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Rhythm and Roots of North Carolina Music
From the drumbeats of American Indians and the rhythms of African-inspired jazz to the lilting violin refrains from Europe, North Carolina’s musical traditions reflect centuries of diverse cultural influences. Rhythm and Roots of North Carolina Music, a new exhibit at the N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh, pays tribute to this rich legacy.
This 1992 gospel festival poster highlights well-known gospel singer and Durham native Shirley Caesar.
This small exhibit showcases several 19th- and 20th-century instruments and other music-related items. A computer interactive housed in a playful jukebox setting features biographies and fun-to-know facts about 130 Tar Heel musicians. (Did you know, for instance, that country singers Randy Travis and Charlie Daniels have North Carolina connections?) Visitors can compose their own music and hear music clips of many of the musicians. Rhythm and Roots of North Carolina Music will run until May 17, 2008, and admission is free.
The exhibit’s earliest musical instruments date from the 1800s and include an accordion, melodeon (a small reed organ) and cimbalom (a relative of the hammered dulcimer). One can envision Confederate soldiers playing the bass horn and B-flat flügelhorn used by the regimental band of the 33rd Regiment North Carolina Troops.
European settlers introduced the violin to North Carolina and brought other stringed instruments, pipes and drums. Two violins, a zither and a dulcimer in Rhythm and Roots of North Carolina Music exemplify this cultural tradition. One of the violins, a German-made copy of an Antonio Stradivari violin, was purchased by a soldier while overseas during World War II. The violin bears the signatures of the members of his unit.
Leonard “Lucky” Glenn of Sugar Grove created this dulcimer in 1993.
Africans introduced the banjo, which became an important part of the state’s folk, country and bluegrass traditions. Visitors will see a banjo owned by A.C. Overton, known for his three-finger picking style and for performing traditional songs of the eastern Piedmont region. A beautiful handcrafted banjo created by musician Leonard “Lucky” Glenn appears nearby. The traditional fretless mountain banjo is made mostly of wood. Both Glenn and Overton received the N.C. Folk Heritage Award in 1992.
The drumming, songs and chants of ancient Indian communities remain a vital part of the state’s Indian culture. Joe Liles of Durham and members of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina made the powwow drum featured in the exhibit. It was the center drum for the first Lumbee Homecoming Powwow in July 1971.
Rock music is represented with an eye-catching 1960s Vinnie Bell Signature guitar used by the Chapel Hill group Southern Culture on the Skids. Visitors will see a 1968 snare drum played by a member of the Connells, a Raleigh-based band that revived jangle pop in the 1980s.
This 1960s Vinnie Bell Signature guitar was used by the group Southern Culture on the Skids, formed in Chapel Hill in 1985. The guitar is autographed by Dunn native Link Wray, creator of the power chord.
Rounding out the exhibit is a microphone used at Raleigh radio station WPTF, which broadcast “Crazy Barn Dance” in the 1930s and other programs showcasing homegrown musicians. Other items include songbooks, hymnals and a 1992 poster advertising a performance by gospel singer Shirley Caesar.
Drop by the N.C. Museum of History to see Rhythm and Roots of North Carolina Music and learn more about the state’s musical traditions. The exhibit is presented as part of “History Happens Here,” a yearlong celebration of North Carolina history, initiated by the Department of Cultural Resources.
For more information about the museum, call 919-807-7900.
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