Mark Kemp on Muck Rack

Mark Kemp

As seen in: The New York Times, Bandcamp Daily, Rolling Stone, The Charlotte Observer, Greensboro News & Record, San Francisco Weekly, Our State, Creative Loafing Charlotte, Acoustic Guitar
Covers:  North Carolina, music, culture, outdoors

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Mark Kemp’s Biography

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Mark Kemp is the senior editor at Our State magazine in North Carolina. A graduate of East Carolina University, he has served as music editor of Rolling Stone and vice president of music editorial for MTV Networks. In 1997 he received a Grammy nomination for his liner notes to the CD Farewells & Fantasies, a retrospective of music by the 1960s protest singer Phil Ochs. His book Dixie Lullaby: A Story of Music, Race and New Beginnings in a New South was published by Free Press/Simon & Schuster i…

Mark Kemp’s Journalist Portfolio

POP/JAZZ; Coming Home To a New Strain Of Southern Rock

POP/JAZZ; Coming Home To a New Strain Of Southern Rock

ONE evening not long ago I was backstage at Wetlands, a rock club on the Lower West Side of Manhattan, talkin…

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The Green Book Guide to North Carolina | Our State

The Green Book Guide to North Carolina | Our State

Early in Dr. Dudley E. Flood's distinguished career as a North Carolina educator, he and his wife, Barbara, w…

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Beck: The Rolling Stone Interview

Beck: The Rolling Stone Interview

You gotta do the chicken thing again." Beck's manager interrupts the 26-year-old singer's lunch on the set of…

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All the Young Dudes: Bowie at 50 - Mark Kemp

All the Young Dudes: Bowie at 50 - Mark Kemp

In 1997, I was invited to David Bowie's small 50th birthday party at the English restaurant Tea & Sympathy in…

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Yoko Ono: She Who Laughs Last - Mark Kemp

Yoko Ono: She Who Laughs Last - Mark Kemp

It was still chilly in New York City in the spring of 1992 when I flew in from Los Angeles to interview Yoko …

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RIP 'The Village Voice': My Life in the Ailing World of Alt-Weeklies - Mark Kemp

RIP 'The Village Voice': My Life in the Ailing World of Alt-Weeklies - Mark Kemp

Ad sales at Creative Loafing were still down after several years of post-recession slump, and the local publi…

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Articles

Creating Community at the East Boone Listening Room

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By Mark Kemp
| Our State Verified
The grandmothers are watching. Their portraits — some softly faded vintage color photographs, others black-and-white prints — line the exposed-brick walls of Betty’s Biscuits in downtown Boone. Outside, a cold mountain breeze drifts down West Main Street, but inside this cozy restaurant, the air is warm with scents of butter and coffee. Conversation softens to a murmur as the first gentle strums of a guitar ripple across the room.
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Cleveland County’s Bluegrass Legend

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By Mark Kemp
| Our State Verified
The boy spent his rare moments of idle time on his family’s 40-acre farm traipsing through the garden behind his mama’s house. Skipping amid tomato and okra plants, he’d spot patches of crabgrass, snap up one of the long, jointed stems, put one end between his teeth, and pull the other end taut. When he plucked it with his right hand, its reedy twang sounded to him like nature’s symphony.
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North Carolina, Noted: Rhonda Gouge

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By Mark Kemp
| Our State Verified
North Carolina, Noted: Tune in as Senior Editor Mark Kemp immerses readers and listeners in the roots and rhythms of North Carolina, discovering how gospel choirs and radio shows, beach music and bluegrass, mariachi and marching bands all contribute to the soundtrack of our state. Click here to read the story from our August 2025 issue. Click below to hear Mark read his column aloud. Our Storytellers podcast brings the pages of the magazine to life, featuring the voices of six Our State writers.
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Interview

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What was your first job as a journalist?

Cop reporter

Have you ever used a typewriter?

All through college.

Who's your favorite fictional journalist?

Stephen Colbert
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