Stages Of Grief, Songs Of Hope: Helene's Aftermath For the Western NC Music Scene
In the first weeks after an historic storm, Asheville and western NC musicians and music professionals relay their experiences and their outlook for the future.
It has been almost a month since my last update. When I posted that, IBMA was right around the corner, for its last year in Raleigh, NC. The Earl Scruggs Festival had just concluded its third year, and the Albino Skunk Fest was soon to celebrate its 30th. It was one of the best times of the year for a live music lover like myself. And then, Helene. A week after that, a good friend and colleague, Rob Daves, died unexpectedly. Not long after, I started teaching a class on audio performance (radio and podcast) at Isothermal Community College, home to WNCW. Late September and all of October has been filled with shock and grief amidst a much heavier work load. But I still count my blessings, and am glad to be able to share the new episode here with you. May it give you hope amidst the tragedy, as it has done for me.
Thanks for checking out this text version of the podcast series Southern Songs and Stories! This post is a continuation of our Substack series of posts giving you the scripts of our audio and transcripts of our interviews. To hear the episode, simply search for Southern Songs and Stories on any podcast app, or visit us at southernsongsandstories.com for that and much more.
Conversations with music artists Jesse Iaquinto and Josh Blake, as well as music professionals Jessica Tomasin, Liz Whalen Tallent, Jason Guadagnino, Rachel Shea and Russell Keith, including flood songs by Jake Blount, Rhiannon Giddens, Songs From The Road Band and The Seldom Scene. Included is a song from Fireside Collective published the day that Helene hit the region, "Whippoorwill".
Here is the script for the podcast, enjoy!
[“Didn’t It Rain” by Jake Blount, from The New Faith, continuing as bed]
00:07:20 Russell Keith
... our other location on the river? That's another disappointing tragedy, as you know, we we almost did a million half $1,000,000 in work ... following all the, the rules and regulations in the flood zone and to finally get our, you know, permit for that, to see it wash down the river...
00:12:23 Liz Whalen Tallent
There was a total communication blackout those first like four or five days. I mean literally everyone that I know had absolutely zero cell service. You know, landline service, there was literally no way to communicate other than going, you know person to person to say what news did you hear? “Oh, I was downtown and I heard this”. “I work at the hospital and I was told this”, you know. And it was remarkable and continues to be remarkable to just see how supportive the community is.
00:01:23 Jason Guadagnino
Well, my name is Jason G, AKA Jason Guadagnino. That's why Jason G is a lot easier. Formerly the production manager out at Salvage station. I'm sure we'll get to that later, resident of Asheville for about 18 years and. You know, as ridiculous as life can be easy and hard, but whether whatever it may be, I'm happy to always be in Asheville.
00:18:01 Josh Blake
... one thing we have to do is is, you know, kind of honestly celebrate. How we have come together as a community because of this, there's a lot of tears to shed. There's there's a lot of heartbreak. There's a lot. Of people who lost. Their life's work, and there's a lot of. People who lost their lives and their homes, I think that. You know, like like anything, the best way that we're going to be able to get through it is by loving each other, supporting each other.
00:09:00 Jesse Iaquinto
We're hoping to get on some benefits as Western North Carolina artists directly affected by this. So we're just kind of. You know, taking it one day at a time. Figuring out what we can do to help, we're donating a proceed percentage of our new -- we just released some shirts to go along with a single and it was on the same day that the hurricane hit. So we're taking a chunk of those. New shirt proceeds and going to donate them to Beloved Asheville,
00:01:12 Jessica Tomasin
My name is Jessica Thomason. I am the studio manager at Echo Mountain recording studio. I'm also the founder of Connect Beyond Festival and Asheville music professionals nonprofit. And I'm really not sure what day of the. Week it is. Currently, actually that's not true. I know today is Saturday. But yeah, really all the days have just been running together.
Welcome to Southern Songs and Stories. I am your host Joe Kendrick, and in this episode we talk with seven guests who are deeply rooted in the western North Carolina music scene -- you heard excerpts from all of them in our introduction, with music from Jake Blount and his song “Didn’t It Rain” from his 2022 album The New Faith.
Coming up, you will hear more from these conversations with The Grey Eagle Music Hall’s Russell Keith and Rachel Shea, along with music artists like Jesse Iaquinto from the band Fireside Collective, as well as Josh Blake who also is known for the online music resource IAMAVL, as well as music professionals like Jessica Tomasin of Echo Mountain, Liz Whalen Talent of The Orange Peel, and Jason G, formerly of The Salvage Station.
