You'll find works created by North Carolinians throughout the gift guide, but this sampler from our crew of reviewers highlights the good reasons for seeking homegrown presents.

Music ...

Avett Brothers, "Emotionalism" (Ramseur): Here, the Avetts' records start to catch up with their live show. This Concord trio plays acoustic music from some unidentifiable old-time universe, one where the Beatles are viewed as successors to the Carter Family.

Bowerbirds, "Hymns for the Dark Horse" (Burly Time): Spectral, mesmerizing, remarkably poised folk-rock. It takes most bands years of practice to get this good, but "Hymns" is the Bowerbirds' first album.

Carolina Chocolate Drops, "Dona Got a Ramblin' Mind" (Music Maker): Between one breakthrough and another, the Chocolate Drops are poised to become the Nickel Creek of old-time fiddle music.

Shirley Caesar, "After 40 Years ... Still Sweeping Through the City" (Shu Bel/Light Records): Recorded in July at Caesar's Mount Calvary Word of Faith Church in Raleigh, the CD marks the great gospel singer's four-decade anniversary. Not that you could do justice to a career that long on a single disc, but this one makes a pretty good best-of with "Hold My Mule," "Peter, Don't Be Afraid" and "He's Got It All in Control."

Mitch Easter, "Dynamico" (Electric Devil); Shalini, "The Surface and the Shine" (125): Greetings from Kernersville. Easter is the former Let's Active frontman, Shalini Chatterjee is his wife and together they run Fidelitorium recording studio in the small town near Winston-Salem. "Dynamico" is Easter's first album of his own in 19 years, and it's more rockin' than anything you might remember, though Easter always did have a soft spot for Led Zeppelin. "The Surface and the Shine" is also long on whomp, plus the popcraft you expect from this corner of the musical universe.

Glenn Gould, J.S. Bach's "Goldberg Variations" (Sony): Glenn Gould's 1955 mono album of Bach's Goldberg Variations put him on the musical map. More than half a century later, Raleigh-based Zenph Studios has translated the recording into a multichannel format by way of dense software and a large Yamaha Disklavier player-piano. The result allows the Canadian pianist's brilliant playing to be heard in extraordinary sound, and without the original grunts and sighs.

Little Brother, "Getback" (ABB): Making the transition from trio to duo after DJ/producer 9th Wonder's departure, Phonte Coleman and Big Pooh rise to the challenge with a tight and focused third album. "Extrahard" is the best of many standouts. Sure would sound great on the radio.

Patty Hurst Shifter, "Fugitive Glue" (Pants on Fire): You'd call this short and sweet, except it's more like short and kick-you-in-the-face. Five tracks put the rage into garage rock, bar-band-style, highlighted by a cover of Neil Young's "Mr. Soul."

Rosebuds, "Night of the Furies" (Merge): The Raleigh-based duo of Kelly Crisp and Ivan Howard had a banner year in 2007, becoming the toast of college radio and touring as far away as Russia. "Night of the Furies" is a drastic departure from the sunny jingle-jangle of their early work. It's chilly, lyrically dark new wave of the sort you might have heard segued with New Order back in the '80s. Just as danceable, too.

Scott Sawyer, "Go There" (Doll): Sometimes edgy, sometimes straightahead, Raleigh guitarist Sawyer incorporates funk, rock, blues and jazz. You can compare him to Bill Frisell and John Scofield in this respect, but Sawyer shows his own intriguing, thoughtful, groove-oriented identity throughout this mostly quartet session.

Schooner, "Hold on Too Tight" (54 40 or Fight): Maybe the best indie-rock record to emerge from Chapel Hill in 2007, glorious chiming guitar-driven pop long on atmosphere and intrigue. Promise fulfilled.

Southern Culture on the Skids, "Countrypolitan Favorites" (Yep Roc): Next year will mark 25 years of existence for this Triangle institution. The Skids are still the last word in greasy earthiness, especially if you like punch lines with your roots rock. This is a set of covers by the Kinks, T. Rex, Lynn Anderson and other unexpected subjects. You just haven't lived until you've heard a banjo version of The Who's "Happy Jack."

Third of Never, "Moodring" (Jam): The Who might never make another record, but that's OK because Kinston's Third of Never picks up on that thread of classic rock and weaves a right pretty tapestry. Front man Jon Dawson has a flair for anthemic hooks, and Who sideman Rabbit Bundrick provides validation in the form of sparkling keyboards. There's even a nifty cover of Pete Townshend's "Let My Love Open the Door."

... and more

"Broken Bones," "Irrational Fear" and "Too Much Hair!" by Donald Davis (August House Audio): Storytelling came naturally to retired Methodist minister Davis, who grew up with 27 chatty aunts and uncles in Waynesville in Haywood County. The endearing stories in these collections range from Davis' inheriting the trouble gene from his mother to digging a hole in the ground, creating a little brother trap. Hear the author read on the audiobook versions, each of which runs less than 50 minutes.

Inch magazine (Bull City Press): Even an overstuffed stocking can hold this Durham-based quarterly. Tiny poems and tiny stories are elegantly spread over eight 4.25-by-5.5-inch pages. Good stuff, too. Issue 5, for instance, includes Michael Chitwood and Phillip Memmer. And it's a tiny price: $4 a year. www.bullcitypress.com.

"With Hidden Noise: Photographs by John Menapace" (Duke University Press): Menapace influenced generations of North Carolina photographers, both with his work and his teaching at N.C. State University. This volume includes 60 images selected by curator Huston Paschal for a 2006 retrospective at NCSU's Gallery of Art & Design. With a poem by Jeffery Beam.

"Dear Jesse" (Sovereign). This landmark 1998 documentary, recently released on DVD, is couched as a "letter" from North Carolina filmmaker Tim Kirkman to his state's anti-gay U.S. senator, Jesse Helms. Dignity informs every frame of this film, and as Raleigh-native Armistead Maupin has noted, Kirkman "never takes a cheap shot at his all-too-easy target." While plumbing prejudice through interviews with local luminaries such as Allan Gurganus and the state's first openly gay mayor, Mike Nelson of Carrboro, Kirkman delves into his own life to make an eloquent statement about the true meaning of equality and respect.

Get $150+ in coupons in every Sunday N&O. Click here for convenient home delivery.