Just pickin’ By Nomee Landis I
n back rooms and pickin’ parlors of rural North Carolina, a flourishing underground musical culture thrives. With its roots set in the hardships of the Great Depression and the traditional harmonies of front-porch strummers, bluegrass music is still growing strong. You just need to know where to look – and listen.
If you’ve never experienced bluegrass in these parts, venture out. Just pick an evening, and you’re bound to find enthusiastic musicians playing somewhere. Several venues in and around Fayetteville and the Sandhills region offer a fix to bluegrass devotees, but die-hard fans travel miles and miles
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to hear their music, or play it. I dare you to keep your foot from tapping. Just up U.S. 301 from Fayetteville,
on the edge of Rhodes Pond north of Godwin, is one such spot. On a cool evening, Cypress House stood like a beacon of warmth in the darkness. Inside, the coffee was strong, the cake was sweet
and the music was both, only better. The lively sounds of acoustic guitars, a banjo and a mandolin mingled in the main room as seven musicians strummed and took turns at the microphone to croon old-time hymns and favorite folk songs. About 20 people, a lighter crowd than usual, sat in folding chairs clapping,
