The Real Birthplace of Country Music

Country music was not born where you might think not Nashville, not Austin, not Bakersfield, but in Bristol, Virginia or is it Bristol, Tennessee? It doesn't really matter. Bristol may have a split personality, but it is built on a solid musical foundation that lives on today.

Driving southwest on US 81 from Northern Virginia takes you through the Shenandoah Valley and the backbone of the Virginia highlands into Tennessee. Pastoral scenes of rolling fields, dairy farms and the occasional intrusion of industrial sites fly by quickly as you race for your life while dodging the largest and fastest trucks on the face of the earth. Little wonder that many folks have bypassed the small towns that lie out of sight a few miles beyond the Intestate's exit ramps. The history, culture and the everyday life of places with inviting names such as Wytheville, Abingdon, and Bristol remain a mystery to the time pressed traveler.

This had been the case for my wife and me during our mid-June pilgrimages to Nashville for the annual showcase of today's country music stars called Fan Fair week. We had seen the exit signs for Bristol in prior years and heard a little about its musical heritage, but we were always focused on getting to the bright lights of Music City USA and kept on driving. This year, after learning that Bristol was selected to be one of the themes for the Smithsonian's 2003 Folklife Festival, we decided to make a midway stopover and find out why the Congress of the United States in 1998 officially recognized Bristol as "The Birthplace of Country Music."

The fact that Bristol's two major exits off US 81 are numbered 1 and 74 gives the impression of a big city covering many miles of the landscape. To the contrary, it is a twin-city community straddling the border between two states with a combined population of about 43,000. Both off ramps' lead to the appropriately named State Street with its brass markers running down the middle to highlight the line of demarcation. Driving east on State Street one see a "Virginia State Emissions Testing" sign on the left and the First Tennessee Bank on the right.

Once past the shopping malls and fast food establishments, the warmth of two-story brick storefronts from another era emerges. The end of the downtown district is punctuated by an archway joining the two distinct sides of State Street and proclaiming the unifying slogan:

Bristol, Tennessee - A Good Place to Live

Turning the car around and heading back toward our hotel, we spot a purple-blue glow on the side of the Lark Amusement Co. building in Tennessee.

As we approach, we realize it is a 30 x 100 foot painting reflecting the lights of an adjacent parking lot. Recognizable faces start to take form on the wall: The Carter Family, Jimmie Rogers and several other pioneers in American traditional music. The mural, painted by local bluegrass performer and preservationist Tim White, commemorates the events of August 1927 when Ralph Peer came to Bristol and captured the songs of the people in the southern Appalachian region. These recordings were later released by the Victor Company as the first commercial country music records.

The recent box office hit "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" was set ten years later in Mississippi, but gives the viewer a glimpse of life during that period and the importance of its music. The companion CD filled with tunes like "Man of Constant Sorrow" surprised Nashville music moguls by climbing to the top of the charts although they refused to place it on their radio play lists. It took the star power of George Clooney and the charm of his Soggy Bottom Boys to introduce moviegoers to the purity contained in this kind of song. Clooney's lip sync performance has resulted in a resurgence of this important piece of Americas quilt of musical heritage.

This Tuesday evening in Bristol a growing assemblage of people is settling in on benches, camp chairs and blankets in the grassy area in front of the mural. There is a simple stage that looks more like a section of someone's patio deck. Everyone seems to know each other. We guess from their faces that most were born in Bristol and have spent their entire life of hard work in the area.

As a handful of bluegrass musicians steps up to the microphones, a dapper older gentleman wearing a out of place sports coat and a hounds tooth hat moves up to the side of the stage next to the bass player perhaps due to poor sight or hearing. He stands there for the next three hours with a smile on his face the entire time.

We are the only strangers in the crowd and are quickly pegged as such by our friendly neighbor on the grass. She appears to be a regular, so we ask her what is going on. "There is bluegrass played in Bristol almost every night during the summer and fall. On Tuesdays it is here, on Thursdays its somewhere across the street. In the winter, it is moved indoors" We ask about stage setting for Thursdays. She replies, "Can't tell ya. I don't go to Virginia very often."

The three bands performing tonight seem to form somewhere behind the building just before they are introduced - a mix of old and young musicians. For sure the repertoires include "Man of Constant Sorrow" and other popular numbers. But when one of the older mandolin players introduces a song that he recalls playing "up in Baltimore" during the 60s folk music revival, surprisingly, no one has difficulty picking the chords and blending the timeless vocal harmonies.

There is also a harmony between the performers and the audience. The bands don't play for the money but play for the love of their music. They are intent on gratifying themselves and pleasing their friends. The audiences expectations to relax, chat and maybe dance are not tainted by PR concert hype and high ticket prices. No one cares much if someone misses an upbeat or forgets a line.

This is the "front porch" atmosphere that existed here over the years in what has been a crucible for the creation of that unique American musical form that was first recorded during the "Bristol Sessions." The town has also been the launching pad for numerous performers including the Stanley Brothers (who first made "Man of Constant Sorrow" a hit in the 1950s), Tennessee Ernie Ford and Kenny Chesney.

The history of this music and the role Bristol has played in its ongoing development is being preserved by the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance (BCMA) cofounder by Tim White. Through the generosity of the local community, space was made available in the shopping mall for their modest museum which houses vintage instruments, stage costumes, other memorabilia and tasteful souvenir merchandise. A welcoming "front porch" was recreated in a corner by the window - just the right inducement for folks to drop by, grab a guitar and start "pick'n and a sing'n." The museum is staffed by volunteers who know the stories and the performers influenced by Bristol. They can provide you with directions to the various sites to see along with recommendations of where to find good barbecue for dinner.

The magic and chemistry of the bygone days continue today. Musicians from across the country are again coming down to Bristol to learn the old songs, to try out innovative styles and to form new bands. Some bring their children on stage with them. For now, the young ones are playing imaginary guitars, and like George Clooney, their voices can not be heard through the microphones at least not yet. But nonetheless, both the Soggy Bottom Boys and these children in Bristol are key players in the "rebirth" of old-time mountain songs and bluegrass (the heart and soul of traditional country music) on the movie screen and on State Street in Bristol.

Although Country Music Travel does not offer vacation packages in Bristol, we can make hotel reservations for your stopover.