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Luray Melds Banjo, Mbira And Ambient Sounds

WUNC | By Anita Rao,
Frank Stasio
Published November 18, 2016 at 12:10 PM EST

Host Frank Stasio talks with the members of Luray and they perform live in studio.

Shannon Carey grew up playing guitar in a musical family. She wrote her own songs in high school, but then started a career as a social worker and put her passion for music to the side. Years later she witnessed both of her younger brothers pursuing their musical dreams, one alongside the now-famous Bon Iver, and decided to pursue her own musical career.

Since 2013, Carey has written and performed under the band nameLuray. They have released one album and one EP with a second album scheduled for release next year. Host FrankStasiotalks with the members ofLurayand they perform live in studio. The band is Shannon Carey on banjo and vocals; Scott Burton on guitar; and CJ Wolfe on drums andmbira.Lurayperforms atSchoolkids Records in Raleigh tonight at 8 p.m.​Here's Luray performing the song "Mountain": https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=GkcTMiwjvTs

Shannon Carey (center) transitioned from a career in social work to start the band Luray. They perform at Schoolkids Records in Raleigh tonight at 8 p.m.
Courtesy of Luray /
Shannon Carey (center) transitioned from a career in social work to start the band Luray. They perform at Schoolkids Records in Raleigh tonight at 8 p.m.

Copyright 2016 North Carolina Public Radio
Anita Rao
Anita Rao is the host and creator of "Embodied," a live, weekly radio show and seasonal podcast about sex, relationships & health. She's also the managing editor of WUNC's on-demand content. She has traveled the country recording interviews for the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps production department, founded and launched a podcast about millennial feminism in the South, and served as the managing editor and regular host of "The State of Things," North Carolina Public Radio's flagship daily, live talk show. Anita was born in a small coal-mining town in Northeast England but spent most of her life growing up in Iowa and has a fond affection for the Midwest.
See stories by Anita Rao
Frank Stasio
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
See stories by Frank Stasio