Music of North Carolina

North Carolina is known particularly for its tradition of old-time music, and many recordings were made in the early 20th century by folk song collector Bascom Lamar Lunsford. Most influentially, North Carolina country musicians like the North Carolina Ramblers helped solidify the sound of country music in the late 1920s, while the influential bluegrass musician Doc Watson also came from North Carolina. Both North and South Carolina are a hotbed for traditional rural blues, especially the style known as the Piedmont blues.

The Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Durham area has long been a well-known center for rock, metal, punk and it is a college region, referred to as the Triangle. Bands from this music scene include Flat Duo Jets, Corrosion of Conformity, Superchunk, The Pound Notes, Safehouse, Sleeping Giant, Hobex, The Popes, Queen Sarah Saturday, Archers of Loaf, Purple Schoolbus, and Barefoot Servant. ^[1].

Piedmont blues

The Piedmont blues is a type of blues music characterized by a unique fingerpicking method on the guitar in which a regular, alternating-thumb bass pattern supports a melody using treble strings. Blind Boy Fuller (b. Fulton Allen, Wadesboro, NC, July, 1907) was a popular Piedmont blues guitarist, who played for tips outside tobacco warehouses in Durham during the 1930s. Fuller recorded more than 120 sides during the second half of the 1930s. South Carolina-born Piedmont blues musician Rev. Gary Davis also played in Durham in the 1930s when the city had a thriving black business community and an emerging black middle class.

North Carolina Jazz Musicians

Several notable jazz musicians were originally from North Carolina. In the case of Thelonious Monk, (b. Rocky Mount, NC, October 10, [[1917]) the North Carolina connection is slight, as Monk's family moved to Manhattan when Monk was four. John Coltrane (b. Hamlet, NC, September 23, 1926) spent most of his childhood in High Point, NC, before moving to Philadelphia when he was sixteen. Bebop pioneer Max Roach was born in Newland, North Carolina, but like Monk, moved with his family to New York City when he was four. Other jazz musicians from North Carolina include guitarist Tal Farlow (b. Greensboro, NC, 6/7/21), considered one of the top players during the 1950s. Hard-bop saxophonists Lou Donaldson (b. Badin, NC, 11/1/26) and Tina Brooks (b. Fayetteville, NC, 6/7/32) were originally North Carolinians. Hard-bop trumpeter Woody Shaw (b. Laurinburg, NC, 12/24/44), pianist Billy Taylor (b. Greenville, NC, 7/24/21), and bassist Percy Heath (b. Wilmington, NC, 4/30/23) were born in the state as well. South Carolinian Dizzy Gillespie grew up just over the state line and attended school at the Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina. Jazz composer and arranger Billy Strayhorn spent some of his summers in Hillsborough, NC with his grandparents.

Chapel Hill rock

James Taylor Bridge, Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill's music scene dates back to the 1950s, and really began to take off in the 60s, when the Cat's Cradle Coffeehouse nurtured local folk activity. One of the first local legends, The Corsayers (later The Fabulous Corsairs) - featuring Alex Taylor and younger brother James - could be heard around town. Later, Arrogance, became a major part of the folk scene ^[1]. James Taylor would go on to a very successful career as a singer-songwriter, and his "Carolina in My Mind" would become an unofficial anthem for the state.^[2][3][4] The Chapel Hill Museum opened a permanent exhibit dedicated to Taylor; at the same occasion the US-15-501 highway bridge over Morgan Creek, near the site of the Taylor family home and mentioned in Taylor's song "Copperline", was dedicated to Taylor.^[5]

The Chapel Hill rock scene came of age in the 1980s, however, when bands like Angels of Epistemology led a new wave of bands that came to include The Pressure Boys, Flat Duo Jets, Superchunk, Southern Culture on the Skids, Snatches of Pink, and The Pound Notes.

Formed in the early 1990s, Polvo was considered one of the most important bands in the math rock genre. Its band members have gone on to form other local Chapel Hill groups.

More modern bands include the quirky Squirrel Nut Zippers, Regina Hexaphone, the power pop band Ben Folds Five, Archers of Loaf and Annuals. Heavier bands such as Corrosion of Conformity and The Terrorsharks are based out of the Research Triangle area as well.

Punk Rock and Metal

Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill was a regional center for punk rock in the late 70s, due to its large number of college students. The first wave of bands were more power-pop than punk, and included Peter Holsapple & the H-Bombs, Sneakers, and Chris Stamey and the dBs. The punks arrived shortly after with 'th Cigaretz, the Knobs, Butchwax, The X-Teens, Human Furniture, and the Junkie Sluts. Later hardcore punk bands included No Labels, Colcor, UNICEF, Stillborn Christians ^[6], DAMM, Bloodmobile, Subculture, 30 Foot Beast, Mission DC, Stations of the Cross, A Number of Things, and Oral Fixation ^[7].

At the same time, Charlotte had its own punk rock scene. With bands like antiseen, Social Savagery from Charlotte, and bands from the local area, such as NRG from Hickory, and Bloodmobile from Statesville, to name a few. The Milestone was the main club for a good period of time, until a boycott began against the club, and its owner. During this time, shows moved around the Charlotte region, at times at the Yellow Rose, a club off South Boulevard.

References

1. http://toto.lib.unca.edu/sounds/ncjazza-e.html

1. ^ ^{a b} Unterberger, Richie (1999). Music USA: The Rough Guide. The Rough Guides. ISBN 1-85828-421-X. 
2. ^ "Hey, James Taylor – You've got a ... bridge?". Rome News-Tribune. May 21, 2002. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=XuYGAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6TsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3430,2859475&dq=carolina-in-my-mind+anthem. Retrieved June 28, 2009. 
3. ^ Hoppenjans, Lisa (October 2, 2006). "You must forgive him if he's ...". The News & Observer. http://www.newsobserver.com/161/story/493529.html. Retrieved June 28, 2009. 
4. ^ Waggoner, Martha (October 17, 2008). "James Taylor to play 5 free NC concerts for Obama". Associated Press. USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/2008-10-17-2062938384_x.htm. Retrieved June 28, 2009. 
5. ^ "Carolina in My Mind: The James Taylor Story". The Chapel Hill Museum. http://www.chapelhillmuseum.org/Exhibits/Ongoing/JamesTaylorExhibit/. Retrieved June 28, 2009. 
6. ^ How North Carolina Got it's Punk Attitude
7. ^ Blush, Steven (2001). American Hardcore: A Tribal History. Feral House. ISBN 0-92291-571-7.