North Carolina String Music Masters: Old-Time and Bluegrass Legends

The roots of American music are deeply grounded in North Carolina s music history. North Carolina musicians pioneered and mastered the genres of old-time and bluegrass music. Doc Watson played mountain fiddle tunes on guitar. He emerged as the father of flatpicking and forever changed the role of the guitar in American music. Charlie Poole created techniques that eventually defined bluegrass, and folks around the state heard his banjo on some of the most important old-time recordings. Rising star Rhiannon Giddens keeps the music alive today through new interpretations of classic old-time and bluegrass songs. Elizabeth Carlson profiles these and other masters of string music in this fascinating record of North Carolina s musical past, present and future."

Elizabeth A. Carlson is the founder and education director of Carolina Music Ways, a nonprofit group that educates North Carolina schoolchildren about their state's diverse musical heritage. She holds degrees in English and American studies from Princeton University and in language and literacy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She lives with her husband in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.