We spoke in separate interviews in mid October 2024, with only a few weeks' distance between our conversations and the tragedy of Helene in southern Appalachia. You will hear us recount some of the shock of the immediate aftermath as we look forward to what can be restored in the near future, and imagine some potential outcomes for the region’s music scene in the long haul ahead. All that, and a soundtrack of flood songs both historical and metaphorical in this special episode of Southern Songs and Stories.
[“Waterbound” by Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi, from They’re Calling Me Home, excerpt]
As I say this, it is one month since Hurricane Helene hit Florida and barreled north, straight into an already soaked Appalachia, taking most in the region by surprise with its ferocity and historic rain. It was the worst storm ever to hit the region, surpassing the previous records of the great flood of 1916, records few thought could be broken in the state of North Carolina in particular here, as we focus on the hard hit city of Asheville especially in this episode.
In our previous episode, “Twin Tragedy Travelogue: An Update”, I gave you some back story on my own experience during and immediately after Helene, and that serves as a prologue to this deep dive into conversations with seven prominent and celebrated voices in the music scene in the western part of NC. By no means exhaustive, this is a nevertheless extensive set of conversations, where I spoke with our guests on six separate calls, totaling over two hours’ worth of interviews. There are common themes throughout, with different perspectives on the immediate and long range future for the music scene in the region as well.
Let us begin with where our guests found themselves in the moment, some two weeks after the storm upended everything. To begin, I asked Josh Blake what he was doing to make ends meet:
00:06:28 Josh Blake
I mean, there's not income coming in. I was, I guess sort of fortunate to have a pretty good. Pretty busy September, so you know for the time being I I'm fine. We're fine. Our family is OK. I'm hoping that we can get back to work here within a few weeks if there's water running. I feel like this is, you know, people. It's a little different than the pandemic. When venues and gathering was completely shut down, no matter where you went right now they're they're still gigs. They're just 30 minutes outside of Asheville. So a lot of people who. Had regular work in Asheville or suffering for not having their weekly gigs that they rely on for bills and stuff like that. But there are also several opportunities outside of town that people have committed to wedding gigs. Those with their bands outside of the area, so people are still musicians at least, are still working a little bit if they have connections to do so outside of our city. Honestly, the people I'm most concerned about are are the production workers, the people at the venues that can't necessarily get production. Work outside of town? I I think the venues and and their staff are probably impacted, maybe a little harder than some of the musicians are. Well, that's a real broad stroke, obviously everybody's. Had their own story here, what they maybe lost or physically or you know, or even emotionally, it's been really challenging for everybody. But you know, my my own, my, my own position is, is that I'm OK right now. We'll see how far this stretches. And and we'll go from there.
Jason G interview
00:06:36 Joe Kendrick
Jason G, you've been a big part of the music scene for a long time in Asheville. And speaking with Josh Blake, he's optimistic about the future for the arts and the music scene in particular for the town. And you know, he's able to go downtown and play at the. World Central Kitchen at the at where they're giving away food. And and being able to sort of kick it into another gear again with live music. But what's the next step for, for you, Jason? What's your next music thing in Asheville? Is there a next music thing in Asheville for you?
00:07:15 Jason Guadagnino
Well, I'm gonna do my best initially just. To enjoy it. But as you said, I've been involved in it for a long time, the last five. Years. I've been working at Salvage station and. In a managerial role coordinating I was been the voice of salvage station, the middle man between all the artists and the venue, or the events in the venue and making sure that we're all on the same page. Clarity is king. Redundancy hurts nobody, and I talk a lot, so I make sure my job was to coordinate everything and it was. It was endless. Every week I'd have the next week's. Task at hand and the week after that and week after that. Ideally, everything would be planned out several several weeks in advance for the music industry. Ideally it would. Be far more coordinated, but it's, you know, we're really good on our toes. We made everything happen as you probably as you know and everybody probably knows, salvage station was being. Shut down at the end of the year due to the eminent domain and so we all knew that this end was. Coming, or at least the end of this chapter. What Salva Station does in the future? I have no idea. I know they have high hopes and with some cooperation with the state and the dot and this whole eminent domain thing and all that. They had high hopes of things to come. Now with the flood.
