Music of North Carolina - Chapel Hill Rock

Chapel Hill Rock

Chapel Hill's music scene dates back to the 1950s, and really began to take off in the 60s, when the Cat's Cradle Coffeehouse nurtured local folk activity. One of the first local legends, The Corsayers (later The Fabulous Corsairs) - featuring Alex Taylor and younger brother James - could be heard around town. Later, Arrogance became a major part of the folk scene. James Taylor would go on to a very successful career as a singer-songwriter, and his "Carolina in My Mind" would become an unofficial anthem for the state. The Chapel Hill Museum opened a permanent exhibit dedicated to Taylor; at the same occasion the US-15-501 highway bridge over Morgan Creek, near the site of the Taylor family home and mentioned in Taylor's song "Copperline", was dedicated to Taylor.

The Chapel Hill music scene began to pick up steam in the 1980s when bands like The Pressure Boys, The Connells, Flat Duo Jets, Southern Culture on the Skids A Number of Things and Snatches of Pink began releasing their own records or signing to independent record labels. In the late 80's, thru the mid 90's the Chapel Hill scene reached its peak as bands such as Superchunk, Polvo, Archers of Loaf, Small, Zen Frisbee, Dillon Fence, Sex Police, Pipe, The Veldt, Metal Flake Mother and many other bands were signed to local and national labels. The Young Rock wave of music was filling the college radio airwaves.

In the late 90's, gold record and platinum success came to several Chapel Hill bands Squirrel Nut Zippers, and the piano pop trio Ben Folds Five.