CNN Feature, Healthy Bites, Citizen Studios History
- February 27, 2023 -
Citizen Vinyl was recently featured on a CNN segment. We’re thrilled to share our thoughtfully curated space with a wider community.
“Citizen Vinyl is a celebration of music and community,” says founder Gar Ragland. The feature also shares the inspiration to bring manufacturing back to downtown Asheville by repurposing the 1939 Citizen-Times Building which, for decades, housed the operations of the local newspaper.
We’re grateful to CNN for sharing our story!
Healthy Bites
In case you haven’t stopped in for lunch at Session Café and Bar lately, here are a couple of delicious, filling, and vegetarian-friendly options:
• BABY KALE SALAD with roasted root vegetables, grated raw beets and carrots, pepitas and sunflower seeds, and chevre.
• VEGGIE BURGER with carrot ketchup, pickled beets, baby kale, and Dare vegan cheese spread.
Citizen Studios History
Did you know Citizen Vinyl was with former home of iconic radio station WWNC? In fact, WNCW’s Studio B was renovated and is now Citizen Studios.
Old Fort, N.C., natives Wiley and Zeke Morris — aka The Morris Brothers — were among the popular country duets of the 1930s and ’40s. Their claims to fame include being the first band to hire bluegrass legend Earl Scruggs, and making the first recording of the bluegrass classic “Salty Dog Blues.”
In a 1978 interview Zeke reported, “To trace it back, we are the ones, with Charlie and Bill Monroe, who started this kind of music,” meaning bluegrass. The Morris Brothers turned down the chance to be part of WSM Radio’s “Grand Ole Opry” show in 1942. The Nashville-based program turned country musicians into stars.
According to Zeke’s interview, the Morris Brothers “Were making too much money on WWNC in Asheville.” WWNC, a CBS station, was located in the Citizen-Times building (now home to Citizen Vinyl) starting in 1939.
In retrospect, according to hillbilly-music.com, Zeke says if he had known what he knows now, they would have gone to Nashville. “But then things wasn’t like now. You didn’t take chances then.”
For studio inquiries, please email us at studio@citizenvinyl.com.
