Rocky Mount, North Carolina

October 23, 2025
Venue: Larema Beverage Co
Population: 54,175
Demographic: 63% Black, 28% White
21% Below the povery line

The fourth concert of Gather Hear North Carolina was in Rocky Mount, circling back to the vicinity of our first two tour stops, Roanoke Rapids and Wilson. We were performing a lot in this north central region, since a lot of the highest poverty areas in the state are concentrated here. Rocky Mount is the birthplace of Thelonious Monk, American jazz piano legend. As we drove aimlessly around the small downtown upon arrival, we yelled out some expletives when a huge mural of Monk unexpectedly came into sight. 

Chris is from North Carolina, and he had shared with me the rich history of musical legends who had come out of his state. His impression as a young musician was that there is such a wealth of talent in North Carolina, but not enough opportunities for them to thrive. In fact, I had had unprecedented difficulty planning this tour. My offer to perform was met with a lot of indifference, and it took much more effort than usual to construct a full itinerary with great presenters. Maybe Chris’ point was related? With a plethora of local musical talent and not enough performance opportunities for them, who was I to come in with more competition? Sometimes it’s hard for people not to fall into the traps of a scarcity mindset. 

Our presenter in Rocky Mount had quite the opposite of a scarcity mindset, and jumped at the opportunity to present us, which I so appreciated. Kevin owns three coffee houses in the area, two in Rocky Mount and one in Wilson, named Larema Coffee and Larema Beverage Co. When he moved here, he saw a need in the community for gathering spaces and good drinks. Indeed, downtown Rocky Mount felt pretty rough around the edges when we explored; Larema Coffee felt like a warm and safe sanctuary. [here is a sweet blog post I found by an excited local when Kevin opened the coffee shop]

Our concert venue was not the coffee shop downtown, but at Larema Beverage Co. a couple miles away in the Rocky Mount Mills on the Tar River. Built in 1816, Rocky Mount Mills was the second cotton mill in North Carolina, a huge factory that used exclusively Black labor, most of whom were slaves. In recent years it’s been turned into a hip business complex with numerous microbreweries, loft spaces, and restaurants. 

Our concert would unexpectedly turn out to be a bittersweet one. We had time to kill the afternoon of the concert, so I was hanging out at Larema for a couple hours drinking one of their in-house brewed beers on their terrace. We set up early. The Beverage Co is not in the factory, but in one of the “mill houses” - a small historic house, with little sitting nooks, wood floors, and pretty green molding accenting the space. We placed the in a little corner next to the fireplace, with cafe tables a couple feet away. This reminded me so much of our cafe concert in Seward, Alaska, what now feels like eons ago.