Eric Church's New Song, ‘Darkest Hour’, Directly Aids North Carolina's Hurricane Helene Relief Effort

Following the mass devastation inflicted by Hurricane Helene throughout North Carolina, Eric Church has released a brand new song, ‘Darkest Hour (Helene Edit)’, with all the publishing royalties from the track belonging to the people of his home-state.

North Carolina was one of the worst-hit areas of the US, with Hurricane Helene also wreaking havoc across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia. The death toll has now surpassed 200, with over half of these deaths occurring in North Carolina.

Sonically, ‘Darkest Hour (Helene Edit)’ finds Eric Church delivering nimble, serpentine vocals, with the sparse composition accentuating the emotion of the rousing lyrics.

Over the course of the song, The Chief assures those suffering that he will do everything in his power to offer any form of relief and comfort, “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”.

The new song, written by Eric Church, marks the ‘Springsteen’ hitmaker's first solo release in over three years. Speaking ahead of its arrival, Church reflected, ““From Western North Carolina, East Tennessee, Upstate South Carolina, parts of Georgia and even Florida which took a direct hit, there are so many places that were impacted. Specifically in the area that I'm from, the mountains of Western North Carolina were devastated. There are places that are just biblically gone. These are our family members, they're our friends, they're our neighbors – and they're in dire need of help. And I've been in the studio for a while, trying some different things and exploring creativity. I had this song that I'd written, and the line that struck me in light of the recent devastation was ‘I'll come running,’ because there are a lot of people out there right now who are in their darkest hour and they need people to come running. We were going to wait to release music until next year, but it just didn't feel right to wait with this song. Sometimes you give songs their moment and sometimes they find their own moment”.

Eric Church went on to highlight, “This song, ‘Darkest Hour,’ was the best way I could think to try to help. We've been helping with boots on the ground efforts, but this is something that will live beyond just the immediate recovery. This is not a quick thing to fix, so hopefully ‘Darkest Hour’ will be able to contribute to that for a long time to come. This song goes to my home, North Carolina, now and forever”.

The ‘Hell of a View’ crooner concluded, “‘Darkest Hour’ is a song dedicated to the unsung heroes, the people who show up when the world's falling apart. This is for the folks who show up in the hardest times, offering a hand when it's most needed, and standing tall when others can't. Even in your darkest hour, they come running. When the night's at its blackest, this is for those who are holding the light, guiding the lost and pulling us through. The message of the song specifically in this time is about Hurricane Helene and the people that need help, but in a broader view, it's about any challenging times that we have in our life, which we'll all have. And it's always important to know that in your darkest hour, there are people that will come running, there are people that will help. And I think it's also important to be one of the people that go running when other people need help”.

Alongside this, Eric Church's Chief Cares Fund will be providing aid to all the states and regions affected by Hurricane Helene, which has become the deadliest mainland storm since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The latter resulted in 1,800 deaths.

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