Nashville Flood Impacts, Mobilizes Music Community

It wasn’t just buildings that were affected. Nearly every Nashville musician was hit when Soundcheck, a popular gear-storage facility and rehearsal space a stone’s throw from the Cumberland, began taking on water. Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, Lonestar and many others lost all their gear to the flooding — guitars, amps, everything. Instrument triage units were being set up in the days after the flood, with priceless pieces being laid out to dry, hoping some things could be salvaged, but it didn’t look good.

Some artists took to Twitter to share their stories. Dierks Bentley and Kenny Chesney posted pics of the water damage to their homes. Bentley was seen bailing out his lower level with a bucket; Chesney stood on his submerged front porch in waders, loading a rescued guitar into a waiting boat. (Chesney reported later in the week that his home will likely be condemned.) Ben Folds, another Nashville transplant, lost two pianos, but he’s hoping to turn his loss into someone else’s gain by signing the remnants of his destroyed instruments and auctioning them off to benefit flood victims. Vince Gill also reportedly lost as many as 70 guitars, most of them irreplaceable.

Christian artists were hard hit, as well. Jars of Clay spent the days following the flood emptying out their studio, where water damaged recording equipment, memorabilia and merchandise, leaving a film of mud on everything. The band, which is ironically best known for their hit tune “Flood,” didn’t spend time wallowing, though. They showered off and hit the road again, making scheduled dates to benefit their long-established Blood:Water Mission charity.

Meanwhile, Duncan Phillips of Newsboys posted an image of a fish found in his basement in Franklin. The thriving suburb just outside of Nashville was hard hit, with its historic downtown nearly unreachable. Franklin is also home to many Christian artists, including Michael W. Smith, Steven Curtis Chapman and others.

Chapman’s benefit production of Cinderella, originally slated for the Schermerhorn downtown, had to be moved to another location. The show will benefit Chapman’s Show Hope foundation. Schermerhorn performances slated for the next month are all being moved to other venues.

Even those who suffered their own losses are pitching in. Gill quickly put together Flood Relief With Vince Gill & Friends, a telethon that aired on the local NBC affiliate a few days after the flood. The all-star event featuring casual jam sessions with Gill drew Keith Urban, Lonestar, Amy Grant (Gill's wife), Alison Krauss, Brandon Heath, Naomi Judd, Darius Rucker and others. The talent also took turns answering phones. Taylor Swift called in to donate $500,000, and Gill added $100,000 to the total, which swelled to more than $1.7 million by night’s end. The following night, Gill called in to a competing network’s telethon to pledge another $50,000 from himself and Grant, proving once again why he’s one of the most well-loved Nashvillians around.

In addition to his participation in Gill’s telethon, Heath is one of many Christian artists who jumped in to help in a variety of ways. He lives in the Germantown area of downtown Nashville, and while his home didn’t sustain any damage, his immediate neighbors were all flooded. So he did the neighborly thing, going door to door and inviting them over to use his shower to clean up.

“When stuff like this happens, it’s a huge bummer, but there is a spirit of warmth in this town right now and I’m definitely caught up in it,” Heath says. So much so that he and writing partner Jason Ingram’s third annual Love Your Neighbor benefit concert will raise money for flood victims, particularly El Shaddai Christian Church, a Hispanic congregation devastated by the flood. The Love Your Neighbor bill also includes TobyMac, Britt Nicole and Tenth Avenue North’s Mike Donehey.

The Christian band Stellar Kart was in Canada when the rains began to pummel middle Tennessee and couldn’t get through by phone, so they were forced to rely on Twitter. They returned late Sunday night and were ready to help Monday morning, according to band member Adam Agee, who partnered with his local church to assist in the cleanup effort.

“We tried our best to salvage anything we could as we removed all the waterlogged belongings from homes,” Agee says. “In some areas, entire cars were underwater. In some areas, entire neighborhoods were underwater. Fortunately, we had a great team and were able to provide some hope for many people who had none and those who had nowhere else to turn.”

Cleanup is expected to take months, and when driving through neighborhoods with piles of debris sitting at curb after curb it can be easy to get discouraged at the huge task ahead. Many in the music community and beyond are committed to keeping spirits up and feel optimistic that Nashville will come back better than ever before.

“It’s like a forest,” Heath says. “When it burns, it grows back thicker. It kind of feels like that here in Nashville right now.”