Robby Klein
In the winter of 2020 Yola was riding high.
Her debut album Walk Through Fire had earned her four Grammy nominations, including Best New Artist. She joined supergroup The Highwomen as an honorary member, featuring on their reimagining of “Highwayman” and performing alongside them. She was a critical and commercial success with big plans for the rest of the year. She signed on to play Sister Rosetta Tharpe in Baz Luhrmann’s musical drama Elvis. She was featured in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s “The Unbroken Circle" exhibit, paired with one of her own heroes, Dolly Parton. Then the unthinkable happened—Nashville was hit by a devastating tornado that destroyed homes and businesses in East Nashville. Yola was shocked to hear that her publicist's home was in the storm’s path.
“It was a very extreme thing to go through,” she says. “We were all taken aback by it and reaching out to friends who had been hit. [My publicist] Doug’s house was hit. People got hit that we know.”
Out of that tragedy a triumphant event was born. Yola and her team gathered together to create To Nashville With Love, a March 9 fundraising concert for victims of the storms.
“It was so personal, that benefit,” she says. “Not because we were doing it for ourselves, but we were doing it for people that were in vulnerable situations. That was our motivation—we knew we would be fine, but there were stories of people losing everything. It could have been anyone.”
Yola immediately opened up her phone book and began making calls.
“My manager and my agent would sit at their laptops for 12 hours straight making things happen. We got it all together and a lot of [artists] started hearing about it and wanted to get involved so they reached out. It led to the most amazing group of people that, if you think about it, I don’t think you could get all of them on one bill outside of an award show. It’s so rare.”
That bill included Brandi Carlile, Sheryl Crow, Jason Isbell, Brothers Osborne, and many more. Yola brought the house down with her cover of “You’re All I Need to Get By.”
“I loved hearing her sing that night,” says Isbell. “We were all standing in the wings listening as she was singing it and it was just chill bumps all around.”
The event raised an estimated $500,000.
Shortly after, COVID-19 hit and Yola’s plans for the rest of the year changed. She’s used that time to continue to help others, performing for a number of charitable initiatives, including WME’s RWQuarantunes, an invite-only Zoom party raising money for MusiCares' COVID-19 Relief Fund. She also sat on BMI’s Tennessee Diversity Consortium Surviving Crisis panel, discussing issues affecting black musicians and her support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Giving back is important to Yola, who was raised in the UK by a single mother who struggled to make ends meet.
“We begged, we raided bins. We were not of money. I was very aware of our financial position as a kid. Mom told us Santa wasn’t real because we couldn’t afford him. We grew up a little quicker. We got jobs really early and found whatever ways we could to contribute.”
Despite her difficult upbringing, she never lost sight of her dream. In fact, Yola says she knew early on that she was destined for the stage.
“I was convinced that I would be a singer and songwriter when I was four,” she says. “Everything I’m doing right now is exactly what four-year-old me thought I’d be doing.”
That hardscrabble life also further cemented her admiration for one of her early influences—Dolly Parton.
“People always talk about the legendary status of everything that she did, but that wasn’t the thing that I was attracted to. I am completely nonplussed by people of importance. It’s people’s character that is important to me,” she says.
“There’s nothing uplifting about rewarding a trust fund kid—and that’s not to take their achievements away, but you’re telling anyone who isn’t a gazillionaire that they can’t do it. Dolly didn’t come from anything. They were below the breadline, so all of that moxie that was required of her, the self-belief that was required of her... There have been many times where I’ve struggled to stand up for myself but I came back and fought for myself. I was inspired by that sense of you have to fight for yourself.”
Yola and Dolly both knew they were destined for greatness despite their childhood circumstances. And both knew they needed to make it on their own terms.
“Dolly was very single-minded that she was going to be the writer, she was going to be the performer, and she was going to come across this way. She wasn’t compromising, and that was what inspired me to do it, too.”
Now Yola's looking to the future: She will open for Chris Stapleton’s 2021 tour, including a stop at Madison Square Garden. She will also make her own Ryman headlining debut on May 11, 2021. It’s a long way from her early days of struggling, and proof that dreams do come true.
“Playing in the Ryman is such an honor. The room is full of legendary energy. I cannot wait to headline. It’s been on my dream list since I first came to Nashville.”