Our State Magazine

Musicians like Samantha Casey brave
the elements to perform in Bynum Front
Porch concerts. The season concludes
with a concert sponsored by Our State
on September 6.
166 Our State September 2013
By Django Haskins
ridays
on the
front
porch,
rain or
shine
At two beloved
Triangle landmarks —
Bynum General Store
and the Carolina Inn —
the music plays on.
photography by geoff wood
ourstate.com 167
As Friday evening turns to Friday night,
musicians and fans head inside the
Bynum General Store for blues jams,
gospel sing-alongs, and even an
occasional rockabilly hootenanny.
168 Our State September 2013
ourstate.com 169
A
tropical storm is gripping the
East Coast. On television, blocks
of red and yellow march across
the radar map like an endless,
invading army. Sheets of cold
rain encourage everyone to stay
indoors. But at the Bynum General Store, a music venue about
15 miles south of Chapel Hill, the Holland Brothers are
about to go on stage. And the stage is outside.
The weather doesn’t faze locals one bit. They fill the
benches on the general store’s front porch, beneath faded
metal Coca-Cola signs and a suspended purple “critter”
created by renowned Bynum artist Clyde Jones. They know
that, rain or shine, the music still plays.
once served as the hub of
this former cotton-mill town. Under pressure from large
grocery chains, the store, which had been in business
since 1936, fell on hard times and closed its doors in 2006.
A concerned group of Bynum locals gathered in Molly
Matlock’s living room to drink some wine and figure out
how to keep the store open. They decided to rent it from
the bynum general store
170 Our State September 2013
the owner for a year and reopen the store as a gathering
place. And a concert series, which began in 2001, would be
the main event.
On this night, Bynum’s resourceful folks won’t let a
little rain stop them. Inside the store, they’ve built a small
stage just for such occasions. Backed up against rows of
metal mailboxes filled with Christmas lights — the store
also doubled as the town’s post office — the indoor stage
comes with a sound system, though you can hear every
note without it. The front doors stay propped open and
folks on the porch enjoy the Holland Brothers’ plaintive
country folk and throaty blues stomps along with those
inside. What the indoor show loses in natural setting, it
makes up for with its simple, nostalgic atmosphere. The
smell of unfinished pine floors, worn from long years of
dusty boots, sets the mood. Shelves full of old transistor
radios, an open library of paperbacks, and faded gas station
signs complete the picture.
Folks here nod
along to the lyrics of “Collard
The inside of the general store is an
Greens and Blackintimate space. A well-flicked guitar
Eyed Peas.” They pick could hit the exit from the stage.
historic Carolina Inn in Chapel
Hill, two-story columns watch over a wide front
porch like umbrella-carrying butlers. People
gather on this porch, and they sprawl out on the lawn
in blankets and lawn chairs, and they listen as local band
Down River launches into “Bury Me Beneath the Willow.” As the song picks up steam, singer Hope Marasco
shapes the notes so effortlessly that it’s easy to imagine
her singing it on a similar evening on the front porch of
her family’s home.
Singing alfresco comes naturally to her. “We didn’t
at the nearby
laugh at the stories
the two musicians,
identical
twins
Mark and Michael
Holland, tell. And they are transported by churning guitar
riffs and keening harmonica wails that bounce off the wall
of glowing mailboxes and circle around the room. A boy
with a bowl cut lies across his mother’s lap in the front
A crowd at the Carolina Inn spills
from the front porch onto the lawn —
the better to dance to the music.
172 Our State September 2013
PHOTOGRAPHY courtesy of the carolina inn
row, arms and legs extended as if he were flying
through the air. His mother keeps time with her
hand, patting the small of his back.
It’s warm and dry in the store. Not just because
of the roof, or the change in weather. The community that gathers here provides as much shelter
and warmth as the building itself. As the evening
darkens, the brothers’ voices take flight and merge
with the natural sounds of life: the replies of mockingbirds, the soft tapping of shoes on pine floors,
the sound of a little boy dreaming.
The Bynum General Store fell on hard
times when the village’s cotton mill
closed in the 1970s. Thanks to the
Bynum Front Porch music series, the
store is still a vibrant part of the community, especially on Friday nights.
have electricity or
running water, and
our family’s only
form of entertainment was the music
we made together,” Marasco says. She and her band seem
at ease playing together, as if they, too, were gathered on
the porch of someone’s home.