And all that and I had no flood insurance doesn't really exist the entire, the entire place is just destroyed. Nobody expected it. We moved everything on the high ground thinking that we'd be better off, you know, and everything was just inundated with the flood. You've. I'm sure everybody's looked at plenty of pictures when you see the. To 50 foot wide river actually being 200 feet. Well, actually no more like 600 feet wide. Salvage Station was in the middle of that. When you see the picture of just a couple of roofs sticking up and there's a Big Blue roof. That was the roof of the Salvage Station's outdoor stage, which miraculously is still standing. Exactly.
We put it everything that was on the stage is gone, but the venue still there, so nonetheless the the, the the task was cut short. You know, we're not going to New Year's now. Our last show was Augustana on a Monday night, our last outdoor show was California Honey Drops both of those shows had awesome people playing. They were very ecstatic to be there.
It was we have we all had a great time. It was like family came to hang out with us. So we had a great end to what we did. It's just rather abrupt. It just it just got cut off immediately. So there's benefits to that and not we don't have to go through three more months of sadness of every show being that man's last show. It's. The station. Oh, the last show. The last show. I'm really glad that we don't have to do that for three more months. I'm Sicilian and I got my grandfather's tear ducts. That that would make a mess out. Of. Me. But you know we.
We knew this was coming just in a different with a different flavor, you know? So now having this opportunity, you know, I'm gonna take a break for a minute. You know, there's a lot to be done here in the community. I can help out if I can find finance to be able to help that process. That would be great. I personally. Feel like I'll be OK. I've got enough friends in the industry and connections.
Then people know my value and I think that'll be worth something to people at some time. I'm in no hurry to jump into another job. At least it's not a job that extreme. I might take it power washing for a little while because it's very Zen. And when you're done, there's like a clean space and you feel like you did something and it's like. Like the the finality of what your project is just feels so great. I did that the other day and it was it was exuberated. It was that was fantastic, but it's not. It's not putting the best use of my mind and my experience and. You know, so I'm sure I will be involved in the music industry for the. Rest of my life. But no time right away. I am. I just need a minute. To. Focus on the ridiculousness of our reality.
There is a GoFundMe campaign going on now where you can donate to the staff of the Salvage Station to help folks just like Jason G. There are more such campaigns for other venues in the region on that platform, as well as other campaigns benefitting regional arts and events.
Coming up, our time with Jesse Iaquinto of the band Fireside Collective, as well as Jessica Tomasin, and much more here on Southern Songs and Stories.
[“Muddy Water” by the The Seldom Scene, from Act 3, excerpt]
Jesse Iaquinto interview
00:02:40 Joe Kendrick
How does it stand with utilities and infrastructure for you and how is it been for you physically and mentally for you and your family?
00:02:52 Jesse Iaquinto
You know. We're lucky the part of town we live in, we have, we have a separate water source that we can rely on. So we've had water and we've got gas at our house. So we were able to cook through the storm. We just didn't have water for an entire week and we had to leave town before or we didn't have power. For an entire week and we had to leave town before power was restored, so there was. It's like. A lot of anxiety after leaving, like you know. What happens when the power comes back on? Is there something we didn't think of that might cause a you know? Different type of damage to the home. There's just so much to think about and it's been challenging to like. Stay focused on. Life because outside of Western North Carolina. Venues are still going. Everything's still kind of as normal. They're getting stuff from the news, but unless you're here on the ground and able to see this devastation and you know how so many roads have been washed out and. Travel around here is tough, you know, moving forward. 3rd. Two of our 4 main ways out of Asheville for touring are gone. Like 40 W past Asheville going to Tennessee.
That's going to be possibly years before it gets restored from what I'm hearing.
Jessica Tomasin interview
00:01:12 Jessica Tomasin
Yeah. My name is Jessica Thomason. I am the studio manager at Echo Mountain recording studio. I'm also the founder of Connect Beyond Festival and Asheville music professionals nonprofit. And I'm really not sure what day of the. Week it is. Currently, actually that's not true. I know today is Saturday. But yeah, really all the days have just been running together.
I did just get back from the Confluence Music conference in Charlotte, where I was speaking on a panel, so that was a little bit of a. Reprieve, but still working on relief efforts. While I was there in between doing things at the at the conference.
