Are you feeling the back-to-school slump? Some new music may be able to help with that. In this article, Co-Editor in Chief Ella Sullivan highlights musicians and singers you didn’t know were from North Carolina, a state filled with many different genres of music, through an interactive ThingLink and Spotify playlist.
Country
First up in this breakdown of North Carolina music is country, one of the state’s most popular categories. Artists in this area range from older timers to artists new to the scene. Their music tells the tales of living small-town life down in the Old North State.
Charlie Daniels
Charlie Daniels is one of the biggest names in country music history as the frontman of his self-titled band, The Charlie Daniels Band. Daniels gets his roots not only from North Carolina but also Chatham County. He was born in Wilmington but spent his teen years in Gulf, Chatham County. He graduated from Goldston High School and created his first band while there, The Misty Mountain Boys. Daniels eventually went on to write songs for other artists, his most noteworthy being “It Hurts Me” recorded by Elvis Presley. He then became a session player and worked on projects such as Bob Dylan’s albums Nashville Skyline, New Morning and Self Portrait. When Daniels created The Charlie Daniels Band, he went on to find individual success with hit albums like Million Mile Reflections featuring his most noteworthy song, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.” In 1979, Daniels was named Musician of the Year by the Country Music Awards. The Academy of Country Music (ACM) also named The Charlie Daniels Band Touring Band of the Year in both 1979 and 1980. In 1997, Daniels was honored with the ACM’s Pioneer Award. In 1999, he was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame.
Luke Combs
Luke Combs is a younger artist on the country scene, but his success is particularly noteworthy. Born in Charlotte, Combs moved to Asheville at eight. He later went on to attend Appalachian State University dropping out only 21 credits short of a degree. In 2015, he released his first album, This One’s For You, which featured a rework of his self-published hit single “Hurricane.” Combs’ first album received a lot of support and in 2018, he re-released the album with additional songs. This album rendition reached number four on Billboard’s overall Top 200 Albums chart. In 2019, Combs received a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist after another one of his singles, “Beautiful Crazy,” went viral and spent seven straight weeks as number one on Country Airplay. In 2019, Combs released his second album, What You See is What You Get, featuring the hit single, “Beer Never Broke My Heart.” When the deluxe version was released featuring his hit single, “Forever After All,” it set a new weekly streaming record for a country album with 102.26 million on-demand streams. This release also put Combs #1 on Rolling Stone’s Top 200 Albums chart, Top 100 Songs chart and Artists 500 chart. He is the first country artist ever to lead all three charts in the same week and first to top the Artists 500. Combs’ success didn’t stop on the charts, however, he won two awards at the 55th ACM Awards, three awards at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards and is nominated for six awards at the 54th CMA Awards including Entertainer of the Year. Combs continues to break more records and will no doubt make many more successful albums in the future.
Eric Church
Eric Church was born and raised in Granite Falls, North Carolina, a small town in the western part of the state. Church graduated from Appalachian State University with a degree in marketing. During his time at Appalachian State, he formed his first band, The Mountain Boys, which toured throughout the North Carolina mountains. After graduating, Church went to Nashville to pursue music. He started as a songwriter but later transitioned to recording himself. “How ‘Bout You” was Church’s debut single which was a top 20 by the time his debut album, Sinners Like Me, was released. In 2009, two years after his first album release, Church released a second titled Carolina which had two Top 10 singles on the country airways. In 2010, Church was named the Top New Solo Vocalist at the Academy of Country Music Awards. In the next year, Church released two albums, Caldwell County EP and Chief, which debuted at number one on both the Billboard 200 and the Top Country Albums chart. Chief has many popular singles, but its most remembered is “Springsteen” which reached number one on the country charts while also crossing over to the pop Top 20. In 2012, Chief won Album of the Year at the 2012 Country Music Academy Awards, and Church received Grammy nominations for Best Country Album, Best Country Song and Solo Performance for “Springsteen.” Church then went on to release Caught in the Act and The Outsiders, his second album to hit number one on the country and overall charts. For this, Church received Grammy nominations for Best Country Album, Best Country Solo Performance, Best Country Song (“Give Me Back My Hometown”) and Best Country Duo/Group Performance (“Raise ‘Em Up,” a single on Keith Urban’s Fuse). In 2015, Mr. Misunderstood was released which went on to win the County Music Awards’ Album of the Year. In 2018, Desperate Man was released and Church was again nominated for the Grammys Best Country Album. In the spring of 2021, Church plans to release a set of three albums titled Heart, & Soul.
