Songs We Love is a weekly podcast series partnership between Come Hear NC and WUNC that explores North Carolina music one song at a time. On this episode from February, Yep Roc recording artist Tift Merritt talks with Eric Hodge about Townes Van Zandt's "Greensboro Woman."
Topics Related to Arts Across NC
Carolina Shaw | Photo by Kait Moreno.
In the world of classical music, bricolage is the name of the game.
Sister Lena Mae Perry says music is like medicine. She would know. At 80-years-old, Sister Perry has helmed the Branchettes, a celebrated gospel group from Johnston County, North Carolina, for decades. To see her perform is to witness the healing powers of music, and, at risk of cliché, to be taken to church.
Born in Johnston County in 1940, she grew up in a farming family that deeply valued education, faith, and music.
Back home in Puerto Rico in the early 1990s, I used to listen to a jazz radio show called “En Clave de Jazz” where the DJ played music by artists such as Tito Puente, Cal Tjader and Bobby Hutcherson. It was through that program that I discover the marimba! At the time, I had no idea what that instrument was or where I could learn it but I immediately felt in love with its sound. Then in 1994, I started taking marimba lessons at the Escuela Libre de Música in Caguas, Puerto Rico; from there I went to the Puerto Rico Music Conservatory and eventually to the University of North Texas.
Our state Poet Laureate, Jaki Shelton Green, continues her focus on youth programming in efforts to support both literacy and civic engagement across North Carolina through poetry and the literary arts. As part of these efforts, Mrs. Green has partnered with Mr. Kelly Jones, Arts Education Coordinator with Columbus County Schools, to develop a pilot program to install young poet laureates at Columbus County’s four high schools. In March of 2022, four youth poet laureates were appointed; Lea Dew, Abigail McPherson, Allyena Roberts, and Justin Wellons.
On Thursday, October 10, 2019 baritone Sidney Outlaw from Brevard, N.C. and pianist Warren Jones, who was raised in High Point, N.C. closed out the 2019 Music at the Mansion season with a bang. The golden-hued ballroom of the Executive Mansion served as the perfect backdrop for their musical offerings, and Sidney Outlaw’s powerful baritone had no trouble filling the space.
On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 singer-songwriter Charly Lowry played a set at the North Carolina Executive Mansion in Raleigh for the Music at the Mansion series, an ongoing program of Come Hear North Carolina hosted by Governor Roy Cooper and First Lady Kristin Cooper.
Charly Lowry was born and raised in Robeson County, North Carolina, the geographic and spiritual epicenter of the Lumbee Native American Tribe of which she is a member. She is known for using her music to shine a light on the culture and traditions of the Lumbee people.
On the evening July 16, Chócala, the Charlotte-based Latin band, performed an hour-long show for Music at the Mansion, a special concert series celebrating North Carolina’s vibrant and diverse musical traditions hosted by First Lady Kristin Cooper. The ballroom of the Executive Mansion, which was designated as the Music Room when the mansion was originally constructed, provided the perfect setting for listeners to enjoy Chócala’s grooves.
On Tuesday May 28th, Mandolin Orange played a special set at the North Carolina Executive Mansion in Raleigh to help usher in a partnership between Come Hear North Carolina and the Americana Music Association (AMA). Governor Roy Cooper and First Lady Kristin Cooper hosted musicians, AMA members, and press to celebrate all that North Carolina has given to the world of music, and Mandolin Orange provided the perfect soundtrack to the occasion. Enjoy the full performance below.
The Harris Brothers are fabulous musicians who are steeped in the cultural traditions of their home region in the western Piedmont and foothills of Caldwell County. They started playing music through the influence of family members and neighbors, who tutored them in country, bluegrass, swing and blues music that you find in and around Lenoir, which was once a furniture making center in North Carolina. They have also immersed themselves in pop music genres and integrate versions of soul, jazz, folk and rock songs into their repertory.