VIRTUAL EVENT! Speaker Sessions: Dena Ross Jennings on Making Music and Instruments
2025-01-21 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | VA
Date: Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Time: 7 p.m. ET

Location: Virtual via Zoom; must register to attend

Cost: Free and open to the public

REGISTER HERE
Join us on Tuesday, January 21 for our Speaker Session with musician and luthier Dena Ross Jennings as she shares how she creates community through music, including the instruments she builds and her Affrolachian On-Time Music Gathering, also known as “The Thang.”

About Dr. Dena Jennings

Dena Jennings is a physician and artist in Central Virginia who can trace her ancestry in Appalachia back five generations through her mother’s family. Twenty years after establishing her medical practice and ImaniWorks, a non-profit organization for conflict transformation and human rights advocacy, Jennings moved to Ontario, Canada, where she entered a four-year arts apprenticeship. There, she learned to hand carve modern instruments made from gourds and other natural fibers in the style of traditional instruments from around the world. At the end of her apprenticeship, she opened a workshop, studio, and retail music store in a small town in Central Ontario.
Upon meeting her husband who had developed an herb farm and retreat center in Central Virginia, she relocated the workshop and studio where she could grow her own gourds and mill her own wood. She re-opened her practice in Orange and its waiting room is a gallery for her sculpted instruments and a listening room for Appalachian and Black American roots music. Through ImaniWorks, Jennings conducts instrument building workshops, conflict transformation retreats, and hosts the Affrolachian On-Time Music Gathering at the farm. She also makes sculptures and performs Appalachian and folk Bengali music on gourd instruments. Jennings is the Vice Chair of the Virginia Commission for the Arts, and she has served as a commissioner since 2019. As she explains, she “endeavors to build the Beloved Community through my devotion to music, culture, and social justice.”

Weekly Music Lessons with JAM Kids at the Museum!
2025-01-25 10:30 - 11:30, 2025-02-01 10:30 - 11:30, 2025-02-08 10:30 - 11:30, 2025-02-15 10:30 - 11:30, 2025-02-22 10:30 - 11:30, 2025-03-01 10:30 - 11:30, 2025-03-08 10:30 - 11:30, 2025-03-15 10:30 - 11:30 and 4 more dates | VA
Date: Weekly on Saturdays
Time: 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. ET
Location: The Learning Center, Birthplace of Country Music Museum
Cost: $5 per class or $45 for 10 lessons
Through a new partnership with Junior Appalachian Musicians (JAM), the Birthplace of Country Music Museum is a new affiliate location for the program, offering weekly music lessons at the museum for children grades 4-8 and beyond. JAM Kids introduces music through small group instruction on acoustic instruments common to the Appalachian region, such as guitar, banjo, and fiddle. Students may bring their own instruments, or they can be provided as a loan while your child is participating in the program. Other instruments may be introduced as to be determined by instructors. Weekly classes will be held throughout the year, and students can join the program at any point in the year.
Registration is required to participate in this program. You can download the Registration Forms and bring it with you when you drop off your child for their first lesson or complete it at the museum’s front desk upon arrival. Each week, lessons will be filled based on arrival and capped at 30 students. Registration allows you to participate but does not guarantee your spot each week.
We do not offer online registration or spot reservations for this program. Lessons can be purchased as-you-go for $5 or as a bundle of ten pre-paid lessons for $45. The bundle is a discounted rate and will expedite your check-in process, but does not guarantee your spot each week. The class will be closed if capacity is reached before your arrival. Scholarships are available upon request. For more information about signing up for JAM or to inquire about scholarships, email Erika Barker at ebarker@birthplaceofcountrymusic.org.
Registration Forms: Please bring all three forms with you when you arrive for your first lesson.

Registration Form
Student Contract
Media Release Form

Junior Appalachian Musicians is a non-profit and the parent organization for 50+ after-school programs for children in grades 4 – 8. We provide communities with the tools and support they need to teach children to play and dance to traditional old-time and bluegrass music. JAM introduces music through small group instruction on instruments common to the Appalachian region, such as fiddle, banjo and guitar. Each JAM program is individually operated and funded. By affiliating with the JAM organization, each program is eligible to receive support and resources for free and is licensed to use “Junior Appalachian Musicians (JAM)” to identify their traditional music education program.
Be sure to check out JAM Kids on Facebook and Instagram!

