In today’s digital age, music is more accessible than ever. Roughly 50,000 new songs are uploaded to streaming platforms every day, and more than 253 million tracks now sit across audio services worldwide. With more than 11 million active artists globally, standing out requires more than uploading a track. It requires connection, persistence, and a community willing to show up. While streaming opens global doors, live performance and direct audience relationships are still what build real momentum – and here in the Triangle, that momentum is building.

On any given weekend across the region, live music spills out of listening rooms, breweries, festivals, and tucked-away venues. Something special is happening in our local arts scene ... young musicians building audiences the old-fashioned way – one show, one song, one connection at a time.

Wake Forest-area singer-songwriter Grace Lucia is part of that growing wave of talent.

Grace, who attended the UNC School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, knew from kindergarten what she wanted to be. “Everybody said they wanted to be an astronaut or doctor, and I wanted to be a singer. I really wanted to be a singer.”

She fed her passion through her dad’s CD collection of Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, the Replacements, Pearl Jam, and X, along with the Laurel Canyon sound of Joni Mitchell and Linda Ronstadt, and she honed her art under Matt Brechbiel at Bella Music in Wake Forest, where she now teaches voice and guitar. Despite heart surgery and other health challenges, she estimates she played 112 gigs in 2025 and 150 the year before. She has been performing since age 12, gigging professionally since 15, and playing ticketed shows since 18. She is also taking Berklee School of Music online courses to learn the business, marketing, and management side of music.

Grace plays many solo gigs but also builds bands with a rotating cast of talented young local musicians. “Being in a band is like being in a relationship. And having a family. It’s emotional to make music with people ... it’s an emotional connection when you have people playing your music.”

The hard work is paying off. Grace is booking venues like the Cat’s Cradle, the Wake Forest Listening Room, the Flat Iron, the Pinhook, and other Triangle stages. She loves the artistic community here and the proximity to Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill.

So what fuels her success? “I try to just be nice to everyone, unless someone gives me a reason not to. I really try to create connections with people and other bands instead of keeping to myself.”

One of those connections is with the Wake Forest-area indie rock band Flatrock, made up of members Aslan Joyner, Dan Saffold, Jack Chapman, and Dylan Kendrick. Alongside original music, they cover everything from the Grateful Dead and Hendrix to the Foo Fighters and John Mayer.

Three members have known each other since high school, which adds to their chemistry. “It didn’t start off as a big dream,” says Saffold. “But it was more like, ‘Oh, this actually works. We’ve got something here.’” The band members also perform with Grace at times.

Each brings a strong musical background. Chapman began playing at eight and wrote his first song at 11. “I was like, ‘This is fun,’” he says. Joyner grew up listening to Dave Matthews, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, and Jeff Buckley, along with Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Saffold studied jazz bass in Durham, and Kendrick was immersed in studio production growing up in Virginia.

Like many young bands, they are learning the realities of booking shows and presenting themselves professionally. “You just gotta be persistent,” says Joyner. “It’s been really helpful that we started thinking of the band as a business, even though we’re artists.”

Saffold adds, “You have to know how to format your email, put together a great EPK (Electronic Press Kit), be clear in the language you use, and be personable.”

Flatrock is currently recording its first record at Kendrick’s uncle’s studio in Virginia Beach. They’ve landed gigs at Slim’s, Schoolkids Records, and the Cat’s Cradle and played the main stage at Wake Forest’s Meet in the Street in 2025.

But whether in the studio or on stage, the heart of it remains the same. “You kind of settle in and it’s almost spiritual … like an awakening. Time disappears and you’re just there, playing music that flows out of you,” says Chapman.

What drives these young artists is a true love for music and the excitement of where it might lead. As Grace says, “I definitely see myself performing until I drop dead. Until I’m 100 years old. That’s my plan. As my cousin told me, ‘Don’t worry about the money. Just follow your heart and the money will come.’”

In a music world flooded with millions of songs and thousands of new artists every day, standing out can feel daunting. But artists like Grace Lucia and bands like Flatrock prove that persistence, authenticity, and community still matter. And here in the Triangle, where neighbors turn into audiences and local stages become launching pads, that kind of passion has room to grow.