Dec 2

Dec 2 Local musicians and filmmakers team up for post-Helene music video series

Just before 10 p.m. on Nov. 24, Melissa McKinney’s phone started blowing up with messages from friends.

Many were tuned in to the livestream of Soulshine: A Benefit For Hurricane Relief & Recovery,” and a lucky few were at the sold-out Madison Square Garden concert organized by Asheville hero Warren Haynes.

“You’re on the MSG jumbotron!” one text read.

Images of the blues vocalist singing with gospel powerhouse Datrian Johnson over West African percussionist Adama Dembele’s djembe drumming appeared onscreen between primetime sets from Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats and Dave Matthews Band.

“We were told we’d have a longshot chance at making the broadcast, but we had limited expectations,” says McKinney, who fronts the Asheville-based rock ‘n’ roll revue, Mama & the Ruckus. “So it felt great to be a part of something that would do so much good for so many people on that level.”

The friends shot the video approximately 36 hours prior, just after sunrise on a cold, gray Saturday morning at the Bee Tree Community Church in Swannanoa. They bundled up and belted out an acapella medley of “It Was Grace” — a hymn penned by Datrian’s grandfather — and the second verse of Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released.”

“We'd never done those songs until that morning, so it all had to come together quickly,” McKinney says. “We did five takes, and the first four were horrible. I remember thinking, ‘We better nail this last one,’ because Adama’s poor hands were freezing off.”

And nail it they did.

Cinematographer Simon Bonneau captured the performance in one continuous take, panning the property from left to right as Dembele plays through a hollowed-out window and Johnson’s deep baritone hum sets a solemn yet hopeful tone. He and McKinney stand in front of the gutted sanctuary originally built in 1872, surrounded by rubble and backlit by the early-morning sun, their voices building to a powerful crescendo. Johnson is sporting a “Craigtown Strong” T-shirt honoring the Garren Creek community near Fairview where landslides claimed 13 lives.

McKinney called the experience “spiritual and surreal.”

“I’d been doing deliveries for BeLoved Asheville in the days after the flood to the Bee Tree area, which gave me my first glimpse into how bad things were and how widespread the damage was,” she says. “And while I don’t go to church anymore, I grew up in the church [in West Virginia], so being there that morning brought me back to my roots. My life is very much influenced by how I was taught [by my congregation] to treat people and walk in the world.”

“It Was Grace” is part of the new “Busker's Corner” series featuring Western North Carolina artists performing grief songs in devastated natural settings. Local production company Temple of Seaweed, led by director Scott Kirschenbaum, created the films as part of the Resilient Asheville documentary project.

Dembele and McKinney are teaching artists at LEAF Global Arts, which is supporting “Busker’s Corner” by booking and compensating musicians out of its local artist relief fund. The series launched Nov. 29 with McKinney’s daughter, who performs as McKinney, singing her original post-Helene anthem, “Riverside Drive.” She strums an acoustic guitar in front of a giant uprooted tree at Lake Eden in Black Mountain, home of the semiannual LEAF Festival. Other featured artists include Underhill Rose and Rising Appalachia.

Kirschenbaum says he offered the “Soulshine” team sneak-peak access to rough cuts of the performances, starting with Tedeschi Trucks Band management before ultimately synching up with the Dave Matthews Band’s video editor. Nearly an hour of Resilient Asheville footage, as well as films highlighting World Central Kitchen and Salvage Station from IamAVL, Shadow Light Creative, and other local organizations, ultimately made the program.

The project struck a deeply personal chord for McKinney. One of her students in the LEAF Lights youth music program, 10-year-old Kynzi Cooper, passed away suddenly in January. She lived in a Habitat for Humanity home on Soulshine Court in East Asheville. The Warren Haynes/Allman Brothers Band hit bearing the same name has been one of McKinney’s favorite and most influential songs.

“Anyone that knows me knows what ‘Soulshine’ means to me,” McKinney says. “And it took on new meaning for me after losing sweet Kynzi. She shined her soul brighter than anyone I’ve ever known. Everything that has joy and light attached to it, Kynzi is a part of it. I can’t help but believe she had a hand in making this happen.”

New episodes in the Busker’s Corner series will post each day this week on YouTube.

(Photo by Jennifer Pickering/LEAF Global Arts)