Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson was an American guitarist, songwriter, and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues, and gospel music. Watson won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Watson's fingerstyle and flatpicking skills, as well as his knowledge of traditional American music, were highly regarded. Blind from a young age, he performed publicly both in a dance band and solo, as well as for over 15 years with his son, guitarist Merle Watson, until Merle's death in 1985 in an accident on the family farm.
Western Carolina University (WCU) is a public university in Cullowhee, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system.
Edward Bridge Danson III is an American actor. He achieved stardom playing the lead character Sam Malone on the NBC sitcom Cheers, for which he received two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. He was nominated for more Emmy Awards for roles in the legal drama Damages (2007-2010) and the NBC dramedy The Good Place (2016-2020). He was awarded a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
David McClure Brinkley was an American newscaster for NBC and ABC in a career lasting from 1943 to 1997.
Richard Wagstaff Clark was an American radio and television personality, television producer and film actor, as well as a cultural icon who remains best known for hosting American Bandstand from 1956 to 1989. He also hosted five incarnations of the Pyramid game show from 1973 to 1988 and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, which transmitted New Year's Eve celebrations in New York City's Times Square.
David Arnold is a British film composer whose credits include scoring five James Bond films, as well as Stargate (1994), Independence Day (1996), Godzilla (1998) and the television series Little Britain and Sherlock. For Independence Day he received a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television and for Sherlock he, and co-composer Michael Price, won a Creative Arts Emmy for the score of "His Last Vow", the final episode in the third series. Arnold scored the BBC / Amazon Prime series Good Omens (2019) adapted by Neil Gaiman from his book Good Omens, written with Terry Pratchett. Arnold is a fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.
James Thomas Fallon is an American comedian, television host, actor, and writer. Best known for his work in television, Fallon's breakthrough came during his tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1998 to 2004. He was the host of the late-night talk show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon from 2009 to 2014, and became the anchor of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon following his departure from Late Night.
Songcatcher is a 2000 drama film directed by Maggie Greenwald. It is about a musicologist researching and collecting Appalachian folk music in the mountains of western North Carolina. Although Songcatcher is a fictional film, it is loosely based on the work of Olive Dame Campbell, founder of the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina, and that of the English folk song collector Cecil Sharp, portrayed at the end of the film as professor Cyrus Whittle. The film grossed $3 million in limited theatrical release in the United States, which was generally considered as a respectable result for an arthouse film release in 2001.
Appalachian music is the music of the region of Appalachia in the Eastern United States. Traditional Appalachian music is derived from various influences, including the ballads, hymns and fiddle music of the British Isles, the African music and blues of early African Americans, and to a lesser extent the music of Continental Europe.
David L. Cook is an American Christian country music singer, songwriter and comedian.
Ben Arthur is an American singer-songwriter and novelist. He has released multiple full-length recordings and novels, and shared stages with several notable acts.
The North Carolina Symphony (NCS) is an American orchestra based in Raleigh, North Carolina, with sixty-six full-time musicians. The orchestra performs in Meymandi Concert Hall and performs occasionally with the Carolina Ballet and the Opera Company of North Carolina. In 2017–18, the organization celebrated its 85th anniversary season. Concert series are also performed across North Carolina in the cities of, Chapel Hill, Cary, Southern Pines, New Bern, Wilmington, and Fayetteville, among others.
Brigham Young University Television International was a Utah-based cable and satellite television channel that broadcast throughout the American continents and parts of Europe free of charge. Its headquarters are located on the Brigham Young University campus in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 2007 and shut down in 2018. As of January 2013, BYUtv International was available to 6.7 million households. Its content was available in Spanish and Portuguese and focused on world cultures, families, and doctrine from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The channel, run by station manager Saul Leal, was nominated for 11 Emmy awards, winning five. Its slogan was “discovering cultures, inspiring lives.”
Andrew Joseph Cohen is an American radio and television talk show host, producer, and writer.
WSMX is a broadcast radio station licensed to and serving Winston-Salem, North Carolina. WSMX is owned by Blue Ridge Broadcasting Corporation.
Marco Werman is an American radio personality. He is a host, reporter and senior producer in public radio. Werman is the host of Public Radio Exchange's The World. He took over as full-time host of the program on January 1, 2013 after years as fill-in host and producer of the Global Hit music segment. His journalism experience includes documentary photography, print, radio and television.
Victor Blackwell is an American television news anchor who currently co-hosts the weekend edition of CNN This Morning with Amara Walker on CNN.
Natalie Ann Holt is a British composer who has worked on numerous film and television projects. She is primarily recognised for her work on several notable productions, including Paddington (2014) and Loki (2021). She trained at the Royal Academy of Music and then the National Film and Television School and had a career as a classical violinist before becoming a film composer. Holt's distinction in her field was recognised by being made an associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2017.
Dominique Flemons is an American old-time music, Piedmont blues, and neotraditional country multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. He is a proficient player of the banjo, fife, guitar, harmonica, percussion, quills, and rhythm bones. He is known as "The American Songster" as his repertoire of music spans nearly a century of American folklore, ballads, and tunes. He has performed with Mike Seeger, Joe Thompson, Martin Simpson, Boo Hanks, Taj Mahal, Old Crow Medicine Show, Guy Davis, and The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band.
Carroll Best was an American bluegrass banjo player and music educator. He was briefly a member of The Morris Brothers in the mid 1950s. He was the winner of several regional banjo contests before being awarded the widely recognized Bascom Lamar Lunsford Award in 1990. He is credited for developing an influential melodic three-finger banjo style, which he taught as a member of the faculty at the Tennessee Banjo Institute. This style influenced the work of musicians Tony Trischka and Bela Fleck. His work was featured on radio broadcasts for NPR and The Grand Ole Opry, and on the television program Hee Haw. He released two albums while he was alive, and a third album of his work was released posthumously in 2001. He is listed as a historic artist by the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area, and was given the North Carolina Heritage Award in 1994.
