Eric Church is using his platform for good.
In a press release obtained by Fox News Digital on Friday, the country star shared that he will be transferring all the publishing royalties for his new song, “Darkest Hour,” to the people of his home state of North Carolina following the devastation of Hurricane Helene.
“From Western North Carolina, East Tennessee, Upstate South Carolina, parts of Georgia and even Florida which took a direct hit, there are so many places that were impacted,” Church stated in the release. “Specifically in the area that I’m from, the mountains of Western North Carolina were devastated. There are places that are just biblically gone. These are our family members, they’re our friends, they’re our neighbors – and they’re in dire need of help.”
HURRICANE HELENE: NORTH CAROLINA RESIDENTS FIGHT FOR THEIR SURVIVAL AS BASIC GOODS BECOME SCARCE
“I’ve been in the studio for a while, trying some different things and exploring creativity,” he continued. “I had this song that I’d written, and the line that struck me in light of the recent devastation was ‘I’ll come running,’ because there are a lot of people out there right now who are in their darkest hour, and they need people to come running.”
“We were going to wait to release music until next year, but it just didn’t feel right to wait with this song,” he added. “Sometimes you give songs their moment and sometimes they find their own moment.”
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Church went on to say that this song was “the best way” he could think of how to help those in dire need.
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“We’ve been helping with boots on the ground efforts, but this is something that will live beyond just the immediate recovery,” he stated. “This is not a quick thing to fix, so hopefully ‘Darkest Hour’ will be able to contribute to that for a long time to come. This song goes to my home, North Carolina, now and forever.”
The song, Church said, is dedicated to “the unsung heroes, the people who show up when the world’s falling apart.”
“This is for the folks who show up in the hardest times, offering a hand when it’s most needed, and standing tall when others can’t,” he continued. “Even in your darkest hour, they come running. When the night’s at its blackest, this is for those who are holding the light, guiding the lost and pulling us through.”
“The message of the song specifically in this time is about Hurricane Helene and the people that need help, but in a broader view, it’s about any challenging times that we have in our life, which we’ll all have,” he concluded. “And it’s always important to know that in your darkest hour, there are people that will come running, there are people that will help. And I think it’s also important to be one of the people that go running when other people need help.”
In a video message posted to YouTube on Friday, Church also asked fans and followers to help him “gain as much exposure” to the devastation and do what they can to help – including donating to his Chief Cares fund, which is currently directing all its charitable efforts to the communities who were directly impacted by the destruction.
According to FOX Weather, the death toll has continued to rise to at least 215 people – with nearly half of those deaths in North Carolina. The hurricane first made landfall on the Gulf Coast in Florida and continued to wreak havoc across the Southeast.
Search and rescue operations are ongoing in areas of western North Carolina that were isolated after catastrophic flooding destroyed hundreds of roads and bridges.
Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.
