Arvil Freeman likes to say, "I can teach you to play, but how good you’ll be depends on you." He’s talking about fiddling. Arvil Freeman is one of western North Carolina’s most respected fiddlers and fiddle instructors, and he’ll receive the North Carolina Heritage Award on May 23 for his life-long devotion to the region’s traditional music. His long career is full of moments with bluegrass heavy-lifters, but he’s proudest of his work as a fiddle instructor. For him it’s personal. In this special podcast profile, Arvil freeman explains why. This episode features original music from Arvil Freeman. ___ In this special season of Arts Across NC, we feature the 2018 North Carolina Heritage Award recipients who will be celebrated at a performance and ceremony on May 23, 2018 in Raleigh, NC. These artists are being honored for deepening awareness of the stories, music, and artistry that encompass and define North Carolina's diverse cultural traditions. Tickets to the North Carolina Heritage Awards are available at www.pinecone.org. _________ Arts Across NC is a podcast by and about the North Carolina Arts Council. Facebook: @ncarts Twitter: @ncartscouncil Instagram: @ncartscouncil

Arts Across NC

Episode 12: Arvil Freeman

Today, February 18, 2020, marks the one-year anniversary of the official induction of Jaki Shelton Green as North Carolina’s first African American poet laureate. In this episode of Arts Across NC, host Sandra Davidson interviews Jaki Shelton Green about her time as our state’s ninth poet laureate. During the show Jaki discusses the impact and public reception of her historic appointment and reflects on her experiences meeting countless North Carolinians during her tenure as poet laureate. Born and raised in Efland, North Carolina, Jaki Shelton Green has been active in our state’s literary and teaching community for more than 40 years. She’s written eight books of poetry and a play, and she co-edited two anthologies of poetry. The American Academy of Poet Laureates awarded her a $75,000 fellowship last April. --- Arts Across NC is a podcast by and about the North Carolina Arts Council. This episode featured music by The Blue Dot Sessions. Find out if Jaki Shelton Green is making an appearance near you at www.NCarts.org. Facebook: @ncarts Twitter: @ncartscouncil Instagram: @ncartscouncil | @ncartsfolklife

Creativity is Medicine: A Conversation With N.C. Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green

Full of Riches takes listeners into the world of Seagrove, N.C. where TAPS students are taught the region’s celebrated pottery tradition by master artist and N.C. Heritage Award recipient Sid Luck. The North Carolina Arts Council created TAPS, a statewide network of after school programs, in response to community requests for traditional arts education taught locally, knee-to-knee, and across generations. TAPS is an intergenerational story. It's a story about community and pride in place. It’s a story about the role the N.C. Arts Council plays in helping North Carolinians use their artistic traditions to thrive as individuals and as communities. From pottery to bluegrass to the arts and crafts of the Haliwa-Saponi tribe, TAPS programs across the state represent the diversity of North Carolina’s cultural life and heritage. Each program is uniquely shaped by the community, but all share three core values: Programs are affordable, and often free. Students learn the traditional arts of their own region, from teachers within their community. Music is taught by ear, and crafts are taught by hand. Through field recordings and interviews collected by N.C. Arts Council staff, this episode is the first of three in a new season of Arts Across NC that highlights the diverse TAPS programs across the state. This episode featured field recordings from Haliwa-Saponi TAPS class and Pow wows. Learn more about the program at www.ncarts.org. _____ Arts Across NC is a podcast by and about the North Carolina Arts Council. Facebook: @ncarts Twitter: @ncartscouncil Instagram: @ncartscouncil | @ncartsfolklife

Full Of Riches - Seagrove, North Carolina's Pottery Legacy

Children and parents learn together at the Haliwa-Saponi Traditional Arts Program for Students (TAPS). Gathering families and intergenerational groups for tribal culture and tradition classes is important in a rural place like Hollister, N.C. where the program is based. We learn why in this new episode of Arts Across NC. The North Carolina Arts Council created TAPS, a statewide network of after school programs, in response to community requests for traditional arts education taught locally, knee-to-knee, and across generations. TAPS is an intergenerational story. It's a story about community and pride in place. It’s a story about the role the N.C. Arts Council plays in helping North Carolinians use their artistic traditions to thrive as individuals and as communities. From pottery to bluegrass to the arts and crafts of the Haliwa-Saponi tribe, TAPS programs across the state represent the diversity of North Carolina’s cultural life and heritage. Each program is uniquely shaped by the community, but all share three core values: Programs are affordable, and often free. Students learn the traditional arts of their own region, from teachers within their community. Music is taught by ear, and crafts are taught by hand. Through field recordings and interviews collected by N.C. Arts Council staff, this episode is the first of three in a new season of Arts Across NC that highlights the diverse TAPS programs across the state. This episode featured field recordings from Haliwa-Saponi TAPS class and Pow wows. Learn more about the program at www.ncarts.org. _____ Arts Across NC is a podcast by and about the North Carolina Arts Council. Facebook: @ncarts Twitter: @ncartscouncil Instagram: @ncartscouncil | @ncartsfolklife

