The perfect background music for your fall leaf-peeping trip: Our curated Spotify playlist features a selection of 20 folk and bluegrass songs by North Carolina artists.
earl scruggs
An Our State Playlist: Gather ’Round
Shall we gather? Listen to our curated Spotify playlist featuring 10 songs by North Carolina artists about reunions, togetherness, and coming home.
Walls of Fame: 17 Musical Murals
A muralist set out to honor North Carolina’s musical heritage by painting portraits of notable artists — some famous rockers and others musicians who inspired them — in the towns and cities that they once called home.
An Our State Playlist: Lost & Found
Listen to 10 North Carolina artists as they contemplate lost love, new-found spirituality, and more in our curated Spotify playlist.
Fearless in the Foothills
Hidden away in the hollers just west of the Piedmont, where the land begins to rise, our ancestors learned to enjoy themselves with homemade whiskey, music, car racing, and other activities that provided relief from the arduous work of farming and laboring in mills.
The 1940s: The Soundtrack of the Decade
In the 1940s, traditional mountain music gives rise to bluegrass, jazz spreads nationwide, and three North Carolina natives make their mark on American music.
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.