Benefit Raises Over $30K For Mother Emanuel Hope Fund

On Tuesday night The Charleston Pour House in Charleston, South Carolina hosted the Don’t Tell Me This Town Ain’t Got No Heart benefit concert in an effort to raise money for the Mother Emanuel Hope Fund which supports the Emanuel AME Church shooting victims and their families. We’re pleased to see the sold-out concert was a huge success as Palmetto Scene reports the event raised over $30,000 between ticket, bar and auction sales.

The show featured over 80 musicians, most from the Charleston area, as well as 20 local businesses. “When it became clear what had happened, we were all so distraught. The music was over and you could just feel the shock waves passing through all of us. Some were very angry, some confused, some sad,” musician Andy Greenberg of Phish tribute act Runaway Gin told the Palmetto Scene about performing at The Pour House when the shooting happened. “I remember Josh Hamrick of The Pour House really stepping up to the plate. You could see the sense of purpose in his eyes. He was deeply wounded by this, as so many of us were, and you could just sense a response coming, even in the minutes after the attack. Kim Huey also was right there beside him ready to snap into action. That very Wednesday night, not even an hour after the shootings, he knew just what to do. Josh asked me if I’d be involved musically in putting together a benefit show and I, of course, said I’d do anything that I could to help. Before we knew it, virtually all the musicians in our tight-knit ‘Pour House Family’ and all the staff of The Pour House had volunteered to take part in the event.”

Palmetto Scene notes over 200 items were donated for an auction held during the concert. A signed Widespread Panic concert garnered $4,000. Runaway Gin, Travelin’ Kine, The Dead 27’s, The Reckoning/Rodeo Clown, The Lowhills, Sol Drive Train and Gaslight Street were among the bands who played the benefit which ended with a superjam. “As an artist in Charleston, this event gives me hope that music will spread and bring light, peace, unity, and happiness to the lives of more and more people. It also showed me that we can make a huge difference as a musical community by aiding in directing the narrative of our societal discourse and providing these musical events for people to come together. We all want peace, love, and harmony and this is one of the things that unites us as local artists,” Greenberg added. Check out Palmetto Scene’s report for more about Tuesday night’s benefit.