Scotty McCreery
Scotty McCreery is one of a few singers from North Carolina to win American Idol. At 17, McCreery won the 2011 season of American Idol before his senior year of high school. McCreery was born and raised in Garner, North Carolina. After winning American Idol, he went on to finish high school and spent some time as a student at North Carolina State University. When McCreery released his debut album, Clear As Day, in 2011, it became the best selling album by a country artist that year. This achievement made McCreery the youngest man and first country music artist in history to have their first album debut atop the all-genre Billboard Top 200 albums chart. Clear As Day helped McCreery become New Artist of the Year Award at both the Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards and the American Country Awards in 2011. McCreery also received the CMT Music Award for USA Weekend Breakthrough Video of the Year for “The Trouble with Girls,” one of his debut album’s hit singles. In 2012, Christmas with Scotty McCreery was released and hit No. 1 on the Billboard Top Holiday Albums chart. In 2013, See You Tonight was released and debuted No. 1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart. “See You Tonight,” the album’s first single, was McCreery’s first song to hit Top Ten. His sophomore album helped him to win the Breakthrough Artist Award at American Country Awards. McCreery’s latest album, Seasons Change, is his first album where he is a co-writer on all songs and features the hit single, “Five More Minutes.”
Chris Lane
Chris Lane is a native of Kernersville, North Carolina. After graduating high school, Lane went on to play college baseball at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte alongside his identical twin brother, Cory. After college, both boys began playing gigs and unsuccessfully auditioned for American Idol. After some failure, Lane decided to start the Chris Lane Band. The band released its first and only album, Let’s Ride, with a small label. After the album’s release, the band broke up and Lane went to Nashville to pursue his individual dreams. He quickly signed with Big Loud Records and released his debut single “Broken Windshield View” while opening on tour for Florida Georgia Line. Girl Problems, Lane’s first album, was released in 2016 and hit number eight on the country chart. Lane’s most recent album, Laps Around the Sun, was released in 2018 and features hit singles such as “Big, Big Plans” and “Take Back Home” featuring Tori Kelly.
Rap
Rap also hosts many talented musicians from North Carolina. Artists in this genre rap about anything and everything whether good and bad while telling stories that connect to listeners across the globe.
J. Cole
J. Cole was born on a military base in Germany, but moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina at a young age. After graduating high school, Cole went to St. John’s University in New York on an academic scholarship. In 2007, Cole released his debut mixtape, The Come Up. In 2009, his second mixtape, The Come Up, was released and a song titled “Lights Please” eventually reached the ears of Jay Z. Soon after, Cole signed to Roc Nation. In 2010, Cole released his third mixtape, Friday Night Lights, before his first album Cole World: The Sideline Story was released in 2011. In 2013, Born Sinner was released. In 2014, 2014 Forest Hills Drive was released and premiered as No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200. The album would go on to be named Billboard Rap Album of the Year even though it had no features. In 2016, 4 Your Eyez Only came out and also went No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200. In 2018, KOD was released. With this release, Cole became the first artist to debut three simultaneous singles on the Billboard Hot 100. Cole also owns Dreamville Records and started Dreamville Foundations, a non-profit based in Fayetteville.
DaBaby
DaBaby, born Johnathon Kirk, was born in Ohio but relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina in his youth. In 2014, Kirk started his rap journey under the name Baby Jesus. Later he would change his stage name to DaBaby before releasing his first mixtape, God’s Work Resurrected, under his new name. Many mixtapes came after that and Kirk was signed to a label in 2019. Kirk’s first album, Baby on Baby, was a Billboard 200 Top Ten. Kirk’s second album, KIRK, had many features and went on to become a Billboard 200 number one. “Suge,” a KIRK album single, went on to win Grammys for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance. In 2020, Kirk released his third album, Blame It On Baby, which again had many featured artists and included a Billboard Top 100 single, “Rockstar,” featuring Roddy Ricch.
