Asheville-area touring musicians regroup after Hurricane Helene
When Dave Hartley meets people on tour and shares where he lives, they usually light up with smiles and praise.
Now, they wince and offer condolences.
“And that hurts,” The War on Drugs bassist told Asheville Stages via phone from Los Angeles. “Asheville is now synonymous with catastrophe.”
Like many other Western North Carolina-based musicians who make their living primarily on the road, Hartley was hundreds of miles away from his family’s Malvern Hills home when Hurricane Helene ripped through the region on Sept. 27.
The War On Drugs had just played a show in Madison, Wisc., on the Zen Diagram Tour with The National and Lucius, when the storm’s path zeroed in on Asheville.
“I was up all night in my bunk on the tour bus, glued to my phone, obsessively tracking the radar, scrolling Reddit, and texting with my wife and friends. At that point, it had been raining hard for two days. Parts of Asheville were already flooded and in disaster mode. My wife was camped out downstairs as high winds threatened huge trees around our house.
[Buncombe County Register of Deeds] Drew Reisinger is my neighbor. I was texting him before cell service went out. ‘Tomorrow, we’ll start to rebuild,’ he wrote. Drew turned his office into a multilateral outreach center. It’s insanely inspiring what he and [Asheville City Councilmember] Kim Roney, another good friend of mine, did to instantly provide boots on the ground.
Early that next morning, my texts were no longer going through. We were in Denver. I was completely freaking out, but luckily Mark [Capon] from Harvest Records had a satellite phone. He was able to get across town to check on my family and call me back to say everyone was OK. I played a show that night, which was very strange, then decided to leave the tour.
Our tour manager, Craig McQuiston, valiantly stepped in to fill in on bass for four shows. He’s a great bass player. He did the same thing a few years ago when we did a huge tour just as things started opening up after [the] COVID[-19 pandemic] and we of course all got COVID, one by one. This band is really supportive. We’re used to covering for each other.
I flew to Charlotte, rented a van, and filled it with stuff to take back. We were home together for about 24 hours, then decided to drive to my wife’s dad’s house in Florida. We stayed a few days before I rejoined the tour. Everyone had just started to come back to life before [Hurricane] Milton forced them to evacuate back to Asheville. We considered bringing the whole family on tour, but thought staying in Florida would be the most stable thing for them to do. But that turned out to be not the case.
We played the Hollywood Bowl last night, which was embarrassingly fun. But I definitely feel displaced. We’ve put 10,000 miles on the bus, and everyone’s totally cooked. We’re flying to Mexico tomorrow for the last two shows of the tour. With no water and schools closed indefinitely, my family is meeting me there. We’d always planned on doing a vacation there.
But I’d rather go home, honestly, because I have a lot of favors to repay to neighbors who helped us out. I have definitely felt some ‘evacuator’s guilt,’ but know that the recovery will be long term and phased, with evolving needs.
Asheville is an amazing place. I can’t believe the small kindnesses I’ve seen amidst tragedy. I’ve only lived here five-and-a-half years, but the city has been in my heart for a long time. War on Drugs played what I consider to be our first show where we encountered true fans at The Grey Eagle in 2007. We had 20 or 30 people there who knew our record, which was stunning. We were a baby band at the time, so it was like a dream. It was all because Harvest Records had been playing it nonstop in their store. We eventually started recording at Echo Mountain and kept coming back to town.
The mythology of this band is deeply intertwined with Asheville. One of our first tours was opening for Rodriguez, whose backing band included Mark [Capon], Drew Wallace [co-owner of The Admiral, Bull & Beggar, and Leo’s House of Thirst] and Kim [Roney]. Now those folks are pillars of the community. So, in some ways, I feel sheepish calling Asheville my adopted home because my roots here are not as deep as so many others, but I love it deeply.”
Seth Kauffman (Photo courtesy of the artist)
Seth Kauffman, the Black Mountain-based artist who writes, records, and performs as Floating Action, was playing bass in Ray Lamontagne’s band as part of a six-week, co-billed tour with Gregory Alan Isakov. Asheville Stages caught up with him on Oct. 9 just before soundcheck in Charlottesville, Va.
“We had a day off in Tampa before a show we were scheduled to play the next night. It was pretty crazy, because even with 40-mile-per-hour winds, people there still just go about their lives. We ended up having to cancel that show, so we headed across the state to Ft. Lauderdale where we played the next night.
That’s when the storm hit Asheville. I was on the phone with my wife, who kept losing service. Being away was pretty much the worst thing. Torture is the best word for it. Bizarre is another. How could this happen to Asheville?
