In search of the sound: The best albums of 2019

Picking your favorite albums of any given year is a wholeheartedly subjective endeavor. You’re drawn to what immediately captures your…
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This must be the place: Life being what it is

Stepping out of my truck, I stretched my legs and proceeded to throw on my running clothes. It was nearing…
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Only slightly mad: A conversation with David Bromberg

David Bromberg doesn’t have time to wax poetic about life.  But, more so he doesn’t have time to talk about…
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Sylva festival gets regional recognition

Southeast Tourism Society has named the Hook, Line and Drinker Festival in Sylva one of the STS Top 20 Events…
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Soul Infusion’s ‘Last Stand’

After some 18 years in business, there will be a special closing celebration for Soul Infusion Tea House & Bistro…
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This must be the place: Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road

It was around midnight when I crossed the Mason-Dixon Line. With Maryland now in the rearview mirror, I pushed into…
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Haywood Arts calendar now available

The Haywood County Arts Council has announced the eight local photographers who have been selected for publication in the 2020…
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Nocturnal Brewing offers fine ales in Hayesville

For a place that was dry just a decade ago, Clay County is now home to one of the finest…
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This must be the place: There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars

Give or take, it’s about 1,010 miles from Waynesville, North Carolina (my current home) to Plattsburgh, New York (my hometown).…
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Viva Arts Studio becomes creative hot spot in Sylva

Standing in a two-bay garage in downtown Sylva last Friday afternoon, Victoria Shufelt was putting the final touches on a…
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This must be the place: Roads that we abandon and others that we take

As the decade comes to a close, I sip this cup o’joe in a quiet coffee shop in a small…
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Arnold Hill album release shows

Americana/rock act Arnold Hill will be hitting the stage at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13, at the Lazy Hiker Brewing…
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Arnold Hill releases new album, offers holiday shows

Amid the plethora of talented bluegrass, Americana and string acts in Western North Carolina, the idea of a rock trio…
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Waynesville coffee shop gets national recognition

Orchard Coffee in downtown Waynesville was recently recognized as one of “The Best Coffee Shops in America: 2019” by Food…
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This must be the place: Can’t I live while I’m young?

It was about halfway into the quirky tune “My Sweet One” when the memories started to flood my field of…
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Orchard Coffee welcomes popular songwriters

Last Saturday evening at Orchard Coffee in Waynesville, two nationally acclaimed singer-songwriters stepped in front of microphones and projected their…
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This must be the place: And what it all comes down to, is that everything’s gonna be fine

My eyelids fluttered open and it took me a couple moments to realize that I was in my apartment and…
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Since I laid my burden down

In just seven years together, the members of Sister Sadie have risen into the upper echelon of the modern bluegrass…
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This must be the place: Often I have thoughts and dreams, lying silent on my tongue

With the recent “10-year challenge” on Facebook — where folks compare photos of themselves from 2009, as a way to…
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Finding the beauty within: Green Orchid Soap

Tucked in the depths of Wall Street in Waynesville, the Green Orchid Soap Co. is meant to be found by…
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This must be the place: No fear or shame in the dignity of your experience, language and knowledge

When I was a kid, my parents would talk to anybody. Literally anybody. Though my little sister was somewhat embarrassed…
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Folkmoot ‘Mountain Memories’ series

Folkmoot is proud to partner with the Mountain Memories organization and Waynesville’s own Bob Plott to launch the Mountain Memories…
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This must be the place: Don’t ever let life pass you by

With over 2,000 folks piling into the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in downtown Asheville for Incubus on Thursday evening, those in…
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Don’t ever let life pass you by: Incubus roars through Asheville

With over 2,000 folks piling into the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in downtown Asheville for Incubus on Thursday evening, those in…
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This must be the place: Roads that we abandon and others that we take

When I lace up my running shoes lately, I’ve found that I usually need to add a windbreaker on top…
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Don’t sweat the small stuff – just play: A conversation with Jimmy Herring

Longtime guitarist for legendary rock act Widespread Panic, Jimmy Herring’s sole focus as a musician is — and has always…
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WCU professor in Appalachian music, migration film

