Music Great Jim Lauderdale Releases Love Song for North Carolina
When Carolina Comes Home Again
Raleigh, N.C. (September 17, 2019) — Grammy winning singer-songwriter Jim Lauderdale released a new single today dedicated to his home state of North Carolina in celebration of 2019 as the Year of Music.
When Carolina Comes Home Again, written by Lauderdale and John Oates (one half of the bestselling duo, Hall & Oates) with support from Come Hear North Carolina, was recorded at Echo Mountain Recording in Asheville.
"I grew up in the Carolinas - it’s where I wrote my first songs, made my first music, where my whole journey began, and to some part of me it still feels like home,” Lauderdale said. “This song brings out my feeling of longing about returning to Carolina from being far away. I’m so grateful to John Oates (who was a teen age Doc Watson fanatic) for letting me write this with him.” The digital single is now available here.
Born in Statesville, N.C., Lauderdale has been the creative mind behind thirty-two albums over decades of recording. A new album, From Another World, was released this year on Yep Roc Records, a Hillsborough-based label.
“To have a musician of Jim’s talent create a special song for our Come Hear North Carolina campaign is remarkable and so meaningful for all of us who love North Carolina,” said Susie Hamilton, Secretary North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. “Jim wrote this as a love song to North Carolina, but it is also a gift.”
As an Americana icon and an A-list Nashville songwriter, Lauderdale has written songs that helped artists like George Strait, the Dixie Chicks, Patty Loveless, Lee Ann Womack, Blake Shelton, Solomon Burke, Gary Allan and Vince Gill sell millions of albums. Some of his classic songs include “Where the Sidewalk Ends”, “You Don’t Seem to Miss Me”, “Hole in My Head”, “Halfway Down” and “We Really Shouldn’t Be Doing This.”
When Carolina Comes Home Again is the latest in a long line of projects commissioned by the North Carolina Arts Council as part of the Come Hear NC initiative with the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Previous projects include a series of documentaries on the recently-reunited Durham hip-hop legends Little Brother, and a Nina
Simone Weekend at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh (August 16-18). In partnership with the National Trust and the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission, funds raised from Nina Simone Weekend's programming - which included a performance by Lisa Simone (daughter of Nina Simone) - are being used to restore the childhood home of Nina Simone in Tryon, NC. Come Hear NC also has unveiled the In The Water video series, featuring performances by N.C. musicians filmed in iconic North Carolina locations. The debut episode features the avant-garde harpist Mary Lattimore performing at the historic Chapel of Rest in Happy Valley near Lenoir, N.C. and the second featured Vanessa Ferguson from NBC's The Voice performing at the Nina Simone house.
This year, The First Lady of North Carolina Kristin Cooper and Come Hear NC launched Music at the Mansion, an unprecedented concert series filmed at the North Carolina Executive Mansion. Come Hear NC is also sponsoring programming with Americana Music Association, Yep Roc Records, Merge Records, MerleFest, Hopscotch Music Festival, the Wide Open Bluegrass Festival held in conjunction with the International Bluegrass Association’s annual event in Raleigh, N.C. and more. For more information visit www.ComeHearNC.com.