We played Orlando and then Charleston [S.C.] before having two days off, which turned out to be a rare, weird miracle. My wife and daughter had planned to come down, but I ended up renting a car and eventually got back home. I had a Toyota Corolla that got 44 miles per gallon and calculated how much gas I’d need. I was thinking I’d come back into Black Mountain with fast food and comfort supplies, but everywhere was either closed or sold out on the way in. All Home Depots and Lowes were sold out of generators, even as far away as Charleston.
My mom lives in Greensboro, so we grabbed all our pets except the chickens and caravaned there via an alternate route through Shelby. I then headed back to Charleston to reconnect with the band. We were supposed to play Asheville the next day, but the show was canceled.
I’d gotten Mat Davidson from the band Twain [who plays with Floating Action and Dream Sitch, Kauffman’s collaborative project with Michael Nau] a gig in the Ray band. He lives in Marshall, and his place is fortunately OK. He lives kind of off the grid with no running water. His girlfriend, Natalie Jane Hill, came to Charleston with their dog, who’s like the best dog ever, so their presence was great.
Around that time, I heard from my good friend in Charlotte, David Walker, who runs the New Commute music blog. He reached out about contributing a song to the [Cardinals at the Window] benefit compilation. Luckily, I was able to find something while out on the road — an unreleased song fittingly called ‘We Live Inside a Dream.’
I don’t really have an idea what I’ll do for work when I’m back home. I do handyman work for [vacation rental company] Greybeard. There could be no work or a lot of work. And we’re so connected to our swimming holes and trails, which might all be wiped out. Kitsuma is my mountain bike trail. This is my 39th year riding it, and I still can’t get enough of it. I’m not sure of its condition. Lots of TBDs, which I’m used to.”
Tyler Ramsey (Photo by Ehud Lazin)
Tyler Ramsey and his bandmates Keith Snyder (bass) and Danni Iosello (drums) were in Cleveland on the final stretch of a tour opening for The Airborne Toxic Event when Helene approached Ramsey’s home near Candler. Asheville Stages reached him on Oct. 12 as he was running recovery-related errands back in his hometown.
“I got a text from my wife that night [Sept. 26] saying things were getting a little crazy. Like anyone else, I didn’t expect what hit this area. We hoped power would stay on until she went to bed — we lose power out here all the time. She lost cell service, but luckily a neighbor’s house sitter had a phone that kept working, so I was able to keep making sure everyone was OK. I got crazy pictures of water flowing over a bridge on our property, which we lost three years ago and had to rebuild. I remember thinking, ‘That’s what we were in for.’
Fortunately, our tour ended a few days later [in Columbus, Ohio] and we began to make our way back home. What would normally take seven-and-a-half hours took about 13. We made multiple stops, picking up a generator and buying supplies to bring back. Getting home at the end of a month-long tour is exhausting enough, but we had a van stacked to the roof with music gear, canned goods, gasoline, and other stuff.
The road to our property was closed, so I parked and walked up to our house in the dark. Normally, I’d hide out for a few days after a tour to recuperate, but I had to hit the ground running to get everything back to normal. I’ve since balanced my time doing what I need to do around here, making phone calls to insurance companies, and using the van to deliver water and supplies to people. We managed to replace a car we lost in the storm and get the bridge stable.
It feels crazy, but I’m heading to Europe for a tour in a few weeks. I probably won’t even be able to rehearse or play guitar because there’s so much to do to get things to a good place here.
We had to postpone Shiver in the Pines, my collaboration with the Asheville Contemporary Dance Theater [originally scheduled for Oct. 18-19 at Diana Wortham Theatre]. It’s a great show that will somehow be even better by the time we get to do it. I’m really concerned for the dance company. There are so many hurting artists, so many creatives in this community who’ve worked so hard to build something. I feel super emotional for people who’ve completely lost their livelihoods with no apparent road back.
I’m figuring out how I can help. The [Cardinal in the Window] organizers reached out to ask if I wanted to be a part of it, and we found something right away we could use [a live version of ‘New Lost Ages,’ the title track of Ramsey’s latest album]. I’m looking at doing other fundraisers with people I’ve worked with. We’re all wanting to do what we can because it will be a long road ahead.”
Resources for Western North Carolina musicians and artists:
Learn how to contribute to the Asheville Music Industry Relief Fund, via IamAvl.
Artists in any WNC county impacted by Helene can apply for $500 stipends through the ArtsAVL Emergency Relief Grant.
Local music venues, from The Grey Eagle to Salvage Station to the Asheville Guitar Bar, have launched fundraising campaigns to help rebound and provide financial relief to employees.
The National Independent Venue Foundation (NIVF) Emergency Relief Fund is providing essential financial aid to venues and festivals in Asheville and beyond. Donate here.
(The War on Drugs photo courtesy of Dave Hartley)
