaddy, a former police chief in Granite Falls. “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".

We would love for you to join us on Tuesday October 8 for our supply drive. We are partnering with first responders in Lincoln County to get the items where they are most needed. To learn more about it including a list of most need items, just go right here.

Eric Church is touring on his "Outsider's Revival Tour," playing outdoor venues every night to packed crowds of loyal fans. Many of those fans whom are "Church Choir" fan club members. Over the years, Eric has garnered a rabid fan base through his music, style, and his ability to say what he thinks and be a total original.

Church recently shocked some fans tailgating before the show in Pittsburgh and Toronto when he drove up in a black SUV and got out to shake hands, take pictures, and chat with the fans tailgating.

Eric's social media team posted a video of the moments he shocked fans on Instagram. In the video clip, Church is smiling, riding around the tailgate area before his concert, watching fans enter the venue. He suddenly stops, gets out of the SUV, and approaches fans. Many of them start to shout and shake his hand. The video then shows fans gathered around Church taking pictures and chatting.

His team posted along with the video, "Toronto and Pittsburgh were (fire emoji) during week 3 of #TheOutsidersRevivalTour! Thanks for letting us crash your tailgate on Saturday. Cincinnati and St. Louis, the revival is coming for you next!"

Many fans reacted to the post, including one who commented, Toronto was the frigging amazing, man!! Thanks so much for coming to our great Canadian town and playing on the Budweiser stage because it is my favorite Toronto venue!!!!" Another fan wrote, "Can't wait to see him in Cincinnati again! One of my favorite performers."

I had the opportunity to watch Church's star grow from day one of his career when he released his 2006 debut album Sinners Like Me. I was also present when his career took a sharp turn making him a country superstar in the aftermath of his album 2011 release Chief. I was actually working in the same Nashville Music Row building as his management team. I saw the transformation happen when he donned his now-famous aviator sunglasses for the first time.

Eric has said some interesting things to me through the years in interviews. I gathered five of my favorite quotes from "The Chief" through the years.

Cooper Neill/Getty Images

When releasing his Outsiders album, Eric said he wanted his listeners to hear the whole album in order of the recordings. He said, "We let the songs dictate what was next. There’s two songs on this album that if you pull them out of the album, I like ‘em, [but] I just don’t love ‘em near as much as if you put ‘em back in because of the space that they give the songs in-between and what I feel when I listen to the record. By themselves? Fine, but in its spot, I love ‘em. It’s an album. It’s start to finish. Shuffle is gonna aggravate me on this if people play shuffle because it's not right. It needs to be listened to as an album."

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

"There's a line in the song, and it talks about 'slowly planning my survival/in a three-foot stack of vinyl.' It's a great thing about music is it can become a point of therapy and healing."

Rick Diamond/Getty Images

"That's the most interesting thing about the song is it's about life, and it's about freezing life and wishing you could freeze life, and we all wish we could do that. I've had a few experiences that will stand out forever. They usually involve music in some way that reminds me of it."

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"Both of my grandfathers were World War II veterans. The way that I was raised was very much red, white, and blue and very patriotic, and I think that it's the fact that what they give up is the real thing that's very touching to me."

Jason Kempin/Getty Images

"There's not really been winners this year. I mean, nobody's played, nobody's done the things that we normally do. It's been a year to me of losses. It's been a year of managing those losses. So it was really hard for me to accept this award, which I have wanted forever, not for me for those people that work so hard. So for me, the hardest thing was to stand there in 2020 and understand that I won that award."

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