UPDATE: This story was up to date on Tuesday (Oct. 15) with livestream particulars.

When Luke Combs and Eric Church noticed the destruction introduced by September’s Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina the place they each grew up, they’d the identical response as the remainder of America.

“It was disbelief,” Church tells Billboard on Oct. 8. “These are areas that I knew and then I saw the photos and I didn’t recognize these areas. My family spends half the year in Banner Elk. That’s as much home as Nashville is. It was just this shock of I know what I’m supposed to be looking at, but that doesn’t look anything like what it looked like a week ago. I don’t think I’ve come to grips with it yet.”

Combs, who went to school at Appalachian State University within the mountain city of Boone, had the identical response. The morning after the hurricane hit, “As soon as both of us woke up, we were just inundated with calls and texts and pictures and images from the areas,” he says. “I called Eric and was like, ‘Hey, let’s figure out how to do a show. I don’t know when, I don’t know where. We’ll worry about that later, but let’s just pool our resources.’”

The result’s Concert for Carolina, a profit for Hurricane Helene aid the pair introduced on Oct. 7 that may happen Oct. 26 at North Carolina’s Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium. The pair shall be joined by North Carolina native son James Taylor in addition to bluegrass celebrity Billy Strings. Since the official announcement, a variety of different artists have joined the invoice, together with Keith Urban, Sheryl Crow, Bailey Zimmerman and North Carolina natives The Avett Brothers, Scotty McCreery, Chase Rice and Parmalee.

Additionally, after the present shortly offered out, the live performance will now be livestreamed worldwide by way of Veeps. The livestream shall be free for these impacted by Hurricane Helene, as Concert for Carolina and Veeps have used geotargeting to make sure that these within the affected areas won’t be charged. For these in a roundabout way impacted, the livestream will price $24.99 with an possibility for extra donations obtainable. All cash raised from the livestream will go to the charities chosen by Combs and Church.

While Combs’ instant intuition was to go to the world and assist, he shortly pivoted and thought, “‘Let’s do what we do best and help in the way that is best suited to my abilities and Eric’s abilities’ and I think we’re doing that.” While Church has equally not visited the world but due to their ties to Banner Elk, his spouse and a group have boots on the bottom and have been serving to set up aid efforts.

The pair instantly considered asking Taylor to affix them for Oct. 26. “Growing up in North Carolina, ‘Going to Carolina in My Mind’ is a song that every time I would leave the state, no matter where I was in the world, reminded me of the state,” Church says. “I said [to Luke], ‘We’ve got to get James on this.’ So, I set out to make it my mission. It was not the easiest mission I’ve ever done.’”

Church finally obtained the contact for Taylor’s day-to-day supervisor from Joe Walsh. “I called her myself and we had about a 20-minute conversation, and I basically said, “ ‘Carolina in My Mind’ is going to be played that night in the stadium either by him or me, and I hope it’s him.’”

Combs reached out to Strings. “Me and Billy have known each other for some years now and he just had his first child and he’s got a million things going on, but I know that that area of the country is near and dear to him,” he says. “His fan base is heavily rooted in that part of the world, and he was just excited to be able to help out.”

All proceeds from the occasion shall be cut up evenly between Combs’ charitable endeavors and Church’s Chief Cares Foundation to manage to organizations they select to help aid efforts throughout the Carolinas and the Southeast.

Combs and Church aren’t saying how a lot they hope to boost, however add that every one the artists are enjoying without cost, with Combs donating his manufacturing, they usually hope extra companies may even come aboard offering providers and donations.  “The key is this is not going to be a one-, two-, three- month build. It’s going to be a yearslong build,” Church says. “This is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. We have to have plans in place organizationally that we can help assist over the next 12, 24 or even 48 months.”

Concert for Carolina shall be hosted by ESPN’s Marty Smith and Barstool Sports’ Caleb Pressley and offered by Explore Asheville and the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority. Tickets went on sale Thursday (Oct. 10) at 10 a.m. E.T. on the Concert for Carolina web site and shortly offered out. The web site additionally says a raffle and public sale are coming quickly.

Additionally, Church launched new music “Darkest Hour” on Oct. 4, and is signing over all of his publishing royalties from the music to the individuals of North Carolina affected by the catastrophe.