Lenora Zenzalai Helm Hammonds is a singer, songwriter, composer, educator, and activist who has earned international acclaim for six solo recordings and is one of a handful of female, African American big band leaders.
Topics Related to Come Hear NC
The scene is now iconic; four young Black men, students at the Historically Black North Carolina A&T University in Greensboro sat down at a segregated lunch counter in a local Woolworth’s department store. In the aftermath, their actions – in ways that we wouldn’t fully understand for decades – went “viral”, inspiring a generation of young Americans, Black and White, to challenge the racial status quo of the American South. Among those who were paying attention was a North Carolina native son, raised in Brooklyn, named Max Roach.
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."
Carolina Shaw | Photo by Kait Moreno.
In the world of classical music, bricolage is the name of the game.
Earl Scruggs and his powerful, groundbreaking banjo style transformed the world of country string band music, helped create bluegrass, and took this style beyond the South into the central strands of American culture.
Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington’s longtime collaborator, was among the most influential figures in American jazz. A versatile composer, arranger, and pianist, Strayhorn joined Ellington’s orchestra at age 22 in 1939 and worked with the bandleader the rest of his life.
NC State LIVE co-commissioned David Roussève/REALITY’s latest work, Halfway to Dawn, a jubilant dance-theater piece that celebrates all facets of the jazz composer’s rich and complicated life that will be performed at Stewart Theatre on the campus of NC State on Saturday, March 2.
Before there was Bon Iver or Megafaun, Justin Vernon, Phil Cook, Brad Cook, and Joe Westerlund existed as the folk group DeYarmond Edison. Their short-lived, Raleigh N.C. based tenure gained a cult following, and their 2006 split resulted in a creative micro-burst. The Cook Brothers and Westerlund formed the freak-folk trio Megafaun and Justin Vernon retreated to his home state of Wisconsin to create his now world-famous indie act Bon Iver.
The following post draws from the traditional artist directory of our partners at the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area.
From the first radio broadcast of musical notes to the childhood homes of internationally celebrated musicians like John Coltrane, many of North Carolina's music landmarks are noted by historical highway markers. We've complied a list of those highway markers below. A playlist featuring musicians honored by those markers can be found at the bottom.
R.E.M. might be the most successful indie rock band in history, and for many folks they are the first band to come to mind when thinking of Southern college rock. With over 85 million albums sold worldwide, a few Grammys under their belts, and the acclaim of both casual listeners and critics alike, their combination of introspective lyrics, intricate guitar work, and a lively but succinct rhythm section helped define the Athens, Georgia sound of the ‘80s and ‘90s. Though synonymous with the Georgia college town, R.E.M.