The JAM Program Model
JAM is an after-school program for children in grades 4 – 8 and beyond that introduces music through small group instruction on instruments common to the Appalachian region, such as fiddle, banjo and guitar. Each JAM program is individually operated and funded. By affiliating with the JAM organization, each program is eligible to receive support and resources for free, and is licensed to use “Junior Appalachian Musicians (JAM)” to identify their traditional music education program.
Junior Appalachian Musicians ® is a registered trademark of Junior Appalachian Musicians, Inc.
In JAM, instrument instruction is often augmented by dance and vocal instruction as well as string band classes and group enrichment lessons, which introduce children to additional Appalachian culture and history. The JAM program model provides children with opportunities to not only learn traditional music, but to also perform in small and large groups. Field trips, visiting artists and an introduction to the rich history of music unique to each local community further supplement program offerings. Each JAM program is encouraged to foster musical traditions by teaching local styles of traditional mountain music and dance to children. Instructors are also encouraged to teach students to learn music by ear, as to preserve oral traditions as much as possible. Other teaching methodologies and instructional skills are covered in regional professional development and training sessions held multiple times per year and hosted by JAM. JAM also encourages student engagement across programs with regional performance and learning activities throughout the year. For a full list of benefits to affiliates, click here.
JAM believes that all children should have access to traditional old time and bluegrass music. It is recommended that each program provide financial assistance through scholarships to children in need. The program model bases tuition fees on student lunch status: $10/week for full pay children, and $5/week for reduced pay children.
Class sizes typically have a student teacher ratio of 8:1 or less. JAM mandates that each affiliated program conduct criminal background checks on their instructors, directors, and other staff members and volunteers. Programs must be held in public facilities accessible to the community. Junior Appalachian Musicians, Inc prohibits discrimination against any persons on the bases of race, color, national origin, disability, sex, gender identity, religion, reprisal, political beliefs, familial or parental status, and sexual orientation.
For a full listing of affiliation requirements, click here.
History of JAM
Realizing the need to preserve a vital aspect of mountain culture as well as the need for positive activities to underserved youth, Helen White, then a guidance counselor at Sparta Elementary School, founded the first JAM program in Alleghany County, NC in the spring of 2000 with help from other local musicians and educators. Interest in the program spread rapidly with assistance from the National Endowment for the Arts, NC State Arts Council, Blue Ridge National Heritage Area and “The Crooked Road – Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail.”
In 2007, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation provided funding to allow the development of a regional infrastructure. The Dana Foundation, Virginia Commission for Arts, the Virginia Foundation for Humanities, the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Harris and Frances Block Foundation and the Tides Foundation have provided funding for materials development.
“Junior Appalachian Musicians” was incorporated in 2008 as a non-profit 501(c)3 tax exempt corporation to promote a shared vision of JAM and to provide an umbrella through which to offer resources, training materials and activities to benefit programs individually and collectively. Currently in nearly 30 locations in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, JAM affiliates are providing access to the joy of music to thousands of youth while instilling renewed interest and pride in their heritage.
Interested in learning more about JAM? Click here.

Monthly Bluegrass Jam
2025-01-25 14:00 - 17:00, 2025-02-22 14:00 - 17:00, 2025-03-22 14:00 - 17:00 | Birthplace of Country Music Museum, 101 Country Music Way, Bristol, VA, 24201, United States
The Birthplace of Country Music Museum, in partnership with the East Tennessee Bluegrass Association, hosts a monthly gathering of local musicians for a bluegrass jam session. The jam events are intended to provide a space for local musicians to gather and pick, collaborate, share their experiences, and—most importantly—to have fun. The jams are acoustic and only feature traditional bluegrass instruments: acoustic guitar, upright bass, fiddle, mandolin, banjo, and dobro.
The jams are free and open to the public. All ages and skill levels are welcome. Those just interested in joining as a spectator are welcome at no charge.
Bluegrass Jams will be held every fourth Saturday of the month from 2-5 p.m., serving as a great warm-up for Saturday night gigs. Musicians are asked to bring their own instruments.
The sessions will be held in the Learning Center at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.
For more information call 423-573-1927.

