On his way out of office, in 2024, one of Governor Roy Cooper’s initiatives was to establish a new department inside N.C.’s Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR): the North Carolina Music Office.
One of the office’s first projects, created through DNCR program Come Hear NC, is Shaped by Sound, a new PBS series on North Carolina’s music. Over thirteen episodes, Shaped by Sound will look at a wide range of artists from Wilmington to Asheville, in genres ranging from R&B to country-rock legacy. Featured artists include legacy acts like Superchunk, Reuben Vincent, and Alice Gerrard and newer acts like Sluice, Blue Cactus, and Sonny Miles. Other featured Triangle acts include Fancy Gap, Shirlette Ammons, and Mipso.
“Our state is known for its rich musical legacy—John Coltrane, Doc Watson, Nina Simone, Etta Baker, and James Taylor, are just a tiny sliver of the greats who have called NC home,” says Stephanie Stewart, one-half of local duo Blue Cactus, “but it’s also a thriving, living legacy, and I’m thrilled to have a program like this that is devoted to shining a spotlight on it.”
Only four other states have state-sponsored music offices like this. Its formation is an effort to celebrate the state’s rich musical history and bolster its creative economy.
“The governor signed his executive order on June 21, which is International Make Music Day,” explains Kara Leinfelder, the director of business development at the NC Music Office, “We had a lot of communities across the state celebrating Make Music Day, which was led by the North Carolina Arts Council—it was a program to recognize and spotlight how important music is to North Carolina, its contemporary history and its past, and all the rich traditions that we have here.”
While North Carolina boasts strong talent, the sector has struggled to regain its footing post-pandemic, with conditions increasingly difficult for artists and venues. Last month, J. Cole announced that 2025 would be the last year that he held Dreamville, a megawatt hip-hop festival that generated around $122 million for Wake County in 2024.
local artists featured on shaped by sound
The announcement marked the second recent major festival exit from the Tar Heel state’s capital: After many years in Raleigh, the IBMA Bluegrass Festival departed for Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 2024. (Raleigh Wide Open, a homegrown music festival from Raleigh nonprofit PineCone, will fill the bluegrass gap this next year.)
Shaped by Sound premieres on February 6 with the spotlight trained on Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam, who lives in Durham. It will air on PBS North Carolina on Thursdays at 6:30 p.m., and will also be available across multiple platforms—pbsnc.org, the PBS app, and YouTube. A playlist of the show’s music can be heard here.
Stewart says she hopes the show will encourage people to turn out for live performances.
“As an independent artist, being a part of something like this can have a significant impact in helping others in our home state, and potentially beyond, connect with our music,” she says. “I hope that folks who watch the program will discover some of their new favorite local artists and go see them live when they come touring through their towns.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Follow Culture Editor Sarah Edwards on Bluesky or email sedwards@indyweek.com.
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