Three years ago, I wrote about WoodSongs Old Time Radio Hour’s partnership with The Feel Good Tour to distribute musical instruments to those who had lost them in the 2022 Kentucky tornadoes. This week’s Feel-Good Friday features the WoodSongs program working their magic again–this time, for the survivors of Hurricane Helene.
WoodSongs partnered with North Carolina’s Warren Wilson College Music Program, along with the college’s Ellison Library, to collect instruments of all types for those who have lost so much. Music and song has a unique power to restore and rebuild broken lives.
After Helene devastated parts of Western North Carolina and East Tennessee, the internationally syndicated TV and radio program WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour began collecting instruments for musicians who lost everything in the flood areas. Approximately 1,000 donated instruments were distributed for free on a first-come, first-served basis on Sunday, March 9, at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa.
The instruments, which included guitars, drums, horns, keyboards, amps, and many more, were distributed for free, on a first-come, first served basis to those who had endured Hurricane Helene. For people who have lost everything, this is a particularly sweet restoration. Even as an fledgling pianist, I have dragged my spinet across California, and, lastly, across the country. It is a treasured friend, and its loss would be felt, just as the death of a friend would. Michael Johnathon, the host of the radio program, is also a musician himself, so he uniquely understands the need to find reconnection and recompense.
On the Sunday the instruments were distributed, Johnathon affirmed:
If you lost an instrument, we’ll take you at your word and try to replace it. Helene victims have already been through so much; we want to make this process as easy as possible. There are no forms to fill out. Just show up.
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As musicians are wont to do, Johnathon waxed poetic,
So exciting to see these many hundreds of people lining up to get the instruments donated from all over America because America loves the spirit of the front porch, and that is what these people represent.
The non-profit ReString Appalachia is also collecting instruments and taking cash donations to help restore the musical heritage to the region, a particularly precise and personal mission. As their website states,
For many residents of Western North Carolina and the surrounding areas, music is more than a pastime—it is a livelihood and a vital connection to their heritage. Instruments lost in the hurricane were not only tools of self-expression but also critical sources of income and community identity.
Visit their website if you wish to donate an instrument or contribute.
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