Great Folk Links
Click on a category in the table below to go to the fuller list on this page.
Please feel free to suggest a link by emailing here.
ARTS, HISTORY & CULTURE ORGANIZATIONS (back to top)
- The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress — The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress was created by Congress in 1976 “to preserve and present American Folklife.” The Center incorporates the Archive of Folk Culture, which was established at the Library in 1928 as a repository for American Folk Music.
- Carolina Music Ways Music Heritage Resource Group is a grassroots organization dedicated to increasing awareness of the diverse music traditions of North Carolina’s Northwest Piedmont, working with people from around our region to highlight some of the best heritage music performed anywhere in the United States, including bluegrass, jazz, blues, gospel, old-time stringband, and Moravian music. The group inventories the heritage music traditions of Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Stokes, Surry, and Yadkin counties in North Carolina.
- Catawba Valley Scottish Society — Loch Norman Highland Games
- Charlotte-Mecklenburg Arts & Science Council — Our regional arts council and supporter.
- The Charlotte Regional History Consortium — a membership organization of regional history-oriented sites.
- The Davie County Arts Council
- The Levine Museum of the New South — An excellent New South museum, located in uptown Charlotte.
- North Carolina Arts Council
- North Carolina Folklore Society — the North Carolina Folklore Society promotes the appreciation and study of North Carolina’s folklife.
- The North Carolina Folklife Institute— To promote the preservation and understanding of folklife in North Carolina.
- The Piedmont Council of Traditional Music (Pine Cone) — a private, non-profit, charitable organization dedicated to preserving and promoting traditional forms of music, dance, and other performing arts.
CAROLINA MUSICIANS (back to top)
- Alan Barrington
- Darin Aldridge & Brooke Justice
- Ashley Broder
- Buffalo Creek Stringband
- Carolina Chocolate Drops— African-American String Band Music.
- Carolina Gator Gumbo — Jumbalaya and great music from the bayous.
- The Circuit Riders
- Doug Elliott — Naturalist, Herbalist, Storyteller.
- Wayne Erbsen
- Full Grown — Full Grown is a folk/blues/rock band based in Charlotte.
- Michael Reno Harrell
- Jamie Laval — One of the premier Celtic violinists on the international music scene today.
- Little Windows
- Fayssoux McLean
- Joe Newberry
- Original Red Clay Ramblers
- Pilot Mountain Bobcats — Old time stringband music since 1989.
- Polecat Creek — Original Roots Country Music.
- Riley Baugus— Old Time Banjo, Guitar, Fiddle & Song.
- Rick Spreitzer
- Susan Sherlock— Hammered Dulcimer
- Stevens Mill Band— A variety of original music and takes on popular tunes blended with a Newgrass kick
- Brandon Turner
- Wood and Steel Band— Traditional North Carolina Bluegrass.
CRAFTS (back to top)
- Handmade in America
- Penland School of Crafts — a national center for craft education located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina.
- Piedmont Fiber Guild — Organized in the early 1970’S as the Charlotte Handweavers Guild, our group has evolved into a regional membership comprised of people interested in all aspects of the fiber arts: spinning, weaving, knitting, doll making, surface design, basketry, and beadwork, to name a few.
DANCE (back to top)
- Allen Cooke’s Clog Blog
- Boone Country Dancers
- Charlotte Dance Page — The Charlotte Country Dancers & Dance Gypsies Schedule, with links to other dance organizations, as well.
- Fiddle and Bow Country Dancers — The Fiddle and Bow Country Dancers sponsor a contra dance every Tuesday night in Winston-Salem, NC from 8 until 10 at the beautiful Vintage Theatre.
- Rince na h’Eireann. — School of Traditional Irish Dance
- Triangle Country Dancers.
- YouTube footage of Carolina cloggers.
LIVE MUSIC VENUES (back to top)
- The Arts Center — in Carrboro NC.
- Asheville Civic Center — Asheville NC.
