Carrboro: Rich with Music, Arts, and Community

March 07 2008 by Sallie Scharding

I moved to the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area in 1994 for my then-husband to complete a post-doctoral fellowship at UNC. We moved here never having heard of Chapel Hill or knowing much about the area. It was only supposed to be temporary so it didn’t matter much where we lived. Fourteen years later, I am still here and I call Carrboro home.

Once we settled in after our move, I began to discover that the area was extremely rich with music, arts, community and a like-minded awareness. I was shortly there after that I became enmeshed in the arts and music community. I found my new home offered myself and other artists, musicians, writers and creative types a myriad of opportunities to pursue their chosen art form. I pursued my songwriting here, falling into a rich community of talented songwriters. Many of us banded together and formed the NC Songwriters’ Cooperative—an organization dedicated to creating opportunities for all levels of singer/songwriters to hone their skill and perform all over the area. The Songwriters Coop is still active today and its members perform all over the triangle.

Additionally, I found my home was famous for its unique local music with its impressive roster of quality bands originating here that have garnered national attention. Members of Squirrel Nut Zippers, Archers of Loaf, SuperChunk and Tift Merritt (not to mention James Taylor, of course), among others, all called this area home. The “Chapel Hill Sound” was a nebulous, ever changing, but formidable entity that unfortunately fizzled before the outside world realized its true potential.

The Cat’s Cradle is a major component in the rich the music scene here. With high-end national acts performing weekly, the Cat’s Cradle is renown for a being a fabulous music venue, not just in Carrboro, and not just in North Carolina, but across the country.

All these levels of music—from singer/songwriter to local music to national acts, make this area what it is. This is why I live here. My home is Carrboro, and I am proud and honored to be a part of this exceptional, creative community