Each month, Our State senior editor — and resident soundtrack maker — Mark Kemp, a former music editor of Rolling Stone, curates a one-of-a-kind Spotify playlist featuring North Carolina songs and musicians.
After a couple of years of navigating covid guidelines, MerleFest — now our state’s biggest, most beloved music festival — is back in Wilkesboro for its 34th year from April 28 through May 1.
This year, the late, legendary Doc Watson’s annual four-day, roots-based festival features a strong lineup with lots of great North Carolina-related artists, including headliner Emmylou Harris, along with Caleb Caudle, Rissi Palmer, David Childers, the Steep Canyon Rangers, Jim Lauderdale, and more. Plus, see other favorites like Old Crow Medicine Show, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Josh Turner, and Allison Russell.
This is a lineup not to miss. However, if you can’t make it, we’ve got you covered with this 30-song playlist featuring some of the highlights.
In North Carolina, spring brings the scent of fresh-cut grass and memories of helping Dad mow the lawn.
Nostalgic burger joints are like time machines, delivering something extra special that keeps us coming back.
This tiny city block in downtown Greensboro once had a gigantic reputation. Not so much for its charbroiled beef patties — though they, too, were plentiful — but for its colorful characters and their wild shenanigans.
In the 1950s, as Americans hit freshly paved roads in shiny new cars during the postwar boom, a new kind of restaurant took shape: the drive-in. From those first thin patties to the elaborate gourmet hamburgers of today, North Carolina has spent the past 80 years making burger history.
