Luke Combs and Eric Church are two of the biggest hitmakers in country music, and now the two superstars are combining their talents for one very worthwhile cause. The singers, along with James Taylor and Billy Strings, will perform as part of Concert for Carolina, taking place on October 26 at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.
All of the money raised from the event will go towards the rebuilding efforts after the devastating Hurricane Helene. The idea to raise money with the concert came first from Combs, who quickly enlisted Church to help make it happen.
“I was obviously at home watching the news the day after everything started coming out about the storm there,” Combs recalls to Good Morning America. “This was the first guy I called. I know how much our state means to him and to myself, and I knew that he would be willing to do whatever it took to help out. I had this crazy idea to do a show at Bank of America [Stadium] … I think it’s gonna be a really special night.”
Church, who still calls North Carolina home, was understandably heartbroken to see so much damage, and more than willing to step in and help, however he could.
“It’s very simply who I am, North Carolina-made,” Church reflects. “I wouldn’t be who I am today if not for the people there and the community there. To see this happen to them, to that community, to those people, is especially devastating. Luke and I are doing everything we can to try to help that out. For me, it’s in the very DNA of what made me, me.”
In addition to organizing and headlining the concert, Church also released a brand-new song, “Darkest Hour,” turning over all of the publishing to his home state to help in the rebuilding efforts.
“‘Darkest Hour,’ it’s the kind of thing where, you never know,” Church says. “Sometimes you give a song its moment, and sometimes the song takes its own moment. I had this song that I had done in the studio that, when I wrote this song, this scenario was not something I ever though about. When the hurricane happened, the devastation happened, we were going to put out a project next year, and I just thought that the time was right, this song fit the moment. And we tried to take it a step further. Signing over the song to the people in North Carolina, letting them have it forever, is one thing. The monetary thing is real.
“But, it’s about shining a light on that community, and making sure everybody focuses on not just now,” he continues. “This is not a month’s long rebuild there. It’s gonna be a years long rebuild. So the more light we can shine on that, the more awareness we can raise, I think the more good we can do over the long term, to try to rebuild this community.”
Concert for Carolina already has an impressive lineup, but Combs hints there will be more artists announced in the near future.
“We got some good news coming later this week,” he teases. “I’m gonna play that close to the chest, and not give all our secrets away. But I promise it’s going to be a once-in-a-lifetime kind of concert, and I’m real excited and proud to be a part of it.”
All of the proceeds from Concert for Carolina will be split 50-50 between Combs’ charities of choice, which are Samaritan’s Purse, Manna Food Bank and Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC, plus one more organization still to be announced, and Church’s Chief Cares Foundation, to administer to organizations of their choosing in support of relief efforts across the Carolinas and the Southeast.
Tickets for Concert for Carolina will go on sale on Thursday, October 10, at 10:00 AM ET. More information can be found at ConcertforCarolina.com.