Lorraine’s Coffee House And Music

Garner, North Carolina

The late Dixie Hall characterized Lorraine Jordan as “the hardest working woman in bluegrass.” And that was before Jordan opened Lorraine’s Coffee House and Music in her hometown of Garner, North Carolina.

Since founding Lorraine Jordan and Carolina Road in 1999, Jordan has maintained a hectic schedule, taking her traditional bluegrass music to some 40 states and 13 countries. She produces the Bluegrass Christmas in the Smokies festival, leads her booking agency, Jordan Entertainment, has recorded eleven CDs and scored four chart-topping singles, including “True Grass” and “Bill Monroe’s Ol’ Mandolin.” Additionally, she’s owned and operated the Jordan Driving School since 1991. Miss Dixie had Lorraine figured out.

While music has been Jordan’s lifelong passion, the idea for a coffee house had been percolating throughout the past decade. With no experience as a coffee entrepreneur, Jordan programmed live music for Hope Café, a coffeehouse down the road from her current place of business. 

“That’s where I got the idea,” she says. “It was a nice family atmosphere with kids and older people. There was no alcohol, no cussing. I thought I’d really like to have a place like that.”

When Hope Café closed down, Jordan began looking for a facility to serve as home for a coffee house and her other ventures. She found her mark in an abandoned drug store seven miles south of downtown Raleigh. “I rode by this building and thought it would be perfect for a coffee house. It’s in a good neighborhood, has a drive-through window, and parking. I was able to buy it in 2013. I got together with an architect and we drew up plans.” 

With her friend, Steve Dilling, a Garner resident and banjoist with Sideline, Jordan began the arduous task of transforming the gutted building into her headquarters centered around food, fellowship, and live music.  Modeled on Nashville’s fabled Station Inn, Lorraine’s Coffee House and Music opened its doors in 2014. Sideline was the first band to play, and the concert was Sideline’s debut as a full-time band. 

The room’s alluring décor is a combination museum, coffee house, and concert hall. Walls are festooned with photographs of bluegrass and country music notables, concert and festival posters. Patrons can choose among a variety of traditional and boutique coffee beverages, sandwiches, pizza, salads, ice cream and other treats to enjoy while listening to music play over the large flat-screen TVs suspended throughout the room. Lorraine’s “museum” even has its own gift shop where you can buy T-shirts, CDs, and other memorabilia featuring Carolina Road.  

“We have a seating capacity of 100,” Jordan says. “I’ve always respected the Station Inn. I try to model myself after them by being known as a bluegrass venue with live music, a jamming facility, open mic night, and open stage. It’s a place where people know they can always come and find live music.”

With music as centerpiece, Lorraine’s serves the community in many ways. Patrons can always find a good cup of coffee and other treats. But the coffee house also hosts community activities. Each Sunday, Lorraine’s features the music-centric Just Jesus Church Service with pastor Alan Hicks. A former member of David Alan Coe’s band, pastor Hicks also plays bass with the Legends, a country band featured regularly at Lorraine’s. Tuesday afternoons are devoted to crochet class, and Thursday nights alternate between karaoke and open mic nights.   

Fridays are bluegrass nights, with local or national talent. Classic country takes the stage on Saturdays, along with nationally-renowned bluegrass acts. February’s schedule brought IBMA award winners Danny Paisley and Joe Mullins to Lorraine’s. Williamson Branch, featuring IBMA Momentum Award vocalist, Melody Williamson, will take the stage in April.

“National bands will catch me when they’re passing through,” says Jordan. “And this is a home for local bands. Some of the larger acts we have had include include Joe Mullins and Ramblers Ramblers, Junior Sisk Band, Larry Stephenson, Little Roy and Lizzy Amanda Cooke, Williamson Branch, Danny Paisley, Deeper Shade of Blue, Caroline and Company and many others. Carolina Road makes its home here. We play every quarter.”