[jump to]
00:16:58 Joe Kendrick
Jessica, tell us a little bit. About relief that you're getting and that you're helping orchestrate it. You know, this is a parallel to the pandemic and the lockdown, but it's different in so many ways as well. I mean, unfortunately, you're becoming an expert at dealing with this kind of adversity.
00:17:18 Jessica Tomasin
Yeah. And it's funny. It's like, that's I've started writing. I have a sub stack now and part of that's to share information both for the Community locally and to the outside world about what we're experiencing and the help that we need.
For instance, like you know, I like talking about having spiked cortisol levels. Like, there's this thing that happens, you know, and I learned this from Susan Rogers, and I'm gonna write about this, but like. I, Susan, Susan Rogers. Was Prince’s technical director right? She engineered Controversy. A number of other albums of his and she's were Bare naked ladies. She's now a neuroscientist. She taught at Berkeley College music. She's a total amazing human. And I did an event with her back in 2019, like a women in music event. And. She explained. And this was two weeks before connect beyond festival. I was doing this event with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra about women who, standing on the shoulders of giants and, you know, shifting the needle.
And I was having a conversation with Susan at lunch and my I I kept forgetting what I was talking about. Mid sentence, which was then giving me all this extra anxiety because I'm like, what are we talking about mid sentence. And I'm with Susan Rogers. You know this. This just total incredible, extremely talented artist and engineer and producer and you know, and I say to her, I'm like Susan in the interest of Full disclosure, I have to tell you what's happening to me right now. And I explained it to her, and I how I'm forgetting what I'm saying. And sentence. I don't even remember how my sentence started and it's then I have this anxiety of how to finish what I'm saying.
And so, she said. And I explained the things that were going on in my life. I was like my festival that I created. That's storytelling for social impact, is in two weeks a very near and dear family member is in detox for the first time. They've called me four times since we've been sitting here at lunch. You know this and this. And she's like, oh, let me explain. Why that's happening to you? So she explained what my nervous system was doing and why it was doing it, and that information has helped me tremendously because when I was on that panel at confluence, it started to happen again.
And then I was like, OK, I know. What this is? And I'm gonna ramble a bit and I know why I'm gonna ramble a bit is because I can't finish a complete thought, and that means my central nervous system is so taxed that it's my short term memory is shutting down so that I don't walk into traffic right now. Because I've been my my nervous system's been so taxed for so long, right. And so having that experience and being able to share. That with other people and say, hey, if this is happening to you and you feel this, just know, like you don't have, you don't have much capacity left, you got, you gotta tap out somebody, we need to find somebody to tap in for you so that you can get the rest you need and come back to be, you know to be healthy. So like that's. That's one of that's one of the things what? And again, Joe, what was the question again I totally. Forgot.
I know what you mean Jessica. My mind has been scattered with the wind ever since Helene, it seems. Indeed, we are now just getting past the stage of shock, with its myriad of mental afflictions, from what I can tell. Much of what we talked about in these conversations just days ago, now is not quite so relevant or not necessarily the case, as with, for example, restoration of power, water and internet to most of the region -- not to discount the overall relevance of those earlier struggles in this little chapter of our history.
In all of our conversations, one theme remained top of mind: community, and how incredibly special that neighborly generosity and spirit is, especially in a tragedy like this.
Here is Rachel Shea, followed by Russell Keith from The Grey Eagle Music Hall, which in the time since we spoke, has reopened after the city of Asheville restored water service. I asked Rachel about how things stood for their staff especially since they had closed following the storm:
00:04:12 Rachel Shea
Yeah, that is definitely really difficult, especially being in the service industry, this is like. Some of our busiest months of the year, usually where most of us make a lot of our money, that kind of like we squirrel away and helps us get through the winter. So this is a particularly devastating time for something like this to happen for all the staff, but there's a lot of Community support. There's been a lot of. Help from different organizations, music cares and southern smoke and different places like that have offered resources. It's been nice to have the club as a hub for us the first couple days after the storm. We all just sort of came here out of instinct and then from there we're able to find each other, help each other, lend each other the different supplies that we needed.
The different coworkers pitch in their gasoline for me the few days so I could go check on my mom and Georgia, stuff like that. So it's been tough, but I think having a really tight knit staff has helped us a lot because we've sort of just been. Carrying each other through.
00:05:11 Joe Kendrick
Well, it's great that you've persevered and, and you've done so many good things along the way. How much of A toll has it taken on you? How is your mental state?
