Moonshine, tobacco and art -- for Rachel Cox from the band Oakley Hall, those words sound perfect next to one another in a sentence. Cox grew up in North Carolina and attended college in the ultra-old-school town of Winston-Salem, where smoking cigarettes is the norm and mellow nights drinking around a bonfire take precedence over any New York velvet rope. 

Stumbling around the art scene while attending North Carolina School of Arts, Cox became acquainted with her current band-mates. They’d come down to Winston-Salem from New York City to visit and record an album. When Cox decided to move up north to pursue her own musical endeavors, she gave her pals from the band a call. Almost instantly they invited her to join ‘em in their antics. Call it luck? Call it fate? What you can call it is genuine music that’s a little bit country and little bit rock n’ roll.

So, psychoPEDIA caught up with Cox to find out more about the North Carolina hometown that birthed her country-rock sound (as well as the first Krispy Kreme donuts): 

Winston-Salem is known for being an “old school” type of city. Where do the old guard spend their time?
I’d say Reynolda Gardens. There’s definitely an old-school, old-world vibe there. There’s a famous old house that I think is called the Reynolda Mansion. There are a lot of gardens and shops all around. There’s this beautiful rose garden collection and a really beautiful green house that has all these rare orchids. The other place I’d check out is the Southeast Center for Contemporary Art . It’s an art space where they do contemporary art pieces with anything from small local artists to artists from New York as well. They have installations every quarter of the year. It’s also on really beautiful property owned by the Haines family. Haines is an old-school blueblood-money family that funds a lot of the arts in North Carolina.

Is there a place where all the artists go and hang out?
There’s this space called The Werehouse. I’ve spent a lot of time and have met many people there. The owner is this man named John Bryan. It’s an artist collective and they have a performance space on the middle floor. A bunch of the artists and musicians live there as well. They also have a recording studio, where they invite people to come and stay there to record music for weeks at a time. There’s a regular performance schedule too; you can go online on their Myspace page to check out what they’re doing. They’ve just been known as this underground space that puts on shows of artists who aren’t as mainstream. I was hanging out with all those people during college and that’s where I got back into my music again, because I had taken a break for a while.

Where are the spots where you can just kick back?
The Silvermoon. It’s a bar located on Trade Street. There’s also this place called Pete’s Billiards. It’s on Fourth Street – just a really cool pool bar dive. Be prepared, because it’s not the nicest place -- it’s a total dive bar where riff-raff are comin’ in off the street! They also have pickled eggs and pickled pigs’ feet. I’ve drunk Moonshine and it’ll get you drunker than a skunk! White lighting, corn liquor…it’s awesome stuff but really bad for your stomach. As far as restaurants go, I’d suggest, Mary’s Of Course. You can have a really nice brunch and there’s a dinner menu too. They also showcase local artists’ work.

If you were to experience the quintessential North Carolina charm in Winston-Salem, where would you go?
Well, the best thing to do is to go to someone’s house! Really, if you want the best that North Carolina has to offer, you should actually be invited to someone’s home. That’s what North Carolina is all about; you go and have gatherings with people. It’s not all about nightlife, clubs, restaurants or bars. I’d suggest going to a church or having dinner with someone at their house. That’s the way I did it when I was growing up. It was about the community. I’d be taking hikes and visiting the local people. There are also towns close to Winston-Salem, specifically a town called Highpoint, the furniture capital of the world. There are all these furniture shops and these big conventions every year where people come from all over the world! It’s a big deal there. It’s about 15 miles away from Winston-Salem.

Is the tobacco culture there still present?
Well, the Reynolds Tobacco factory, I would visit for sure. The tobacco industry basically was spawned in Winston-Salem and almost everybody there smokes! All the kids there smoke really young too! If you want to get some history about tobacco you should definitely check it out. They make camel Cigarettes, Winstons… also, if you know anything about architecture, I should mention the Reynolds building, because it’s a tiny, mini-model of the Empire State Building. They light it up just like the real one in New York. It’s really pretty…

Go There:
For overnight jaunts, psychoPEDIA recommends lodging at the Winston-Salem Inn for a taste of Old Salem.

Hear Them:

oakleyhall.net/site/

myspace.com/OakleyHall