Sideline’s Steve Dilling helped Jordan in the early days of the Coffee House. Serving as general manager, he helped with booking bluegrass and assisted in selecting and installing the sound system. “People like Joe Mullins and Larry Stephenson have mentioned to me how much they enjoy playing there,” Dilling says. “And being in Raleigh, it routes well on the way to other shows. People are very complimentary of the sound, the food, and everything. 

“Being a musician herself, Lorraine knows how important a sound system is. Acoustic music is a different challenge with sound versus electric instruments. We talked about it and went the extra mile to get good equipment.”

Jordan is especially pleased that her Friday night bluegrass shows are streamed live from the Garner stage to fans around the world. Live streaming offered free entertainment throughout the COVID lockdown in 2020, and continues to bring live music to digital devices worldwide. Streaming also enables fans to send immediate feedback during each performance. As the Garrett Newton Band served up its hard-charging traditional ‘grass during February’s show, 17,000 viewers tuned in from ten U.S. states and as far off as Belgium, India, and Japan.

Drawing inspiration from J.T. Gray’s Station Inn, Lorraine turned to Creative Consultant, Mickey Stroud, to create a broadcast program that  could take quality bluegrass to a broader audience. Stroud worked with Jeff Brown, who spearheaded the Station Inn set up, and “Live at Lorraine’s” was born. Almost immediately the bluegrass audience began growing a thousand views at a time. 

The broadcast team is primary comprised of volunteers working for the love of the music. Rich Gradle, lead camera is a retired nuclear engineer. Dr. Tom Langdon, camera man, is a seasoned musician. The sound men, Donnie Fowler and Wayne Morris, are musicians who run the sound boards. Doug Whitley, host of Hwy 40 Bluegrass Jamboree radio show serves as the Master of Ceremonies  for the Bluegrass shows. Sammy Passamano, Blue Grass music TV, provided audio and streaming suggestions as the system began to grow. You can go to Lorraine’s coffee house Facebook page and watch the live stream 7:30 pm eastern time on Friday nights.

“J.T. Gray was a big inspiration the way he ran the Station Inn and did his streaming,” Jordan says. “We learned a lot from him. A lot of people haven’t been able to come to our shows because of COVID or the weather. We hope it doesn’t keep them from coming here and seeing the bands, because we give the bands 100 percent of the door. But if people can’t come to our shows, they can go to Lorraine’s Coffee House webpage and watch the live stream. 

“I like the way it’s put this place on the map. We’re known worldwide. When they come to IBMA [in Raleigh], people come over and say, ‘We had to come see the world-famous Lorraine’s Coffee House.’ They like to see the place their streaming is from, and they’re always so amazed. When they walk in, it’s like, ‘I didn’t know it was going to be a museum.’”

Among her passions, Jordan remains committed to promoting women in bluegrass. In 2006, she and her fellow musicians were honored with Recorded Event of the Year for their well-received “Daughters of Bluegrass” CD. The same honor was bestowed in 2009 for the follow-up, “Proud to be a Daughter of Bluegrass.”

Through the years, Jordan has managed to assemble an experienced band with first-class skills. Currently, Carolina Road features Ben Greene (banjo, vocals), Randy Graham (guitar, vocals), Allen Dyer (guitar, lead vocals), Matt Hooper (fiddle, tech), Kevin Lamm (bass, vocals), and Jordan (mandolin, vocals).

With encyclopedic knowledge of traditional bluegrass and country music, Dyer performed with the Garrett Newton Band prior to joining Carolina Road. Bluegrass fans have seen Hooper pull the bow with Kickin’ Grass Band and Don Rigsby and Midnight Call. Graham’s previous bands include Blueridge, Bluegrass Cardinals, and Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver. Greene, whom Jordan calls her “rock, is a 16-year veteran with Carolina Road. He came to the band after stints with Lost and Found, James King, Charlie Moore, David Parmley and Continental Divide and others. Lamm kept time for regional North Carolina bands before joining Carolina Road.

