Header image: Cyanca performs on Shaped By Sound. Photo courtesy of PBS NC.
This past May, Durham jazz trumpeter Al Strong’s episode of Shaped by Sound concluded the program’s second season. A PBS NC original series showcasing North Carolina’s thriving music scene, Shaped by Sound has been made possible through the support of the Come Hear NC Music Office (CHNCMO), a program of the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
And while it has become commonplace to claim that North Carolina’s an amazing place for music, Shaped by Sound proves it. The best of the state’s indie rock, rap, old-time, jazz, gospel, and country genres have shown up and shown out in these 26 half-hour episodes. The show’s interviews dig deep into the NC roots of the artists, and the live performances often find the artists outdoing their original recordings. To celebrate, we’ve selected our favorite moments of the show below. Running from artists A–H, this is part one of a two-part look-back at Shaped by Sound.
And if you’d like to read our previous features on Shaped by Sound artists, from Iron & Wine to Alice Gerrard, you can find them on our blog.
Al Strong, “Who’s House?”
Soaring, upbeat, and funky, “Who’s House?” shows the full charm of Strong and band. Whoever said jazz fusion was dead should watch this clip. Plus, dig that synth solo!
Alice Gerrard, “Sun to Sun”
Here, Gerrard directs a melancholic rage at America’s gun problem. No one is spared here: well-meaning handwringers, the cynical “thoughts and prayers” crowd, the callous rich, and, of course, the “fools” out there shooting innocent children. They all face Gerrard’s wrath. A legend in old-time music, here Gerrard is long past mincing words and playing nice: matters of life and death are at stake.
Anthony Hamilton, “Charlene”
“Charlene,” is a slow burn ballad from Hamilton’s breakthrough album, 2003’s Comin’ From Where I’m From. The legendary R&B singer is on the horns of a classic dilemma: continue to chase his artistic dreams or give them up in exchange for the return of his lost love, the titular Charlene, who left him because his life on the road kept her too much alone. For this performance, Hamilton puts his whole heart and soul into his singing: will Charlene take the singer back? After all these years, the world still doesn’t and may never know.
Ben Folds, “Effington”
In his memoir, A Dream About Lightning Bugs, Ben Folds situates his songwriting somewhere between indie rock and Broadway. “Effington” confirms Folds’s self-classification: it’s a song that began in 2007 as a tossed-off improvisation on stage at Illinois State University, and ended in a work of Sondheimian craftsmanship. Every would-be lyricist has riffed a line or two from words on road signs, as Folds does with Effington and Normal, Illinois: few have wrought genuinely funny and moving songs from them. But that’s exactly what Folds has done: his performance of “Effington” on Shaped by Sound, solo on piano, really lets you relish every twist of Folds’s almost profane wit. It also features some bold pounding of the keys—never forget the man’s chops.
Blue Cactus, “Bite My Tongue”
“Bite My Tongue” finds the fun in total communication breakdown. Everybody’s talking and nobody’s listening in this alt-country mid-tempo burner. In this live performance, singer Steph Stewart is tired of her words being ignored: the time for tongue-biting has passed.
Blue-Footed Boobies, “Fadeaway”
Wilmington knows how to party, and the power duo Blue-Footed Boobies proves it. The drum-guitar garage rockers ably channel the Allman Brothers and Led Zeppelin on this tooth-rattler.
Charly Lowry, “Catfish Cole”
Charly Lowry takes on arguably one of the biggest losers in North Carolina history: James W. “Catfish” Cole, Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan. After folding in 1957 to Robert F. Williams and the NAACP to end an armed conflict in Monroe, Cole and the Klan again in 1958 suffered an ignominious defeat at the hands of armed Lumbees in what came to be known as the Battle of Hayes Pond, in Robeson County. Lowry uses the latter event to salutary effect: clocking the grotesque absurdity in Cole’s racism (she deems him a “clown”), connecting the struggles of black and brown (“they’re mocking Jim Crow down in Old Rob. Co.”), and asking America to live up to its promise of freedom for all.
The Connells, “’74-’75”
The world is overrun with nostalgia and even nostalgia for nostalgia; we seem to want to go back to the past, either because we’re out of new ideas or because the present feels too heavy. In any case, those looking to break out of the spell of retromania would do well to listen to this performance of “’74-’75” by the Connells: here, it’s clear you can’t go home again. In the song, a jilted lover returns long after the end of the affair, and the singer has to tell his reappearing ex (and himself) that the past can’t be recaptured.
Cyanca, “Jesse Jackson”
“Jesse Jackson” riffs on the nexus of power, mammon, and righteousness represented by North Carolina A&T State University’s legendary alumnus Jesse Jackson. In this section of her episode of Shaped by Sound, Cyanca channels the braggadocious charisma of a preacher while rapping behind a literal pulpit. But it’s not mass black power or a rainbow coalition she’s after: rather, the song is written for a character willing herself to become a world-beloved rapper.
Faith & Harmony, “Friends”
Eastern North Carolina has long been home to many fine gospel groups, and the Glorifying Vines Sisters, from Farmville, are a fine example. Led by matriarch Alice Vines, the Glorifying Vines Sisters were 2025 North Carolina Heritage Award honorees. On this season of Shaped by Sound, Faith & Harmony continued the Vines family tradition: all six members of Faith & Harmony are descendants of Dorothy Vines Daniels, an original member of the Glorifying Vines Sisters. On “Friends,” they tackle a traditional subject of their genre: the instability of secular life as compared to the solidity offered by faith in an omnipotent God.
Fancy Gap, “Magnolias”
Fancy Gap is the country music project of Stuart McLamb, who is also a member of the indie rock band The Love Language, and it hits its sweet spot with “Magnolias.” A tender but rocking mid-tempo track, the song eulogizes a dead friend and looks back with a mixture of regret and gratitude. Fancy Gap is at full power here, and supported by Robert Sledge, of Ben Folds Five fame, on bass and backing vocals.
Hiss Golden Messenger, “Sanctuary”
M. C. Taylor has described “Sanctuary” as a song about “how we care for ourselves and each other, and how hard it is to live truthfully in a world that is so tangled.” In this performance, however, Taylor and the band sound anything but tangled; rather, they are locked in a groove, augmented by tasteful saxophone stylings.
(Note: PART 2 to be published in a separate post at a later time)