00:05:26 Russell Keith
Yeah, my wife there and I handle it way different. I I tend to not to. Stuff get sad or depressed and I'm more of a go guy, you know? Hey, what? How do we fix this? What do we do, you know, to get things. Back to normal and and. And we've all processed it differently and you know, obviously it's nothing compared to COVID because we. Felt like this would be a more short version, way shorter version of of something that's devastating to our community. So that was kind of how we thought about it and just kind of kept, you know, looking for getting back to normal seeing which is obviously a lot longer than we thought with the water situation.
00:06:17 Joe Kendrick
Yeah, not to say that COVID was better in any sense, but. One of the differences it's got a lot to parallel with this flood, but. COVID was different in that everyone was getting stimulus and there was a a big concerted effort nationwide. And here you just wonder or I do. And when the limelight is not there, when the spotlight is not on Western North Carolina, you know, how does that shake out? Because this is a long term process like water system is going to be weeks, right.
00:06:55 Russell Keith
Yeah, that's. You know, that's a good point because. You know, as Rachel mentioned, you know. August is a really tough month and we took a took it on the 10 September. You took it on the chin, but. Not as hard but. October is our gravy, you know, it's. Like a time. Where you know, we pad the pockets and gets us through the rest of the year and you know.
00:07:18
Hmm.
00:07:20 Russell Keith
The other location on the river? That's another. Disappointing tragedy, as you know, we we almost did a million, half a million in work to provide to make it like, you know, eligible to have events down there, sort of. The City made us do these improvements to have, you know, events sat down at the river. So we had, you know, following all the. The rules and regulations in the flood zone and to finally get our, you know, permit for that to see it wash down the river a month later. That's. That's a tough pill to swallow. Swallow for. Financially, it's because we. Put it out and investments in that. You know there's. There's a little bit of help that we get from our NIVA community, which is our national independent venue association. They want that stepped up for us during the COVID that helped secure us grant money to get through that long period of time. But. The resources are not as. Many, as we have during that time. So we're I think This is why we're trying to get back to work as quick as possible.
00:08:47 Joe Kendrick
So you're saying that there is grant money available? There are options for relief available for you, but. It it's not. Nearly. More than a short term.
00:09:03 Russell Keith
Correct. Yeah, it's more. It's definitely a Band-Aid. And you know, we're staring at a new year around the corner, which will be on us soon and that's another low in our calendar. So hopefully this is short lived.
That’s Russell Keith, following Rachel Shea of the legendary venue The Grey Eagle. Speaking of grants and aid opportunities for those affected by Helene, check out the show notes at southernsongsanstories.com. You can also follow me on Substack, where I post transcripts of entire episodes along with updates on the series.
Soon you’ll hear from someone at the heart of much of those relief efforts, Liz Whalen Talent of the celebrated music venue, The Orange Peel. First, a bit of a song from a band that was also squarely in the sights of Helene, Songs From the Road Band, and their song “Thompson Flood” from their album Traveling Show, which is about a flood that occurred in Colorado, but which band member Charles Humphries says could just as well be universal:
[“Thompson Flood” by Songs From the Road Band, from Traveling Show, excerpt]
Liz Whalen Talent, in addition to being an operating partner at the Orange Peel, is on the board of the Asheville Arts Council, a nonprofit that supports the arts in Buncombe County where the city is the county seat. At the time of our conversation, the Arts Council had already received $300,000 in aid requests. You can find out more at artsavl.org/aid
Our guests referred often to aid organizations like MusicCares, the NC Arts Disaster Relief Fund that is run by the NC Arts Foundation, Beloved Asheville, and Mountain BizWorks in our conversations here.
We pick up with my question to Liz Whalen Talent about what she thinks will happen in the near future, and what may happen with an already stressed housing situation in the region especially as time goes on:
00:07:50 Liz Whalen Tallent
You know that's. A great question and I think that, you know, as city governments and county governments are kind of moving past immediate like search and rescue efforts, which I think they're still there right now, but I'm hoping they're kind of going to get their come up for air in that regard in the next week or so that. Focus is going to begin to shift towards that kind of thing. I think right now there has been so much energy put. Towards water distribution, neighbors helping neighbors, flushable water to apartments and elderly communities and folks that don't have transportation and getting supplies out. We've turned the Orange Peel into like a supply overflow warehouse for beloved, and so we are taking in like pallets a day of supplies and folks are coming by. From all over to pick them up, and then we're taking runs out. And our artist, sprinter band that we. Use usually to. Shuttle musicians around. We're using it. We took the seats out and we're using it to take supplies around to low income housing and mobile home communities and folks that are, you know, really need the most help and might have the least access to going out and getting bottled water or getting diapers.