The Carolina Inn has sponsored the Fridays on the
Front Porch music series since 2002, with free roots music
concerts from April to September. Longtime music fans
and older alumni rub shoulders with Carolina undergrads.
Clusters of parents enjoy some much-needed outdoor
time, keeping one eye on their kids and the other on the
band. The crowd spans several generations. No wonder:
The music is timeless. Half-moons of guitar, banjo, mandolin, upright bass, and fiddle have graced similar patios
and lawns for well over a century, ringing out the end of
a working week. These sounds are as native to the North
Carolina air as train whistles or birdsongs.
Marasco slips into clogging shoes and unleashes an
expert bit of buck dancing as the band backs her up with
174 Our State September 2013
“Hello, City Limits.” Barely winded, she grabs the microphone and finishes the song. Two or three little girls, bashful at first, slowly goad each other into a twirling dance on
the lawn in front of the stage. Pretty soon, a swirling mass
of kids, teenagers, even a few adults join in.
The music gathers these folks and provides a soundtrack,
but this is no symphony hall. They may not all be listening
quietly, but this community builds its bonds around music.
And without it, the front porch would be just that: a quiet
place to pass a few moments while staying at the hotel. This
way is better.
Django Haskins is an author and songwriter in Durham. He
leads the band The Old Ceremony and has escaped electrocution
more than once during rainy outdoor shows.
ONLINE: To hear Django Haskins’s Friday Night Music
playlist of North Carolina musicians, visit ourstate.com.
Friday on the Front
Porch at Carolina Inn
211 Pittsboro Street
Chapel Hill, N.C. 27516
Free concerts Friday nights from
5 p.m.–7 p.m. until September 27.
carolinainn.com
Front Porch Music at
Bynum General Store
950 Bynum Road
Bynum, N.C. 27228
bynumfrontporch.org
This season concludes September 6
with a concert sponsored by Our
State. Featured North Carolina
musicians include Tom Maxwell,
Eric-Scott Guthrie, and Liz Moudy.
7-9 p.m. Free admission; donations
are accepted. Details at ourstate.com.
Chapel Hill
Bynum
Friday Night
Music Across N.C.
Asheville
Rivermusic Concert Series
September 13. Gates open at
5 p.m. Riverlink Sculpture and Performance Plaza, River Arts District.
riverlink.org.
Blowing Rock
Music on the Lawn
Enjoy bluegrass music and cool
mountain breezes on the mani-
176 Our State September 2013
cured lawn of The Best Cellar, 203 Sunset Drive. 5:30 p.m. Every Friday from
May-October. ragged-gardens.com.
Gold Hill
Montgomery General Store
Open jam sessions every Friday night.
755 St. Stephens Church Road.
themontgomerystore.com.
Hillsborough
Last Fridays Art Walk
Styles range from jazz to rock and
bluegrass to pop music from the ’50s
and ’60s. Last Friday of the month
through September; 6:30 p.m. The Old
Courthouse at the corner of Churton
and King streets.
hillsboroughartscouncil.org.
King
Royce’s Bluegrass Jam
Second and fourth Fridays through
September. 7 p.m. King Central Park,
302 Kirby Road. foothillshayride.com.
Roanoke Island
First Friday
Waterfront businesses host this
celebration along Queen Elizabeth
Avenue. Includes music ranging
from bluegrass to rock ’n’ roll to
high school jazz bands. First Friday
of the month through December.
6 p.m. darearts.org.
Salisbury
Friday night out
Seasonal events featuring music
will be held September 20, October 11, and November 29. 5–9 p.m.
Downtown. downtownsalisbury.com.
Southern Pines
First Friday
Concertgoers are encouraged to
bring food donations for the Food
Bank of Central & Eastern North
Carolina. First Friday of the month
through October. 5:30 p.m. Grassy
knoll across from Sunrise Theater,
250 Northwest Broad Street.
firstfridaysouthernpines.com.
Union Mills
Music at the Mills
Local bluegrass performed every
Friday. 7 p.m. 6495 Hudlow Road.
unionmillslearningcenter.org.
Washington
Music in the Streets
Listen to gospel, country, rock, and
beach music by the waterfront.
Third Friday of the month through
October. 6 p.m. Market and Main
streets. mitswashingtonnc.com.
178 Our State September 2013