SCC airs documentary on Albertson’s Senate, music career

Sampson Community College held a free screening of the PBS documentary following the career of Charlie Albertson, a former North Carolina senator who was also a country music star in the making.

The documentary was directed, edited and produced by Denver Hollingsworth, who spent a year putting everything together before pitching it to PBS North Carolina in October of 2023. PBS aired the documentary in July 2024.

Now, Hollingsworth and Albertson are making their way through all the counties that Albertson represented during the 22 years he spent in the House of Representatives and the Senate, sharing the documentary and leading a Q&A after the 30-minute special.

On Tuesday, the two stopped by Sampson County and gathered with members of the community and some of the college’s staff and faculty for a free screening of The Singing Senator, aired in the Warren Student Center.

But before the video could play, SCC’s President, Dr. Bill Starling, took the stage to introduce the guests and reminisce about his time spent working at the college while Albertson worked in the Senate.

“Charlie was one of the friends that came to visit every so often, and we were always prompted that we were about to have a special guest and, sure enough, it was Senator Albertson,” Starling said. “We couldn’t have a warmer climate for him tonight than those who are gathered here.”

Hollingsworth also spoke before the documentary, giving a little more insight into his relationship with Albertson and how the documentary came to be.

He explained that he has known Albertson for about seven years, noting that they met while working on another video project together. During that time, they became close friends. It was during weekly meet-ups that Albertson would share some of his experiences, both in the government and in his singing career, with Hollingsworth.

“He’s had a lot of very unique, cool experiences both in his singing career, country music, and then his Senate career during the ’80s, ’90s, 2000s,” Hollingsworth shared.

After the documentary played, a short Q&A was held for both Hollingsworth and members of the community to ask Albertson questions about the documentary and what wasn’t shown during the 30-minutes.

The first question, from Hollingsworth, asked about Albertson’s time in other countries.

“All the places I went to, of course, were different. And you see all those different customs and cultures… that was a great learning experience for me,” Albertson said.

But, he still believed that some of the best times in his life was representing people in Sampson County.

“I really did enjoy representing Sampson County because you have so many good people here,” the senator stressed.

Someone asked Albertson what made him want to get into politics, to which he replied that his father was probably his biggest inspiration because he was so community oriented.

He explained his inspiration for writing songs had come from gospel music, and that it showed heavily in some of what he writes and sings.

Unfortunately, Albertson said he couldn’t recall any stories about the celebrities and singers that he has met over the years, but he did say most of them were “really wonderful people.”

The session ended with former Sampson County Commissioner Jefferson Strickland thanking Albertson for what he did.

“Thank you for all that you have done,” Strickland said. “Every time I have ever called you or had a need, you responded quickly, and it was always with a smile and a way to work something out.”

Afterwards, Albertson said hearing Strickland thank him brought tears to his eyes.

“I remember (Jeff) and his brother (former Salemburg Mayor Bobby Strickland),” Albertson said. “(They) were just a good family and that, in fact, I gave him and his brother both the Long Leaf Pine Award at the same time one time in Salemburg.”

He continued by saying there were “many good people” in Sampson County and that it was a “really good county… a good place,” as a whole.

The Singing Senator documentary can be found at pbs.org by searching The Singing Senator.