Photo: Bob Powell
Playlists from the NC Folk Festival
The North Carolina Folk Festival has compiled playlists, based on themes and topics relaying stories and elements of folk culture, that are meaningful to the guest curators we have invited to create them.
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Compiled by:
Carolyn Bucknall, North Carolina Folk Festival Communications Assistant
Nathan Williams of Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas performed at the 2018 North Carolina Folk Festival. 📷 Photo Credit: Joe Del Tufo. Compiled by: I graduated from high school in the spring of 2017 and that fall I moved from my hometown of Greensboro into a tiny dorm room in Chapel Hill. I spent
Compiled by:
Katie Vaughan, Intern
Old-time band The Hushpuppies performing in our 2018 Dance Pavilion. 📷 Credit: Bob Powell. Compiled by: I have noticed that many people will find a genre they like and stick to it. After all, we are comfortable with what’s familiar to us, whether that's the songs we heard growing up, the rhythms we listen to
Compiled by:
Devereaux Nash and Jordan Lee of The ACOBE (A Celebration of Black Excellence) Festival
Sona Jobarteh, the first female Kora virtuoso to come from a prestigious west African Griot family, performing at the 2018 NC Folk Festival. 📷 Credit: Dan Routh Compiled by: When we think of folk music we think of sounds and rhythms that evoke emotion; a story that we understand in the soul; a sound that
Compiled by:
Mark Dillon, President of the Fiddle & Bow Folk Music Society and GTCC Commercial Music instructor
Compiled by: I moved to North Carolina for the music, no lie. More specifically as a working musician, I thought I was moving to Asheville for the music. Instead, I moved to Asheboro. There is a big difference between Asheville and Asheboro. No worries, I figured I’d stay in the Piedmont long enough to find
Compiled by:
Gavin Douglas, Associate Professor of Music and Ethnomusicology at the University of North Carolina Greensboro
Tibetian opera, folksong, and dance group “Chaksam-pa” performing at the 2016 Festival. Photo courtesy of Alex Forsyth Compiled by: Dangdut, kebyar, hsaing waing, sape, saung, nhạc tài tử, mahori, kulintang, morlam, degung, gender wayang, sandaya, kecak, rindik… on and on. The varieties of music and dance found in Southeast Asia are endless. I first visited
Compiled by:
Chris Williams, Executive Director of Eastern Music Festival
Dom Flemons, member of the old-time string band The Carolina Chocolate Drops, preforming at the 2018 NC Folk Festival. 📷 Photo by Unknown. Compiled by: At the height of the Covid-19 crisis in March and April, the news was rife with stories about potential food shortages and troubles in our food distribution pipeline. With these
Compiled by:
Atiba Berkley, President of the Piedmont Blues Preservation Society
Piedmont Blues Preservation Society Performer Veronika Jackson plays at the Guilford College Underground Railroad Tree as part of the North Carolina Folk Festival's 2020 Virtual Concert Series. 📷 Photo Credit: Brendan McLean. Compiled by: Our playlist for the 34th Annual Carolina Blues Festival is designed to showcase artists from our original lineup as well as
Compiled by:
Chris Williams, Executive Director of Eastern Music Festival
World-renowned Irish band Lúnasa performed at the 2019 NC Folk Festival. 📷 Photo by Unknown. Compiled by: County Armagh-born fiddler Brendan McGlinchey’ reel Splendid Isolation opens and closes this collection of fiddle tunes from Ireland, Scotland, and North America. The opening setting, by NEA National Heritage Fellow Kevin Burke (born in London to parents from
Compiled by:
Amy Grossmann, President & CEO
Mariachi Los Camperos at the 2016 National Folk Festival in Greensboro, NC. 📷 Photo by Lynn Donovan. Compiled by: For six months in the mid-2000s I lived in Los Angeles. I had just left my job in Washington, D.C., taking only what fit in my car as I drove 3,000 miles cross country with dreams
Compiled by:
Carolyn Bucknall, Web Content Intern
Indian singer, songwriter Kiran Ahluwalia. 📷 Photo by George Whiteside. Compiled by: When I attended the 2015 National Folk Festival here in Greensboro, NC, I remember being amazed at the sheer breadth of musical traditions represented and that there could be so many ways to express our experience of the human condition. Growing up listening