Rock
This genre of music may be less populated by North Carolinians, but their impact is still big. Artists create songs with larger than life sounds and deep meanings.
Daughtry
Chris Daughtry was born in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina and later relocated to Greensboro. After finishing fifth on American Idol, Daughtry formed the self-titled rock band, Daughtry. The band’s first album, DAUGHTRY, was one of the few rock albums released in 2006 and stayed on the Top Ten for months. Break The Spell was the band’s second album. Baptized came next and peaked at six on the Billboard Top 100. In 2016, the band released It’s Not Over: Hits So Far before releasing Rattle The Cage in 2018.
Corrosion of Conformity
Formed in Raleigh, North Carolina, Corrosion of Conformity is one of the first punk-metal fusion bands. Their aggressive sound is offset by their political lyrics which have helped to garner their cult following. The band was originally formed in the 1980s, but members of the band changed throughout the years with the only constant member being guitarist Woody Weatherman. In 1997, the band was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the Grammys for their song “Drowning in a Daydream.”
R&B
With soulful sounds and lyrics, R&B is not often a genre that is associated with North Carolina; however, there are a few well known R&B artists who find their roots in the Tar Heel State
Nina Simone
Nina Simone’s music spans many genres but mostly fits into the R&B genre. Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina, Simone spent her early years singing in the church choir. Simone had hoped to attend college and pursue a career as a classical pianist. However, her admission to Julliard was denied. Simone would die claiming her rejection from Julliard was solely based on her race. At 24, Simone was noted for her catchy performances in local restaurants and signed. From there, Simone’s career took off. She released many albums and songs, gaining attention nationwide. She befriended many prominent Black figures from the era and became an activist for Civil Rights. Over her very long career, Simone put out 40 original albums, many of which won awards and special recognition.
Fantasia
Fantasia Barrino was born in High Point, North Carolina and found fame at just 19 after winning the third season of American Idol. His debut single “I Believe,” was the first debut single to debut at the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 list in history. Barrino then went on to release many other albums and star in both television and Broadway. In 2011, Barrino won a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performer after the release of her sit single, “Bittersweet.” In 2014, she was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame.
Bluegrass and Folk
Kentucky may be where bluegrass was born, but North Carolina should most definitely receive some recognition for their artists in the genre.
The Avett Brothers
Brothers Scott and Seth Avett were raised in Concord, North Carolina. In 2000, the brothers formed a band destined for fame with Bob Crawford and Joe Kwan. Kwan is also a North Carolina native from the small town of High Point. The band started playing gigs all over the country. In 2007, the band released their fifth album, Emotionalism, which was their first album to break onto the Billboard Top 100. Their next album, I and Love and You broke Top 20. In 2011, The Avett Brothers performed alongside Bob Dylan and Mumford & Sons at the Grammys. The Carpenter was then released and number four on the Billboard Top 100. This album would eventually lead to their Grammy nomination for Best Americana Album. In 2016, the band released their ninth album, True Sadness, which reached number three on Billboard Top 100. Following that release, the band put out Closer Than Together and Third Gleam in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
Chatham Rabbits
The last addition to our list is none other than Chatham County’s own, Chatham Rabbits. The band consists of a husband and wife duo, Austin and Sarah Osborne McCombie. Austin is from Wilmington and attended college at North Carolina State University. Sarah is from the Piedmont of North Carolina and attended Peace College in Raleigh. Today, the couple resides in Bynum, Chatham County and their band name is derived from Chatham history. A little over a century ago, rabbits were a cash crop in Chatham and Bynum was home to a small string band called The Chatham Rabbits. The band has released two albums All I Want (2019) and The Yoke Is Easy, The Burden Is Full (2020).
