10 years later, Carolina students are still pickin’

A 2 a.m. text woke up Russell Johnson ’85: It was a student fiddler in Carolina’s Bluegrass Band excitedly sharing audio of a tune he had just learned to play.

Such excitement lets ensemble director Johnson know a student is all-in to play bluegrass. “I’m fine to be woken up by somebody playing the ‘Old Brown County Barn.’ That’s when I know it’s clicked with them,” he said.

He’s seen that excitement many times since the ensemble began in 2016 as part of the Bluegrass Initiative in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences’ music department. The initiative to increase the study of and performance of bluegrass music includes the ensemble class, another band, a bluegrass history course, a songwriting class and private instrument lessons with faculty.

For its 10th anniversary celebration, the ensemble hosted a square dance and songwriting showcase and played four concerts. Two concerts are scheduled in April.

“Our faculty wants students to explore many different ways of making music and understanding music in the world,” said Jocelyn Neal, professor and music department chair, who founded the initiative. “Bluegrass fits into that mission beautifully, especially because bluegrass finds its roots in North Carolina and neighboring states.” Carolina, with one of the world’s best research archives of vernacular music and faculty who are bluegrass experts, connects those resources to students and their opportunities on campus, Neal said.

The band began after the music department advertised an opening for a director. Johnson wasn’t looking for a job. He’s a bluegrass star, known for his tenor vocals, mandolin playing and songwriting. But, as a Carolina alumnus, he was interested enough to apply.

During his interview, Johnson demonstrated his teaching style by showing a graduate student how to kick off a bluegrass song. He got the job, but it wasn’t what he expected.

“I thought bluegrass musicians would come to campus, then I’d fine-tune them to present a concert,” Johnson said. Instead, he found himself working with classically trained violinists and guitarists and players from other genres. Some had played since childhood; others were beginners. Music majors and nonmajors joined the band, about 15% with bluegrass experience.

Andrew McClenney (Submitted photo)

A longtime guitarist, senior Bill Moore joined the band his first year at Carolina. He picked up the banjo two years ago and began lessons with faculty member Hank Smith. Moore was soon playing banjo with the band at the college bluegrass showcase at Raleigh’s Wide Open Bluegrass Street Festival.

Johnson likes to see such growth. “Bill’s outright almost famous. We’ll see him on late-night TV one day. He sings, but he is a stylist who just works at it,” he said. Moore said that Johnson and the class showed him the importance of a professional approach to performing and engaging an audience.

Bill Moore (Submitted photo)

Beginners find a place in the band, too. Kate Livesay ’24, a middle school teacher in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was a first-year student trying to teach herself to play mandolin when she learned about the ensemble. After a lesson with Johnson, she earned a spot and stayed for six semesters, continuing private instruction. By her final semester, Livesay was studying fiddle with faculty member Tatiana Hargreaves.

Kate Livesay (Submitted photo)

Vocalists often try out, but they must play an instrument. “They’ve sung along with Alison Krauss or Rhonda Vincent recordings. Then it’s a matter of getting them the chops they need on their instrument,” Johnson said.

Campbell Wheby (Courtesy UNC Music Department)

“The real success is in what the students learn,” Neal said. Ten years in, frequent epiphanies and occasional late-night texts continue. They signal the moment bluegrass stops being an assignment and becomes part of a student’s identity.
“It’s clicked,” as Johnson said. “The history and culture of music that is rich in meaning — how to work as an ensemble, the mental and physical choreography it takes to put on a show that really draws in its audience — and more.”