Eric Church was determined to add legendary singer-songwriter and guitarist James Taylor to the Concert for Caroline lineup.

Church offered “an inside story” about how he connected with Taylor during a press conference on Saturday morning (October 26). The press conference took place hours ahead of the star-studded benefit concert to help support hurricane relief efforts in the region in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. The event took place at Bank of America stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Shortly after learning about the devastation in their home state, Church and fellow country star Luke Combs started planning the Concert for Carolina. Church said on Saturday that he and Combs scrolled through their contact lists in their phones in search of artists who might be interested in joining the lineup. Church knew he “had to get James Taylor. …I had to hear ‘Carolina in My Mind’ in this stadium.”

“I made it my mission, and I’m pretty sure after talking to James last night that I think I stalked him for a period of a week or two,” Church admitted. “I couldn’t get his cell number, so I kept going through my phone to find, ‘who would know James Taylor?’ And I was talking on stage with him last night…I walk up, and I had a friend of mine, Joe Walsh, who’s in the Eagles, and I called him, and I was like, ‘I need you to get a hold of James Taylor.’ And Joe didn’t hit me back, so I hit him again, and the I hit him again. And then finally, James told me last night on stage, he said, ‘you know, you really kind of freaked out Joe Walsh.’ He said, he finally called and said ‘you gotta talk to this guy and you need to play his show, so he’ll leave me alone,’” Church said with a laugh.

Combs shared Church’s enthusiasm looking ahead to Taylor’s performance. Combs had “no doubt in my mind,” that Church would track down Taylor. After crafting a lengthy text to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Combs discovered two of his band members would play for Taylor on Saturday night. Combs said during the press conference, “that’s how I heard that my bass player and my keys player are probably not my bass player and my keys player anymore.”

“I’m just glad to be able to help. I’m glad we were able to get this done,” Combs said. “A show like this usually takes a year, or a year and a half, to plan, and we were able to get it done in three weeks. We’re thankful for tonight, thankful for anything that anyone has do, whether it’s with this show or on their own.”

Combs, Church, Taylor and Billy Strings headlined the sold-out benefit concert, which streamed live on Veeps and iHeartRadio for those tuning in remotely. The lineup also included Sheryl Crow, Keith Urban, Bailey Zimmerman, The Avett Brothers, Scotty McCreery, Chase Rice and Parmalee. It was all hosted by Caleb Pressley and Marty Smith, with special appearances by Nicole Kidman, Randy Travis and his wife, and more. More than 83,000 concertgoers raised more than $24 million for hurricane relief efforts during Concert for Carolina on Saturday night.

“The small communities that specifically make up western North Carolina are these strong, independent, proud communities,” Church said during the press conference. “And I’ve said many times that they’re the exact community that when the community next door is in trouble, out can count on that community to come help you. And in this situation, there is no community next door. It’s all been destroyed. So, what you’re seeing tonight is, we are the community next door. The people that are in this stadium are the community next door. And Luke [Combs] called right after this happened, a day or two after, and said, ‘you know, I wanna do this.’ I thought it was a great idea…It’s up to us to figure out a way to help them stay in the community where they are. That’s a lot of what tonight will be about.”

Bob Pickett