Or whatever, so I think. Everyone's focus has been so much on that this first two weeks of, you know, aftermath, but I imagine that as we get into Week 3 and 4, we're really going to see and. And you know when they like, OK, a lot of people now have power. We know there's plenty of bottled water out there. We I almost think that there's we're coming to a point where supplies are abundant and we're coming to a point where. We don't need any more supplies in Asheville. We might not be there yet, but we're almost there. Where I think we're, like, filled with supplies and we'll need to switch focus. To OK now what? How do we address people whose houses were lost? How do we address the community need for housing when we've lost X number of units to flooding or to, you know, actually being washed away in some cases? And I haven't heard what the solution for that will be yet. But I'm. You know, I know myself and other leaders in my business and other downtown businesses are ready to kind of step up and and do whatever we can to help prioritize that because yeah, that's going to be a big need, um going forward.
[jump to]
00:12:14 Joe Kendrick
Well said Liz. Thanks so much for your time. What else have I left out? What? What stands out to you about the past couple of weeks?
00:12:23 Liz Whalen Tallent
You know, I'll say that the most amazing thing to me has seen has been seeing the amount of. neighbor helping neighbor the just amount of kind of like, grassroots problem solving that I've seen is just truly remarkable. And you know, I I know FEMA is on site. I know there are lots of help desks set up. I've been sending employees there. Lots of my employees have gotten their initial FEMA stipend and I'm told there's more to come, so I you know, there's military and National Guard folks all over downtown, there's helicopters overhead. So. So I know that the helpers are on the ground, but the nature of this disaster was that there was a total communication blackout. Those first like four or five days. I mean literally everyone that I know had absolutely zero cell service. You know, landline service, there was literally no way to communicate other than going, you know person to person to say “what news did you hear?” “Oh, I was downtown and I heard this.” “I work at the hospital and I was told this”, you know. And it was remarkable and continues to be remarkable to just see how supportive the community is.
How caring people are, you know, I haven't heard any. I have not heard of any kind of. You know, no, everybody is being so trusting, so generous. You know, I think most people feel very safe. I just. I feel, you know, very encouraged about humanity, kind of seeing the community show up for each other through this.
The Orange Peel is donating $2 from every ticket sold to every concert and event for the month of November 2024, to benefit equally AVL Arts Artists Relief Fund, which pays out individual grants to arts professionals working in craft, literary, media, performing, visual, and interdisciplinary arts, and to benefit the Beacon Foundation of Swannanoa, a hyperlocal organization directly benefiting neighbors and residents of Swannonoa, NC with grants to cover temporary housing, and following that, to assist with the unexpected costs associated with life after Hurricane Helene.
Now here’s Josh Blake:
~ 9:30
You know, as far as the live music industry goes, I think that we'll be back sooner than we were during the pandemic, certainly. I mean, there's there's several venues that are ready to open as soon as we have water. And as soon as that happens, we're going to be, you know, everybody's going to be wanting to get back to work right away. And I think the bigger question is Asheville. Become such a. A. A destination spot for music and music lovers and and of course you're aware of all the hype the city is developed in the surrounding areas in the last like 10 to 15 years. How will this? Level of devastation effect that and will people still be coming to move here? I mean, I heard some people being like “I want to move there even more now that I've seen the communities response.” But then there's also like, you know the concern about if people aren't able to get to work fast enough like will they end up moving, you know will will the. Will will the the people who have already we're having a hard time with affordable housing here, a lot of our creative culture that has made the city so great struggling. Beneath the weight of the tourism economy and development that's happening that, you know it will, we still have the same vibrance that we used to. I mean, I, I, I'd like to think we will. I'm, I'm going to try to help be a part of making that happen. You know, I said we set up -- I don't know if you noticed, but we set up a stage downtown at the free kitchen.