- The Ashe Civic Center — in West Jefferson NC.
- Blue Ridge Music Center — in Galax VA.
- The Blue Vine — 209 S. Main St., Salisbury NC.
- Blumenthal Theater — Charlotte NC.
- Brock Performing Arts Center — in Mocksville NC.
- Broyhill Civic Center of Caldwell Community College — in Lenoir NC.
- Charlotte Live Music — a web site devoted to what’s happening in the Charlotte area in live music.
- Comet Grill — 2224 Park Road, Charlotte.
- Cook Shack Concert Series — Union Grove, NC
- Crossroads Coffee House — 112 N. Broome St., Waxhaw NC.
- Diana Wortham Theater at Pack Place — in Asheville NC.
- Dirty Linen — Concerts in NORTH CAROLINA
- The Evening Muse — Music venue in Charlotte’s Noda district.
- Fairview Ruritan Club Concerts — in Galax VA.
- The Garage — in Winston-Salem NC.
- Grey Eagle Tavern & Music Hall — in Asheville NC.
- The Handlebar — A listening room, cafe & pub in Greenville SC
- Holly Springs NC Cultural Center — PineCone and the Town of Holly Springs have teamed up to launch a new music series. The Listening Room Series will take place in the intimate 200-seat performing arts theater at the Holly Springs Cultural Center in downtown Holly Springs, NC.
- Julias Café & Books, a fundraising division of Habitat for Humanity— 1133 N. Wendover Rd, Charlotte NC
- Live at Leatherwood’s — in Shelby NC
- McCelvey Center — A music venue in York SC
- McGlohon Theatre at Spirit Square— in Charlotte. Part of the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center.
- Neighborhood Theatre — For the love of music and more! The Theatre is relaxed and comfortable, relaxed & fun, relaxed & acoustically correct, relaxed & intimate, relaxed and available for lease to other promoters and artists, and just relaxed.
- Old Rock School — in Valdese NC.
- On Stage in NC — neat online search engine for what’s happening in NC.
- Orange Peel — in Asheville NC.
- Puckett’s Farm Equipment — in Derita NC.
- Purple Onion — Saluda NC.
- Ri-Ra Irish Pub — in Charlotte NC.
- Rodi — in Gaston NC.
- Sawbriar Acoustic Stage — in Pilot Mountain NC.
- Summit Coffee — check out the “Live Music” list on the menu at left of homepage.
- Sylvia Theater — A music venue in York SC
- Tosco Music Party — Each music party includes the Tosco’s trademark sing-alongs, and still retains the original “living room” feeling. The format of these Music Parties is generally 5-10 minute sets of acoustic music by a variety of scheduled performers (professional and amateur alike) who donate their time and talent.
- The Visulite Theatre — One of Charlotte’s old neighborhood theaters, this one in the Elizabeth neighborhood, is brimming with talent and shows.
MUSIC SITES VENUES (back to top)
- Acoustic Music Scene an online publication
providing news & commentary for the folk, roots and singer-songwriter communities. - Fiddle & Bow Society— FIDDLE & BOW, founded in 1981, is a non-profit, educational organization dedicated to the promotion and preservation of folk music and dance, and their related arts.
- Flatpik Central— Steve Kaufman’s Flatpick Site
- The Flute Portal — information, discussion, and multimedia relating to World Flutes and music.
- folkmusic.org — the most comprehensive source for folk and acoustic music resources on the World Wide Web.
- Mandolin Cafe— All things mandolin
- Native Ground Music Company — Historic American Music & Folklore
- Old Hat Records— Quality Reissues of Vintage American Music.
- Old-Time Herald online edition! — The Old-Time Herald celebrates the love of old-time music — grassroots or home-grown music and dance.
- Old Time Music Page— quite a site for old time fans.
- Sugar in the Gourd— Old Time, All the time.
- Weenie Campbell— Preserving Country Blues through Education, Performance and Technology.
