Carolina Calling: A Music & History Podcast

Dec 05 2023 8 ep. 25 mins 14
Carolina Calling: A Music & History Podcast artwork

Join David Menconi - host, writer, and longtime North Carolinian - for Carolina Calling: a podcast exploring the history of North Carolina, as told through its music and the musicians who made it. From Asheville to Wilmington, we’ll be diving into the cities and regions that have cultivated decades of talent as diverse as Blind Boy Fuller to the Steep Canyon Rangers, from Bob Moog to James Taylor and Rhiannon Giddens.

Brought to you by Come Hear North Carolina and The Bluegrass Situation.

  Music  Society & Culture  History
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Nina Simone: Unraveling her Profound Legacy with Jaki Shelton Green

Dec 05 2023 29 mins  
One of the great voices of American song, Nina Simone was a definitive voice of 20th century American music. Her voice, music and legacy all continue to resonate today, more than two decades since Simone’s death at age 70. She remains a guiding star for multiple artists across styles and genres – including Jaki Shelton Green, Poet Laureate of Simone’s native state of North Ca

Doc Watson's Musical Legacy Still Inspires

Nov 13 2023 23 mins  
Doc Watson has been gone for more than a decade, and yet his music and legacy remain more alive and relevant than ever. And thanks to the ongoing MerleFest, which brings a wide-ranging cast from the Americana world to Doc’s North Carolina stomping grounds every April, that’s not going to change anytime soon. We consider the enduring impact of Doc through conversations with some

The Wilmington Effect

Apr 13 2022 25 mins  
From 'Blue Velvet' to 'One Tree Hill,' scores of movies & TV shows have been filmed in & around Wilmington, North Carolina. Perhaps the best-known is 'Dawson’s Creek,' the popular late-90s coming-of-age drama series. While the show tried to tackle progressive storylines, its stark lack of diversity made 'Dawson’s Creek' frequently cited as the whitest show ever. Nearly two deca

Durham: Art and Community in the Bull City

Mar 14 2022 36 mins  
Durham, North Carolina - a city that blossomed out of the tobacco industry and was originally fueled by manufacturing - has gone through many phases. Today its factories house performing arts centers and bougie lofts, but this place has just as long and varied a musical history going back a century or more. Then and now, it’s been a center for jazz, hip-hop, Americana country-roc

Greensboro: the Crossroads of Carolina

Feb 28 2022 30 mins  
Known as the Gate City, Greensboro, North Carolina is a transitional town: hub of the Piedmont between the mountain high country to the west and coastal Sandhill Plains to the east, and a city defined by the people who have come, gone, and passed through over the years. As a crossroads location, it has long been a way station for many endeavors, including touring musicians - from t

Shelby: Local Legends Breathe New Life into Small Town

Feb 14 2022 33 mins  
The image of bluegrass is mountain music played and heard at high altitudes and towns like Deep Gap and remote mountain hollers across the Appalachians. But the earliest form of the music originated at lower elevations, in textile towns across the North Carolina Piedmont. As far back as the 1920s, old-time string bands like Charlie Poole's North Carolina Ramblers were playing an ea

Asheville: A Retreat for the Creative Spirit

Jan 31 2022 25 mins  
Asheville, North Carolina’s history as a music center goes back to the 1920s and string-band troubadours like Lesley Riddle and Bascom Lamar Lunsford, and country-music pioneer Jimmie Rodgers. But there’s always been a lot more to this town than acoustic music and scenic mountain views. From the experimental Black Mountain College that drew a range of minds as diverse as German

Preview - Carolina Calling

Jan 07 2022 1 mins  
Join David Menconi - host, writer, and longtime North Carolinian - for Carolina Calling: a podcast exploring the history of North Carolina, as told through its music and the musicians who made it. From Asheville to Wilmington, we’ll be diving into the cities and regions that have cultivated decades of talent as diverse as Blind Boy Fuller to the Steep Canyon Rangers, from Bob Moo