2025 at the North Carolina Folklife Institute: Stories, Partnerships, and the Work Ahead
As 2025 comes to a close, the North Carolina Folklife Institute reflects on a year shaped by collaboration, listening, and deep engagement with communities across the state. Our work this year centered the people who carry cultural knowledge forward – artists, tradition bearers, apprentices, and public servants – and the partnerships that make this work […]
Kingdom Voices United: Building Community and Healing Through Gospel Song
The story of Kingdom Voices United starts with a vision from God. “I was on my way to service one morning and God just dropped it so heavily in my spirit,” Minister La’Wanda Leggett recalls. Though reluctant at first to start a choir, she recalls, after consulting with lifelong friends Apostle Stanley Douglas and Tony […]
Less of Me, More of Him: Jalessa Cade’s Gospel Journey Across Church, Stage, and Song
From the beginning, Jalessa Cade knew she was destined to become a gospel singer. With a strong and emotional voice that reflects growing up in the church intertwined with influences of Broadway, R&B, jazz, bluegrass, and other styles, Jalessa possesses a clear confidence to sing in a multitude of musical scenarios. But this wasn’t always […]
Raleigh Wide Open Gospel Performances Schedule
PineCone and the North Carolina Folklife Institute (NCFI) have partnered to present a powerful lineup of gospel music performances and dynamic panel discussions as part of the Raleigh Wide Open Festival, taking place October 3–4, 2025 in downtown Raleigh. The gospel programming at Raleigh Wide Open has been developed under the artistic curation of Jared Payton, […]
NCFI and PineCone present Gospel Panel Discussions at Raleigh Wide Open
The Gospel program at Raleigh Wide Open brings the sounds, stories, and spirit of gospel music to life through five dynamic talks at the City of Raleigh Museum. On Friday, October 3, Appaloosa Redd joins Greensboro musician and storyteller Colin Cutler for a conversation on the Gospel of the Blues, followed by Kendall Kent’s exploration […]
NCFI and PineCone’s Raleigh Wide Open Gospel Performer Audiograms
PineCone and the North Carolina Folklife Institute (NCFI) have partnered to present a powerful lineup of gospel music performances and dynamic panel discussions as part of the Raleigh Wide Open Festival, taking place October 3–4, 2025 in downtown Raleigh. The gospel programming at Raleigh Wide Open has been developed under the artistic curation of Jared Payton, […]
NCFI and PineCone’s Raleigh Wide Open Gospel Performers share Music Recordings from the Field
NCFI is excited to share field recordings from a selection of the gospel performers to be presented at Raleigh Wide Open this year! The gospel artists and panel sessions are presented by the North Carolina Folklife Institute in partnership with PineCone with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the North Carolina Arts […]
PineCone and North Carolina Folklife Institute Partner to Present Gospel Performances and Panels at Raleigh Wide Open Festival
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact:Stacy ChandlerPineCone Communications Managercommunications@pinecone.org919-664-8333 (office)919-946-6685 (cell) Amy GrossmannNorth Carolina Folklife Institutestaff@ncfolk.org336-223-5956 (office) Raleigh, NC — September 3, 2025 — PineCone and the North Carolina Folklife Institute (NCFI) are partnering to present a powerful lineup of gospel music performances and dynamic panel discussions as part of the Raleigh Wide Open Festival, taking […]
Pecan Pickin’
Text and photos by Ray Linville A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, our thoughts often begin to shift to traditional pies and other desserts, much more than the bird that will anchor the center of the table. One traditional pie for my family is a Southern favorite—pecan. Can you imagine foraging for pecans or walking […]
A Feast For the Eyes
Text and photos by Sol Weiner At the North Carolina State Fair, a 100-pound watermelon is not just a 100-pound watermelon, nor is the first-prize pumpkin pie just a dessert. Like The Treachery of Images by René Magritte, which famously declared “This is not a pipe” below an image of that very object, food on […]
Carrboro Beverage Company
Text and photos by Sol Weiner When it gets as hot out as it’s been for the last few weeks, only a few slow, languid thoughts cross my mind. In addition to “where’s the nearest swimming hole?” and “when I get rich, I’m spending summers in Maine,” I often see a flashing neon sign that […]
Food For Thought: Trump, Police, and…Cheeseburgers?