Museum Storytime - Family
2025-02-07 10:30 - 11:30 | Birthplace of Country Music Museum, 101 Country Music Way, Bristol, VA, 24201, United States
Date: Friday, February 7, 2025
Time: 10:30 a.m. EST
Location: The Learning Center, Birthplace of Country Music Museum
Cost: Free and open to the public
Theme: Family
Join us in the museum’s Learning Center for our monthly Museum Storytime program. Aimed at toddler-age children and their grown-ups, we will gather on the first Friday of each month for a music- or Appalachia-related storybook, a tune or two by WBCM Radio Bristol show host Ella Patrick, and a related activity or coloring sheet. The craft will be making paper mountains.
Books that will be featured at Storytime include:

When Uncle Took the Fiddle by Libba Moore Gray (Author), Lloyd Bloom (Illustrator)
My Great-Aunt Arizona by Gloria Houston (Author), Susan Condie Lamb (Illustrator)
The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant (Author), Stephen Gammell (Illustrator)

Community Square Dance at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum
2025-02-08 19:00 - 21:00 | Birthplace of Country Music Museum, 101 Country Music Way, Bristol, VA, 24201, United States
Date: Saturday, February 8, 2024
Time: 7 p.m. EST
Location: Special Exhibits Gallery, Birthplace of Country Music Museum
Cost: Free but any donations at the door will support the museum
The event is at capacity currently. Please email info@birthplaceofcountrymusic.org to be placed on the waitlist.
RSVP HERE
Come do-si-do and promenade with us!
Join the Birthplace of Country Music Museum for a community square dance on Saturday, February 8. Caller Tyler Hughes will lead a short introduction to dance steps, followed by a full square dance with a lively string band lead by John Bills.
This event is open to all ages and no experience or partner is required. To protect the Special Exhibits Gallery floor, no heels please; we recommend sturdy shoes so you can dance all night!
Space is limited so sign up to participate soon!

Museum Volunteer Orientation
2025-02-15 10:00 - 12:00 | Birthplace of Country Music Museum, 101 Country Music Way, Bristol, VA, 24201, United States
We want YOU to join our wonderful team of volunteers at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum!
Dates: Every other month on a Saturday

February 15, 2025
April 26, 2025
June 28, 2025
August 23, 2025
October 18, 2025
December 13, 2025

Time: 10 a.m.-Noon
Location: Birthplace of Country Music Museum, Learning Center
If you have a passion for Bristol and its musical legacy and love helping others, our museum volunteer program is the perfect fit for you!
Museum volunteers play a vital role in a number of key areas behind the scenes and on the front lines, such as working as a gallery assistant or docent, helping out in The Museum Store, working with the public at events, concerts, and programs, assisting with behind the scenes administrative or collections work and so much more! Our Museum Volunteer Orientation session gets you acquainted with every aspect of the museum to help you find your area of interest. Volunteer schedules are flexible and fun!
If you are interested in coming to our Museum Volunteer Training, call 423-573-1927 or email volunteercoordinator@birthplaceofcountrymusic.org.

Talk & Book Signing: Geoffrey Himes "In-Law Country: How Emmylou Harris, Rosanne Cash, and Their Circle Fashioned a New Kind of Country Music, 1968-1985"
2025-02-15 13:30 - 14:30 | VA
Date: Saturday, February 15, 2025
Time: 1:30 p.m. ET
Location: Birthplace of Country Music Museum
An RSVP isn’t necessary to attend, but it helps us to know how many people to expect. There is no cost to attend.
RSVP HERE
Respected author, poet, journalist and songwriter Geoffrey Himes will give a brief talk about book signing at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.
Geoffrey Himes wrote about music on a weekly basis in The Washington Post from 1977 to 2019 and has served as a senior editor at No Depression and Paste magazines. He has also written
about pop music, jazz, theater, film, art and books for Rolling Stone, Oxford American, New York Times, Smithsonian, National Public Radio, Jazz Times, Downbeat, and other outlets. He
has been honored for Music Feature Writing by the Deems Taylor/ASCAP Awards (2003, 2005, 2014 and 2016), the New Orleans Press Awards, the Abell Foundation Awards and the Music
Journalism Awards. His book on Bruce Springsteen, “Born in the U.S.A.,” was published in 2005, and his book on Emmylou Harris and Rosanne Cash in 2024. He is currently working on a
book about Willie Nelson.
“In-Law Country: How Emmylou Harris, Rosanne Cash, and Their Circle Fashioned a New Kind of Country Music: 1968-1985,” published by the Country Music Hall of Fame, is more than just another pop music book. Author Geoffrey Himes has identified and named a major movement in country music that has been overlooked in the conventional histories of the genre. Those histories may have to be written differently going forward. This is a brisk story full of humor, contrarian opinions and excerpts from interviews with the principals: Harris, Cash, Rodney Crowell, Ricky Skaggs, Guy Clark, Brian Ahern, Sharon White, Chris Hillman and many more. But the focus is not on the usual music-book fodder: drugs, divorces and business disputes. Unlike most music books, this one focuses on music—how the distinct sound of In-Law Country grew out of California country-rock, bluegrass, Dylanesque folk music and the Carter-Cash Dynasty and evolved to differentiate itself from its predecessors and to find a large enough audience to top the country charts again and again.

