The famously black water of the Lumber River ripples through the region's musical heritage. It's reflected in the songs written and performed by nationally renowned local talent, inspiring reflection on identity and lived experience. Its currents draw past voices into current tunes and carry rising artists to new audiences.
Adjacent to the river, in downtown cafes, clubs, and regionally popular arts venues, the music of Lumberton braids sounds that originated generations ago with fresh voices.
"We've got an insane amount of talent here, "says Dr. James Bass, who runs the Givens Performing Arts Center on the University of North Carolina – Pembroke campus. Midcentury jazz and blues innovators continue to infuse current generations with a deep appreciation for collaboration, looping through melodies with each cycle just a little different, like the flow of the river – constant and ever-changing.
The drum rhythms of the Lumbee Native American tribes anchor the sound most widely associated with the Lumberton-Pembroke area, exemplified by Charly Lowry.
An American Idol semifinalist, Lowry is the most famous of the sprawling local family's performers, who are embedded in arts centers and schools in the region. A member of the Lumbee tribe, she broke with convention by integrating hand drums in the songs she writes and performs. She and her band, Dark Water, are often found at Pembroke's creative venue, the Credentials Social Club.
River Voices, organized by the Robeson County Arts Council, creates street and festival performances throughout the year that provide sidewalk stages for artists like blues singer Lakota John. He draws on tribal and family stories for soulful ballads accompanied by acoustic guitar.
In conjunction with Main Street Lumberton, the autumn Art Stroll, also a product of the Arts Council, delivers a lineup of sidewalk stages with a performer and art exhibition on each block. Themes evolve seasonally, with Black musicians taking center stage in June to celebrate Juneteenth.
From March through November, Your Pie Pizza hosts a different musician every Thursday on its large outdoor patio. Inner Peace Gallery hosts jazz brunches, and Legal Grounds Coffee also showcases up-and-coming talent during its Open Mic Nights. Bring a chair or wear your dancing shoes to enjoy a night of live music with the “Alive After 5” concert series held at the Dick Taylor Plaza in downtown Lumberton.
But Robeson County has enthusiasm for big shows, too. Some of the largest events in Robeson County center around music – much of it stemming from ethnic heritage.
Pageants, with their talent shows, are much beloved of the Lumbee tribe, explains Kendrix Singletary. Pageants create stepping-stone stages for children, teens and adults as they sharpen their talent to showcase status.
Singletary, a Lumberton native, is the creative director of the Carolina Civic Center, a historic theater hosting a year-round spectrum of shows. While traveling acts are always popular (and, as at the Givens Center, a great way to catch national talent at local prices), local talent reliably claims center stage.
The Miss Lumbee Pageant, says Singletary, is where local talent gains a toehold on the stage. That, and the Lumbee homecoming festival, which involves its pageant, channels talent to the blowout annual Christmas show, the pinnacle of Lumberton's creative energy and ability. "What's unique about it is that it's all local people," says Singletary. "That's our platform – to do a show on a professional level and give local people a stage."
Renowned composer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Andersen, who has twice won the International Composer's Competition, serendipitously returned to his hometown of Lumberton just as the Civic Center restored its antique Wurlitzer organ. Now, his performances bring the organ back to eaves-rattling life.
"We have the Appalachian heritage sound that blends with piping. Whether it's bluegrass, blues, or bagpiping, there's an influence of the others we're around," says Mary Ann Masters, a local optometrist and a driving force with Scottish Heritage USA, based in Pinehurst.
Scottish immigrants planted roots in Robeson County after the American Revolution. For a couple of generations, they tuned up bagpipe technology, says Bill Caudill, director of the Scottish Heritage Center at St. Andrews University. Dense wood that arrived in the area from African ships turned out to be uniquely suited to bagpipes, and innovations rippled back to Scotland from North Carolina.
A chance encounter with bagpipes caught Caudill’s attention at nine years old. Five decades later, he's one of the most renowned players in the world. From giving lectures on Scottish heritage and running a small museum at St. Andrews to judging bagpipe competitions at the Highland Games held every October, Caudill is a one-man band promoting and preserving bagpipe skills and culture. "We're keeping it alive," he says, and that's on full display at the Games, which reliably features dozens of dancers, competing bagpipe bands, and Scottish fiddle players.
Visitors can party like a Scot at the games and then, the next day, at nearly any of the Presbyterian churches in surrounding counties, do their penance at the "Kirkin' of the Tartan" ceremonies, all to a bagpipe soundtrack.
Like Caudill, Singletary has invested his talent in the region that invested in him.
He got his start at the Civic Center at age five in a production of The Wizard of Oz. He established himself as a spotlighter on cruise ships and in Myrtle Beach, then came home to Lumberton to bring his creative journey full circle. "This place has given me a huge platform for my creativity, and that's all you can ask for as an artist," says Singletary.
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