Amid tragedy, music can provide a source of solace. This is the philosophy behind a local instrument drive that seeks to collect and distribute used instruments to victims of natural disasters.
Folksinger Michael Johnathon, host of the Lexington-based WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour, teamed up with Florence-based Willis Music to gather used musical instruments for communities in western North Carolina and east Tennessee that were ravaged by Hurricane Helene – the third deadliest hurricane of the 21st century.
“Once that calms down and the emotion of what hit them happened, that’s when music and art is the most calming language of the human experience,” Johnathon told LINK nky. ”If you’re a musician, that is what helps you restore your emotional balance.”
Willis Music has five stores throughout Greater Cincinnati, with one Northern Kentucky location in Florence. During business hours, each store accepts donations of used instruments for the drive. Johnathon plans to distribute all of the instruments in the spring after the victims’ most pressing needs, such as access to food, water and healthcare, are met.
Johnathon first got the idea for an instrument drive after the deadly tornadoes tore through western Kentucky in 2021. Countless musicians and students in the region lost their instruments. In the aftermath, Johnathon headed up WoodSongs’ first instrument drive.
The drive generated approximately 1,000 instrument donations. Once all the instruments were collected, they were loaded onto trucks and driven down impacted areas, where they were distributed to locals free of charge. Jonathan said the response from impacted communities was overwhelming.
“It was amazing,” he said. “I mean, hundreds of people lined up, you know, looking for banjos and guitars and flutes and trumpets.”
A year later, floods devastated several communities in southeastern Kentucky. Once again, Johnathon and WoodSongs’ were there to help with another instrument drive that garnered around 1,000 donations.
“The floods hit Appalachia about a year and a half later, and we did the same thing to restore the music of the front porches of the Appalachian Mountains and the musicians of the region,” Johnathon said.
After Hurricane Helene, Johnathon and WoodSongs’ were asked if they could help. He was happy to oblige. Paul Finke, president of Willis Music, said he was happy to use the company’s facilities to help.
“it was easy for us to help,” Finke said. “It’s just, you know, musicians, helping musicians.
Like Johnathon, Finke expressed that music can convey positivity and togetherness in times of sorrow. Reconnecting musicians with lost instruments is a unique way to demonstrate the power of music.
“For some, it could bring comfort,” Finke said. “For some, it brings true happiness – and that’s playing alone. Then you’ve got two or three people sitting on the front porch playing together. Then you can generate all kinds of great, great emotions. It helps you forget the disaster for a little bit. It helps you escape from it.”