For Graham, it’s Lorraine’s leadership, loyalty to and fair treatment of her band members that has kept him with her through the years. “She doesn’t ask you to do anything that she wouldn’t do,” he says. “She’s a good person to work for as far as being fair.”

Because her heart beats to the rhythm of bluegrass music’s pioneers, Lorraine Jordan has long been recognized as the “Lady of Tradition.” Her band is fashioned accordingly, and has made its mark with music that’s rootsy, spirited, and bold.

A broad blue banner hoisted high above the stage at Lorraine’s Coffee House and Café declares, “BLUEGRASS NATIONAL CHARTS: 4 NUMBER  1 SONGS.”  “A Light in the Window Again” (2013), “That’s Kentucky” (2015), “True Grass” (2018). And “Bill Monroe’s Ol’ Mandolin” (2020) have all reached the top of the Bluegrass Unlimited song chart. That’s quite an achievement for any artist. But even rarer is scoring the top spot with two consecutive releases: “True Grass (Why Can’t Bluegrass Just be True Grass Again)” and “Bill Monroe’s Ol’ Mandolin,” both written by Nashville songwriter, David Stewart. “Bill Monroe’s Ol’ Mandolin” was the most played song from the Bluegrass Unlimited charting stations in 2021.

Jordan and Stewart met through their association with country star, Eddy Raven.  Raven had appeared on Carolina Road’s 2015 Pinecastle CD, “All Grassed Up.” He suggested Jordan contact Stewart, who was interested in writing bluegrass songs. 

“Lorraine and I had had conversations about bluegrass not being so traditional and how we both love tradition in the music,” Stewart recalls. “I was lying in bed and about 2 a.m. the title, ‘True Grass,’ came to me. I went to my studio and began to write. By 4 or 5 that morning, I had the song completed. I laid it down with just guitar and vocal and sent it to Lorraine. About 15 minutes later she called and said, ‘I love this song!’ She enlisted Danny Paisley and Junior Sisk to sing on it. They did a stellar job.”

Later that year, Stewart was relaxing at home after returning from a gig. He turned his TV to a rebroadcast of Ricky Skaggs’ induction to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Stewart, Bill Monroe, and the Skaggs family had attended the same church in Hendersonville, Tenn., some 20 miles northeast of Nashville. During the ceremony, Skaggs was handed Bill Monroe’s famed Loar F-5 mandolin. Stewart felt a close connection to his friend as Skaggs caressed and addressed the iconic instrument, and played “Will the Circle be Unbroken.”

Stewart grabbed his guitar and began to sing, “The night Ricky played Bill Monroe’s mandolin.” Stewart blended what he’d observed with Monroe history, and “Bill Monroe’s Ol’ Mandolin” emerged. He sent the song to Lorraine Jordan, who responded with an enthusiastic, “I love this song! It was meant for Carolina Road!”

Asked why he and Jordan seem to have a special musical bond, Stewart explains, “I study artists intensely—their music and harmonies. I got to know Lorraine and her heart, and that she is such a fan of tradition. I knew she had to be the one to present ‘True Grass.’ It fit her band so well. 

“With ‘Bill Monroe’s Ol’ Mandolin,’ I immediately thought of Lorraine because I know how reverent she is of Bill Monroe’s music. She likes to play his style on mandolin. We always have to have people like Lorraine who hold on to tradition. Without the roots, the tree dies no matter where the branches go.”

Jordan adds, “It has to be about what’s in your heart, what you care about. I care about traditional bluegrass. I care about where it came from, the roots of it.” 

From IBMA awards to her coffee house and chart-topping success, Jordan has earned her reputation as the hard-working “Lady of Tradition.” Whatever ventures lay ahead, fans can be sure she will engage them with determination and verve, and they will honor the bluegrass  music she lives and loves.

Ben Greene agrees. “I’ve never seen anybody like her. I like a down day every once in a while. But she is doing something every single day, and it’s usually some pretty major stuff. I’ve never seen nobody like her.

“When she gets her mind on something, you might as well just go ahead and go with it because it’s gonna happen.”