Mr. North Carolina: Musician Jim Lauderdale

The longtime bluegrass musician and Grammy winning songwriter is a de facto ambassador for his home state’s music scene
by David Menconi

Several months in advance of MerleFest, Jim Lauderdale’s dance card was already packed with scheduled performance slots on three out of the festival’s four days. And yet that will probably represent just a fraction of the time he’ll spend onstage in Wilkesboro the last weekend of April. If this year goes the way the past quarter-century has, he’ll most likely be called on to sit in with numerous other artists — and those cameo appearances just about always lead to other things.

After playing with Ralph Stanley in the late 1990s, Lauderdale teamed up with the bluegrass patriarch to record 1999’s “I Feel Like Singing Today.” Backing up Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Elvis Costello a few years later landed Lauderdale on Costello’s 2009 album Secret, Profane & Sugarcane. And Lauderdale’s own 2020 LP When Carolina Comes Home Again featured an all-North Carolina cast of pickers and singers he’s connected with at different MerleFests over the years.

All of which keeps Lauderdale coming back. This will be his 26th year at MerleFest, which iconic guitarist Doc Watson started in 1988 in memory of his late son and playing partner Merle Watson. Doc’s been gone for more than a decade now, but MerleFest remains one of the most unique music festivals in the country.

“MerleFest has been really important to me as far as good fortune and life-changing situations,” says Lauderdale. “There’s this level of excitement as soon as you come in. You really have to bring your A-game. There are all these world-class players, and you want to keep up.”

Lauderdale is a pro’s pro, a multiple-Grammy winner who has written songs for George Strait, The Chicks, George Jones and many others. Country, folk, rock, bluegrass and other flavors of Americana run through his own 37-album discography, and he sings in a personable drawl that makes you feel like you know him, even if you’ve never actually met.

In person, Lauderdale’s graying mane and immaculately turned-out wardrobe of western pearl-snap shirts make him hard to miss. He’s a perennial favorite at festivals beyond MerleFest, and his frequent awards-show-host star turns have turned Lauderdale into a mascot for Americana. During the 15 years he spent as recurrent Americana Music Association Awards show host in Nashville, Lauderdale used to deadpan after every act’s performance, “Now that’s Americana!”

No wonder Steve Eisenstadt, bassist in the local Johnny Cash tribute act Johnny Folsom 4, says of Lauderdale: “He is the most interesting man at MerleFest.”

While he’s lived in Nashville for more than three decades, Lauderdale’s native state of North Carolina remains the place he thinks of as home. Born in the small Iredell County town of Troutman, he grew up in different towns across both Carolinas before going off to University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem and his Nashville career.

“I still can’t quite put my finger on what it is about the atmosphere there, but North Carolina is just home,” Lauderdale says. “When I’m here, I feel like this is my place. Not to make it into any sort of unreal fantasy thing, but there’s a vibe of ingrained sweetness about the people I know from North Carolina — a goodness and decency I really appreciate as I travel the world.”

Lauderdale is enough of an ambassador for The Old North State’s music for the North Carolina Museum of History to tap him in recent years as its musical host. He’s served as master of ceremonies for several of their live-music series including Southern Songbirds, Moonshine and Motorsports and Tar Heel Troubadours.

“He’s been instrumental in every step of putting these concerts together,” says Kara Leinfelder, director of business development for the newly formed North Carolina Music Office. “He was out there talking to musicians and getting people excited the way he does. Jim’s always been a great cheerleader for North Carolina music, championing emerging as well as seasoned artists. His eagerness and enthusiasm is huge.”

Lauderdale will turn 68 two weeks before MerleFest 2025, and he shows no sign of slowing down. But if he were to ever retire, it would be to North Carolina. Years ago he bought a place in Flat Rock, near Asheville, as a family estate.

“Flat Rock was where we were going every summer since I was a baby, to a church assembly place,” says Lauderdale. “I plan to keep the place forever — even though it was, unfortunately, damaged in the flood. But I’m getting it fixed.”