Durham is a medium-sized city that has made outsized contributions to the musical life of North Carolina, the United Sta...

Durham is a medium-sized city that has made outsized contributions to the musical life of North Carolina, the United States, and the world. Once an epicenter of the Piedmont blues, Durham’s record labels, rockers, funkers, and jazz musicians continue to reshape genres long after Blind Boy Fuller’s heyday. Home to both Duke University and HBCU North Carolina Central University, Durham has long been a nexus for creative types, both homegrown and transplanted. The town’s musical range past and present will disabuse any cliches about Durham as some sleepy Southern town. Durham is a hospitable place for folks looking to stay creatively stimulated but not overwhelmed by an overcrowded metropolis. From Donald Byrd to Branford Marsalis, Superchunk to Sylvan Esso, Betty Davis to Communicators and Black Experience Band, Durham not only sustains musical breadth, it also goes deep. Perhaps just behind ACC basketball in terms of interest, people take music seriously in the Bull City – it’s treated self-evidently as a vital part of the everyday life of the city, and it shows in its wide array of festivals, record stores, concert venues, bands, and labels. Durham is a part of the Come Hear NC Music Community program, which prepares local governments to identify music assets within their local economy, engage with stakeholders in the music industry, and identify opportunities to expand their local creative economy. Read more about musical Durham here via the link in bio! Image: Carolina Chocolate Drops, Biscuits + Banjos Festival