As the world was waking up to the devastation of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, Luke Combs and Eric Church were already getting to work. The two singers put together the Concert for Carolina, with an all-star lineup that raised almost $25 million to help the ongoing recovery efforts.
It was a massive undertaking, which the two singers did in under a month, gathering artists like James Taylor, Billy Strings, Keith Urban, Bailey Zimmerman, Sheryl Crow, Scotty McCreery, Chase Rice and Parmalee to help raise money, which went directly to recovery efforts. Concert for Carolina was held at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, which was donated to Combs and Church for the event.
Combs and Church were recently awarded for their efforts, by both receiving the CRS 2025 Artist Humanitarian Award. They both received their awards at the recent Country Radio Seminar, held last week. But even without recognition, which neither of them sought after, Combs said he just did what needed to be done.
“This was the right thing to do, to put the show on where me and Eric are both from, that region of North Carolina that was most heavily impacted,” Combs said when accepting the award. “That morning we were on the phone about putting the show together and there was never once a thought that we weren’t going to do this, and it wasn’t going to be something that defines at least my career, and I’m sure his. It will be a moment that I’ll never forget.”
Church admitted he reluctantly accepted the Artist Humanitarian Award, although he, like Combs, didn’t need any recognition or accolades.
“I’m incredibly uncomfortable with an award like this,” Church acknowledged. “A mentor of mine said a long time ago that you should never think about what you get from doing the right thing. You should just do the right thing. And in this regard, this was the right thing.”
Church vividly recalls the moment Combs reached out to him with the idea to do the Concert for Carolina. “He had the idea for this. It was the genesis of it. We talked about it a little bit, and we both got working. I will say — I’m a little older, and I’ve played a lot of shows in my career, and that night in Charlotte was top of the list for me as far as special shows. It was the artists that gave creatively their time, the collection of artists, the challenges we had, and the crowd responded to it. It will forever be one of the greatest shows I’ve played.”
Church has been vocal about his ongoing commitment to those still recovering in North Carolina. He is donating all of the proceeds from his song “Darkest Hour” to the ongoing recovery efforts. He and his wife, Katherine, also recently spent $850,000 on property, with plans to build 40 homes.
“In this country, we react to a disaster, and then inevitably another disaster happens, and we move on to it,” Church reflects. “The people of North Carolina, what’s happened there, it’s not going to be remedied in the next five or ten years. So I think keeping a focus on it, and being cognizant that this is something that we’re going to see through, because these are the people, this is the salt of the earth people.”
All of the proceeds from Concert for Carolina were equally split between Combs’ charities of choice, which are Samaritan’s Purse, Manna Food Bank, Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC, and Eben Charities, and Church’s Chief Cares Foundation.