Sturgill Simpson’s Hometown of Jackson, KY Ravaged in Floods
Unless you’re in Kentucky or have been creeping on the Instagram profiles of some of your favorite artists from the region, you may be perfectly unaware of the flooding that ravaged eastern Kentucky earlier in March thanks all the Meghan Markle coverage preempting the devastating news. But the damage and has been significant, and by many accounts, Sturgill Simpson’s hometown of Jackson (pop. 2,200) has been the epicenter of it.
The area around Panbowl Lake that Sturgill sings about on the final track of his magnum opus Metamodern Sounds in Country Music suffered major flooding, and the dam to the lake was damaged, resulting in evacuations in the area. The Breathitt County High School in Jackson that Sturgill once dropped by for a surprise visit was set up as a shelter.
“My hometown of Jackson, KY seemingly suffered the worst of it, especially the immediate areas around Panbowl lake and Lakeside where I lived as a child,” Sturgill says in a missive on his website. “Over 25% of Breathitt County was affected and in Jackson, a city with a population of roughly just over 2000, over 1000 people were displaced or completely lost everything. Some of those who lost everything did not have very much to lose to begin with and are now literally living in tent cities.”
So to help raise funds for relief efforts, Sturgill Simpson has reinstated his “Dick Daddy Survival School” merch line that he used to successfully raise a large sum of cash for The Special Forces Foundation and various other charities through May and June of 2020. After fans met certain donation benchmarks, Sturgill vowed to record and eventually released two albums reprising his back catalog in bluegrass form, Cuttin’ Grass Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. Folks can also just donate directly to the cause.
“It goes without saying this is something weighing extremely heavy on my heart,” Sturgill says. “One week later, countless volunteers are still currently working around the clock managing donation distribution centers while city and county officials continue to evaluate what can and needs to be done. Not only in immediate terms of basic necessities and cleanup supplies but also long term to ensure every effort is being coordinated to help as many of those affected as possible rebuild their lives.”
Simpson was born and raised in Jackson, KY as the offspring of coal miners. Since his father worked as an undercover policeman in the area, the family decided eventually to move to Versalles, Kentucky outside of Lexington where Sturgill attended Woodford County High School. As Sturgill sings in the “Pan Bowl” song, “I’d give anything to go back, days I was young. All the way back to Pan Bowl, I sit down on the lake bed, stare at the sun…”
Simpson hasn’t been the only one vocal about helping out in eastern Kentucky. Senora May who is also from eastern Kentucky has been posting photos and information of ways people can help on her Instagram account, and helping to raise awareness about this overlooked tragedy.
March 9, 2021 @ 12:49 pm
Any and all help is appreciated, folks. Have a lot of friends and family still in the area. A lot of people lost everything, and insurance is unlikely to cover much of anything. A lot of the money is just going towards keeping people clean, clothed, and fed for the time being, and has been largely a community effort thus far.
Stu is already donating a lot of time and money himself – and it’s 100x more than my punk ass is doing – but I wish he would do a festival type show and charge admission for a fundraiser. I just don’t know how well $40 t shirts are going to do, especially when they’re really area specific – aside from the new DDSS shirt.
March 9, 2021 @ 1:12 pm
My SIL and her husband and the critters made it thru the floods OK. (Carter county) water rose to within 1 foot of the home but had no power for 10 days.
Ex military that they are had generators and fuel and kept neighbors fed.
Their property they are building on east of Lexington was flooded but not to severely.
March 9, 2021 @ 2:25 pm
Glad to hear that, all things considered. Knew a few family friends who made it through the same ordeal of waiting and watching the water come within a few feet of getting in the house. A few sleepless nights there, for sure.
It was depressing to log on Facebook for days and see people begging for anyone with a boat to help with rescues. Jackson hadn’t seen flooding like that since 1984, which was a first in a lifetime for many.
I’ve been in Lexington for more than a decade now, but that’ll always be home.
March 9, 2021 @ 4:12 pm
It’s not safe to have festival type shows right now and the people living in Jackson and other areas of Kentucky need help now. It’s my understanding he is actually in town now personally helping. I know Miles is heading there tomorrow with a truck filled with water and other supplies. The DDSS charity allows people from all over to contribute by buying a tshirt or just taking you directly to the donation link. Let’s concentrate on all the awesome
things people are doing. My feed is filled with tons of people auctioning off all sorts of posters, memorabilia and albums to raise money for Eastern Kentucky. Senora is also selling special tshirts and a golden rod colored vinyl to raise money. Along with donating and buying merch we can all work on spreading the word that Kentucky needs help because other then this article I’ve seen nothing in the media about it. I know a lot of local people are pitching in to help but spreading the word is a good way for those of us out side of Kentucky to help too,
Peace
March 9, 2021 @ 5:17 pm
I’m no news junkie, but I’d like to consider myself as someone who stays informed. I have seen no mention of this flooding on the news anywhere. Not to say it isn’t being covered somewhere, but nowhere I’ve seen. The place I found out about it was Senora May’s Instagram, which I follow to keep up with music news. I think that speaks a lot about the priorities of our news output at the moment, and the importance of getting the words out through grassroots channels.
March 9, 2021 @ 1:21 pm
Hope people are remembering to do their best to stay out of the water… it is likely quite toxic.
March 9, 2021 @ 2:26 pm
What others have said, any help in the area either through Stu, Senora, or other gofundme links will be appreciated. I’ve had several friends lost a lot in this (luckily no lives) and one friend whose business has been devastated in the Lexington area. Thanks in advance
March 9, 2021 @ 6:42 pm
No article Felker’s baby?
March 9, 2021 @ 7:55 pm
Eh, what am I supposed to say? It’s all over the place, and folks don’t need me to inform them about it. Congratulations to him and Staci. I’m sure I’ll mention it at some point. Hopefully, it’s another sign Felker is maturing and getting his stuff together. But this isn’t People Magazine.
March 10, 2021 @ 5:30 am
Trig, thank you for covering the floods!
March 10, 2021 @ 11:58 am
Prior to the flooding, many of these same counties were also devastated by an ice and snow storm. There was no media coverage of that either because of what was happening in Texas. There were lots of people that went 2+ weeks without power. In the midst of trying to recover from that, the flooding came. It’s been a very hard time for a lot of people in Eastern Kentucky. Any help is greatly appreciated.