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Appalachia: Heritage and Harmony program celebrates the 75th anniversary
of the "Bristol Sessions," recordings made of the Carter
Family and Jimmie Rodgers in the Tennessee-Virginia border town of
Bristol in August 1927. Those commercial recordings brought old time
ballads, string and mountain music to broad audiences across the
United States, and established the beginnings of what is now known
as country music.
The region around Bristol—encompassing portions of Virginia,
Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia—has been
a historic center of cultural creativity. Country music started out
as a music of its people. The roots of this music lie in the proclivity
of folks to turn experience into story, song, and music. Dolly Parton,
Ralph Stanley, Ricky Skaggs, Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, and Loretta
Lynn among others come from the region. The Festival will feature
not only music, but also the foodways, storytelling, and work lore
that inspires and sustains it.
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