As Asheville, NC, continues to recover following last month’s devastating Hurricane Helene, Warren Haynes announced his annual Christmas Jam benefit concert will not occur in 2024. In a statement posted to the event page, organizers teased other upcoming fundraising concerts.

“The devastation from Hurricane Helene in Asheville has been heartbreaking,” organizers wrote. “Despite the immense challenges to every day life and the future, the community has come together in an inspiring way, with strangers helping one another. Rebuilding will take time and collective effort. Unfortunately, holding a concert in Asheville this year isn’t possible, as resources are focused on emergency efforts. Christmas Jam 33 will take place in Asheville in 2025.”

A staple of the Asheville music community for decades, Christmas Jam graduated from local bars and music halls to downtown’s ExploreAsheville.com Arena—which has canceled all concerts and sporting events through the end of the year. Helmed by Asheville native Warren Haynes, the lineup has featured Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, and Bill Kreutzmann in various projects, the Allman Brothers Band, Trey Anastasio Band, Tyler Childers, The String Cheese Incident, Tedeschi Trucks Band, and many more, always headlined by Haynes’ Gov’t Mule with myriad special guests.

After passing the 30-year milestone in 2018, Christmas Jam took a planned one-year hiatus in 2019 which ballooned into a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic. The event successfully returned in 2022 and 2023, staging all-night musical marathons benefitting Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity and BeLoved Asheville.

“That said,” Christmas Jam’s post concluded, “we know the people of Asheville, Western Carolina and everyone effected by Hurricane Helene as well as Hurricane Milton are in need of support and we are working on several initiatives including other benefit concerts in order to raise funds quickly.”

Nearly a month after the deadly hurricane which claimed 95 lives in western North Carolina, the city of Asheville is slowly coming back online. Duke Energy reports less than 1,000 customers in the region without power, compared to over 100,000 in the dark following the storm. The Asheville Citizen-Times reported that as of October 18th, non-potable water service had been restored to roughly 95% of users—though the city’s reservoirs remain contaminated with aluminum sulfate and caustic soda, with a timeline for the return of drinkable tap water still unclear. Despite these limitations, many restaurants and businesses have reopened in the past week along with popular music venues The One Stop and Asheville Music Hall, The Grey Eagle, Eulogy, and more.

Stay up to date on event cancelations, benefit concerts, and other ways to help western North Carolina with Live For Live Music‘s updated tracking article here.