A Family Affair - The Haliwa-Saponi Way

Call and Response chronicles the origin story of TAPS, the Traditional Arts Program for Students. The North Carolina Arts Council created TAPS, a statewide network of after school programs, in response to community requests for traditional arts education taught locally, knee-to-knee, and across generations. TAPS is an intergenerational story. It's a story about community and pride in place. It’s a story about the role the N.C. Arts Council plays in helping North Carolinians use their artistic traditions to thrive as individuals and as communities. From pottery to bluegrass to the arts and crafts of the Haliwa Saponi tribe, TAPS programs across the state represent the diversity of North Carolina’s cultural life and heritage. Each program is uniquely shaped by the community, but all share three core values: Programs are affordable, and often free. Students learn the traditional arts of their own region, from teachers within their community. Music is taught by ear, and crafts are taught by hand. Through field recordings and interviews collected by N.C. Arts Council staff, this episode is the first of three in a new season of Arts Across NC that highlights the diverse TAPS programs across the state. This episode featured music from Phil Cook, the Camp Creek Boys and Madison Shepard. Learn more about the program at www.ncarts.org. _____ Arts Across NC is a podcast by and about the North Carolina Arts Council. Facebook: @ncarts Twitter: @ncartscouncil Instagram: @ncartscouncil | @ncartsfolklife

Call And Response - The Roots of the Traditional Arts Programs for Students

Lauchlin Shaw was a Harnett County-based fiddler whose family was a part of the 18th and 19th century wave of Scottish immigration to North Carolina. “His great-grandfather had come from the Isle of Jura off Scotland’s coast up through the Cape Fear River Valley,” says Wayne Martin. “That’s a really important story for North Carolina that we don’t hear about so much now.” Shaw’s grandfather and father spoke Gaelic and he went to church services in Harnett County that were given in Gaelic. The many fiddle tunes he performed were passed down through generations of fiddle players in his family. In our final installment of Director’s Cut, Wayne Martin shares a field recording of “Sally With The Run Down Shoes,” a traditional dance tune performed by Lauchlin Shaw and Chatham County banjoist A.C. Overton. Photograph of Lauchlin Shaw and A.C. Overton by Mary Anne McDonald ________ Director's Cut is a special music themed season of Arts Across NC, curated in celebration of Come Hear North Carolina, a campaign for the 2019 North Carolina Year of Music. In each episode NC Arts Council Director Wayne Martin will unearth a field recording from the archive he built during his 30+ year tenure with our agency. Each song represents a different region of North Carolina. "These pieces that I've chosen are part of the fabric of who we are as a people," says Wayne. "They are pieces that tell the story of North Carolina. Arts Across NC is a podcast by and about the North Carolina Arts Council.

Director's Cut: Lauchlin Shaw and A.C. Overton

Etta Baker is one of North Carolina’s most famous Piedmont blues guitarist. Born in Caldwell County, she started learning guitar from her father when she was three. Her masterful, emotive pickin’ first appeared in 1956 on the album Instrumental Music from the Southern Appalachians, but it took 35 years before her next recording and first solo record One Dime Blues appeared. That album arose from many years of recording sessions produced by Wayne Martin, our host of “Director’s Cut.” “I felt like she was one of the most extraordinary expressive musicians who I had ever met,” says Wayne Martin. “I remember hearing her play John Henry with a slide and I can remember my thought: I’m in the presence of a musical genius.” Etta Baker’s sound and style influenced the likes of Bob Dylan and Taj Mahal. In this episode of Director's Cut, Wayne Martin shares "Broken Hearted Blues,” a rare recording that features Baker both playing guitar and singing. “Most of the time she would let the guitar do the talking for her,” says Wayne. “But just very occasionally she would sing.” ______ Director's Cut is a special music themed season of Arts Across NC, curated in celebration of Come Hear North Carolina, a campaign for the 2019 North Carolina Year of Music. In each episode NC Arts Council Director Wayne Martin will unearth a field recording from the archive he built during his 30+ year tenure with our agency. Each song represents a different region of North Carolina. "These pieces that I've chosen are part of the fabric of who we are as a people," says Wayne. "They are pieces that tell the story of North Carolina. Arts Across NC is a podcast by and about the North Carolina Arts Council.

