David Menconi

David Menconi is North Carolina's 2019 Piedmont Laureate, and a longtime music/arts critic. His writing has appeared in the Raleigh News & Observer, Rolling Stone, New York Times, Spin, Billboard and Salon.com. See davidmenconi.com for more. His latest book is "Step It Up and Go: The Story of North Carolina Popular Music, from Blind Boy Fuller and Doc Watson to Nina Simone and Superchunk," published by University of North Carolina Press. Previous books include 2015's "Comin' Right at Ya," a history of the band Asleep at the Wheel co-written with Ray Benson and published by University of Texas Press; 2012's "Ryan Adams: Losering, A Story of Whiskeytown" (UT Press); and a novel, 2000's "Off the Record." See more at loseringbook.wordpress.com.