JOHNSTON CENTER EVENTS

The Southern String Band is a group of nine friends in Raleigh, North Carolina, who play old time string band music for fun in whatever combination shows up for the weekly session. The group also does an occasional public event, playing background music at informal receptions, picnics, and so forth. We are not polished entertainers, but sound pretty good when we get in the groove.

Tommy Edwards been a fixture in the North Carolina bluegrass scene for many years.  A sweet-voiced singer and an accomplished songwriter, Tommy has been the lead guitarist with the Bluegrass Experience for over 35 years.  A two-time world champion bluegrass guitarist, Edwards is known for his exceptional picking, singing and storytelling. He sings both traditional folk and bluegrass songs as well as original numbers. He enjoys discussing the history of the music he performs and how it relates to Southern history. 

His CD, “Good Company,” includes a diverse and entertaining collection of acoustic music with the help of some talented special guests. Many of the tunes are straightforward bluegrass, but there are some country, old-time, folk and swing-influenced numbers as well. Ten of the 14 songs are Edwards originals.

John Dee Holeman was born in Orange County, North Carolina in 1929.  He is a storyteller, dancer and a blues artist that played with musicians who had learned directly from Blind Boy Fuller.  He possesses an expressive blues voice and is a wonderful guitarist incorporating both Piedmont and Texas guitar styles.  A recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage fellowship and a North Carolina Folk Heritage award, John Dee has toured the U.S, Europe and Asia. John recently retired from a career as a heavy machine operator and continues to tour both in the states and abroad.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops are a group of young African-American stringband musicians that have come to together to play the rich tradition of fiddle and banjo music in Carolinas¹ piedmont. Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson both hail from the green hills of the North Carolina Piedmont while Dom Flemons is native to sunny Arizona. Although we have diverse musical backgrounds, we draw our musical heritage from the foothills of the North and South Carolina. We have been under the tutelage of Joe Thompson, said to be the last black traditional string band player, of Mebane, NC and we strive to carry on the long standing traditional music of the black and white communities. Joe¹s musical heritage runs as deeply and fluidly as the many rivers and streams that traverse our landscape. We are proud to carry on the tradition of black musicians like Odell and Nate Thompson, Dink Roberts, John Snipes, Libba Cotten, Emp White, and countless others who have passed beyond memory and recognition.

Mixing the sounds of gospel with rock and roll and country, The Allen Boys are North Carolina’s only Sacred Steel band.  They are pedal steel guitarist DaShawn Hickman, bassist Mitchell Fonville, keyboardist Cameron Moore, and drummer Ranzey Moore.  Hailing from a small church in Mt. Airy, they play in a little-known, yet long-standing style of religious music found only in select African American Pentecostal-Holiness churches.  This driving, dynamic style—recently popularized by Robert Randolph and The Campbell Brothers—showcases the steel guitar.  The steel guitarist plays throughout a church service, helping to move congregants to spiritual rapture.  Rarely performing outside of church, The Allen Boys are not to be missed. 

photo credit: James Hill

Top Notch the Villain is a Clarksdale, Mississippi hip-hop artist who draws from the rich regional blues, gospel and oratory traditions. He improvises his rhymes "off the cuff," or "freestyle," meaning that he composes his work in the moment of performance. His ability to weave elements of his cultural heritage, life events, identity and the moment at hand with rhythmic techniques including beatboxing and handclapping reflects and updates the Mississippi Delta musical aesthetic. His UNC performance will include a demonstration and discussion of these techniques, as well as a series of masterfully improvised rhymes.

Salon.com recently reviewed the latest release from Jenny and Lee Waters:

Work Clothes is the duo of married couple Lee and Jenny Waters, whose gently folky music, laced with dark strands of psychedelia, invites comparisons to two other spouse bands, Ida and Low, although it's closer to the sweet and occasionally maudlin sincerity of the first than the more affecting slow burn of the second. There are three tracks available for free download from their debut release, "These Are the Shoes We Wear": "Fort Bragg Summers," "Work Clothes," which shows off Lee's creepy falsetto to great effect, and "Pillows," where the two sing a hushed duet over a bed of gossamer guitars.