Speaker Session: From Appalachia to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia with Toni Doman-Vandyke
2025-02-18 19:00 - 20:30 | Birthplace of Country Music Museum, 101 Country Music Way, Bristol, VA, 24201, United States
Date: Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Time: 7 p.m. ET

Location: In-person at the Birthplace of Country Music, Performance Theatre and streamed on Radio Bristol’s YouTube Channel

Cost: Free and open to the public

REGISTER HERE

Join us on Tuesday, February 18, 2025 for our Speaker Session with Toni Doman Vandyke: “From Appalachia to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.”

In this talk, Fulbright recipient Toni Doman-Vandyke will explore technology’s impact on the traditional music community of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. With our growing reliance on technologies, both listeners and players have increased access to musical influences outside of their geographic region, and Toni’s project documents the current traditional music scene in Cape Breton and seeks to uncover how access to outside musical influences is shaping the region’s traditional music. Toni will share stories from her past year of being immersed in the island’s cultural community, collecting field recordings of musical gatherings and events along with in-depth interviews with musicians and cultural caretakers primarily focusing on traditional music of Scottish and Gaelic origin. She will also share connections between Appalachian and Maritime musical histories and styles.
Toni Doman-Vandyke is a 2023-2024 Fulbright Canada Student Award recipient. Her research project Complex Relationships: Contemporaries Technologies and the Traditional Music of Cape Breton, focuses on uncovering how globalization and technology have an impact and are interacting within the traditional musical scene in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. She is currently the Director of the Tazewell County Junior Appalachian Musicians (JAM) Program Chapter. Her previous work includes multiple roles at the Birthplace of Country Music, including Curatorial Specialist and Grants Coordinator. During this time, she produced and hosted Mountain Song & Story on WBCM Radio Bristol which showcased influential Appalachian artisans and traditions through in-depth interviews, music, and storytelling. Toni holds a Master’s Degree in Communications and Media Arts and Studies from Ohio University focusing on Appalachian music and culture as the core of her graduate research and is one of the few students to earn the world’s first four-year degree in traditional bluegrass music offered at Glenville State University in West Virginia. Toni is also a musician currently performing in the country-folk duo Virginia West, and she has recently embarked on a new journey baking homemade pies at her home-based pie shop, The Rolling Pin. Through all her creative outlets, Toni aims to promote arts and culture for a greater understanding of the Appalachian region.

Museum Storytime - Animals
2025-03-07 10:30 - 11:30 | Birthplace of Country Music Museum, 101 Country Music Way, Bristol, VA, 24201, United States
Date: Friday, March 7, 2025
Time: 10:30 a.m. EST
Location: The Learning Center, Birthplace of Country Music Museum
Cost: Free and open to the public
Theme: Animals
Join us in the museum’s Learning Center for our monthly Museum Storytime program. Aimed at toddler-age children and their grown-ups, we will gather on the first Friday of each month for a music- or Appalachia-related storybook, a tune or two by WBCM Radio Bristol show host Ella Patrick, and a related activity or coloring sheet. The craft will be working with miniature banjos.
Books that will be featured at Storytime include:

Hello, Crow by Jeff Daniel Marion (Author), Leslie Bowman (Illustrator)
Mousie HiWay: The Adventures of Banjo Mouse in the Appalachian Mountains by Michael Johnathon

