Zoe & Cloyd, i.e., Natalya Zoe Weinstein and John Cloyd Miller, have shared a video for a deeply personal song, drawn from what they and the people around them endured in the aftermath of the hurricane flooding in western North Carolina three months ago.
Linemen focuses on the difficulties of restoring power to a mountainous region, which almost all the affected area is. It’s hard for most of us to imagine waiting days and weeks just to get back to some semblance of “normal life.” But for many people in the states affected, they are still waiting.
John tells it well here as he describes the genesis of the song.
“Linemen was born from an honest, immediate experience. After 16 days with no power in our Fairview neighborhood following Hurricane Helene, we heard that linemen had been up on the narrow, washed out backside dirt road near our homes assessing the situation. This road is still the only way into our neighborhood after flooding destroyed our shared road and bridge over Cane Creek on September 27. On the night of October 12 there was much anticipation and anxiety regarding the feasibility of power restoration amid so much damage. Our neighbor down on the creek, Doug Norton, a songwriter himself, sent us some lyrics that came to him, in his own words, after a ‘muse visit.’ We were all ‘sharing the same moment’ to quote Doug.
Like many others during this time, Natalya and I were consumed with almost anything and everything except creating new music, but this lyrical gift from Doug was just the respite we didn’t realize we needed. We worked on the verse lyrics a bit, and added music that we felt reflected the urgency and tension of that particular night, as well as the days prior and ones that still lie ahead. To us though, this brilliant, powerful chorus that Doug wrote spoke perfectly to the experience:
What if the linemen can’t get through
They said power in a day or two
But there’s mountains in the way
And the hillside is sliding away
Amid all the challenges that we continue to face in our region in the wake of the storm, it is possible to find moments of peace and solace in community and, for us, in music. We hope that you enjoy the song; it is not about reliving struggle but rather acknowledging loss and moving forward with hope. We are truly sharing the same moment here.
We would like to dedicate this song to all the linemen and women who worked tirelessly to restore power after the storm, as well as all of the first responders and volunteers who selflessly give of themselves to help their communities. We’d also like to thank Bob Peck at Mountainwater Films for donating his time and energy to share this story.”
The music video includes images of the devastation experienced in their part of the state, as John and Natalya perform the song, just the two of them, up against a heap of debris the creek had washed along its banks.
Hard to imagine a more honest telling of this tragedy, from the very people who lived it.
Linemen from Zoe & Cloyd is not available for sale. They just wanted to share it with the world, especially the many shared survivors of the hurricane destruction, and to encourage people to continue donating to BeLoved Asheville, and the many other efforts to help residents along Helen’s path return to their homes.
Well done Natalya, John, Doug, and Bob!
