LEAD: ReString Appalachia is a nonprofit dedicated to delivering free quality instruments directly to affected musicians following Hurricane Helene.
TRACK: The organization, which has a core team of 8 and an external volunteer group of about 20 across North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee, has provided nearly 350 instruments to musicians who lost their equipment following the storm. Timothy Kelly, is one of the more recent recipients of a new banjo.
TIMOTHY KELLY: I made so many banjo videos on TikTok, playing my banjo and they went viral and I felt like that uh it was a special place to be here, you know, with banjo because it’s got so much culture and history here. And then I came back and then, uh so I had a banjo like it was open back, it was turned like this, I didn’t have a case. And I came back the whole back of it was full of the water.
TRACK: Nicholas Williams, founder and CEO of the organization, shares the mindset behind many musician’s hesitation to receive aid.
NICHOLAS WILLIAMS: Professional musicians, especially I think there is this sort of semblance of like, all right, well, I got knocked down, but I’m gonna get back up on my own sort of thing. And I think there there’s nothing wrong with that whatsoever. But we really like harped on that message of we have more than enough. You know, we can help everybody. Let us help you.
TRACK: The significance of preserving Appalachian music following Helene is clear. Dance caller Phil Jamison, talks about the role music and traditional Appalachian dance play in building and strengthening the community.
PHIL JAMISON: It’s rare that you hold hands with people you don’t even know, put your arms around people and swing people you don’t even know. And during the course of the even if just for the course of the evening, there’s some sort of community that’s built.
TRACK: This community is what organizations like ReString Appalachia are built on. Soon rebranding to just ReString, the nonprofit will be expanding its reach to other areas affected by natural and economic disasters.
TAG: In Asheville, I’m Dani Hart, reporting.
