Feb 19

Feb 19 They Are Marshall: WNC artists unite for Madison County benefit album

On Oct. 7, 2024 — 10 days after Tropical Storm Helene’s flood waters reached the 27-foot mark on a gauge mounted to the exterior of the Old Marshall Jail — Sheila Kay Adams sat on a bench inside the hollowed-out hotel, closed her eyes, and sang.

The seventh-generation Appalachian ballad singer’s a capella rendering of “His Bright Smile Haunts Me Still” cut through the din of tractors and military convoys rumbling down Marshall’s Main Street. A handful of friends deeply entrenched in the town’s volunteer cleanup efforts, including building owner Josh Copus, soaked in the impromptu performance.

“I sat there, tears in my eyes, witnessing the way art could heal our hearts and renew the spirit of the place,” recalls Asheville-based filmmaker and photographer Aaron Stone of Parkway Studios. “It was as if we had been living in black and white, and now, color was slowly returning.”

A clip Copus posted on Instagram quickly drew a few thousand likes and shares, sparking the idea to record a collection of songs for a benefit compilation — and film the raw performances — in the storied space. Marshall-based musician Clay White, who books a Thursday night live music series at the hotel’s café and bar, Zadie’s, quickly recruited 35 regional artists and a spartan production crew consisting of Stone and audio engineers Bridger Dunnagan and Luke Mitchell.

Over four days in late October, a parade of Western North Carolina artists — a mix of singer-songwriters like Tyler Ramsey and Natalie Jane Hill; bands such as Rising Appalachia, River Whyless and Soft Talk; and traditional ballad singers, including Adams — tucked into a gutted stairwell inside the jail with acoustic instruments to sing songs of resilience and resolve, grit and grief. Room mics picked up the brick building’s inherent acoustics as well as ambient sounds of the recovery work happening outside, adding a distinct presence and character to the recordings.

“We were flying by the seat of our pants, but it all came together magically,” says White, who, in addition to producing the project, plays trumpet and flugelhorn on seven tracks. “Everyone collaborated really well, like a well-oiled machine, quickly working out the kinks and knocking out the sessions. Every time an artist finished a song, we were bowled over by the beauty of it all.”

The songs will be released as a three-LP compilation titled The Resonance Sessions. Net proceeds from the deluxe vinyl package and digital audio, which can be preordered on Bandcamp ahead of a Friday, March 7 release, will go to The Madison County Arts Council and Rare Bird Cultural Arts.

While Marshall continues to rebuild post-Helene, Asheville Stages spoke with White about how the collaborative project came to life and the impact he hopes it will have.

Jay Moye: How did you guys land on the stairwell as your makeshift studio?

Clay White: A few reasons. One, the natural light was really nice thanks to a great window that lit everything wonderfully. We didn’t have to do much to treat it. Two, it has really nice natural acoustics. For most sessions, we had a mic running up at the top of that really tall stairwell, as a reverb chamber mic. When we listened back to the raw audio, we were like, “Are you sure there are no plug-ins on this? This reverb sounds amazing!”

And the third reason is that on the wall behind where the artists played, Josh [Copus] had to take out some old wiring and pipes and was left with a few holes in the brick. He said, “I can fill these with history.” So he fired and stamped bricks that basically tell the story of the building and its history as a jail. There's a section of brick that mentions the Flood of 1916. It was really special to have that present throughout the sessions. We’d point it out to the artists as they were coming through, and everyone was amazed to be there playing these songs. It was super powerful, not only because of what had happened three weeks before, but also because of the history behind the walls.

JM: What was your criteria for selecting the artists?

CW: The amount of amazing musicians in the area is overwhelming. It was a no-brainer to include as many of the acts I’d booked for the music series at Zadie’s as we could. The High Divers, Julie Odell, Sparrow Smith from the Resonant Rogues, Becca Leigh, Pierce Edens, and many more. I reached out to them as well as other artists I respect, and everyone was super down to support Marshall.

Several of them were super involved with the recovery efforts in Marshall, so they took time out of their busy schedule fixing up the town to come do this. But for many, it was their first time in Marshall since the flood — folks like Seth [Kauffman of Floating Action], who lives in Black Mountain, and Michael Flynn from Slow Runner, who lives in Saluda. They hadn't been up here yet. Google Maps was saying all roads into Marshall were closed, so I had to give very specific instructions so they wouldn't make a wrong turn and go 45 minutes out of the way. Everyone was just really struck by the whole scene, whether they’d been soaking it in for three weeks or if it was their first time. And that really colored the whole production.

JM: Were you prescriptive with the song choices?

CW: Not at all. We suggested a handful that were too perfect not to include, but otherwise we asked the performers to sing something that was really resonating with them throughout all of this. There were a few really powerful songs written in the weeks between the flood and recording. Doug Carr [of Soft Talk] wrote the song from the trailer video based on his friend’s near-death experience in Bat Cave. David Wimbish wrote another one. When he posted it on Instagram, I was like, “I’ve got the perfect project for you to drop that song on.”

