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Eric Church shared a clip of his heartfelt rendition of “Darkest Hour” during the Concert for Carolina benefit show on October 26. Church teamed up with Luke Combs to organize the fundraising event to support hurricane relief efforts in North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
Church released “Darkest Hour” on October 4. He signed over publishing royalties to support those impacted by the hurricane in his home state. The song was Church’s first solo release in more than three years, and the first track from a project in the works for next year.
“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”
Church and Combs, two North Carolina-born artists, headlined the Concert for Carolina, along with James Taylor and Billy Strings. Other artists in the lineup included Sheryl Crow, Keith Urban, Bailey Zimmerman, The Avett Brothers, Scotty McCreery, Chase Rice and Parmalee, plus Randy Travis and a few others made surprise appearances throughout the evening.
More than 82,000 Concert for Carolina attendees filed into Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. Others tuned in and donated via livestream.
“North Carolina is both of our homes. The small communities that specifically make up western North Carolina are these strong, independent, proud communities,” Church said during a press conference with Combs and others earlier in the day. “And I’ve said many times that they’re the exact community that when the community next door is in trouble, out can count on that community to come help you. And in this situation, there is no community next door. It’s all been destroyed. So, what you’re seeing tonight, is we are the community next door. The people that are in this stadium are the community next door. And Luke called right after this happened, a day or two after, and said, ‘you know, I wanna do this.’ I thought it was a great idea and then we started putting our heads together because the most important thing, the most powerful thing we have in this, is the people that wanna stay in their community. …it’s up to us to figure out a way to help them stay in the community where they are.”