The Barefoot Movement’s Noah Wall and Tommy Norris have a deep connection to western North Carolina and east Tennessee, just over the Blue Ridge Mountains. They were dating and in a band when Norris was a student at Western Carolina and Noah was at East Tennessee State, and the two would meet in Asheville for a date night or band-related events.
But they also have connections to Granville County – both are 2006 graduates of South Granville High School in Creedmoor, and when Wall felt the urge to do something to help folks who lost so much in the devastation and flooding brought by Hurricane Helene, she turned to that high school and the choral department.
The result: a hurricane relief concert on Friday, Nov. 22 featuring a couple of local groups as well as the bluegrass sound of The Barefoot Movement. The concert is sponsored by the South Granville Choral Association.
Tickets are $15 and are on sale now for the concert, which kicks off at 7 p.m.
First up is GrassStreet Bluegrass band, followed by the popular Granville County Southern Rock band Bryan’s Hill.
Wall said she has “zero ego” in being called the headline group, but she’ll take the stage with her fiddle and her husband – (Norris, if you didn’t know) – mandolin in hand, to finish out the concert.
“I wish I could just donate a million dollars,” Wall said on Tuesday’s TownTalk segment with WIZS’s Bill Harris. She said she has been moved by what the folks in the mountains have been going through, so she set about doing what she knows best. “I have my music and I know how to put on a concert,” she explained. The rest fell into place fairly easily.
The high school auditorium has a stage, a sound system and is a comfortable place for a concert. “It ultimately worked out great,” Wall said. All proceeds from the concert will go to Baptist on Mission, which has had teams of people on the ground helping in the disaster zone. They also have a specific Hurricane Helene Relief Fund, so Wall is confident the money will get to where it can be of most use.
Next week’s concert playlist may be a little different from what audiences hear when they’re on tour across the country, Wall said, hinting at what may be in store.
“It won’t be traditional bluegrass, necessarily,” said. “We may cover Ozzy Osborne, but we’ll do it with fiddle and mandolin.”
What it will be, she said, is fun. And she hopes all three bands play to a sold-out house.
“Its’ going to be a great night,” Wall said. “I just felt like I had to do something…just looking at pictures I’ve seen of Asheville, (recovery is) going to take a long time and they need our help.”
Find a link to ticket sales at https://www.thebarefootmovementofficial.com/ or find a link at https://onthestage.com/search
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