Special Exhibit: Ellen Elmes, The Art of Music and Mountains
2025-03-08 - 2025-09-30 | VA
Dates: March 8-September 30, 2025
Location: Special Exhibits Gallery, Birthplace of Country Music Museum
Artist Ellen Elmes moved to Appalachia over five decades ago, intrigued by the beauty of people and place. She continues to admire the close-knit kinship of families and neighbors, and the reliance of mountaineers on hard work, community, nature, and the grace of God to build a life, and every day she finds wonder in the ethereal beauty of misty mountains, the rhythms of changing seasons, and the expanse of the night sky unobscured by city lights. Many of these elements became the substance of her art.
Ellen Elmes: The Art of Music and Mountains features her creativity across a variety of mediums and themes, from traditional instruments, musicians, and songs to the grandiosity and minutiae of nature. The core of this exhibition – a series of acrylic on canvas, large-scale paintings entitled “Tribute to the Stanley Brothers” and inspired by their songs – is an example of a body of work that awakened in the artist a deeper understanding of the roots, stories, and expression embodied in old-time and traditional songs of the mountains.
Artwork will include examples of acrylic, watercolor, and murals. Objects related to the Stanley Brothers will be on display, including several on loan from the Ralph Stanley Museum in Clintwood, VA. The “Tribute to the Stanley Brothers” series is on loan from the Clintwood Community Hall.
Additional free and low-cost complementary programming supported by the United Company Foundation will be scheduled during the exhibit.

Speaker Session, Lee Bidgood Musical Traditions & The Global String Band
2025-03-11 19:00 - 20:30 | Birthplace of Country Music Museum, 101 Country Music Way, Bristol, VA, 24201, United States
Date: Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Time: 7 p.m. ET

Location: In-person at the Birthplace of Country Music, Performance Theatre and streamed on Radio Bristol’s YouTube Channel

Cost: Free and open to the public

REGISTER HERE

Join us on Tuesday, March 11, 2025 for our Speaker Session with Lee Bidgood.

Musical traditions based on groups of stringed instruments are common around the world – how are these bands different and similar to each other, and how do they help us all connect to each other and the environments where we find ourselves? With this Speaker Sessions presentation, Lee Bidgood will introduce a global range of string band sounds and stories, with media and live examples.
Lee Bidgood’s research on Czech bluegrass has been supported by two Fulbright grants and inspired the documentary film Banjo Romantika (2015) as well as the book Czech Bluegrass: Notes From the Heart of Europe (2017), An early member of the Steep Canyon Rangers and Big Fat Gap, Lee plays bluegrass, old-time, and early musics on fiddle, mandolin, viola, and viola da gamba. As professor in East Tennessee State University’s Department of Appalachian Studies, he teaches courses in ethnomusicology and Bluegrass, Old Time, and Roots Music Studies, leads a mandolin orchestra and Global String Band, and directs the Institute for Appalachian Music and Culture.

Ellen Elmes: Introduction to the Exhibit for Educators
2025-03-20 16:00 - 17:00 | Birthplace of Country Music Museum, 101 Country Music Way, Bristol, VA, 24201, United States
Date: Thursday, March 20, 2025
Time: 4 p.m. EST
Location: Birthplace of Country Music Museum, Special Exhibits Gallery
Cost: Free and open to educators
RSVP HERE
The exhibit is open March 8–September 30, 2025, this special exhibit features the works of artist Ellen Elmes, including her acrylic and watercolor works and examples of large-scale murals. Teachers are invited to a special Introduction to the Exhibit for Educators on Thursday, March 20, at 4 p.m.
Artist Ellen Elmes moved to Appalachia over five decades ago, intrigued by the beauty of people and place. She continues to admire the close-knit kinship of families and neighbors, and the reliance of mountaineers on hard work, community, nature, and the grace of God to build a life, and every day she finds wonder in the ethereal beauty of misty mountains, the rhythms of changing seasons, and the expanse of the night sky unobscured by city lights. Many of these elements became the substance of her art.
Ellen Elmes: The Art of Music and Mountains features her creativity across a variety of mediums and themes, from traditional instruments, musicians, and songs to the grandiosity and minutiae of nature. The core of this exhibition – a series of acrylic on canvas, large-scale paintings entitled “Tribute to the Stanley Brothers” and inspired by their songs – is an example of a body of work that awakened in the artist a deeper understanding of the roots, stories, and expression embodied in old-time and traditional songs of the mountains.
Artwork will include examples of acrylic, watercolor, and murals. Objects related to the Stanley Brothers will be on display, including several on loan from the Ralph Stanley Museum in Clintwood, VA. The “Tribute to the Stanley Brothers” series is on loan from the Clintwood Community Hall.

