Eric Church discussed his steps to help those impacted by the devastation of Hurricane Helene during a candid conversation with 99.9 Kiss Country and shared across iHeartCountry stations in Asheville, North Carolina.
Church delivered his first solo release in more than three years on Friday (October 4). “Darkest Hour” was initially set to appear on a project Church has planned for next year; however, the North Carolina-born country artist opted to release it early with publishing royalties signed over to help the people of his home state. He also pointed people to Chief Cares as a sustained effort to support those impacted in North Carolina, East Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in Florida's Big Bend region. More than 215 people have been confirmed dead and many remain missing as rescue crews continue efforts in affected communities across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee, per reports on Friday.
Church recalled his “disbelief,” to learn of the devastation in North Carolina, and wanted to assure the people of those areas that “help is on the way.” He said “the people with the boots on the ground is what matters,” and said if additional help hasn’t arrived yet, “it’s coming in droves. We’re gonna get it figured out.”
“It’s interesting how sometimes you give a song its moment, and sometimes the song finds its own moment,” Church said of “Darkest Hour.” “I’d written and recorded this song maybe a couple weeks ago…before this [Hurricane Helene] happened. I’d had this song, and when all this happened…there was a sense of helplessness. How can we help? And this song really spoke to me. We’ve done five or six songs, and this one really just had a message to it that I had never envisioned for this song when I wrote the song. This is not where I envisioned it. And I just felt that I was gonna regret if we waited until next year and stayed on our timeline — I mean, sometimes things happen for a reason. And so, we just started putting together a plan…”
Church emphasized the importance of awareness, particularly in the coming weeks while residents of impacted areas still face challenges (including loss of power, cleanup and more) in the aftermath of the hurricane and its remnants. Church is one of many artists and others in the entertainment community to seek ways to help, along with Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs, Chase Rice, Lady A and others.
“Just as the song says, I’ve come running. We’re on our way,” Church said. “There’s always dawn after the darkest part of the night. …Just hang in there, and we’re on the way.”