Director's Cut: Etta Baker

One hundred years ago famed folk-song collectors Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles visited North Carolina and documented hundreds of ballads and folk songs that had their roots in the British Isles. The epicenter of our state's ballad singing tradition is Madison County, NC. In the second installment of Director's Cut, a special mini-season of Arts Across NC, Wayne Martin shares a "Jack-A-Roe," a ballad performed by Doug Wallin. Doug lived far up a holler in Madison County, and he learned how to sing ballads from his mother Berzilla. He once told Wayne Martin he sung all the time...even when he was falling asleep at night. "Doug himself was an extraordinary ballad singer for two reasons. The texts of his tunes were very full and well developed...plus he was very musical and he was able to put beautiful tunes to the songs themselves," says Wayne. The National Endowment or the Arts awarded Wallin the National Heritage Award in 1990. He passed away in 2000. _____ Director's Cut is a special music themed season of Arts Across NC, curated in celebration of Come Hear North Carolina, a campaign for the 2019 North Carolina Year of Music. In each episode NC Arts Council Director Wayne Martin will unearth a field recording from the archive he built during his 30+ year tenure with our agency. Each song represents a different region of North Carolina. "These pieces that I've chosen are part of the fabric of who we are as a people," says Wayne. "They are pieces that tell the story of North Carolina. Arts Across NC is a podcast by and about the North Carolina Arts Council. The featured image is of Doug Wallin with his brother Jack Wallin made by Rob Amberg.

Director's Cut: Doug Wallin

In celebration of Come Hear North Carolina, a campaign for the 2019 North Carolina Year of Music, we're back with a new music themed season of Arts Across NC called "Director's Cut." Over the next four episodes, NC Arts Council Director Wayne Martin will unearth a field recording from the archive he built during his 30+ year tenure with our agency. Each song represents a different region of North Carolina. "These pieces that I've chosen are part of the fabric of who we are as a people," says Wayne. "They are pieces that tell the story of North Carolina. Up first is the song "Going Back to Weldon," performed by the Menhaden Chanteymen in 1988. There was a time when a stinky, oily fish ruled eastern North Carolina. From the late 1800s through much of the 20th century, menhaden sat at the economic epicenter of Beaufort, North Carolina. Year in and year out, generations of working class men and women caught, processed, packaged and shipped menhaden, also known in North Carolina's Core Sound region as shad. As the town grew alongside the burgeoning industry, so to did a new style of work song developed by African American men who often handled the back-breaking work of hauling in thousands of pounds of fish. These songs, called chanteys, have outlived the industry itself and today we share the story of and a song by the Menhaden Chanteymen. Arts Across NC is a podcast by and about the North Carolina Arts Council. The featured image for this episode is from the State Archives of North Carolina.

Director's Cut: The Menhaden Chanteymen

Dick Knight is a professional musician, retired school teacher, and 2018 North Carolina Heritage Award recipient. He's is one of several excellent soul, R&B and funk musicians with deep ties to eastern North Carolina, but his Kinston story is an unlikely one. In this episode of Arts Across NC, we get the scoop on how Kinston led this music-loving Georgia native to James Brown, and a fulfilling career as an arts educator. Meet Dick Knight. The episode features original music from The Monitors and a clip from James Brown's Grits & Soul album. ____ In this special season of Arts Across NC, we feature the 2018 North Carolina Heritage Award recipients who will be celebrated at a performance and ceremony on May 23, 2018 in Raleigh, NC. These artists are being honored for deepening awareness of the stories, music, and artistry that encompass and define North Carolina's diverse cultural traditions. Tickets to the North Carolina Heritage Awards are available at www.pinecone.org. _________ Arts Across NC is a podcast by and about the North Carolina Arts Council. Facebook: @ncarts Twitter: @ncartscouncil Instagram: @ncartscouncil