Museum Storytime - Rainy Days
2025-04-04 10:30 - 11:30 | Birthplace of Country Music Museum, 101 Country Music Way, Bristol, VA, 24201, United States
Date: Friday, April 4, 2025
Time: 10:30 a.m. EST
Location: The Learning Center, Birthplace of Country Music Museum
Cost: Free and open to the public
Theme: Rainy Days
Join us in the museum’s Learning Center for our monthly Museum Storytime program. Aimed at toddler-age children and their grown-ups, we will gather on the first Friday of each month for a music- or Appalachia-related storybook, a tune or two by WBCM Radio Bristol show host Ella Patrick, and a related activity or coloring sheet. The craft will be making a rain cloud.
Books that will be featured at Storytime include:

Lorraine: The Girl Who Sang the Storm Away by Ketch Secor (Author), Higgins Bond (Illustrator)
Come A Tide by George Ella Lyon (Author), Stephen Gammell (Illustrator)

Sold Out: 1927 Concert Series with Special Guest Shinyribs
2025-04-05 18:00 - 21:00 | Birthplace of Country Music Museum, 101 Country Music Way, Bristol, VA, 24201, United States
The Birthplace of Country Music proudly presents the intimate 1927 Concert Series experience featuring live music by Sam Grisman Project.
Date: Saturday, April 5, 2025
Time: 6 p.m. ET
Location: Performance Theater, Birthplace of Country Music Museum
Tickets: $100
SOLD OUT

The 1927 Concert Series is an intimate concert experience set in the “acoustically perfect” performance theater at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. It’s more than a night of music, it’s a very personal event with some of the most renowned roots music artists performing today. Guests are asked to arrive promptly at 6:00 p.m. to enjoy heavy hors d’oeuvres and an open bar before the show (ages 21+ with valid ID), food and drinks included with ticket.
Members of the Birthplace of Country Music’s 1927 Society are given access to exclusive ticket pre-sales to the 1927 Concert Series before they go on sale to the public. To learn more about becoming a member of the 1927 Society and all its advantages, click here.
About Shinyribs
Shinyribs defies genres as a sonic melting pot of Texas Blues, New Orleans R&B funk, horn-driven Memphis Soul, country twang, border music, big band swing, and roots-rock. The Austin-based nine-piece (sometimes 10-piece) supergroup is led by Kevin Russell, the charismatic frontman with colorful suits and extravagant shoes who continuously swaps out an electric guitar for a ukulele and never falls short of creating a cinematic experience with on-stage antics that often include him donning a light-up cloak or leading a conga line through the crowd.
Shinyribs was named Best Austin Band at the Austin Chronicle’s Austin Music Awards (2017, 2018), awarded Album of the Year for I Got Your Medicine (2017), and Best 2020- Themed Song for “Stay Home” (2020). Russell’s Shinyribs have recorded seven previous albums: 2010’s Well After Awhile; Gulf Coast Museum (2013); Okra Candy (2015); 2017’s award-winning I Got Your Medicine; a compilation of holiday standards and new compositions The Kringle Tingle (2018); and the group’s latest soulful release, Fog & Bling (2019); and Late Night TV Gold, (2021).

Community Square Dance: A Partnership with Bristol Ballet
2025-04-05 19:00 - 21:00 | Bristol Ballet, 330 Buford Street, Bristol, VA, 24201, United States
Date: Saturday, April 5, 2025
Time: 7 p.m. Eastern
Location: Bristol Ballet, 330 Buford St, Bristol, VA 24201 (Please park at the back of the building and go in the entrance framed by columns)
Cost: Free but any donations at the door will support the museum and Bristol Ballet.
RSVP HERE
Come do-si-do and promenade with us!
Join the Birthplace of Country Music and Bristol Ballet for a community square dance on Saturday, April 5. Caller Tyler Hughes will lead a square dance with a lively string band with John Bills.
This event is open to all ages and no experience or partner is required; we recommend sturdy shoes so you can dance all night! Space is limited so sign up to participate soon!

