Awareness Through Culture: My Top 3 Moments from the 2026 NC Folk Festival
Last year September marked my first time attending the North Carolina Folk Festival. And when I got there, I was shocked at how much fun I had. For those who may not know, I will provide a little context. Despite it being named a “folk festival” and expecting it to be filled with folk music, it’s not. I think the word folk has transformed into a broader encompassment of musical styles and genres. Because when I got there, there was blues, gospel, bluegrass, hip-hop, Latin, and of course my favorite, jazz. So needless to say, I was excited to be emersed in such a musical range. And I don’t want to leave out the plethora of food options and hundreds of artists and vendors selling their crafts.
This year, I have been planning since probably early February when they started making announcements. The headliner this year was the incomparable Roots crew. And did I mention that it was free? So, with 6-8 months of planning, I was all geared up and ready to go with one small hinderance…. the call for rain on Friday and Saturday. I was disappointed at the forecast, but plans were made, hotels were booked, and my car was gassed. So, rain or shine, I was set to go. And here is the breakdown for the Kind Rebirths Top 3 Moments.
A Performance I Wasn’t Even Supposed to See
So, Friday came, first day of the festival. Well so did the rain. And it came just as I was preparing to head to Greensboro. I will say that Friday was not as cooperative as I would have liked it, but nevertheless, life happens and obstacles appear. When we are aware of such possibilities, we can complain about them and not go OR we grin and bear it. I chose the latter.
The rain was a minor disruption. Since I couldn’t go to any of the performances, I opted for going out to dinner. So instead of moving from stage to stage, I spent the evening walking down Elm Street looking for a good spot to eat. To my surprise, I found that there was a restaurant with an outdoor patio and a group of jazz musicians playing. By this time the rain had stopped for a couple of hours, so the crowd was small, but that was just fine by me. The restaurant is called Natty Greene and if you ever go, get the catfish. Take my word for it. Even though the catfish was spectacular, the musicians were a bigger draw for me. There I enjoyed the musical stylings of Chris Crutcher and his fellow musicians.
Chris’s music and the setting was special and made the performance feel different. Since it wasn’t on the large festival stage, it gave a more intimate feeling, more personal. I didn’t have to wait in a long line for a drink, I had an excellent seat with no sight or audio obstructions. I got to hear the music just as Chris delivered it. I think that’s why I enjoyed it so much. Sometimes we get caught up in the hype of big musical performances, but we lose some of the personality contained in the music. There was no shortage here. After a long day of hustling and driving to get there, turns out, that’s all I really needed.
We spend an inordinate amount of time thinking and anticipating what’s supposed to happen, what we want to happen, forgetting and failing to notice the experience. Friday could easily have been the biggest disappointment, but it turns out that it became one of my favorite moments.
That’s the most important factors of mindful awareness – learning, recognizing, and appreciating what’s in front of us even when our expectations fall short. Despite the rain changing my plans, my evening was far from ruined. That’s largely in part due to Chris. Sitting there listening to something I wasn’t expecting to hear on that patio is a reminder that much of life’s most memorable moments don’t announce themselves nor can they be planned. We just appreciate their arrival. Thanks, Natty Greene’s and thanks, Chris (on the keys)!
(Credits: Chris Crutcher and band)
What Began as Something Quiet
The second day, Saturday, was completely different weather-wise. It started out cloudy, but then it quickly opened up and the sun took hold. In addition to the Roots performance, one of my favorite local artists was performing on one of the big stages, Mr. Leroy Pridgen IV. I met him when I first moved to North Carolina in 2024 at one of his local performances. At that time, he was performing in a trio. So, I already knew what to expect from his musical prowess.
This time, on the bigger stage, Leroy was really able to let loose as the festival’s large stage gave him room to spread his wings. And again, I was able to appreciate his work. On the horns, he is a force. I can say he’s one of the coolest artists I ever met personally.
While the music was on point and usually is, the one thing that stuck out for me was his ability to personalize this performance. And what stayed with me most was how he described his mindset for creating one of his songs. He created it as a “prayer piece” for freedom and peace. What also stood out was his mentioning of using the quiet morning prayers and meditation as fuel for creating. And to me that says a lot about his character, that his musical inspiration isn’t just fueled by his musical genius, he takes the time to quietly reflect and notice what’s present within him. And that, my friends, is a Kind Rebirth. Letting mindfulness and awareness take shape to form clarity and then allowing his creativity in music to deliver it. There is nothing but beauty that comes through that space.
Listening to Leroy (and then randomly running into him casually on the street) did something more for me and the thousands in the audience than I’m sure he realizes.
(Credits: Leroy Pridgen IV and band)
Watching the Frequency Travel
And, of course, then there was the Roots. They were the headliner, indeed. There’s nothing like watching seemingly different people from seemingly different backgrounds come together to experience great music together. So needless to say, the Roots will always bring a top-notch show and performance, but what I will remember most will be the people.
(Credit: Black Thought and the Roots)
I was fortunate to be in the VIP area (I had to. I knew it would be thousands of people, so I paid a little extra for this luxury). And while I was there, I was able to have a lot of small conversations with people I’ve never met before and respond to questions inquiring about Kind Rebirths. It was a great opportunity to discuss with people the importance of practicing a mindful approach to life and experiences and how to use that to develop awareness and clarity of direction and vision.
Despite my best intentions and best effort to provide an explanation, I appreciate the magnetism people felt toward the combination of words. To some “Kind” means compassion and virtue of nicety. To some “Rebirth” suggests the possibility or opportunity of doing something over again. Maybe it doesn’t mean either of those things to someone. But I just hope that it opens their hearts and their minds to the significance of self-reflection. It’s that type of frequency I hope to connect with others on. And while we were all in this environment, both frequency and connection were high. Because its intent is to represent something I believe wholeheartedly about, I hope that it incites just a bit of curiosity about what it might feel like to experience a return to self without the feeling of needing to be someone else or an entirely different person. We are free to be what we want authentically and holistically.
Last weekend I watched the culture of live music create the magic that’s appreciated collectively by a group of strangers. Music does that. Art does that. Literature does that. Dance does that. Theatre and film do that. When artists share their work, it becomes communal property and starts the types of conversations that may rarely occur without it. And for me, in some small way, I hope Kind Rebirths facilitated that type of growth through the conversations that were briefly had at the Roots performance.
What I took from this weekend overall is that awareness through culture can be molded to be an extremely powerful catalyst for reflection. For me, I wasn’t trying to find the mindfulness lessons in the music, in the artwork, or in any of the performances. I wanted to study how I could close the gap between the culture and any person who is willing and open enough to receive it. Then to ask, what did this awaken in you? What images, concepts, ideology, beliefs, or feelings did it challenge within you? What things did it conjure up from your memory or what did you notice that you otherwise may have easily walked past without even noticing? I went to the 2026 NC Folk Festival and met Chris Crutcher and saw the live performances of Leroy Pridgen IV and the Roots and it gave me just want I was looking for or maybe what I needed – an experience unexpected, a musical composition that was born from quiet morning prayers and meditation, and conversations with strangers that appreciated curiosity, civility, and great music. Awareness can not only change what we see and our interpretation of things, but it can also help us find or recognize meaning as things unfold beyond our immediate understanding.
Stay mindful….
Rebirth.
