A collage of Three Lobed Records titles. Established in 2000, the label has released more than 100 titles and has become one of the country’s premier syndicates for experimental rock and folk music.

For 20 years, one of the country’s premier psychedelic labels, Three Lobed Recordings, has hidden away in the suburban Greensboro basement of a business lawyer.

 

A group of young surfers in Kure Beach, Hanover County, NC, on July 25, 1965. Photo from The News & Observer.

On September 24-27, Come Hear NC is presenting Surfalorus, a three-day film festival showcasing the year’s newest surf films. The pandemic interfered with our plans to present music programming at this year’s festival, but we curated a playlist of surf-inspired music from North Carolina artists with our partners at Surfalorus.

Photo of the Steep Canyon Rangers sitting in an auditorium with their instruments

After five months on hiatus, the Steep Canyon Rangers reunite for three nights of free drive-in concerts in western North Carolina on Thursday, August 27, through Sunday, August 29.

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Heather McEntire. Photo by Heather Evans Smith
How H.C. McEntire Found Her Way Back to—and Now, Beyond— Country Music

Story By Grayson Haver Currin

Rural rivers and country songs have long crisscrossed the life of Durham singer-songwriter H.C. McEntire. They have become inextricably braided, like ivy vines around a live oak trunk or barbed wires  across a weathered fence post. 

Portrait of Connye Florance
Greensboro Native Connye Florance Sings Nashville’s Jazz Rhapsody

Story by Craig Havighurst

Jazz has long been on Nashville airwaves and in Nashville clubs and nightspots. North Carolina native Connye Florance is one of the most admired jazz artists in Music City. 

Pictured above: Pink Floyd, whose namesake has an interesting North Carolina tie
Ghost Stories of the Old North State

David Menconi

North Carolina is among the most celebrated musical states in America — a place that gave the world Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, Nina Simone, Superchunk, the Piedmont blues, beach music, and more. Beyond the obvious headliners, however, the Old North State has also contributed more than its fair share of mysteries and legends to the wider story of popular music. Here are seven such tales.

NC Master Chorale members performing "You Do Not Walk Alone" via video conference call
You Do Not Walk Alone: A Message of Hope from the North Carolina Master Chorale

By Sandra Davidson

In a typical choral performance, singers file onto a stage, climb risers, and arrange themselves by sections; soprano, tenor, bass, and alto singers stand shoulder to shoulder, primed to create collectively a big, beautiful sound known and loved by many. But it’s a tradition that requires two elements that are non-negotiable during the coronavirus pandemic: large gatherings and close proximity to other people. Following a trend directly related to performance cancellations these days, the North Carolina Master Chorale is going virtual.

Backstage pass to the Grateful Dead's June 1992 concert
New Grateful Dead vinyl boxed set extends the band’s North Carolina ties

Durham's John Darnielle and M.C. Taylor provide liner notes for the iconic band's upcoming anthology

Last week, the record-of-the-month club Vinyl Me, Please announced the forthcoming release of an extensive 14-LP boxed set: The Story of the Grateful Dead. Along with the music are liner notes by prolific musicians and Grateful Dead fans, including North Carolina’s own M.C. Taylor, of Hiss Golden Messenger, and John Darnielle, of the Mountain Goats.

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The North Carolina Arts Council is a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, a state agency.
Susi H. Hamilton, Secretary; Roy Cooper, Governor

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