Speaker Session: Mary Munsey, Connections between Songwriting and Visual Art
2025-04-08 19:00 - 20:30 | Birthplace of Country Music Museum, 101 Country Music Way, Bristol, VA, 24201, United States
Join us on Tuesday, April 8, 2025 for our Speaker Session with Mary Munsey.
Date: Tuesday, April 8, 2025

Time: 7 p.m. ET

Location: In-person at the Birthplace of Country Music, Performance Theatre and streamed on Radio Bristol’s YouTube Channel

Cost: Free and open to the public

REGISTER HERE

For the last year, Mary Munsey’s motto has been: “If your song is well written it should paint a picture in the listener’s mind. If not, keep working on it.” And with that motto, she decided to see if some of her songs fit this tall requirement by working with several area artists to explore their interpretation of her songs in a visual format. Each artist rose to the occasion, interpreting and creating what they saw (or didn’t see) in the music and lyrics, while also helping Mary to identify the different ways people aurally process songs. With this Speaker Session, Mary shares how this artistic challenge worked, what she learned, and how it revealed the connections between music and art.
Mary Munsey received her B.A. in music education from Emory & Henry and her master’s in music from James Madison University. She has been an elementary, middle, and high school choral director for 18 years, and she has just retired after 13 years as director of the music department at VHCC (Virginia Highlands Community College).
She has had a wide and varied career in music performance, including as a bassoonist in symphonies, bass, mandolin, and guitar playing in acoustic groups, and singing and playing saxophone and keyboard in many Tri-Cities area bands, including Samantha Gray and the Jukebox Jam Band. Mary has been writing and performing music for many years locally and nationally including multiple performances at the Bluebird Café in Nashville, The Carter Fold, Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion, and bluegrass festivals like Ralph Stanley’s Festival in Coeburn, Va.
Mary has been widely honored for her original songs and musical work, including winning the 2010 Woody Guthrie International Folk Songwriting Contest for her song “Nine Days Old” and placing 2nd in the International Bluegrass Music Association’s lesson plan contests in 2009 and 2010. In 2011 she had songs place in songwriter competitions in Texas, Wisconsin, and Connecticut, including a 2nd place recognition for her song “This Side of The Wall” at the Podunk Bluegrass Festival. Her song “Eight Lives to Spare” was a winner in the Smoky Mountain Songwriting Competition in 2019, and she has placed twice in the Gathering in the Gap Festival. She has also presented several songwriting workshops for the Virginia Highlands Festival, and she facilitates regional Songwriters of the Highlands Appalachia groups, including the new Songwriters Circle program on the second Saturday of each month at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.
Her CD Nine Days Old includes heartfelt material and songs that display her off-beat sense of humor. Reflections, released in 2013 includes instrumentals, country, bluegrass, blues, and pop. Shades of Refinements released in 2015 features original jazz and blues. This recording displays her joy of playing saxophone and keyboard as well as songwriting. She is currently working on another CD of originals.

Songwriters Circle Showcase
2025-04-12 14:00 - 16:00 | Birthplace of Country Music Museum, 101 Country Music Way, Bristol, VA, 24201, United States
Date: April 12
Time: 2 p.m. ET
Location: Performance Theatre, Birthplace of Country Music Museum
Cost: Free and open to the public, donations encouraged to benefit the artists and the Birthplace of Country Music Museum
REGISTER TO ATTEND
The Birthplace of Country Music Museum and Songwriters of Highlands Appalachia are proud to announce an exciting new event designed to highlight the talents of songwriters in our region. The inaugural Songwriters Circle Showcase will be held at 2 p.m. ET, April 12, in the performance theater at the museum; it is the first Showcase in a series to be held quarterly each year. The event is free and open to the public; donations are appreciated. All donations will be split between the museum and performing artists.
Daryl Ann Beeghley, Sandra Lambert, David Ledgerwood, Gerald Sheppard, and Darris Stanley will share their original music during April’s Songwriters Showcase.
Daryl Ann Beeghley is a Canadian-born singer/songwriter who has lived all over the U.S., and now resides in Abingdon, Va. She has always loved words and music and wrote her first song at age 17. She relishes the challenge of writing across different styles: Americana, folk, country, devotional, and blues, and appreciates the way music can help us tell our stories. Daryl Ann is an active member of SoHA (Songwriters of Highlands Appalachia).

Sandra Lambert grew up East Tennessee and is now enjoying retirement with her husband Rich. In 2018 during her pre-retirement years, she started learning the mountain dulcimer and wrote her first song. She credits the mountain dulcimer as her gate-way instrument that led her to learning the ukulele, tenor guitar, bowed psaltery and writing more songs. She has more than 50 songs under her belt and learns a little more about the craft of songwriting with each song she writes. She is a member of the Knoxville Area Dulcimer Club, the Songwriters of Highland Appalachia, and helped to start the Boones Creek Dulcimer Clan monthly jam. Occasionally, she and her husband perform as The Butternuts. She likes all kinds of music and enjoys songs that tell a story. A few of her songs are on her YouTube channel and she has plans to get her songs loaded to a streaming platform.

