United by their compassion for those struggling with addiction, Tyler Childers and Trey Anastasio came together Saturday night in West Virginia, where the two artists topped the bill at the annual Healing Appalachia benefit music festival. The fundraiser, held over the weekend in Lewisburg, benefits the work of Hope In The Hills and its mission of aiding one of the regions hit hardest by the U.S. opioid crisis.
Childers has headlined Healing Appalachia every year since the event’s debut in 2018, leading a lineup featuring many artists who are open about their own recovery. This year’s roster also featured recovery success story Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit on Thursday, with Trey Anastasio and classic Trey Anastasio Band serving as the lead-in to Tyler’s headlining set on Saturday.
Related: Tyler Childers Embraces His Inner Elvis On New Album ‘Rustin’ In The Rain’ [Stream]
Trey of course has been an open book about his journey through drug addiction, which for a brief time broke up his band Phish. Through his lyrics, activism, and public persona, Anastasio has championed those struggling with the same issues that afflicted him. During the pandemic, when many in recovery weren’t able to access the fellowship that serves as a bedrock of their sobriety, Trey used his Beacon Jams streaming series to raise money for a treatment center in Ludlow, VT. A partnership with the Divided Sky Foundation, the center was projected to open in mid-2023.
Following the release of his thought-provoking 2020 album Long Violent History, Childers retreated from the public eye as he pursued long-term sobriety. Since emerging from the pandemic, he has said little publicly about his journey through recovery and instead let his music—particularly his ambitious gospel-infused 2022 three-part album Can I Take My Hounds To Heaven?—fill the public in on his journey of the last few years.
Those shared experiences all came together on stage Saturday at Healing Appalachia. This marked the first collaboration between Tyler and Trey, who crossed paths earlier this summer at the first-annual Catbird Festival at the original Woodstock festival site in Bethel, NY, where Classic TAB once again served as the lead-in to Tyler Childers.
Related: Catbird Music Festival: The Weekend In Photos [Gallery]
For this debut appearance, Trey and Tyler dug into Charlie Daniels Band‘s “Trudy”. The song is a live favorite for Tyler, especially when collaborating with his jam-friendly contemporaries, with the country singer-songwriter inviting Billy Strings up to pick on the tune at Ryman Auditorium back in 2020. The song is a natural springboard for improvisation, as it allows each member of Childers’ ace backing band The Food Stamps a chance to chime in with a little solo on their own. Trey took his turn on Saturday, but was also one of four guitarists onstage and showed no qualms sharing the spotlight with the rest of the band.
Watch Tyler Childers and Trey Anastasio collaborate on Charlie Daniels Band’s “Trudy” at Healing Appalachia. To learn more about Hope In The Hills head here.
Tyler Childers, Trey Anastasio – “Trudy” (Charlie Daniels Band) – 9/23/23
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