Take a deep dive into our state’s folk music with our curated Spotify playlist featuring 25 songs — from old standards to contemporary tunes.
banjo
An Our State Playlist: Mighty MerleFest 2022
Our curated Spotify playlist features a selection of the talented artists that are performing at this year’s famous festival.
Musicians Who Move Us
The tunes created by these talented North Carolinians fill our homes and hearts all year. During Black History Month, especially, we love to celebrate their legacies.
An Our State Playlist: Mountain Music
Our curated Spotify playlist features a selection of Appalachian folk music and bluegrass — the perfect soundtrack for a drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway, from Sparta to Cherokee.
Meet the Maker: Walker Banjos
The twang of banjos and the buzz of power tools have filled the Kinston home of luthier Marvin Walker for nearly 30 years. The fruits of his labor are stringed works of art that he often gives away to lucky — and usually unsuspecting — musicians.
Rhiannon Giddens & The Making of NC’s Most Beautiful Voice
With a talent — and a repertoire — that spans opera to gospel, bluegrass to blues, a native songbird cherishes her North Carolina identity as she hits the big gigs, and the big time.
Southern Twang: The Story of the Banjo
Pluck one string, and images start forming: rural family gatherings, dirt-floor dances, and simple picking on a porch as the sun sets. Few instruments conjure place more powerfully than the banjo.