Q&A with PBS North Carolina Producer James Mieczkowski

Checking in on the Shaped by Sound series featuring North Carolina musicians as it enters its second season.
as told to Addie Ladner

Last year, PBS North Carolina premiered its Emmy-winning Shaped by Sound series, a show that celebrates North Carolina musicians and their stories. One part live concert, one part Q&A, the first season featured a range of artists, including Iron & Wine, Nnenna Freelon, Blue Cactus and Shirlette Ammons. Each artist was directly involved in their set designs — Blue Cactus had a dream-like set with clouds and a dim blue haze, Ammons created the vibe of a home studio with fluorescent lights — to create a deeply personal televised concert. “We wanted to build a universe that reflects who they are, and do that with the sets. A big part of season one was to make sure the performance space was a reflection of these artists,” says show producer James Mieczkowski.

Returning for season two, Mieczkowski says audiences can expect the same general format, but an even deeper and broader range of genres and Carolina regions represented by the performers. “We sort of picked up where we left off, but what is intentionally larger is the narrative for these artists. We’re sharing their stories and music and offering a full picture of North Carolina’s music,” says Mieczkowski. For season two, expect an all star range including 90s rock band The Connells from the Triangle and R&B musician Cyanca now based in Charlotte but originally from Smithfield. “She blew me away with her music and her story is so cool,” says Mieczkowski.

We caught up with Mieczkowski to talk about Shaped by Sound Season 2 and what folks can expect.

Was there anything you decided to do differently going into season 2?

I think we were just able to expand on the artists a little bit more. For the first season, it was sort of abstract and unknown, and we were asking people to participate. For this one, people were coming to us, and we were able to bring in some folks that I think are really interesting. Anthony Hamilton is an R&B artist who has millions of fans; Ben Folds is another one who’s super well known. I feel like artists were even more excited this season and would come and say, I heard about season one, and we are ready to join for season two.

How hard was it to choose 13 artists to feature?

We started with one really long spreadsheet, where we aggregated as many artists as possible through our own knowledge and recommendations. So we start with this big picture and then think, Ok how do we represent the state in the best way possible? We’re thinking geographically, from the mountains to the sea. And then also outside of that, it’s thinking about genres, race, all of that, to capture the essence of North Carolina’s music. And then, outside of that, you think, Okay, well, we really want to also work with artists that are eager to tell their story and open to working with us.

A lot of people associate North Carolina with bluegrass and folk music. What other genres are connected to our state?

In this season, we see some acts come from these different traditional musical backgrounds, reinterpreting them for this modern era. The band Wednesday, for example, is in this indie rock space, but using a pedal steel guitar more like you’d see in country music — the result is this shoegaze punk rock. We also worked with another group, The Tan and Sober Gentlemen, who grew up listening and playing traditional Irish folk music, but they were huge metal fans and found a way to sort of combine these two.

What are a few acts that might not be on our readers’ radar yet, but should be?

We have an incredible jazz scene in the Triangle and Al Strong is a huge part of that. He was able to bring in a lot of other musicians from Durham to play with him, so that’s a really great episode. We have gospel music too. It was a genre we wanted to make sure we covered because there’s a wealth of it within North Carolina, specifically Eastern NC. We were able to bring in a group called Faith & Harmony. I’m not particularly religious, but being in that studio and recording with them, I felt like I was levitating off the floor a little. It was incredible. Out of Asheville, there’s a group called River Whyless that makes just really beautiful Appalachian folk music. They were so much fun to work with and came with all these really great ideas for the set and production design.

Was this the first time for some of these musicians to do a full-on studio-produced show?

Yes, it was for a good amount and that’s sort of the purpose of what this was about. It’s not just a television show, but a platform that allows these artists to share their incredible work and their stories with a much wider audience.

Catch the premiere of Shaped by Sound Season 2 on Feb. 5 on PBS North Carolina