You need to know to walk up the alley behind Beyond the Edge to find them, or what’s left of them now. Hunt Supply and Gold Electric Tattoo across the alley are something of neighborhood secrets. This pile of painted concrete blocks is all that’s left of the murals that once wrapped around Hunt Supply Co., a skateboard gear supplier whose building completely collapsed. Other losses attracted fewer news cameras, but were still quite devastating. A simple image that speaks to the neighborhood’s musical heritage and its enduring strength. One image more than any other has been the symbol of the tornado damage, Basement’s East’s fallen wall of concert murals with its still intact version of the I Believe in Nashville mural (based on a design by Adrien Saporiti of DCXV Industries). So when a tornado plowed down Main and through Five Points and beyond very early Tuesday morning, it inevitably took a lot of art with it.

Art is part of this neighborhood’s identity. And many ultimately did, so many that the east side, from Fifth and Main to well up Gallatin Road, became the most art dense neighborhood in Nashville. Arguably, it really started in East Nashville over four years ago, with Chamber East doing much to cajole eastside businesses to take a chance on art. In the last few years, there has been a mural renaissance in Nashville, and it’s been my honor to chronicle it. In the face of that, what’s a little art? Families without homes, employees without paychecks. Much of what has been broken will take months to rebuild, if ever. (Hear more of Ryan's story behind this song in the video below.In Nashville, and communities to the east, homes and businesses have been shattered and destroyed, lives lost. 'God has given both His promise and His oath. That Hebrews 6:18-19 passage and Romans 8:28 passage tie this song together. Those lyrics have reached across the globe to a lot of parents who have lost their children. People have watched their children die, and it's devastating. In between those boys, we lost twins to miscarriage, so for me that hits home personally, and a couple of my friends lost their daughters to disease and addiction. The very last segment of the song about 'where a sickness takes my child away, there's nothing I can do-' for me as a dad, we have two healthy little boys. His promise to us is that He is the anchor of our being, and He is our only hope. In the middle of that, when we feel our sails are ripped out in the battles and wars we are going through, we can feel like we float out to sea where the Lord isn't paying attention to us and He's overlooked us. One of the things I've seen as a former paramedic is that we all have true, real struggles, ugly parts of our lives that we are dealing with and failures and defeats. A lot of this song is about my heart going through the ringer. 'I lost my mom at a young age, and my wife and I had a miscarriage of our twins a few years ago. When my flesh is failing (my flesh is failing) When the storm is raging (the storm is raging)Īnd my hope is gone (and all my hope is gone) When the storm is raging (when the storm is raging)Īnd my hope is gone (and my hope is gone, Lord) In the middle of the war (middle of the war) When the test comes in and the doctor says In the eye of the storm (in the eye of the storm) Your love surrounds me (Your love surrounds me) I see the future I picture slowly fade away Mmm, when my hopes and dreams are far from me You alone are the anchor, when my sails are torn In the middle of the war, You guard my soul In the eye of the storm, You remain in control

When I realize I’ve been sold out by my friends and my family When the solid ground is falling out from underneath my feetīetween the black skies, and my red eyes, I can barely see

Things we lost in the storm