Day in and day out students and passers-by hear the sound of a fiddle or guitar down Hillsborough Street. This is David P. McKnight, known to some as the Hillsborough fiddler. But who is this man really?
McKnight said music started out as a hobby for him, but became a life’s pursuit after he left the newspaper business. He has been playing music around N.C. State campus for many years.
McKnight calls his sound “contemporary” with a variety of “acoustic rock, country blues, jazz, folk and some R&B.”
He has accomplished much in the past 10 years, including five CDs with his band Cleaver Smith Swenson & McKnight and duo Emery & McKnight.
“I started out as an orchestra and viola player,” McKnight said.
Even though his current music style has shifted to a more contemporary sound he said that he still holds on to his classical musical roots.
“I play a lot of fiddle, but violin is my favorite instrument still.”
The University campus has been a nurturing environment for McKnight’s musical aspirations.
“I’ve spent a lot of time on Hillsborough Street practicing different string arrangements. N.C. State became a place that I could play on the street, so I could try out new materials and get people’s reactions,” he said with a smile on his face.
McKnight has been playing music from a very young age, but what came before that?
McKnight recieved his undergraduate history degree at Duke University. He said that he mainly focused on European and Asian history, but was very interested in learning about the history of North Carolina.
Duke was not all that McKnight thought it would be and he said that he was disappointed at the way they taught.
“I feel like Duke wanted us to unlearn the history of North Carolina. If I had to do it over again I would have gone to State,” McKnight said.
From high school until the age of twenty nine McKnight pursued his endeavors in journalism.
His first summer internship was in his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina for The Charlotte Observer followed by an internship with Greensboro Daily News. After leaving for a six month trip to Europe, McKnight took on his first newspaper job at The Durham Herald in the 1970’s where he worked as a writer.
He then went on to work for Raleigh News & Observer and The Fayetteville Observer for two years where he held a position as an editorial writer.
“My favorite newspaper work that I did was as an editorial writer in current issues,” McKnight said.
As a former professional journalist, McKnight had some things to say about current newspaper writing.
“The press has a vital role to play in accessing issues. They need to cover their local scene more fully and not spend all their time covering national events,” McKnight said.
He even went on to say that college newspapers like the Technician and the UNC’s Daily Tar Heel did a better job of covering local news than some our bigger newspapers.
After leaving the newspaper business, McKnight decided to try out politics.
“I was interested in law and journalism in high school,” McKnight said.
He said that for a while he thought about being in domestic politics or having a career as a foreign correspondent. So, at age twenty-nine McKnight ran for statewide office in the 1978 U.S Senate Democratic Primary in North Carolina.
Being only age twenty-nine, McKnight was the youngest candidate and had the least experience. He ran against former Republican senator Jessie Helms with a focus on family farms and small businesses.
“I was motivated to run to see if I could challenge him,” McKnight said.
Though he lost the primaries, McKnight said that he gained valuable experience.
“I’m glad I ran in that campaign, because I got to learn my state backwards and forwards,” McKnight said.
McKnight added, “I had a really cool girlfriend and she came out and took pictures of me.”
Ten years later he ran in two more races for Congress in Charlotte. The first was in the 1988 Democratic primary for Congress in the ninth District of North Carolina where he won three out of four counties and lost the general election by a single count.
McKnight then ran again for Congress in the general election in the ninth District as a Democratic nominee.
”It was the best experience of my life in terms of meeting people,” McKnight said.
After his trial in politics McKnight wanted to go back to the newspaper. Unfortunately that never happened.
“JoJo get back to where you belonged,” said McKnight, quoting a Beatle’s song.
Since then, McKnight’s life has gotten harder.
“I’ve been counting my blessings. It’s been rough and rocky.”
Currently McKnight has many aspirations and pursuits.
“My vocational life is not yet fulfilled,” McKnight said.
Along with writing waltzes for each of North Carolina’s counties, McKnight said he is hoping to teach music to pupils.
“I’m hoping to teach a class for playing the violin in other forms other than classical in the future,” McKnight said.
Though McKnight has many musical aspirations in sight, he still describes himself as a writer first and a musician second. He said he is mainly trying to get back into the newspaper business and has written about 1000 columns as a free lance writer over the last 20 years.
“I’m still pursuing the same things I was,” McKnight said.
