Nashville bands together for sold-out tornado relief charity concert featuring HARDY, Nate Smith, and other top moments

On Sunday night, 12 Nashville musicians hit the stage at the Exit/In to raise proceeds for local charities working to heal Middle Tennessee communities following the devastation and damage from last weekend's tornadoes.

On Dec. 9, tornadoes hit Middle Tennessee, killing six people and causing 83 others to be transported to the hospital. Many businesses, homes and community staples were left destroyed or significantly damaged.

Music City's tornado relief concert, produced by Media Farm Agency and called, "Unplugged for Tennessee," gave 100% of the event's proceeds to charities Red Cross Tennessee and Hands On Nashville, organizations helping to lead the disaster response initiatives.

Nashvillians flocked to support the cause. The concert, announced on Dec. 14, sold out in just over an hour. According to an Instagram post from the show's host, the evening raised over $70,000 for tornado relief.

Artists to hit the stage included HARDY, Nate Smith, Alana Springsteen, Dylan Marlowe, Chayce Beckham, Chase Matthew, Abby Anderson, Trey Lewis, Graham Barham, Payton Smith, Kylie Morgan and Jay Allen. The night was hosted by Benji Amaefule, A&R at Warner Chappell Music, who operates The Benji Chord, a popular online blog.

The evening was broken up in rounds with performances first from country music couple Kylie Morgan and Jay Allen. The next to hit the stage were Payton Smith, Graham Barham, Abby Anderson and Trey Lewis, each singing three songs as they passed the spotlight from one to another.

To follow, both Nate Smith and HARDY took to the stage alone, playing individual sets. The night closed out with another writer's round styled performance with Dylan Marlowe, Chayce Beckham, Chase Matthew and Alana Springsteen.

Here are some of the highlights from the community-focused country music event.

Artists share their own experiences with natural disasters, trauma

Country artist Kylie Morgan, known for songs "If He Wanted to He Would" and "I Only Date Cowboys," played her most beloved hits for the Exit/In. But—she also played an unreleased song she had never performed live before.

"When I was 17 years old, I lost my childhood home in a tornado in Oklahoma," Morgan explained. "And no-one knows this feeling more than I do, because it's so publicized in the media at the moment, but as soon as other media happens, it just kinda goes away and people forget that people are still in need."

Morgan sang a song she wrote 10 years ago about losing her own home called "Heart Bend," a tune that became a personal point of healing for her. Morgan warbled, "You don't know what you got, 'til it's gone / You don't know what you need, 'til you don't have anything."

A couple sets later, Nate Smith took the stage. A gritty, country rock singer known for songs "Whiskey on You," "World on Fire" and "Under My Skin," Smith opened up to the audience, explaining why it felt so important for him to be here tonight.

Smith said, "I definitely understand what it's like to lose everything and have to start over again. That happened to me a few years ago in Paradise, California." Smith detailed his personal experience with natural disasters, discussing how he was affected by the 2018 "Camp Fire," one of the deadliest and most destructive wildfires to ever hit California.

"I lost my house and guitars and all my baby toys and things that I cherished. A lot of people passed away in that fire," he said. "I found out about this amazing event and I just had to be here to support this. I love this town so much."

Payton Smith brings '90s country rock

Though the evening was centered around a serious cause, the crowd still stomped their feet and had a good time.

One crowd-pleaser was Payton Smith, a 23-year-old singer-songwriter hailing from Louisiana. He showed off his plucky, seasoned guitar skills and hearty vocals as he brought the house down.

For his first song, Smith decided to cement the audience in 1991, playing short excerpts from Brooks & Dunn's "Boot Scootin' Boogie" and a lick from Metallica's "Enter Sandman," and then ushering the crowd into the next year.

Smith played his own '90s song, "'92," with crisp, precise guitar alongside playful head-bobbing and shoulder shimmying. After the song, Graham Barham leaned over and addressed Smith's guitar chops, joking, "You getting lessons, bro?"

Smith chose "Missed the Boat" and his unreleased song "Wouldn't Put it Past Me" as his other tunes. If the audience hadn't heard of Smith before the night's concert, he certainly had them hooked now.

Nate Smith covers favorite band Nirvana

Nate Smith took the stage, clad in black. His signature, gritty impassioned style shone on songs "Whiskey on You" and "World on Fire," but perhaps his most gravelly, bold performance was of Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box."

Smith said that he is elated country music has become more nontraditional, allowing artists to draw from and lean into the music they were raised on. For him, that was grunge music. "Nirvana is my absolute favorite band in the world," Smith said.

With that, Smith covered one of Nirvana's most recognizable songs. The audience could hear Smith's love for the band in his performance, as he gripped the mic and soulfully belted the classic with fervor.

The crowd joined in, singing, "Hey / Wait / I got a new complaint / Forever in debt to your priceless advice."

HARDY goes acoustic, vulnerability about mental health

The most anticipated performance of the evening, HARDY hit the stage for the longest solo set, continuing the gritty, country rock theme. Unplugged and unbacked, it was just HARDY and his acoustic guitar on stage. He played songs "Truck Bed," "Signed, Sober You," "Give Heaven Some Hell," "Unapologetically Country As Hell" and "God's Country."

Towards the end of his set and in between songs, a crowd member shouted out, "Play 'Sold Out'!" HARDY responded into the mic, saying, "How the f*** am I going to play that on acoustic guitar?" "Sold Out," one of HARDY's most popular songs, is not one he is known to play acoustically.

But instead of pushing the idea to the side, he said, "I don't think I've ever done that before. This might be a disaster but let's try," and started playing the song.

The song kicks off with the crowd chanting HARDY's name. As he began to strum the beginning chords, the Exit/In united and the audience began chanting, "HARDY, HARDY!" mimicking the song's original version. HARDY gave a compelling, acoustic performance of his hit, pulling off the impromptu song request.

He urged the crowd to donate to the evening's charities and dedicated song "Give Heaven Some Hell" to those who have been through trauma.

"As somebody who has recently gone through some trauma, and not even comparing myself even close to this, but it was the first time in my life last year with the bus wreck that I went through some s***," HARDY said, opening up to the audience.

After his tour bus turned over in Nashville in October 2022, HARDY has been open about trauma he endured from the accident.

"Since then, when I witness trauma and I see people go through the most traumatic events in their life, my heart breaks for those people for the first time truly in my life. It's important to help people and lift people up."

The evening's sold out show for disaster relief did just that, as Music City gave back in one of the ways it best knows how: through song.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville tornado relief concert highlights: HARDY, Nate Smith perform