—David Menconi Place has always loomed large in Americana singer/songwriter H.C. McEntire’s music, but never more so than on her second solo album Eno Axis (coming out this month on Merge Records). There’s that title, of course, establishing the name of the river alongside which McEntire lives in Orange County as the album’s through line…. Read More →
david menconi
Ghost Stories Of The Old North State
Down on Copperline: Chapel Hill Library’s “Tracks”
By David Menconi Had everything gone according to plan, Chapel Hill Library’s new Tracks archive would have a slate of live events coming up – concerts and showcases displaying many of the area acts whose music has been curated onto the site. But this being 2020, the year of best-laid plans going awry, the COVID-19 shutdown… Read More →
Down on Copperline: Suah Sounds’ Co-Isolation Sessions
By David Menconi When it comes to songwriting, it’s good to be prolific, and Michael Venutolo-Mantovani is – but the catch is he doesn’t exactly have control of when the songwriting bug hits. “The flood hits and I’ll write 10, 20, 30, even 40 songs all at once,” Mantovani says. “Then the spigot turns off and… Read More →
Down on Copperline: Libba Cotten/Cat’s Cradle
Featured photo by Daniel Coston By David Menconi It’s been well over a century since the late great Elizabeth “Libba” Cotten was born in what is now Carrboro, but you can still find traces of the Piedmont blues legend’s wonder years in her old hometown. A bike trail bears her name, and there’s a historical… Read More →