Blue the Great
Virginia Drake
Written by Virginia Drake and Louisa Branscomb
Produced by Virginia Drake & Chris Rosser
New Single Release - September 18, 2026
THE STORY BEHIND “BLUE THE GREAT”
A Park, A Heron, A Storm, A Song
“Blue the Great” began with Virginia Drake’s experience at Charles D. Owen Park in Swannanoa, North Carolina, following Hurricane Helene. Months later, the story found its way into a songwriting collaboration with acclaimed songwriter Louisa Branscomb through Helene: My Story, My Song, a project of Branscomb’s ScreenDoor Songwriter Alliance.
Before the storm, Charles D. Owen Park—with its twin lakes, trails and the Swannanoa River—had been a sanctuary for Virginia and a gathering place for the surrounding community. Among its familiar inhabitants was Buddy, a great blue heron “who was considered the steward of the park to those of us who knew him” says Virginia.
“After the hurricane, I returned to the park to find it completely destroyed,” Virginia continues. “I climbed through the wreckage looking for Buddy. Just as I was about to give up hope, I found him strutting in the shallows of the Swannanoa River’s new path. Finding Buddy did not erase the grief in seeing the park so catastrophically changed, but in that moment his presence gave me a sense of peace and hope.”
The Collaboration
Later that year, Virginia volunteered as a songwriter and mentor with Helene: My Story, My Song, a project created by longtime songwriter, educator and community advocate Louisa Branscomb, through her 501(c)(3) nonprofit ScreenDoor Songwriter Alliance. The project paired volunteer songwriters with young adults from the local schools who were most affected by Helene; using songwriting as a way for students to tell their stories and process their experiences of the storm. “The stories were heartbreaking.” Virginia recalls.
It was during this collaboration that Virginia shared the story of Buddy with Louisa, who recognized that the heron would be a great mascot for the project and suggested that they collaborate on a song together. Buddy’s name was changed to “Blue,” and Virginia and Louisa began writing the song that became “Blue the Great.”
Virginia Drake along the Swannanoa River at Charles D. Owen Park, where the story behind “Blue the Great” began. Pre-Helene
Giving “Blue” Wings - Inspiration for the Recording
As Virginia began sharing “Blue the Great” in live performances, something unexpected happened. People would come up afterward and tell her their own stories of Helene—sometimes through tears—and talk about how deeply the song had touched them. Those conversations became Virginia’s reason for recording the song: she wanted people who connected with Blue’s story to be able to listen to the song beyond her performances.
Virginia then brought “Blue the Great” into the studio with Chris Rosser at Hollow Reed Studios, where the two shaped and produced the track. Louisa then volunteered some harmony vocals and Josh Goforth added his special touches on the fiddle.
The story came full circle through documentary photographer Brody Hartman, who Virginia met at Owen Park on the bank of the new river path. Brody had photographed Buddy before the storm. His pre-storm image of the heron became the single’s cover photograph.
Released ahead of the anniversary of Hurricane Helene, “Blue the Great” is rooted in a deeply local Western North Carolina story—one that began with a changed river and a favorite heron, became a song through collaboration, and ultimately found its purpose in the people who heard their own experiences reflected in it.
ABOUT THE SONG
Artist: Virginia Drake
Single: “Blue the Great”
Release Date: September 18, 2026
Written by: Virginia Drake and Louisa Branscomb
Genre: AMERICANA / FOLK / BLUEGRASS / ROOTS
For Fans Of / Influences:
Gillian Welch • Nanci Griffith • Sierra Ferrell
Produced by: Virginia Drake and Chris Rosser
Engineered by: Chris Rosser, Hollow Reed Studios
Musicians: Virginia Drake — guitar, lead and harmony vocals; Louisa Branscomb — harmony vocals; Chris Rosser — bass, lead guitar, percussion; Josh Goforth — fiddle.
Cover Photography: © Brody Hartman
Explicit Content: No
ISRC: QT6692619935
Label: Virginia Drake
Master Recording: ℗ 2026 Virginia Drake
Running Time: 02:58
Home Region: Western North Carolina / Asheville area
THE PHOTOGRAPH
The blue heron who inspired “Blue the Great.”
Photograph © Brody Hartman. Used with permission.
Required photo credit: © Brody Hartman
Helene: My Story, My Song
Helene: My Story, My Song was created through Louisa Branscomb’s ScreenDoor Songwriter Alliance to give young people affected by Hurricane Helene a way to tell their own stories through songwriting — and ultimately share those stories in performance with their community.
The project was built around the idea that the creative process can offer young people more than a way to document what happened. Writing and sharing their songs encouraged creativity, confidence and a sense of accomplishment while helping build connections among students and within the larger community.
