Music

When you love the place you live, you keep it in your heart, even if that place isn’t there anymore. That was the monumental task for Dawes singer Taylor Goldsmith and brother drummer Griffin Goldsmith when they performed “Time Spent in Los Angeles,” a 2011 homage to their hometown, on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday night (Jan. 13).
The emotional, stripped-down take on the song from the band’s Nothing Is Wrong album came less than a week after Taylor lost his home studio and most of the band’s musical gear and equipment and Griffin’s home in Altadena burned to the ground in one of the biggest wildfires still burning in Los Angeles.

Sitting on a chair and strumming an acoustic guitar, Taylor sang the tune’s melancholy opening lines, “These days my friends don’t seem to know me/ Without my suitcase in my hand/ Where I am standing still/ I seem to disappear,” as an image of a “Welcome to Altadena” postcard flashed behind them.

Trending on Billboard

As they played, images of firefighters battling the blazes, displaced Angelenos assessing the damage and the unimaginable destruction caused by the Santa Ana wind-fueled conflagrations rolled behind them, with Taylor, his eyes shut tight, singing, “But you got that special kind of sadness/ You got that tragic set of charms/ That only comes from times spent in Los Angeles/ Makes me wanna wrap you in my arms.”

The performance was in support of MusiCares, which, in coordination with the Recording Academy has launched the Los Angeles Fire Relief Effort to support musicians impacted by the crisis. In an Instagram post before the appearance, they wrote, “In an incredibly dark time, @jimmykimmellive has asked us to come sing a song about the city we love tonight. It’s not a joyous occasion for music, but hopefully a cathartic one amidst all this chaos.”

In an earlier post featuring images of the ashen remnants of their homes and properties, Griffin wrote, “It’s impossible to express how much we’re feeling right now. We’ve lost everything. 8 years of memories made in our house. 20 years of gear. My wife @quintessentiallykit was applying the finishing touches to the nursery for our baby boy who’s due in a few weeks. She had, throughout the years, poured her heart and soul into making the property a literal piece of paradise.”

He continued, “Anyone who had the chance the visit can attest. We often would say to each other ‘I want to live together in this house for the rest of our lives’. We had convinced our whole family and closest friends to join us in Altadena. Our parents were around the corner. They lost their house as well. Taylor and [wife] Mandy [Moore] are just down the street. Kit’s best childhood best friend Chelsey and her husband Michael live about six blocks away. Wylie and his wife Clara are two blocks from us. Our first crew member and very old friend, Jake, and his wife Andy are just down the street. All of these houses are gone. The thing we mourn the most is the loss of the community.”

Last week, Moore posted about fleeing the fires that have raged across the L.A. region for the past week, grateful that she and her family were able to make it out safely, while mourning the destruction of her children’s school, friends and family who lost everything and the unimaginable toll on their beloved city of Altadena, which has been decimated by the Eaton Fire. To date, that blaze has burned more than 14,000 acres and killed 16 people while only being 33% contained at press time, even as officials warn of another round of fierce windstorms in the days ahead; to date the fires have killed at least 24, with officials saying the death toll could rise once they are able to assess the damage.

A number of resources are available for those who have lost their homes or need assistance in other ways. The MusiCares and the Recording Academy Los Angeles Fire Relief Effort will help music professionals impacted by the crisis, with a combined pledge of $1 million to kick off the efforts. People who have worked in the music industry for more than five years may qualify for immediate assistance, including up to $1,500 in financial aid and $500 in food vouchers.

Monday night’s Kimmel! was the show’s first after a week off in the midst of the fires that have become the most destructive in the state’s history. Host Jimmy Kimmel opened the show with an emotional monologue about the impact of the fires on his staff and fellow Angelenos, verging on tears as he praised the brave firefighters who have been working around the clock to save lives and property. Kimmel has opened an L.A. fire resource donation center on the backlot of his shot to gather essential items for those displaced by the fires.

Watch Dawes on Kimmel below.