JM: Talk me through the logistics of the sessions.

CW: We booked 30-minute slots, which was really tight — two short days and two long days, going into the evening when we started to lose natural light. On the first day, there wasn't even power on in the building yet, so we ran those sessions off a generator. We got a super-long extension cord and put the generator on the other side of the building and hoped it wouldn't pollute the sound. And it turned out great. You can’t even hear it.

Aaron [Stone] was walking around filming — it wasn't just static cameras, so it was physically taxing for him to move around silently while holding cameras for double-digit sessions per day. Finally, we had to wipe a thick layer of dust and grime off our cables at the end of each day, make sure camera lenses were clean, and try to keep dust out of the microphones during the sessions.

JM: It looks like Scott [McMicken] somehow got a small upright piano into the stairwell [for his session with his band THE EVER-EXPANDING. That couldn’t have been easy.

CW: That was the most substantial piece of gear we lugged in. It fits in his van and was out of tune just enough to create a really great vibe, rather than being a nuisance. We really wouldn't have been able to capture any piano without Scott’s help and generosity with his time, as it wouldn't have quite felt right to use an electric piano.

Another fun one was on the first day, for Henry Toland's session, Jeff Ratner showed up with a borrowed upright bass from Rare Bird Farm. It's an old, beat-up bass that doesn't like to stay in tune, and he worked around its quirks to deliver a beautiful performance. He had just returned from tour with The Dead Tongues, and his personal bass was on loan to a studio.

JM: What specific memories stand out in your mind from those four days?

CW: On the day of Donna Ray [Norton]’s performance, we looked outside at one point and saw Josh Stein and a gaggle of local politicians walking around. I found Josh [Copus] and said, “Donna Ray’s up next. Get him in here.” It was a few weeks before [Stein] was elected governor. I didn't even give Donna Ray a heads up, and she just nailed it. What was equally impressive is there were at least 10 extra people in there, and somehow nobody's phone went off and nobody coughed.

JM: The Old Marshall Jail has hosted monthly ballad swaps for years. Why was it important to incorporate this form of traditional Appalachian storytelling into the project?

CW: It’s the musical DNA of Madison County. From the beginning, the pitch was to do one record of songwriter songs and one of ballads. It ended up ballooning into quite a lot more singer/songwriter tunes with ballads sprinkled throughout. That’s just the way the chips fell — it wasn't intentional.

I reached out to Donna Ray, who’s the spunky spirit of the ballad swap. Sheila Kay Adams is the longstanding matriarch from which the rest of it flows, but Donna Ray is the youthful, driving force behind it. We didn’t want to do a Marshall compilation without their music. So [Donna Ray] got an amazing group of singers together. We were able to include six ballads, one per side [on the vinyl edition], which punctuates the collection quite nicely.

JM: A few weeks before you announced this project, the Cardinals in the Window compilation came out and raised a bunch of money for Western North Carolina. Many of the same artists contributed tracks. What were you wanting to do differently with The Resonance Sessions?

CW: We realized we had a real opportunity to make a deep impact at a local level. There hadn’t been any Madison County-focused artistic relief efforts. It was really important to me and the rest of the people based around here that Marshall was mentioned on the album cover. I wanted someone in Japan, Australia, Europe or wherever to see the sleeve, and say, “Wow, Marshall. Wonder where that is — it must be a special place.”

JM: Was the vision always to press the recordings to vinyl?

CW: The basic idea was to record the highest-quality audio we could get, because we were sure we’d release it in some way. But from the very first conversation, we were shooting for the stars and hoping for a vinyl release. Citizen Vinyl, which had pressed a few other charity projects, had reached out to Aaron. So we kept the possibility of them helping us in our back pocket. The gears started turning, and when we got the final run time, we completely accidentally lined it up to fit perfectly on three LPs.

It takes a lot to put something like this together in a physical format and get everything mixed and mastered for vinyl. When we put up the Bandcamp pre-order, we hadn't even gotten the masters back yet. And we're still getting all the art together for the jacket and discussing how to package everything with our amazing graphic designer, Logan Hall with Logarhythm Creative.

JM: How’d you land on The Resonance Sessions as the title for the project?

CW: We came up with it after the fact. We wanted a punchy, evocative name that fit the moment. Aaron brought the word “resonance” to the table, and we loved it. It felt relevant in many ways: sound resonating through the building; songs resonating in the hearts of the artists and listeners; the impact of the project resonating throughout the community for years to come. And much more.

JM: What do you and your collaborators hope people who hear these songs and watch these films take away from this art?

CW: The sentiment that, “Wow, there's such musical talent in Western North Carolina, and there are movers and shakers getting stuff together and trying to help out.” We got a lot of help from afar, but everyone here is working and contributing in their own way. It’s beautiful to be able to have this thing that marks what happened here and also how people were creating art, fresh after the flood. People were digging mud and also singing songs.

(From left, John DuPre, Luke Mitchell, Clay White, Bridger Dunnagan, and Aaron Stone. Photo by Sarah Jones Decker)