Virginia Drake participated as a volunteer songwriter and mentor in Helene: My Story, My Song, a ScreenDoor Songwriter Alliance project created by cowriter Louisa Branscomb.
The volunteer team brought together backgrounds in songwriting, music, education and psychology, pairing that experience with young people from the Swannanoa-area communities affected by the storm.
Virginia participated as a volunteer songwriter and mentor, working alongside Louisa Branscomb and the other volunteers to help students find their own words and music for what they had experienced.
ABOUT VIRGINIA DRAKE
Virginia Drake is an Asheville-based singer-songwriter and vocal coach whose musical roots span musical theatre, jazz, traditional country and soul before finding a home in folk and Americana. Her early musical training included classical piano and trumpet.
Music remained a constant throughout Drake’s life, even as she built a two-decade career in global educational technology and training. Inspired in part by her daughter, songwriter and performing artist Graciela Serena, Drake began writing songs later in life, eventually turning her own stories and observations into music and accompanying herself on guitar and mandolin.
After moving from Austin, Texas, to Asheville, North Carolina, Drake found new inspiration in the mountains and musical traditions of Western North Carolina. Her songwriting leans toward folk and Americana while carrying traces of her earlier influences in jazz and musical theatre, alongside the bluegrass and traditional music she encountered in WNC.
Drake released her first single in April 2026 and is currently recording an album with producer and musician Chris Rosser. She also operates True Voice, her Asheville-based vocal coaching practice, where she works with full bands, singer/songwriters and solo artists and creates opportunities for students to perform in local venues.
ABOUT LOUISA BRANSCOMB
Louisa Branscomb is an award-winning songwriter, musician, educator and longtime advocate for songwriters whose career in bluegrass and acoustic music spans more than five decades. An early pioneer for women in bluegrass, she began performing professionally in the 1970s, co-founding the all-female group Bluegrass Liberation before going on to front the bluegrass band Boot Hill as a banjo player and songwriter.
Her songs have been recorded by artists including Alison Krauss, John Denver, Claire Lynch and Dale Ann Bradley. Her best-known composition, “Steel Rails,” was recorded by Alison Krauss for I’ve Got That Old Feeling, which won the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album, and by John Denver for All Aboard!, which won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Album for Children. The song became closely associated with Krauss and has become a widely recorded standard in the bluegrass repertoire.
“Dear Sister,” co-written with Claire Lynch, received the International Bluegrass Music Association’s 2014 Song of the Year award. Branscomb received the IBMA Distinguished Achievement Award in 2017 and is also a member of the Alabama Bluegrass Hall of Fame and Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame.
Beyond her own writing and performing, Branscomb has devoted much of her career to mentoring other songwriters. She was a founding member of the IBMA Bluegrass Songwriter Committee and chaired it for its first five years. She also founded the songwriter retreat program now known as Lyric Mountain Songwriter Retreat, where she has taught and mentored writers for decades. Branscomb is the founder of the 501c-3 nonprofit, ScreenDoor Songwriter Alliance, whose community-based programs include Helene: My Story, My Song.
LYRICS
“BLUE THE GREAT”
written by Virginia Drake and Louisa Branscomb
VERSE 1
Walking by the river, aching for hope with every step
But in the rubble of the storm, I can’t find it yet
I’m searching for my friend, we call him Blue the Great
The warrior of the river, we all know his name
VERSE 2
I’m climbing through the twisted piles of shoes and trees and beds
The fields have turned to brown, the water rusty red
My loved ones were spared, and my blood’s still running warm
But I can’t shake the grief, my town was taken by the storm
CHORUS
When the waters rose up to the tops of the trees
The houses rode down on the waves of debris
And the people cried, “Please, Lord, spare my family”
Now I’m searching for my warrior friend, I pray he made it through
The guardian of the river, the heron we call Blue
VERSE 3
And the rain kept coming down on the home that I built here
Till the raging river took the town that I hold so dear
Lord, did you save our Blue? Give me a sign somehow
’Cause I just need a lifeline to hold onto right now
CHORUS
And the waters rose up to the tops of the trees
The houses rode down on the waves of debris
And the people cried, “Please, Lord, spare my family”
Now I’m searching for my warrior friend, I pray he made it through
The guardian of the river, the heron we call Blue
BRIDGE
Now as if by magic, an answer to my prayer
He’s rising from the river mist, I can see him there
Now I know that I will make it, I will make it through
Saved by the heron, the warrior we call Blue.
© 2026 Written by Virginia Drake (BMI) and Louisa Branscomb, Millwheel Music Inc (BMI)
Contact: Virginia Drake
TRUEVOICE.AVL@GMAIL.COM
828-279-2005
“Blue the Great” — Available September 18, 2026