When you’ve got an area as firmly entrenched in tradition as North Carolina is, you’re guaranteed to have a slew of bluegrass aficionados. Folks like Hank Smith and Lindsey Tims are proof of this, two musicians who are doing their damndest to expand the horizons of a genre that many may pigeonhole as a niche, or static genre. Throughout our hour long conversation, we covered a wide array of topics ranging from the recent IBMA Festival in Raleigh, the evolution of the bluegrass genre and where their traditional roots have taken them as musicians.
Hank and Lindsey are two incredibly busy musicians that have a penchant for wide-reaching tunes, that’d explain their Flecktones tribute band alongside their work in The Morning After, the occasional Barefoot Manner show, and their new duo performances. Whether they’re churning out bluegrass iterations of Icelandic tunes or a sprawling yet simplistic arrangement of a Flecktone favorite, they’re always putting on clinicals, showing that two men with acoustic instruments can produce much more than meets the eye.
Check out our full conversation with Hank and Lindsey including a few in-studio performances and a handful of tracks from The Morning After, Barefoot Manner and the duo’s most recent release Impulse.
WKNC is proud to announce its participation in Spotify’s Soundclash, “A playlist battle to end all playlist battles.” Here’s how it works: You, loyal listener, go over to Spotify and type WKNC in the search bar. Down under playlists you will see “WKNC 88.1 FM: North Carolina State University” (or just follow this link). Then follow the playlist.
WKNC is one of 270+ 20+ campus clubs and organizations across the United States that have created a 15-song playlist. Since we love local music so much, we picked lots songs from Kooley High, Sylvan Esso, Future Islands, Polvo and other North Carolina favorites.
The organization with the most playlist followers in the next 13 days gets $5,000: half for us and half to share with a non-profit organization through DonorsChoose.org.
Durham’s Toon and the Real Laww helped kick off the 2014 Hopscotch Music Festival with their performance opening for De La Soul at City Plaza. Listen to their conversation with Walter-Ego before the big show.
Raleigh’s Bedowyn chatted with WKNC during our live broadcast from the 2014 Hopscotch Music Festival. Here their conversation below, or subscribe to our iTunes podcast so you never miss a WKNC interview.
Hopscotch 2014 performers Breathers chatted with WKNC’s Walter-Ego from our live broadcast in Wristband City. Here their conversation below and be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss any of our great interviews.
As we enter October, the time draws closer to the bi-annual Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival next weekend in Pittsboro, NC. I’ve been to Shakori Hills a number of times and the lineups are always a diverse blend of local, national, and international groups from a wide spectrum of genres.
Many of the band’s I love checking out are the local, North Carolinian groups. The band I’d suggest to check out on Thursday would be The Holland Brothers, from Pittsboro. Following in the tradition of the Everly Brothers, The Holland Brothers keep tight harmony and play a mix of old-time and blues. Friday features a full day of music, but if you had to check out one band I’d suggest John Howie Jr. & the Rosewood Bluff, from Mebane. This group is true to the honky-tonk country music tradition, they’ve played the Grand Ole Opry, and even opened for the legendary George Jones. This is a band that’ll be sure to have you two-stepping in the Cabaret Tent.
On Saturday, I’d recommend checking out singer-songwriter Shannon Whitworth, from Brevard. She has an interesting take on Americana music and it’s something I would call atmospheric. I find there to be a big Mark Knopfler influence, especially since there’s a cover of the Dire Straits song “So Far Away” on her album High Tide. The local group on Sunday I’d suggest checking out is the duo of Lynda Dawson & Pattie Hopkins, from Raleigh. Both members of the Kickin Grass Band, their duo focuses more on harmony vocals and their fiddle and guitar work.
Something I love about Shakori is that there’s some bands just don’t play on one day, like Donna the Buffalo, Frank Fairfield, and The Duhks. Based out of Winnipeg, The Duhks play a blend of bluegrass, folk, zydeco, and all things roots. I saw them play at Merlefest, the “traditional plus” festival founded by Doc Watson in Wilkes County, and they blew the audience away. If the new-time music isn’t your thing, then Frank Fairfield is about as old-time as you can get. Hailing from SoCal, you’d think Frank Fairfield hails from a totally different time period with his knowledge of fiddle, guitar, and banjo tunes and of old gramophone records. His take on old classic tunes is not only awesome to listen to, but also educational as he explains the meanings of the songs. Donna the Buffalo, from Trumansburg, NY, play a similar blend of music like The Duhks, but more electric and with a heavier zydeco influence. They’re one of the founding bands of Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival and are a favorite act of the festival.
Other than the music, there’s plenty of art, workshops, kids’ activities, and vendors to check out at the festival. Shakori’s one of my favorite community festivals I’ve been to and it’s like it will certainly be another great fall festival! Tickets for the festival are still available in advance online until 4pm, October 6th.
The number of bands that you can say contribute to the North Carolina music scene that are from Kill Devil Hills are few and far between. However, it won’t take long to realize that Zack Mexico is one of those few bands. Making a big sound through their psychedelic indie rock, Zack Mexico just recently put out a new full length album entitled “Run Out of Money And Die” back in April of this year that provided a solid indication of the potential and growth of Zack Mexico. During Hopscotch, DJ Salinger and DJ Acorn were honored to be able to sit down with the members of Zack Mexico for a quick interview talking a little bit about their latest record and how they have matured as a group over the past couple years.
And don’t forget to see Zack Mexico LIVE this Friday, Oct. 3 with Flesh Wounds for WKNC’s Fridays on the Lawn!
