Friday, July 6′s “The Local Beat Beat” is the first in our July series of the “Best Of The Local Beat”.  Every year I take a month off from the program and allow our listeners to revisit some old interviews that we have done on the program. Every Friday evening in July 2012 we will be doing flashbacks at some of my favorite interviews. Tonight’s are examples from some of the finest:

At 5 p.m. we are going to hear an interview from April 2011 when one of my favorite groups around, Mount Moriah, dropped by to talk about the band and their debut self titled release. We spent a great deal of time talking about the formation of the band and their sound as well as the founding members, Heather McEntire and Jenks Miller, and their various other projects. Heather and Jenks are two of the nicest and sweetest people and had a great deal to share about their music and their craft.

For the second hour we are only looking back briefly to January of 2012 when Jeff Crawford visited “The Local Beat” for one evening to talk about a new album that he was releasing through his own studio, Arbor Ridge Studios. The album was a collection of hymns performed by various North Carolina musicians in support of the music department of a Durham church where Jeff is the music director. The church is the Gathering Church and the album is Hymns From The Gathering Church. Jeff and I mused about religion and music, his role in our community’s music scene and various other topics. That interview begins a little after 6 p.m.

At 7 p.m., the program will conclude with an interview I did a little over a year ago with Phil Cook. Phil is mostly known for his part in Megafaun, but he also has a wonderful instrumental and acoustic solo act, Phil Cook and His Feat, which many of my listeners will recognize. Our conversation leaned heavily on his newly released album at the time, Hungry Mother Blues. Phil also played several live songs in studio.

If you heard these interviews the first time I hope you enjoy them as much as your did before. If these are new conversations to your ears I hope you appreciate them as much as I.

As always, the fun starts at 5 p.m. and will last until 8 p.m.! Be sure to follow the Local Beat on Twitter or Facebook and download tons of free local music on our ReverbNation page!

This week on The Local Beat we only have one guest to welcome. At 6 p.m. Jeff Crawford of Arbor Ridge Studios is coming on to chat about a new project. In addition to being active in over five dozen bands (only a slight exaggeration) and heading popular local recording studio Arbor Ridge Studios, Jeff is also the music director at The Gathering Church in Durham. The Gathering Church has been meeting since 2009 at Creekside Elementary School and has become well known for its worship services with Jeff’s musical talents taking stage. In 2010 the church released Christmas Nights: Music From The Gathering Church to great fanfare. Now, just a little over a year later, a new album is being released: Hymns From The Gathering Church. The album features a plethora of well-known local artists performing their takes on traditional Christian hymns.  Phil Cook (Megafaun), Heather McEntire (Mount Moriah), Seth Kauffman (Floating Action), Mandolin Orange, Skylar Gudasz, Ryan Gustafson, Brett Harris, Nick Jaeger (The Tomahawks), Mark Simonsen (The Old Ceremony), and James Wallace all contributed to the record.

Join Jeff and I on The Local Beat as we take a listen and chat about this new album.

As always, the fun starts at 5 p.m. and will last until 8 p.m.! Be sure to follow the Local Beat on Twitter or Facebook and download tons of free local music on our ReverbNation page!

With all the students moving back to campus and all the fun activities going on this week (Wolfstock and FTW!, for starters), we here at WKNC couldn’t help but get excited and have a ton of awesome giveaways for you lovely listeners.

Here’s what you should stayed tuned in for this week:

8/19: Alex Kotch, Tyler Hypnosis, Phil Cook and his Feat, H.U.S.S., Locus Recordings @ The Pinhook

8/20: Birds and Arrows, Caleb Caudel and the Bayonets, Jeff Crawford @ The Pinhook

8/20: Peter Lamb and the Wolves with Shana Tucker @ Casbah

8/20: Dntel with The One AM Radio and Geotic @ Kings

8/20: Archers of Loaf, Hammer No More the Fingers, Cobra Horse @ Cat’s Cradle

8/24: Richard Buckner and David Kilgour @ The ArtsCenter

PLUS Pictureplane’s new album, Thee Physical

Keep our requests lines on your speed dial so when the WKNC DJ asks for it, you can be a winner!

For 3 days, from November 4-6, Durham comes alive with music and art. Troika Music Festival began in 2002 and is still going strong. Bands featured this year include Birds & Arrows, Veelee, Old Bricks, I Was Totally Destroying It, Red Collar, The Small Ponds, Americans in France, Phil Cook and His Feat, Chatham County Line, Mount Moriah, Gray Young, Spider Bags, and even more! They’ll be performing at venues around Durham and WKNC has 3-day festival passes to give away!

Just be the correct caller when the DJ asks for it now through November 3, and you could win a pair of 3-day festival passes!

Courtesy troikamusicfestival.org