by Mark E. Waterbury

Carl attended Appalachian State University where he originally pursued a degree in anthropology and archeology. Finding that there were no jobs in those fields, he acquired a business degree which would lead to his investment career. For his entire life though, due to his love of music, Carl attended concerts and shows. One day, Carl happened into a bar that he had never been into before. "The guy that ran this bar needed someone to run this radio show, andout of nowhere said we would do it. The station was WNCW which is a public radio station that covers most of western North Carolina and other nearby areas, playing a variance of Americana music from the Dead and Van Morrison to Bob Dylan and John Coltrane along with blues and bluegrass shows." Jumping right into it, Carl and his wife Sandy became DJs at WNCW, which led to involvement with other aspects of the station. Carl and Sandy seemed to like volunteering to help asemcees for shows since the station staff was spread so thin. They attended many concerts, including the Black Mountain Music Festival which took place near the town of that name. "I was the emcee for the whole weekend and they needed some help working with the festival, so we said we could do that. They said they had problems with certain people who worked with them so I asked what they were charging to do it. I offered to do it for free. So we started working with that and it mushroomed from there."

Black Mountain changed its name to Flat Rock and became one of the better known and more prestigious festivals in the Southeast. Carl became involved with several aspects of the fest. "Since I was used to calling people up with my (stockbroker) job, I would call agents or bands to book them for the show. It was also up to me to set up the slots for the bands to perform and build the schedule. We had someone doing the more singer/songwriter part of it and I did the bands." Along with booking the bands, Carl also got involved with stage managing at Flat Rock. Because Carl loved doing the work and people knew he did, he ended up getting offers to work with other festivals. Over the next few years he worked with around seven more events including the Hickory Smoke BBQ Fest. Sometimes he showed up at one of the festivals that he was booking just to check things out and they would ask him to help them manage the stage for a couple hours, just to help it go smoother. "All running stages entails is managing egos," Carl notes ruefully. "Telling someone it's time to stop playing and get off stage, we have someone else coming in now. Some people don't handle that kind of job well, but I happen to do that good. I've gotten to the point where it doesn't bother me and people understand what you're trying to do, and as long as you are nice about it, it usually works out. They have turned me loose now to run the stages the way I do and try to avoid the train wrecks that sometimes happen."

"It's real hard for me to say no when I am asked to do something. It's 'hey, there's a hole there, OK, well I'll do it'." This happened again for Carl when bands and musicians he had met over the years began asking him to produce them. Drawing upon his ear that he developed in studios when he was trying to become a musician, Carl donned the producing cap, and is soon going to be working on his fourth recording in that aspect. Carl and Sandy don't work with WNCW quite as much anymore and Sandy quit her day job to work more with producing, something that Carl is discovering he has a real passion for. "I've just found out that I really like it and might even be good at it. Getting there is not quite as fun, but after I get there and have music coming out of the speakers and it sounds like it is going to work, then that is really satisfying."

Because he's a very busy person, Carl does not want to wear any more hats in the music industry in the future, although he may start his own label eventually. Yes, stockbroking is paying most of the bills but there is no denying where Carl's true passions lie. "I have four children and music doesn't pay well, you know. But if I could make money by just working with music, I would sure do it. It's great that we cover a lot of music at the fests, from singer/songwriter and blues to Americana to bluegrass. It's really fun to work with all of those styles."

Carl's advice for musicians: "It's really hard to get out there sometimes and get those gigs. You have to be persistent. You have to do those open mics and you need to open for this person or that person. You just have to keep at it and if you live like nobody else will for awhile, you can live like nobody else can later. It's paying your dues, and there are plenty of people out there who have paid their dues and are still getting out and doing open mics. There is a lot more competition than there used to be."