One year ago, six people were killed in a mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville. The tragedy left the community reeling with grief and shock as they mourned the loss of three young students and three faculty members. In honor of the anniversary, the Lone Bellow are paying tribute to the victims with “Victory Garden,” a new song celebrating the strength of Tennessee’s resilient community.
“After March 27, many of us in the Nashville community felt powerless in our grief. We felt heartbreak and fury, and the inevitable aching thought that this tragedy and the loss of six precious lives could have been avoided,” the band shared in a statement. “Since then, we have been searching for ways, however small, to engage in the daily acts of caring for our community, of investing and cultivating beauty even when things seem hopeless. We cling to hope, for the sake of a better, safer future for our children.”
The proceeds from “Victory Garden” will be donated to the local non-profit Voices for a Safer Tennessee, which formed in the days following the Covenant School shooting in an effort to draw attention to the urgent need for efficient legislation regarding gun control.
“This song was our simple act of wartime gardening, and we were incredibly moved when our community, so many of them directly affected by the Covenant tragedy, came together to help us sing it,” the Lone Bellow continued. “We will continue to strive to be a song for those who can’t speak, and to honor the memory of those we’ve lost. The cries of our children won’t soon be forgotten, each one a flower in our Victory Garden.”
The title of the song also stems from international history, particularly the times when citizens were encouraged to grow gardens during the world wars to combat food shortages. “Communities banded together, and these wartime gardens were planted anywhere food could be grown: backyards, city rooftops, window boxes, public parks, vacant lots,” the band wrote. “In London, a garden was planted in the crater left by a bomb close to Westminster Cathedral. On the very marks of death, new life was being sown.”
In their own way, the Lone Bellow did the same. “Sometimes writing a song is like planting a garden,” they added. “Small act of hope with creative seeds that will grow providing comfort and strength through overwhelming grief.”