Episode 11: Dick Knight

Asha Bala is a passionate advocate, instructor, and performer of Bharata Natyam, an ancient South Indian classical dance, that communicates ancient Hindu spiritual stories through intricate hand gestures, facial expressions, and footwork. She first encountered the dance as a young child in Mumbai in the 1950s during an era of national cultural revitalization in a newly independent India. She's performed Bharata Natyam throughout the world, and today she's on a mission to make it a celebrated American dance form. She's used two graduate degrees in dance to teach over 500 North Carolinians about the dance since moving here in the early 2000s. Meet Asha Bala. ____ In this special season of Arts Across NC, we feature the 2018 North Carolina Heritage Award recipients who will be celebrated at a performance and ceremony on May 23, 2018 in Raleigh, NC. These artists are being honored for deepening awareness of the stories, music, and artistry that encompass and define North Carolina's diverse cultural traditions. Tickets to the North Carolina Heritage Awards are available at www.pinecone.org. _________ Arts Across NC is a podcast by and about the North Carolina Arts Council. Facebook: @ncarts Twitter: @ncartscouncil Instagram: @ncartscouncil

Episode 10: Asha Bala

In this episode, we meet Tony Williamson, a 2018 North Carolina Heritage Award recipient and mandolin virtuoso, whose musical journey has taken him all over. It’s carried him to stages around the world where he’s played with bluegrass greats like Bill Monroe, Sam Bush, and Ricky Skaggs. It’s transported him into a hospital room where he was told he’d never play music again, and it’s led him to an Ashram in Taiwan, where he sought reinvention through Eastern philosophy. But before the big successes, crippling accidents, and spiritual awakenings, there was his family’s home in rural Randolph county and that’s where it all began. In this special season of Arts Across NC, we meet the 2018 North Carolina Heritage Award recipients who will be celebrated at a performance and ceremony on May 23, 2018 in Raleigh, NC. These artists are being honored for deepening awareness of the stories, music, and artistry that encompass and define North Carolina's diverse cultural traditions. Tickets to the North Carolina Heritage Awards are available at www.pinecone.org. This episode features music by Tony Williamson. _________ Arts Across NC is a podcast by and about the North Carolina Arts Council. Facebook: @ncarts Twitter: @ncartscouncil Instagram: @ncartscouncil

Episode 9: Tony Williamson

Sawmilling is heritage for Glenn Bolick, a potter, musician, storyteller from Caldwell County. Glenn is a fifth-generation sawmill man, and in this bonus episode, he performs "Sawmill Man," one of his signature songs. Glenn and his wife Lula Bolick will be honored at the 2018 North Carolina Heritage Awards Ceremony on May 23 in downtown Raleigh. Tickets are available at www.pinecone.org. _________ Arts Across NC is a podcast by and about the North Carolina Arts Council. This episode is a part of a special series on the 2018 North Carolina Heritage Award Recipients. Facebook: @ncarts Twitter: @ncartscouncil Instagram: @ncartscouncil

BONUS: The Sawmill Man

In this special season of Arts Across NC, we meet the 2018 North Carolina Heritage Award recipients who will be celebrated at a performance and ceremony on May 23, 2018 in Raleigh, NC. These artists are being honored for deepening awareness of the stories, music, and artistry that encompass and define North Carolina's diverse cultural traditions. Glenn and Lula Bolick have carried many traditions of North Carolina's mountains and piedmont into the 21st century through the pottery and music they've made together for over 50 years. In this episode Lula, a fifth-generation potter from Seagrove, NC, and Glenn, a fourth-generation sawmill man from Caldwell County, reflect on their lifetime commitment to preserving and sharing their family traditions. Tickets to the North Carolina Heritage Awards are available at www.pinecone.org. This episode features music by Phil Cook, and the Bolick Family. _________ Arts Across NC is a podcast by and about the North Carolina Arts Council. Facebook: @ncarts Twitter: @ncartscouncil Instagram: @ncartscouncil

Episode 8: Glenn and Lula Bolick

M.C. Taylor and Phil Cook are two anchors of Durham's indie music community. Phil is known for making music with his band Megafaun and The Guitarheels and for playing in M.C.'s American folk band Hiss Golden Messenger, an outfit widely praised for its genre-blending soul-searching music. In this episode, they reflect on how collaboration, community, and a deep appreciation for North Carolina's music history define their artistry. This episode featured original music created by Phil Cook for the 50 for 50 project, and excerpts from two Hiss Golden Messenger songs: Caledonia and Heart Like a Levee. Learn more at www.ncarts50.org. Facebook: @ncarts Twitter: @ncartscouncil Instagram: @ncartscouncil