Stories, traditions, and people at the heart of North Carolina’s cultural life.
A collection of more than 400 stories exploring the traditions, artistry, and community life of North Carolina. From foodways and material culture to tribal arts, music, and the people who carry these traditions forward, Carolina Life & Lore celebrates the richness and diversity of folklife across the state.
[wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”20″] August/September 2006 issue of the Old-Time Herald, a magazine about traditional string band music. This issue features a cover story (by Bob Carlin) on Fisher Hendley, an early country star from Anson County, and his band the Aristocratic Pigs. [wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”20″]
[wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”19″] April/May 2007 issue of the Old-Time Herald, a magazine about traditional string band music. This issue features a cover story (by Bob Carlin) on early Western North Carolina string band musicians the Helton Brothers. [wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”19″]
[wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”18″] The music and dance traditions of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains are legendary. Residents continue a musical heritage that stretches back many generations. In this lively guidebook, noted folklorist Fred C. Fussell puts readers on the trail to discover the many sites in western North Carolina where this unique musical legacy thrives. Organized […]
[wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”17″] Complete recordings of the 1920s and ’30s string band from Northwest North Carolina. Two-disc set with extensive liner notes. [wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”17″]
[wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”16″] Bascom Lunsford (1882 – 1973), who was one of the luminaries in the early days of North Carolina folklore studies, was also a talented banjo player and sweet-voiced singer of ballads. The nineteen recordings on this album are drawn mostly from his “memory collection,” a 1949 recording session at the Library of Congress […]
[wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”15″] Released in celebration of Joe Thompson’s eightieth birthday, “Family Tradition” contains some of his very best recordings. Thompson is joined by his cousin Odell and brother Nate, also important figures in the black stringband tradition, and by friends Bob Carlin and Scott Ainslie, playing oldtime piedmont stringband music and gospel songs, including a […]
[wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”14″] Burgaw native and well known Wilmington performer George Herbert Moore’s second album. The sixteen tracks on “Roots and Shoes,” from traditional and original pieces to Jimmy Reed and Muddy Waters covers, displays the breadth of Moore’s mastery of blues styles. Listen: [sc_embed_player fileurl=”http://ncfolk.org/Images/mp3/georgeherbertmooregifeverrootsandshoes.mp3″] G. I. Fever [wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”14″]
[wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”13″] This album is a reissue of a 1963 Smithsonian record, which captured a remarkable moment in North Carolina’s musical history. Doc Watson, in the earliest days of his ascent to international acclaim, plays and sings here with his very musical extended family. Featured are the gentle and eerie fiddling of Watson’s father-in-law, Gaither […]
[wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”12″] “The sounds and social history of African American banjo playing – 32 superb instrumentals and vocals, recorded between 1974 and 1997. Extensively annotated with performers’ life histries, tunings, lyrics, bibliography, and discography. The banjo’s gourd ancestors came to the Americas with enslaved Africans, forging the link between West African griots and performers of […]
[wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”11″] Marcus Martin, one of the finest old-time musicians from western North Carolina, had a legendary fiddling style. The Southern Folklife Collection presents rare and unreleased 1940s field recordings of this acclaimed master fiddler recorded in his prime by Alan Lomax, Jan Schinhan, Artus Moser and Margaret Mayo. Details: 2007, UNC Chapel Hill, North […]
[wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”10″] The 1993 Masters of the Banjo Tour featured traditional banjo styles, African and Irish as well as American, played by some of the instrument’s star players. Among the North Carolinians featured on this album are Kirk Sutphin, Tony Ellis, and Carroll Best. Details: 1994, Arhoolie 421 [sc_embed_player fileurl=”http://ncfolk.org/Images/mp3/mastersofthebanjocarrollbestmcmitchensreel.mp3″] Listen to Carroll Best: McMichen’s […]
[wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”9″] Recorded in 1989 at St. Paul Episcopal Church in Beaufort, the dozen songs on this cassette are traditional work songs of a coastal Carolina menhaden fishery. The Menhaden Chanteymen are recipients of the North Carolina Folk Heritage Award. Songs: I’m Gonna Roll Here; Help Me to Raise ’em; My Way Seems So Hard; […]
[wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”4″] In 1833 Mrs. Frances Silver was hanged in Morganton, North Carolina, for the ax murder of her husband Charles. For a century and a half the case has lived on in newspapers, pamphlets, memoirs, petition, folksong, and legends. Bobby McMillon, a member of the Silver family, learned stories about Frankie as he grew […]
[wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”2″] The story of a gifted African American family from the rural South. With interviews and stories, and scenes from daily life, reunions, gospel concerts, and church services, the film traces the history of the Landis family of Granville County, North Carolina, over the lifetime of its oldest surviving member, 86-year-old Mrs. Bertha M. […]
Although it is a scenic byway with plenty of natural attractions, the Blue Ridge Parkway also has a mission to interpret the culture of the region. Signage, exhibits, and restored historic structures help educate visitors about the history and culture of Appalachia. Of the Parkway’s 469 miles, more than half are located in North Carolina. […]
The Center for Appalachian Studies, a department of the College of Arts and Sciences at Appalachian State University, was established in 1978 to coordinate and promote curriculum offerings, public programs, and research activities in the Appalachian region. Built on the work of generations of Appalachian scholars, including folklorists Amos Abrams and Cratis Williams, the Center […]
The Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) is an interdisciplinary educational organization affiliated with Duke University. It is dedicated to advancing documentary work that combines experience and creativity with education and community life. Founded in 1989, CDS connects the arts and humanities to fieldwork, drawing on photography, filmmaking, oral history, folklore, and writing as catalysts for […]
Created in 1992, the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum is dedicated to documenting, preserving, and presenting the coastal community traditions of the Core Sound area. It represents a diverse community of rural fishermen, hunters, carvers, boat builders and their families, including European American and African American groups that settled North Carolina’s Outer Banks and sound-side villages […]
Established in 1940, the Curriculum in folklore at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill was the nation’s first academic graduate program in folklore. Offering a range of both graduate and undergraduate courses, the Curriculum has been instrumental in establishing a place for folklore studies in higher education across North Carolina, in training many […]
East Carolina University Folklore Archive (ECUFA) is a university-based regional folklife collection. Established in 1968 with the institution of a course in American folklore in the English Department, ECUFA now holds approximately 8,000 manuscript collections of field documentation in addition to approximately 75,000 separately recorded items of primarily verbal lore. Hundreds of video and audiotapes, […]
El Pueblo, Inc. is a North Carolina non-profit statewide advocacy and policy organization dedicated to strengthening the Latino community. This mission is accomplished through leadership development, education, and promotion of cross-cultural understanding in partnerships at the local state, and national levels. The organization began in 1994 when it organized the first Latin American cultural festival […]
The Folk Heritage Committee is a special committee of the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and is made up of dedicated individuals charged with the mission of preserving and presenting the music and dance heritage of the Southern Appalachians for entertainment and education. The Folk Heritage Committee’s purpose is to produce two events: Mountain Dance […]
The Folklife Program of the North Carolina Arts Council promotes public knowledge and appreciation of the state’s cultural traditions. Four strategies have evolved to achieve this goal: planning and presenting special projects; assisting the field through a grants program; conducting fieldwork; and maintaining n archive of documentary materials and resources. Beginning in 1977, when George […]
www.folkschool.com Founded in 1925 in the mountains of western North Carolina, the John C. Campbell folk School was the result of a collaboration between Olive Dame Campbell, Marguerite Butler, and the people of Brasstown. The Campbell Folk School has long played an active role in the continued vitality of traditional and contemporary crafts, music, dance […]