The Granite Falls, North Carolina, native was to perform a live broadcast from his Nashville bar Chief’s on Monday
When Eric Church recorded his last album, 2021’s Heart & Soul, he decamped for the mountains of his native North Carolina and created a makeshift studio in a shuttered restaurant. Over the weekend, he watched that very region being decimated by flooding from Hurricane Helene, essentially cutting off the mountain towns of western North Carolina from civilization. Many in the area are without power, running water, and even cell service.
“I’m devastated by the destruction in the mountains of western North Carolina. These are our family members, friends, and neighbors,” he wrote on social media. “The community we live in part of the year still has people stranded and desperate for extraction. The whole area is in dire need of help. Anyone who knows anything about me knows what North Carolina and specifically this area in the mountains means to me personally as well as creatively.”
As a result of the natural disaster, Church has decided to postpone his scheduled live SiriusXM concert broadcast, set for Monday, Sept. 30, at his Nashville bar Chief’s. “While we’re still gauging the extent of destruction and harm, our hearts remain with the people and our focus is on helping them,” he wrote. The new date for the SiriusXM concert, a full-band performance in the intimate “Neon Steeple” venue of Chief’s, is slated for Tuesday, Nov. 19.
Church also directed fans wanting to help those affected by the flooding to the Red Cross. “To all the families and first responders, you are in our prayers and we are doing everything we can to get you the help we need now,” he said.
Hurricane Helene has wreaked havoc on the southeastern United States since making landfall in Florida on Thursday night. As the storm continues to make its way north, it has caused massive flooding and landslides in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina, particularly near Asheville and its surrounding towns, and killed more than 60 people.