Which started just as an idea to be like, hey, let's go make some music for the workers at the free kitchen at the World Central Kitchen. And then that turned into, like, a bunch of bands wanting to play it. And and they kind of the the kitchen grew out of Bear’s barbecue, and they started feeding people down near the Funkatorium. And so we have a stage there now, and local bands want to play it. And everybody's down there in the middle of the day. 1:00 to 4:00 PM playing for free for the people that come to eat down there and the workers taking a break. Come down and hang out and listen to some music and. I feel like the enthusiasm for that sort of accidental venue shows where the heart of the music industry is in this town.
It's that everybody, we're here for each other and for the love of it, and and people are definitely willing to lend their time and their talents to uplift their up, lift their neighbors’ music. That's a really beautiful thing to see. And and I think that collectively the people who want to see Asheville rebuild and and be the vibrant musical Renaissance artistic Renaissance town that it has become will lead the charge. And trying to keep that. Focal point as we as we work our way through this.
Jessica Tomasin interview ~29:00
... my resource that I bring to the table is connections. I've worked in the music industry for 20 years.
I have wonderful people that I'm surrounded by, that are dear, dear friends that can help me figure this out, that have the capacity that I, I already started texting when I was at dinner with my friends and we were sort of celebrating our wins of what the three of us were able to do in, you know, a few days and going like, OK, I might have gotten a little tipsy, and I might have sent some texts to some friends of mine they're high up in music. In companies and. I was like, you know what I need? From you I need a contact high up that you know and sending it at like 9:30 at night on, on Thursday night. I I I may or may not have sent some very. You know, and of course, to friends who know me and know that like that, I was being so salty because I was tired. And I've been doing a lot and there's still so, so much more to do, you know.
Again, the spirit of Asheville, western NC and all of Appalachia, really, in the wake of Helene with that from Jessica Tomasin.
There is so much to grieve now, in the music scene and in practically every aspect of life in the region. But there is fantastic resilience, strong community, and a lot of determination on display as well. While I have plenty of fears of how much of a hit folks making music in the region took and will still take as this tragedy continues to unfold, I have a lot of hope as well, and our guests today only reinforced that belief. They are on the front lines of making those hopes a reality.
I leave you with one of the bright spots in our conversations, as Jesse Iaquinto from Fireside Collective describes his band’s latest song, “Whippoorwill”, which released the day that Helene arrived in town:
00:13:28 Jesse Iaquinto
Uh, yes, our new single is the first single that we've recorded since adding drums to the band. So we've been really excited to get this out there to kind of show the evolution of the band. You know, it's still rootsy still, you know, bluegrass and folk oriented, but now we've got a lot bigger of a sound, a little more rock'n'roll and funk. And so we're excited to get this song out. It is kind of, you know, more melancholy from Fireside. We, a lot of times do jubilant bluegrass numbers, but this one's, you know, after COVID and all the stuff that happens, you know. It's just kind of a response to just kind of like, the other side of life you know, and sometimes things get hard and as an artist like it's good to look at it from both sides and not just be like, “Oh, everything's OK because you know life life is hard and things happen that we're not prepared for. So this song is a little more realistic, a little more like. You know. Yeah. I'm not sure the exact word I'm thinking of but.
00:14:50 Joe Kendrick
Well, I think this kind of takes me back to the thought of having a conversation with you not all that long ago, but I was. I think we were joking around about which version of fireside, if we were on version 2.0 or 3.0, and if and if we were on 3.0, then we definitely got to be at Fireside 4.0 with this new, this latest.
00:15:08 Jesse Iaquinto
I mean. That sounds right. We're just like we'll just keep on going. See what Fireside 9.0 sounds like in a few years.
[“Whippoorwill” by Fireside Collective]
Thank you so much for sharing your time with us, and we hope you can help us again by spreading awareness of what we are doing. It is as easy as telling a friend and following this podcast on your platform of choice, both of which are quick, easy and free! From there it takes just a moment to give us a top rating, and where it is an option, a review! It makes a great difference because the more top reviews and ratings we get, the more visible we become to everyone on those platforms, which means that more people just like you connect with artists and professionals from Asheville, from western NC, and the whole Appalachian region.
This series is a part of the lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available at osirispod.com. You can also hear new episodes on Bluegrass Planet Radio at bluegrassplanetradio.com. Thanks also to Jaclyn Anthony for producing the radio adaptations of this series on public radio WNCW, where we worked with Joshua Meng who wrote and performed our theme songs. I am your host and producer Joe Kendrick, and this is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it.