On the morning after Hurricane Helene, the town of Marshall, NC looked unrecognizable. It was clear that things would never be the same again. Major hurricanes never hit this part of America. Until one did. The community rallied together to clean up as much as they could, but to this day, many in the region are left without basic amenities for survival and comfort.
For many, this marked the end of something. The end of a sense of peace and security, shelter from the storm that people on the coast face year after year. While this is true, the artists of Western North Carolina found an opportunity in the rubble, to create something beautiful and impactful.
“There have been stages of recovery and action,” says Clay White, the musician and community-builder at the heart of The Resonance Sessions, a live benefit album recorded at the Old Marshall Jail with 35 different regional musicians & bands.
Enjoy an exclusive premiere of Infinitikiss‘ contribution to the sessions below, and read on for a full interview with Clay about how The Resonance Sessions came together in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
Infinitikiss – “All That I Have” (The Resonance Sessions)
“In the beginning it was all hands on deck––let’s get the mud shoveled out, and let’s get everything power washed and get all the mold sprayed,” Clay recalls. “That was all anyone could think about for over a month.”
For weeks, the peaceful mountain air was replaced by the constant buzz of heavy machinery. Now, things are quieter, with skilled laborers hanging drywall and wiring electrical systems to return a sense of normalcy to this tiny mountain town.
“Throughout all of it,” Clay explains, “there’s been these cool community and artistic projects, like our project, and Cardinals at the Window in the immediate weeks afterwards.”
Clay mentions seven or eight benefit albums, and knows there are some that escaped him. The artistic community of Western North Carolina has truly rallied together for relief efforts.
He drives through downtown Marshall almost every day. Some parts of town have been restored, but there are even more places where the destruction of Hurricane Helene is still fresh.
“There are parts of town where it still looks not much better than the day the storm came through,” he says.
At first, survival was the priority. But once the dust settled, a new kind of rebuilding began. Not with drywall or Romex, but instead, guitars, microphones, and the soul of a community that was battered but not defeated.
“The Old Marshall Jail building is like rocks,” Clay says. “You know, it’s an old jail. They built it pretty well and it’s all brick. They were able to power wash everything and get it reasonably clean.”
Josh Copus, owner of the Old Marshall Jail, had captured some musical performances in the building in the aftermath of the storm, with local artists playing traditional Appalachian songs, and they really resonated with people.
This presented an opportunity to do more with the space and the music of the region. Of the 35 songs included in The Resonance Sessions, seven are traditional Appalachian ballads.
Including the region’s traditional ballad singers was crucial. The album even features “The Landslide 1916 Flood,” a song written over 100 years ago about a similar disaster. Performed by William Ritter, the ballad resonates with eerie relevance, connecting past and present in a deeply moving way.
“The album wouldn’t be what it is without that through line back to the deep musical heritage of the area,” Clay explains.
Josh asked Clay to gather musicians for some sessions at the Old Marshall Jail, and the project blossomed into a beautiful representation of the regional culture, to benefit the people living there who need it the most.
“I was like, okay, be careful who you’re talking to here,” Clay laughs. He tapped Luke Mitchell of the High Divers and Out Here Studios to engineer the project, filmmaker Aaron Stone and co-engineer Bridger Dunnagan of Parkway Studios. Together with the musicians they brought The Resonance Sessions to life.
Recording kicked off on October 20th, roughly three weeks after the storm, and lasted four days. They worked from morning until dark, limited by sunlight because they wanted to create an authentic video experience.
“Everyone rolled in one after the other,” Clay explains, “each providing their own little interpretation of the moment.”
Clay asked each artist to play a song that had been resonating with them, and everybody delivered heartfelt performances dedicated to their home in the mountains.
They have been releasing one video at a time from the session, which culminates with a full three-LP vinyl bundle. Proceeds will benefit The Madison County Arts Council in rebuilding the local music scene, while Rare Bird Cultural Arts will provide grants for affected musicians.
Vinyl will begin shipping out on March 10th, and can be pre-ordered on Bandcamp, produced by Citizen Vinyl in Asheville.
The cover photo, shot by Jack Sorokin, a Marshall native now based in NYC, represents the resilience at the core of this project. Designed by Logan Hall, the photo captures the bridge off Bailey’s Branch Road, just 50 feet from the Old Marshall Jail, where the sessions took place.
After the storm, many in Marshall thought the bridge would fail—until cars began to drive over it. Just like the town itself, the bridge held strong through the mighty floods of the French Broad River. Damaged but still holding on, Marshall continues to rebuild, and the local community continues to sing the songs of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
“I’ve been involved in a lot of artistic projects throughout my life, and this is the one that I’m the most proud of so far,” Clay closes.