Musicians, not actors, propel a recently-released movie about hard times in Depression-era Appalachia that is gaining recognition and awards on…
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HCAC Studio Tour, logo winner

The Haywood County Arts Council (HCAC) is pleased to announce the winner of the Haywood County Open Studio Tour logo…
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This must be the place: Drifting back down to earth at the peak of beauty

It was right around 3 p.m. when I knew I had to escape. Sitting in the Panacea Coffeehouse in the…
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The poetry of freedom

One of the most alluring and enduring qualities of the art of poetry is the vast spectrum of forms it…
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Mountain of pain: Beloved Missouri blues-rock act to play Water’n Hole

Cutting through the onslaught of monotonous bar bands and diluted midnight hour showcases like a buzz saw gone haywire, The…
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This must be the place: What came first, the anger or the words?

In my 12 years as a professional journalist, I’ve seen and heard the good, the bad, and the ugly of…
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Fingers like lightning: Remembering Raymond Fairchild (1939-2019)

Raymond Fairchild — a bluegrass legend in Western North Carolina — passed away unexpectedly Sunday afternoon at the age of…
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This must be the place: That’s the way it goes, first your money then your clothes

For a moment, I had thought I’d gone crazy. Standing in the laundromat just a block away from my apartment…
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This must be the place: Seen so many places, still don’t know where I’m bound

My 2019 festival season is over as of this past Sunday night at the “Blue Ridge Jam” at Pisgah Brewing…
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Running jumping standing still: A conversation with Charlie Parr

In the matter of a song, Charlie Parr can make you laugh and cry, all while finding simple meanings and…
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This must be the place: Breakin’ ties that you’d grown, catchin’ dreams from the clouds

The crisp air now wafts into the open windows of my quiet apartment in downtown Waynesville. The ushering in of…
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In search of that ‘high, lonesome sound’: IBMA awards showcase celebrates 30 years

Just before he entered the main auditorium of the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh this past…
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Free from society’s handpicked hypocrisy: A conversation with G. Love

For the better part of the last three decades, G. Love (aka: Garrett Dutton) and his band Special Sauce have…
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Where I’m going I’ll be seeing you: A conversation with Marcus King

At 23, guitarist Marcus King has quickly transitioned from a prodigy into a bonafide legend on the electric six-string.  Crisscrossing…
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This must be the place: Their music being born of love, children danced night and day

This past weekend at Kickin’ It On The Creek marked my 20th music festival in the last 27 weeks.
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Will the circle be unbroken: Ken Burns on new country music documentary, a life in filmmaking

Clocking in at over 16 hours, the new Ken Burns documentary “Country Music” is an extremely detailed and intricate look…
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This must be the place: Hear that lonesome whippoorwill, he sounds too blue to fly

I’ve been feeling some overwhelming gratitude this week during the premiere and continued rollout of Ken Burns’ 16.5-hour PBS documentary…
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This must be the place: When I pass by all the people say, just another guy on the lost highway

Last Sunday morning, at the intersection of U.S. 1 and Route 27 in Wiscasset, Maine, I decided to turn right…
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Sylva’s White Moon serves up more than just coffee

It’s a serendipitous sort of happenstance when you stumble across the White Moon coffee shop. Tucked in the depths of…
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This must be the place: Where will you take me? What will we do?

Pulling off Interstate 87 onto Route 9, the fading sun lowered itself behind the cornfields and open meadows of the…
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In their own words: Smoky Mountain Folk Festival

The 50th annual Smoky Mountain Folk Festival will be held on Aug. 30-31 at the Lake Junaluska Conference & Retreat…
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This must be the place: Let it wander on my mind. Goodbye, Neal.

Heartbroken and stunned. That’s about all I can say or feel at this moment with the tragic passing of singer-songwriter…
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Where the soul never dies: Richard Sterban of The Oak Ridge Boys

It’s one of the most recognizable voices in all of American music. When Richard Sterban famously coined the “oom-pa-pa-oom-pa-pa-mow-mow” bass…
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This must be the place: And we got to get ourselves back to the garden

It was 50 years ago this past weekend that Max Yasgur, a 49-year-old conservative Upstate New York farmer, stood onstage…
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