Frieda Harlow saved community music in Ridgeway, North Carolina. She wouldn’t tell you that, but she invested in a crumbling music hall and insured the continuation of a community institution. Harlow grew up in the original opry house, singing and playing music. The Ridgeway Opry was a vital part of her childhood, and wanted to insure it supported another generation.

Harlow’s friends and neighbors come together to form the bands, they take up donations, they even brew coffee and prepare food, to insure the shows go on. And since she reopened in 2003, she’s never missed a Saturday night. “I try to make everyone feel at home,” Mrs. Harlow says.

Musicians are encouraged to take the stage and the audience does their job to support the talent. And in a community like Ridgeway, investments are more than money. It’s the people who come, the musicians who play, and the stage that supports this unique community institution.

Produced by Joseph O’Connell, with Evan Hatch and Joy Salyers.

Ridgeway Opry House: http://ridgewayopryhouse.com

The post Inside NC: Ridgeway Opry House appeared first on NC Folk.

Warren County, North Carolina is considered by many to be the birthplace of the environmental justice movement. In 1982, after four years of unsuccessful litigation, Warren County citizens and protesters used principles of non-violent protest to oppose the dumping of toxin-laced soil into a Warren County landfill. 55 citizens were jailed.

According to Wikipedia:

The purpose of the Warren County PCB landfill, as the public knew it, was to bury 60,000 tons of PCB-contaminated soil that had been contaminated with toxic PCBs between June and August, 1978, by Robert J. Burns, a business associate with Robert “Buck” Ward of the Ward PCB Transformer Company of Raleigh, North Carolina. Burns and his sons deliberately dripped 31,000 gallons of PCB-contaminated oil along some 240 miles of highway shoulders in 14 counties.”

According to census data, of nearly 18,000 Warren County citizens, almost 70% were non-white, with 20% living below the poverty level.

The Washington Post described Warren County’s PCB protest movement as “the marriage of environmentalism with civil rights,” and in its 1994 Environmental Equity Draft, the EPA described the PCB protest movement as “the watershed event that led to the environmental equity movement of the 1980’s.”

In this episode Rev. Bill Kearney recounts the lasting impact of these actions.

Photo courtesy messynessychic.com

Interview with Rev. Bill Kearney by Joe O’Connell (NCFI, 2016)

The post Inside NC: Birthplace of Environmental Justice appeared first on NC Folk.

In this episode Marty Richardson, a youthful, dynamic community leader of the Haliwa-Saponi tribe in Halifax and Warren counties. Nearly 80% of the state-recognized tribe lives with a six-mile radius of the unincorporated town of Hollister. As a teenager, Richardson started Stoney Creek, a drum-circle and singing group you young male members of the tribe. Richardson has always believed that encouraging young men to learn the culture and history their tribe, results in dedicated, proud leaders for the next generation. Stoney Creek still performs today at pow-wows and other cultural events around the country, and Marty Richardson still participates, though encourages younger leaders to step up and take leadership roles.

The Haliwa-Saponi tribe, like many other tribes across the country struggle to maintain active membership, and to keep people invested in the community. Tribes often create culture activities for younger members – dance instruction, regalia making, drum groups, culture classes – to invest in the tribe’s continued success. Often in these activities, older youth educate and take care of younger children, insuring a strong bond throughout the community.

Stoney Creek is a thoroughly modern drum group, however. The group’s members are influenced by modern hip hop, while still being firmly rooted in traditional drumming. “[With} Stoney Creek, we sing with attitude,” says Richardson of the singing and drumming group. By embracing contemporary culture, Richardson helps insure the continued success of Stoney Creek in the 21st century. And it helps bridge a generational gap and insures that folk culture is given the respect and prestige it is due.

Produced by Joseph O’Connell, with Evan Hatch and Joy Salyers.

Haliwa-Saponi Tribe website: http://haliwa-saponi.com

The post Inside NC: Stoney Creek appeared first on NC Folk.

WVSP were the call letters. Voices Serving the People was its philosophy. For ten years, from 1976-1986 Warrenton, North Carolina’s hometown radio station, WVSP broadcast a community’s voice, its interests, and its concerns.

As Joshua Davis reported on the University of North Carolina’s Media and the Movement website:

The station devoted its programming to progressive reporting on political and social issues and a wide range of musics, most prominently African American genres like jazz and blues, which rarely received airtime on commercial radio in the 1970s and 1980s South. In addition, WVSP embraced a thoroughly democratic approach to programming by giving any local volunteers willing to put in the requisite time and work the chance to host their own programs.”

Listeners tuned to 90.9 FM, to hear local voices delivering news and music of local and national significance. In this episode, Jeriann King Johnson talks about the significance of this independent, community radio station.

Produced by Joseph O’Connell, with Evan Hatch and Joy Salyers.                                                             Underwritten by Resourceful Communities and the North Carolina Folklife Institute

University of North Carolina’s Media and the Movement

WVSP RADIO–WARRENTON

The post Inside NC: WVSP Radio appeared first on NC Folk.

Anglers from around North Carolina converge on Roanoke Rapids, NC every spring. They come to take advantage of the running of the rock fish. The annual upstream migration of the striped bass brings fishermen to the Roanoke River in Halifax County to pull “stripers” over 18” to take home and prepare.

In this episode, Carol Jones Shields, director of Roanoke River Partners invites producer Joe O’Connell into her home to prepare the season’s first rock fish stew. It’s a recipe remembered, created, and adapted. Shields’ recipe is unique to her family, while the meal is everywhere in Halifax County come springtime.

Produced by Joseph O’Connell, with Evan Hatch and Joy Salyers.

The post Inside NC: Rock Fish Stew appeared first on NC Folk.

The Warrenton Echoes are Warren County, North Carolina’s premier African American gospel quartet. Since the group’s inception in 1957, the Echoes have served as a training ground for North Carolina gospel talent. In the group’s 60-year history, the Echoes have seen many personnel changes, but the mission of the group has remained constant. To “meet the need of the people,” is their creed.

Over the years, the Warrenton Echoes have traveled the gospel circuit around the upland South, bringing their harmonies to communities in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland as well as parts of Washington, DC and Pennsylvania. The group delivers their music to communities through church services, celebrations and quartet contests.

However, the Echoes roots are planted firmly in Warren County, North Carolina. The Echoes current, multi-generational lineup is anchored by original members Roy “June” Foster and James Carter. Previs Foster, June’s son and Echoes member emphasizes their commitment to Warren County. The Echoes sound, “really came from traveling to community churches, to the homes and families in the communities of Warren County.”

The group remains a pillar of the Warren County’s African American community, providing deep knowledge of scripture, close harmonies, and support for families in need. And over their six decades performing, the Warrenton Echoes have grown to be an integral component of Warren County culture.

Produced by Joseph O’Connell, with Evan Hatch and Joy Salyers.

Visit the Warrenton Echoes artist page

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