Dan + Shay Donate $100,000 to Tornado Relief
Country duo Dan + Shay have just pledged $100,000 dollars to support tornado relief funds in Middle Tennessee. Tuesday morning's tornado in East Nashville hit home for the "10,000 Hours" singers, especially Smyers, who has lived there for seven years.
On Twitter, he talked about what he and wife Abby saw in East Nashville and shared his emotions with his 191K followers.
"We drove to our first home, and could barely keep it together, as we pulled up and saw the damage," he writes. "As bad as the damage was, it paled in comparison to our neighbors, who had lost everything."
News that Dan + Shay had donated $100K to the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee was tucked within a profile of the duo in the Tennessean. This weekend they'll play Bridgestone Arena as headliners for the first time. Preparations for that tour has been a welcome distraction.
Now 48 hours removed from storms that killed 25 people across Tennessee, residents and volunteers are assessing the best ways to help. Donations of time and money from country stars are likely to come pouring in over the next several weeks. Chris Young was among the first, with a $50,000 donation to the Music City Inc. Foundation. Taylor Swift has also given $1 million.
East Nashville is a popular area to live in for country singers, and many — like Maren Morris and Abby Anderson — took cover when the tornado sirens sounded in the early hours of March 3. Germantown and areas east of Nashville like Mt. Juliet and Cookeville were also hit very hard.
WATCH: A Nashville Crane Operator Gets Trapped During the Tornado
See the Damage From the 2020 Nashville Tornado