If the 2010 flood taught Nashville anything, it was how to mobilize a DIY relief effort that puts FEMA to shame. After a tornado tore through North Nashville, East Nashville, Donelson and beyond in March, the entire city jumped into the fray, putting in so many volunteer hours in the first weekend of recovery that folks had to be turned away. A musical expression of that larger-than-life help effort was emblematic in the blowout To Nashville With Love benefit concert at Marathon Music Works. The show, which happened just days before the city shut down in response to COVID-19, raised half a million dollars for tornado relief efforts on the backs of electrifying performances by Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile, Yola, Old Crow Medicine Show and nearly two dozen other artists. When people say Nashville Strong, this is what they mean. LANCE CONZETT
More Best of Nashville wins: In our Writers’ Choice, To Nashville With Love has also been named Best Act of Guerrilla Urbanism (2026).
