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Traditional But Original: Carolina Blue Puts Their Own Spin On Bluegrass

WUNC | By Frank Stasio,
Amanda Magnus
Published September 27, 2019 at 11:45 AM EDT
Brevard-based Carolina Blue were nominated for three IBMA awards this year.
Brevard-based Carolina Blue were nominated for three IBMA awards this year.
Brevard-based Carolina Blue were nominated for three IBMA awards this year.
Credit Courtesy of Carolina Blue
Brevard-based Carolina Blue were nominated for three IBMA awards this year.

Bluegrass band Carolina Blue formed out of necessity.

Founding members Bobby Powell and Timmy Jones got together in 2007 to make a record of original music with no intention of starting a new group. But when radio stations started playing their album, Powell and Jones were fast tracked on a new path. They started getting frequent getting phone calls inviting them to play gigs and quickly realized they needed to put together some musicians. Twelve years later Carolina Blue was nominated for three International Bluegrass Music Association Awards.

Host Frank Stasio talks to the band about their music and gets a preview of their latest album, “I Hear Bluegrass Calling Me.” The Brevard-based Carolina Blue are Jones on vocals and mandolin; Powell on vocals and guitar; Reese Combs on vocals and bass, James McDowell on vocals and banjo and Aynsley Porchak on the fiddle. The band will perform on Friday, Sept. 27 at 8 p.m. on the Wide Open Bluegrass Davie Street Stage in downtown Raleigh. They will also be at Mountain Heritage Day in Cullowhee on Saturday, Sept. 28.

Copyright 2019 North Carolina Public Radio
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
Amanda Magnus
Amanda Magnus grew up in Maryland and went to high school in Baltimore. She became interested in radio after an elective course in the NYU journalism department. She got her start at Sirius XM Satellite Radio, but she knew public radio was for her when she interned at WNYC. She later moved to Madison, where she worked at Wisconsin Public Radio for six years. In her time there, she helped create an afternoon drive news magazine show, called Central Time. She also produced several series, including one on Native American life in Wisconsin. She spends her free time running, hiking, and roller skating. She also loves scary movies.
See stories by Amanda Magnus