The communal spirit of Nashville was felt at Marathon Music Works on Monday night (March 9), where over $500,000 was raised as part of the benefit concert To Nashville, With Love. All the proceeds made at the show went to the people of Nashville affected by the March 2020 tornado. (To donate, visit the organization’s website.)
The star-studded evening included performances by Sheryl Crow, Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell, the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, Brothers Osborne, Margo Price, and Ashley McBryde. Additionally, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Katie Pruitt, Kendell Marvel, Old Crow Medicine Show, Sadler Vaden, Soccer Mommy and Yola also took the stage. Tickets for the nearly four-hour show at the 1800-capacity venue went on sale last week and sold out in under an hour. All the artists who performed volunteered their time to help raise money for Tennessee tornado victims.
Throughout the sold-out concert, many of the acts would share the stage together including Crow and Carlile for a massive sing-along of Crow’s 1996 hit “If It Makes You Happy,” as well as Auerbach, Yola and Natalie Hemby for a riveting performance of Auerbach’s “Stand By My Girl.” Yola and Hemby would remain on stage for a standout cover of the soul classic “You’re All I Need to Get By” — as well as Yola’s powerful original “It Ain’t Easier,” which garnered screams from the audience with her jaw-dropping vocals. Yola and Hemby were later joined by fellow Highwoman Carlile and Crow for a spirited rendition of “Highwomen.”
“It just feels so good to be with you,” Carlile, a Seattle resident, said earlier in the evening during her poignant two-song set of “The Eye” and “The Joke.” “It was so hard to sit home with everything you’ve been through. We don’t live here, but it’s times like these where I know Nashville is my home. I’ve seen a lot of things, but I’ve never seen a community come together the way that this community has come together in the wake of this tragedy. It’s been beyond inspiring. Not only will you recover from this, but you are recovering from this in a way that is shocking the world.”
Carlile’s sentiment was shared by several of the artists who took the stage throughout the evening. “I went over to the damaged area after the storm and it was rough. A lot of good people out there. I saw black, white, gay, straight, left, right. That’s Nashville,” Marvel said, in between performing “Hard Time With The Truth” and “Hurtin’ Gets Hard.”
Tasjan, who shared the staged several times throughout the night with other artists as well as performed a two-song set of his own, reiterated Marvel’s words. “I hope the rest of America can see what’s happening in Nashville. There’s no red and blue when you need a chainsaw.”
The evening was hosted by local independent radio station Lighting 100 DJ Lt. Dan and Mike Grimes, whose venue the Basement East saw major devastation following the tornado last week. The club owner assured everyone that the venue is rebuilding “right away” and will “hopefully be back in six-to-nine months.”
Additional highlights throughout the evening included Isbell’s three-song set of “24 Frames,” “Cover Me Up” and the live debut of “What’ve I Done to Help” and Brothers Osborne’s guitar shredding performance within “Skeletons” and “It Ain’t My Fault.” Old Crow Medicine Show opened the show with the energetic “Flicker & Shine,” “Wagon Wheel” and a spirited new version of “Minglewood Blues” that they edited following the tornado devastation — which had the band chanting “Nashville strong,” and singing, “Don’t you ever let tornadoes rule your mind.”
To donate to the To Nashville, With Love Fund, visit the organization’s website.
