Catch up on NC music with this mid-summer progress report from some of our state’s most notable acts, albums and songs
by David Menconi
Luke Combs, “I Ain’t No Cowboy”
Around the time he went into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame last fall, Luke Combs surpassed Garth Brooks to become country music’s highest-certified artist, a measure that combines album sales and streams. No wonder Time magazine had him on its cover as one of the world’s most influential people. Combs is touring stadiums now, showing off his latest album, The Way I Am, and its leadoff single “I Ain’t No Cowboy.”
Reese McHenry, “Absolution, Baby”
Before her 2024 death from cancer, Durham’s much-beloved Reese McHenry was a powerhouse vocalist. Friends pulled together a dozen recordings she left behind to make Forever, a posthumous swan song that shows range well beyond high-intensity howling. But wild-eyed rocking out was always McHenry’s best look, especially “Absolution, Baby.”
J. Cole, “The Fall-Off Is Inevitable”
Fayetteville rapper J. Cole gave Raleigh Dreamville, an annual festival that drew stadium-sized crowds to Dix Park. The fifth edition, in 2025, was Cole’s last one, although the city has expressed interest in carrying it on independently. But in the meantime, Cole remains one of the most popular artists in rap. This year’s The Fall-Off is his seventh straight studio album to top the pop charts. The quasi-title track “The Fall-Off Is Inevitable” narrates his life story in reverse, death to birth.
Chris Stamey & Caitlin Cary, “The New Colossus (Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor)”
Inspired by the late folk legend Pete Seeger’s Ecclesiastes composition “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” Chapel Hill pop mastermind Chris Stamey set Emma Lazarus’ 1883 poem on the Statue of Liberty to music. Singer/artist Caitlin Cary harmonizes beautifully on this zen meditation, invoking “your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
Crooked Fingers, “From All Ways”
Eric Bachmann remains best-known as leader of 1990s-vintage Chapel Hill indie rockers Archers of Loaf. He’s since pursued a wide-ranging solo career under various names, including Crooked Fingers, whose latest album is the mortality-obsessed Swet Deth. It has sharply rendered grown-up pop songs and a long list of noteworthy guests including Sharon Van Etten, Superchunk’s Mac McCaughan, and, on “From All Ways,” The National’s Matt Berninger.
Snail Mail, “My Maker”
Speaking of mortality obsessions, death is very much a presence on Ricochet, Lindsey “Snail Mail” Jordan’s third album (and first since she moved to High Point from New York). Recorded at Mitch Easter’s Kernersville studio Fidelitorium, Ricochet is a lovely set of dreamy, textured pop with to-die-for hooks. That goes double for “My Maker,” on which the singer is hanging around an airport bar before boarding a flight to heaven: “Waitin’ ‘round to die/To see what happens after.” Existential dread never sounded so pretty.
Sluice, “Torpor”
Speaking of New York, North Carolina native Justin Morris lived up there long enough for the place to leave some scars. From the latest Sluice album, Companion, “Torpor” recounts a home-invasion robbery that Morris had the misfortune to experience. But he understates the trauma of the experience by crooning lines like, “Get on the [expletive] ground,” which makes it just that much more haunting. Safely back home in the Triangle now, Morris is also a key member of folk supergroup Weirs.
BigDumbHick, “Love Everybody”
BigDumbHick is Kernersville’s Jeff Wall, who is indeed a big man. But dumb? Not so much. His fifth album, Hard To Love Sober, features an impressive cast of players and cameo guests including Drive-By Truckers co-leader Patterson Hood and bluegrass stars Michael Cleveland, Riley Baugus and John Cowan. And the album more than lives up to that title, too, with plenty of songs that play like dispatches from the dark side. But there’s some good-natured positivity, too, like his admonition to “love everybody and don’t be a dick.”
Reyna Tropical & Xiuhtezcatl, “Camino”
Durham’s Grammy-nominated electronic duo Sylvan Esso heads up a thriving collective with operations including a recording studio, festivals like October’s Good Moon and the coolest boutique label in town. Called Psychic Hotline, it puts an immense amount of goodness into the world. One of its best 2026 releases is the summertime groove “Camino,” a fantastic collaboration between polyglot Los Angeles ensemble Reyna Tropical and hip-hop activist Xiuhtezcatl.
Johnny Folsom 4, “I Still Miss Someone”
Just about the greatest Johnny Cash tribute band in all the land, Raleigh’s Johnny Folsom 4 is a spectacular live act thanks in large part to frontman David Burney’s voice and charismatic presence. But the group has never captured that fire on record, until now. They recorded The Sun Set at Memphis’ legendary Sun Studios, where Cash and a truck driver named Elvis had their breakthroughs in the 1950s. It’s terrific, with “I Still Miss Someone” among the highlights.
Bryan Sutton with Billy Strings, “The Devil Went Down to Deep Gap”
Asheville’s Bryan Sutton teams up with Grammy-winner Billy Strings to take on Charlie Daniels’ iconic 1980 hit “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” recast as the story of North Carolina folk legend Arthel Lane “Doc” Watson. The cherry on top is bluegrass legend Del McCoury playing the devil. Hard to say what Watson, a devout Christian, would have thought — but this scorches.
This article originally appeared in the July 2026 issue of WALTER magazine.