Text by Sol Weiner As anybody who’s turned on a television or opened a newspaper lately could tell you, this summer has been a political circus. Although they only registered as tiny blips on the vast radar of the 24-hour news cycle, there were at least two notable instances this summer of North Carolina food […]
Creamed Chicken Over Waffles
Text and photos by Ray Linville Holding a “throwback” event is a great way to honor a tradition that once was a favorite but ended too quickly. Such was the case this spring when the Moore County Historical Association—the oldest historical society in N.C. in continuous operation—held a luncheon and re-created a popular dish to […]
The Great Pumpkin Diaries, Pt. III
Text by Frances Dowell, photos by Randi Byrd And then there were two. When we last visited Randi Byrd’s pumpkin patch, she was down to three plants, having lost one to stem damage (assailant unknown) and another to survival of the fittest (i.e. Randi plucked that sucker right out of the ground to make room […]
“Fast Food” at the Orange County Speedway
Text by Sol Weiner, photos by Sol Weiner and Anna Keneda When I think of the Orange County Speedway—when I picture it in my mind—it sizzles like the grease on a flattop grill. On alternating Saturday nights from March through October (with a few extras and exceptions), the Orange County Speedway in Rougemont hosts stock […]
Poitín and The Great Wagon Road Distilling Company
Text and Photos by Caroline Miller The Great Wagon Road Distilling Company in Charlotte’s South End neighborhood is the first distillery in North Carolina to have its own bar, The Broken Spoke. My friends and I wandered into The Broken Spoke one summer afternoon after enjoying a delicious pint at Sugar Creek Brewery next door. […]
Visit the Goats
Text and photos by Ray Linville If you like artisan cheese, visit the creamery where it’s made. Even better, get introduced to the animals. If you like chevre, a word we borrow from French for goat cheese, don’t forget to talk to the goats. When Paradox Farm held Spring Farm Day and opened its property […]
The Great Pumpkin Diaries, Pt. II
Text by Frances Dowell Photos by Randi Byrd The last month in Randi Byrd’s pumpkin patch has been a nail biter. In May it was all good news—the seedlings bursting forth in their little seed cups, tiny leaves unfurling and then almost immediately entering into a gangly, adolescent stage. Mid-May, five plants were transplanted into […]
Vit Goal Tofu
Text and photos by Evan Hatch Vit Goal Tofu Restaurant is elusive. The restaurant is situated around two corners, up a hidden drive, at the end of a nondescript strip mall, hidden behind a Big Lots that is difficult to access. Though centrally located minutes from I-40, near the crossroads of NC 54 and Hwy 55 in Durham, […]
El Restaurante Ixtapa
Text and images by Sol Weiner On a recent lunch break, fellow NC FOLKer Evan Hatch insisted that we go to El Restaurante Ixtapa in downtown Hillsborough. I’ve been hearing friends talk for months about Ixtapa’s no-frills combination of surf-and-turf options typical of Guerrero-style Mexican food. As Latino migration to North Carolina continues to grow, […]
The Great Pumpkin Diaries
Text by Frances Dowell. Images by Randi Byrd. 240 lbs of gypsum, 80 lbs of lime, 50 lbs of kelp meal, 50 lbs of very well-aged chicken manure, and 30 lbs of bone meal went into the patch today. —Randi Byrd’s Facebook page, March 19, 2016 Every year Randi Byrd prepares the soil, chooses […]
Saltbox Seafood Joint
Text and photos by Monique LaBorde I’ve visited Saltbox Seafood Joint three times in the past year, but I only recently made it there in time to eat. Saltbox opens at 11am and cooks seafood until they run out, which is usually around 5 p.m. On a busy day, Saltbox can run out of their […]
The Pit
The Pit BBQ in Durham, across from the famed Motorco, is part of the new Durham–a Durham of renovation and reinvention. The Pit is the perfect example of a business taking the traditions of a city steeped in Southern history, and presenting them with a modern aesthetic to a new generation. The Pit is gleaming […]
Allen and Son Bar-B-Que
Text and Photos by Lauren Fulcher and Monique Laborde In the big cities of NC, it’s easy to forget that you’re in the south. Especially in college towns like Chapel Hill, it’s hard to find authentic southern cooking. If you drive out though just a few miles from Franklin Street, there’s a little place called […]