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Eric Church’s first solo release in more than three years arrived on Friday (October 4), serving as a way to help the people of North Carolina following the devastation of Hurricane Helene.
Church, who spends half the year in the mountains of his home state, signed over publishing royalties in an effort to help those impacted by the hurricane, and offered a way to provide ongoing funds, per a press release issued to announce Church’s newly-debuted “Darkest Hour.” The song arrives as the country star works on a project due to release next year. Church said in a video shared on Instagram that he’d just finished the song, and it “just fit the moment.” He said in his statement:
“As you know, I spend half my year in the mountains of North Carolina. It’s a refuge for me. It’s a place I’ve always said where my soul was at rest, and Hurricane Helene came through and it devastated (the area). There are places that are just biblically gone in Western North Carolina (and) East Tennessee. Also South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, but specifically, my area. In Western North Carolina, those mountains there, there’s still people we haven’t found. And I was in the studio. (I’ve) been working on a project for next year. And I had a song that I just finished that just fit the moment. It fit right now, and I just felt helpless. I was trying to figure out what can we do? How can we help? And we’ve been doing a lot of organizational stuff to get supplies to people there, but I wanted to do more, specifically with awareness. So, this song is called ‘Darkest Hour.’ I’ve given this song to North Carolina. To the people of North Carolina. I’m signing the publishing away. It’ll no longer be mine. It’ll belong to the people of the State of North Carolina. And hopefully, those proceeds will matter now, but it’ll also matter in the future and it’ll also, I want everybody to go to ChiefCares.com, too, and raise as much money as we can to be distributed, not only to western North Carolina, but East Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia (and) Florida. (There are) a lot of people there that are in their darkest hour. And they need us to come running. And I intend to do that.”
Church was one of many country artists to share heartfelt statements and ways to help those impacted by Hurricane Helene, which reportedly made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane and was later considered a tropical storm. He said on Friday that he’s “been helping with boots on the ground efforts, but this is something that will live beyond just the immediate recovery,” as he released “Darkest Hour” and shared information about Chief Cares.
“All I really know is I never know/ What’s coming around the bend/ But you should know you’re not alone/ Hang on and hold my hand/ In your darkest hour/ Baby I’d come runnin’/ In your darkest hour/ I’d light your way/ Baby don’t give up/ I’ll do everything in my power/ To take even a minute off your darkest hour”
Listen to “Darkest Hour” here: