Portrait of Connye Florance

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

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

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.

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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.

Tony Brown | Photo Credit: Dead Horse Branding
From Elvis to Reba, Walkertown, North Carolina's Tony Brown has worked with the Best in the Business

Come Hear North Carolina

Producer, musician, and music industry executive Tony Brown has worked with some of the biggest names in country music: from Elvis Presley and Emmylou Harris to Reba McEntire and George Strait. His work has yielded over 100 #1 singles, a whopping $100 million of record sales, multiple Academy of Country Music awards, and a nearly two decade-long stint as President of MCA Nashville Records.

Downtown Asheville Skyline | Photo Credit: Explore Asheville
The Asheville Symphony Offers a Resilient Love Letter to Its City

Samuel Gerweck

A return to normal concert experiences is still a way off; the Asheville Symphony has elected to delay the start of its concert series until February 2021. Like so many other art and music organizations, the Asheville Symphony is taking the hiatus as an opportunity to try out new ways to share its art form in people’s homes.

DISHOOM attendees dancing | Photo credit: Arpan Bhandari
Global music, film, and Indian dance collide at “DISHOOM: A Global Dance Party”

Laura Casteel

In Bollywood cinema, “dishoom” is the quintessential action sound, akin to the “pows,” “biffs,” and “zonks” of the 1960s “Batman” television series. But to one North Carolina DJ, it means a colorful clash of global music and artistic media that creates an explosion on the dance floor.

Graphic depicting people social distancing and using their phones
A New Vision of the Music Business in the Era of Coronavirus

David Menconi

Across North Carolina and beyond, musicians are keeping busy as best they can during this coronavirus era. You can find numerous performers — Greensboro singer/songwriter Laurelyn Dossett, American Aquarium front man B.J. Barham, Johnny Folsom Four’s David Burney — doing weekly or even daily performances from their homes, usually on Facebook or Instagram, with the obligatory online tip jar for donations.

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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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