Put a Record On: That Time I Hung Out In Ashville With Dawes, and Help for Helene

Stepping up for our friends in the storm's wake

I remember the first time I went to Asheville – it was twelve years ago to the month, and I was on assignment to interview Dawes, who were making an album at the Echo Mountain studio in downtown. Still slightly nervous about long solo drives (I got my license at 27, be kind), I recruited my friend Stephanie to come along for company. We ate dinner at Cúrate, had delicious tapas and wine, and then stumbled into a bar where we watched The Kernal play a set before walking back up the hill to our hotel where we woke up to views of the mountains, with the trees changing into autumn colors: the reddest reds, the yellowest yellows, the most orange of oranges you’ve ever seen. I spent the morning having breakfast with the band at Early Girl eatery, and then we made our way to the studio where they were finishing up the sessions for Stories Don’t End.

Enjoying the surreal beauty of WNC in fall, 2021 in a cozy little cabin where we were able to take some refuge during covid

The band was in love with Asheville, where they had rented a house up in the mountains, spending time eating around town at places like The Admiral and enjoying the intensity of fall in North Carolina, a change from their native Los Angeles. “It’s the center of the universe here, when it comes to the season of Autumn,” Taylor Goldsmith told me as we ate biscuits at breakfast. He talked about how he loved the people, the food, the fresh air. I was barely there for 24 hours and yet I fully understood what he was saying – Stephanie and I joked that maybe we should have both moved to Ashville instead, not really joking at all.

The ride back to Nashville, through the Pisgah Forest and Smoky Mountains only affirmed Taylor’s theory: beauty unlike anything I’d ever seen. Take your breath away kind of stuff. Since then, I’ve come back to Western North Carolina as many times as my family and I can: to Asheville, to Black Mountain, to Blowing Rock and Boone, to a family reunion in Swannanoa, to a friend’s trip in tiny houses on the French Broad River. The draw is just magnetic.

Cúrate – the place where we had dinner – is currently working as a hub for World Central Kitchen, distributing food to isolated communities in the wake of some of the worst storm destruction any of us have ever laid eyes on. Hurricane Helene has caused destruction across Western North Carolina, East Tennessee and Georgia beyond comprehension, killing 200 so far and destroying entire communities in places once thought to be a climate “safe haven.” It will take years for these communities to rebuild, if they’re able to at all. The word tragic doesn’t cut it.  We all want to help.

I want to say there is no wrong way to give during something like this, but that’s not true: showing up unannounced with goods that aren’t needed is often more taxing to relief crews than helpful. The most reliable way to help, unless told otherwise by people on the ground, is to give money.

• This Google doc is a helpful resource, as is this article compiled by Blue Ridge Public Radio. I know some folks resist donating because they can only afford $5 and that feels trivial, but truly any amount can be helpful.

• Beloved Asheville is organizing supplies

• World Central Kitchen is seeking volunteers and donations

•  Appalachians for Appalachia is another great resource and good centralized place to visit.

• Newsletter favorite Nick Shoulders is hosting a fundraising livestream this Friday (10/4) at 6pm CST, with collected funds will be sent to World Central Kitchen, Mutual Aid Disaster Relief and Appalachian Medical Solidarity.

• If you’re in Nashville, The Beast is hosting a fundraiser this Sunday, 10/6

Please share additional resources in the comments. If you make at least a $25 contribution to any of the above organizations (or ones listed in the doc or on BRPR’s site), email dontrocktheinbox@gmail.com with proof of your contribution (receipt or screenshot) for a three-month paid subscription to DRTI on us (We can’t say concretely how this will work if you already have a paid subscription but we’ll give it a shot!!).

I could go on about the musical importance of these areas, but instead, here’s a country/roots playlist inspired by the area, by the musicians in it and the music made there. It is by no means exhaustive, feel free to also add favorites in the comments. We’ve made all this available without a paywall; here it is on Apple Music as well!