PORTLAND, Maine — Two weeks ago, local country musicians Mike Preston and Kim Curry were walking along an Augusta sidewalk, coffees in hand, on their way to a private show in a music store.
But the pair never made it to the show.
“I heard a crash,” Curry said. “Right after that, I felt the sting.”
“Boom, we got hit from behind,” Preston said. “I didn’t come-to until I was in the ambulance.”
An SUV on Western Avenue had been rear-ended and careened up onto the sidewalk where the two were walking and struck both of them. Flying dozens of yards through the air, they came down, skidding and tumbling across the hottop. The multiple impacts fractured Preston’s skull, tore open Curry’s face and left them both in a world of hurt and uncertainty.
The musical and romantic partners make their living playing music, but that’s not going to be possible for months to come. Until then, they’ve got each other but no income.
But other musicians in Maine’s tight-knit country music scene are stepping up to get the pair through their unexpected rough patch.
One group of fellow entertainers is organizing a benefit show for Preston and Curry at Lenny’s at Hawkes Plaza in Westbrook on Friday, Aug. 26. Others are collecting donations at the music store, Musicians First Choice, where the couple were headed when tragedy blindsided them.
The Westbrook show will feature scene stalwarts Travis James Humphrey, Sean Mencher, Rippleton Cross and Shelly Waters, among many others. All donated proceeds will go to Preston and Curry to defray mounting medical bills and make up for lost income.
Humphrey is giving up his monthly gig at Lenny’s to organize the show.
“It just feels like the right thing to do. If that happened to me and my wife, we would be f-ed,” he said. “Kim and Mike gig full time.”
Preston said he knew nothing about the upcoming benefit show until someone sent him a copy of the poster. He was touched.
“I had no idea,” Preston said. “It really warms our hearts.”
On the evening of July 27, Preston and Curry had arrived early for an intimate, invitation-only show by legendary Texas guitar slinger Red Volkaert at the Musicians First Choice music store. With time to kill, they walked down the street to an Irving gas station for cups of coffee and were struck on their way back. Maine State Police haven’t released a crash report yet, but Augsta police confirmed the details of what happened.
Curry said she flopped along the pavement for at least 50 yards, and the multiple impacts felt like being hit by something, over-and-over-again, inside some sort of mad tornado.
“A bystander said I hit the windshield, too,” she said. “I tried to get up, but there was so much blood coming from my head. I didn’t know if Mike was dead or alive.”
At Alfond Center for Health in Augusta, where both were initially transported, Curry learned both her pelvis and a lower back vertebrae were fractured. She also had lacerations on her leg, forehead and cheek requiring many stitches.
Curry said she may need plastic surgery down the road to set things right on her face.
With Preston’s fractured skull, doctors decided to send him to Maine Medical Center in Portland, in case his brain began to swell. Fortunately, it didn’t.
Still, the accident also left him with a fractured vertebrae in his neck and a cracked eye socket.
“We both have road rash all over us,” Curry said.
The couple are familiar faces in New England’s country music milieu, driving thousands of miles to play hundreds of gigs — solo and as a duo — every year. Preston began his professional music career at age 13, singing in New England bottle clubs with the likes of Dick Curless and Yodeling Slim Clark. He’s always made his living with a cowboy hat, guitar and microphone.
But, confined to a neck brace and unable to even bend over, he can’t do that right now.
“At this point, all our August and September gigs are canceled,” Preston said. “As for October, it depends on how the followup doctor visits go with the specialists.”
Booked every night of the week in what’s the busiest season of the year, Preston reckons he’s already lost 65 gigs amounting to at least $20,000.
It’s a significant chunk of his yearly income, some of which Preston normally puts away for the leaner, winter months, after Christmas.
“Right now, we’re already dipping into our savings,” he said.
Steve Beaulieu, owner of Musicians Choice, didn’t know Preston and Curry had been injured until the next day. He could see the street was shut down in both directions but never imagined they were involved.
“I figured they’d just got caught in traffic like everyone else who didn’t make it to the show,” said Beaulieu, who has known Preston since he was a child.
After learning what happened, Beaulieu set up a donation fund on the counter in his store to collect money for the couple, and plans to promote it with a local radio station.
“They’re private people and I respect that. I get it.” he said. “Still, I want to do something.”
Preston and Curry doubt they’ll be able to make the benefit show at Lenny’s given their injuries, but they’d like to be there.
“I’d sure like to shake some hands,” Preston said.
Until they’re both back on their feet, the couple are trying to stay optimistic while dealing with lawyers, the police and insurance companies.
But it’s hard.
“I try not to be a pessimist with a bad attitude,” Preston said. “I miss playing. That’s all I want to get back to.”
“We’re happy to be alive,” Curry said.
To reserve a table at the Preston and Curry benefit show on Friday, Aug. 26, contact Lenny’s at 207-591-0117. To donate to the Musicians First Choice fund, stop by the store at 246 Western Ave. in Augusta or call 207-623-0400.