OTHER SOCIETIES PROMOTING MUSIC (back to top)
- Bluegrass in Galax — Dedicated to promoting Bluegrass Music since 1996
- Charlotte Sacred Harp Singers.– Sacred Harp is a form of a cappella (unaccompanied) singing unique to America. This type of singing has been passed down from generation to generation since the 1700s, having been rooted in colonial “singing schools”. Sacred Harp singings are not performances; all are encouraged to participate as singers, though visitors are always welcome to participate as listeners.
- Folk Arts Society of Greenville (NC)— The Folk Arts Society of Greenville (FASG) is a membership organization dedicated to enriching the community through the arts.
- Harvest Moon Folk Society — an organization whose mission is to promote, sponsor, and encourage participation in folk and traditional dance for people in and around the Upstate of South Carolina.
- High Lonesome Strings — High Lonesome Strings is an association for Bluegrass musicians and Bluegrass fans who get together to celebrate and promote Bluegrass music. They are located in Pleasant Garden, North Carolina.(Greensboro area)
- PineCone— the Piedmont Council of Traditional Music, was formed in 1984 to honor the traditional music heritage that makes North Carolina unique.
- SouthEastern Bluegrass Association! — If you like to listen to bluegrass music, play bluegrass music, or would like to play bluegrass music, SEBA is the organization for you!
- Wilkes Acoustic Folk Society. We’re a non-profit organization focused on nurturing musical appreciation and talent.
OTHER LINK SITES (back to top)
LEARN (SCHOOLS, CAMPS, ETC.) (back to top)
- Augusta Heritage Center — Davis & Elkin College.
- Blue Ridge Old Time Music Week — Mars Hill College.
- East Tennessee State University Bluegrass & Country Music Program — East Tennessee State University is an ideal place to pursue studies in bluegrass and country music.
- EZFolk.Com isn’t a folk group, but is Richard Hefner’s instructional website for banjo (bluegrass & clawhammer), folk guitar, ukulele, and harmonica. Hundreds of pages of tablature, tutorials, and more to make your learning experience an enjoyable one. Tablature may be viewed on screen and tablature may be downloaded and viewed, played at any speed, or printed using the excellent tablature program, TablEdit, or the free viewer, TabView. Computer generated midi files are also provided on the site, as well as a link directory to over 2500 acoustic music sites (mostly folk & bluegrass).
- Folk Chords. Pat Raedy has a personal web site that has a wonderful set of folk music chords, especially handy for Charlotte Folk Society post-Gathering monthly jams! Also check out his instructions on guitar bass notes and runs.
- Homespun Tapes— Terrific selection of instructional DVDs covering all instruments and genres.
- John C. Campbell Folk School — Teaching time-honored crafts, music and dance since 1925 in the mountains of western North Carolina.
- Penland School of Crafts — a national center for craft education located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina.
- Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop— Great selection of instructional DVDs,focusing on guitar.
- Swannanoa Gathering— Five weekly camps each summer at Warren Wilson College in the Carolina mountains.
VENDORS (back to top)
- Jack Coobs, Luthier — Jack is an excellent Charlotte-area luthier and craftsman, located in Matthews, N.C.
- Satisfied Mind — Carol and Pat Raedy provide a wide array of products and services: dulcimer and banjo kits for kids, how to make simple instruments, information on folk music shows and workshops.
- TAXI — A commercial site that connects artists, musicians and song writers with arrangers and recorders.
STORYTELLING (back to top)
- Ultimate Guide to Storytelling — a resource collection for Storytelling organizations, institutes and events.
- August House — publisher of storytelling guides and folk-tale anthologies
- Doug Elliott — Naturalist, Herbalist, Storyteller.
- National Storytelling Festival — 35th National Storytelling Festival, October 5-7, 2007 in Jonesborough, Tennessee.
- Saundra Porter Thomas –“singing storyteller” and multi-cultural educator.
- Storytelling links from August House
- Storytelling Festival of Carolina — At the Historic John Blue House Laurinburg, North Carolina