David Ledgerwood was born in 1957 in Bluefield, W.Va. As a child, he quickly found music to be one of his favorite pursuits (shame it wasn’t academics), his father giving him an acoustic guitar when he was nine years old. As a child, the air around him was soaked with diverse and creative music; rock, soul, funk, folk, and he loved it all. He sang myself to sleep many nights, keeping a transistor radio by his pillow. Focusing more on electric guitar in his youth and then on acoustic guitar in his 30s and 40s, he has learned to travel and enjoy “both lanes” of the guitar highway. Now well into his 60s, David shares his love of music with his cherished wife (Ann), performing acoustically as a duet and also in leading the Ledgerwood Blues Band, playing every fourth Friday at Sweetbay Brewing Company in Abingdon, Va. Joining our local Songwriter’s of Highlands Appalachia writers group has encouraged him to develop his songwriting skills and offer a part of who he is to others, packaged in a song….what a great blessing. David and Ann live in Glade Spring along with their pet family, Duke, Dolly, Spanky, Rocky, Stevie Ray, Eddie Van, Ruthie Grace, Bootsy, Franky, and Alfie.

Originally from the Tri-Cities area of Northeast Tennessee, Gerald Sheppard has actively pursued his passion of music since he was a child when he started beating around on the family upright piano at the age of five. As a graduate from East Tennessee State University, he worked in the Engineering Division of a large chemical company for many years before taking early retirement. He has actively played fingerstyle guitar since he was a teen, and has worked as a guitarist, playing “cocktail” guitar music in venues and for special occasions for many years. His instrumental music consists of both popular covers and original compositions. Gerald also enjoyed a successful guitar-building career for twenty-five years. His high-end instruments are world-renowned as some of the finest guitars in the world. In 2005, one of his instruments was used as the cover model for the Grammy-Award-winning CD for Best Instrumental Album, “Henry Mancini: Pink Guitar” (an instrumental guitar tribute to Henry Mancini). Gerald began writing and performing his own lyrical songs in 2018. His interest is primarily in writing ballads and story songs. He currently incorporates them into his performances in local venues where they are well received for their often emotionally touching and heartwarming content. His high-resolution content and music may be enjoyed on his YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/@gdshepp.

Darris Stanley grew up in the coal fields of Southwest Virginia, and currently lives in Northeast Tennessee. He is an artist, musician, songwriter, and poet, as well as a former professional boxer. He has written more than 200 songs, made two studio albums of original music, and was formerly on the label of Houston River records.

The quarterly Songwriters Circle Showcase is an extension of the weekly Songwriters Circle program, organized by Songwriters of Highlands Appalachia, and will consist of artists who participate in the weekly Circle. The Showcase event is structured similarly to “in the round” events, with each songwriter introducing themselves and their song, which will be performed with or without accompaniment. The songwriter will then hold a discussion about the piece–the origins of the song, its structure, and inspiration–and take questions.
Led by Mary Munsey, a local musician, educator and founder of Songwriters of Highlands Appalachia, the weekly Songwriters Circle is open to songwriters of all ages and skill levels. The Circle encourages participants to share songs, brainstorm ideas, and support one another in their creative endeavors. Songwriter Circles are held the second Saturday of each month at the museum, 2-5 p.m. There is no cost to participate.
“The Songwriters Circle aims to foster a collaborative environment for songwriting,” said Munsey. “Importantly, aspiring songwriters do not need to play an instrument to join in the fun.”
The Songwriters Circle not only provides an opportunity for performance and networking, but also emphasizes the importance of clarity and storytelling in songwriting. The group’s mission is to encourage creativity, introduce songwriting shows to regional audiences, and elevate the appreciation of songwriting as a valuable art form.
About Songwriters of Highlands Appalachia

Songwriters of Highlands Appalachia is led by Mary Munsey, a local musician and educator, recently retired from Virginia Highlands Community College. The program offers a great deal of flexibility in its format for attendees, with varied songwriting interests and abilities. Some of the attendees play instruments and some are curious about songwriting and the process. Lyrics can sometimes only pare up with others that play instruments and put music with the words. Some writers don’t sing, but enjoy hearing others perform their songs. Some of the performances can be a cappella. Some members of the group write one to three songs between sessions and some write more. Sometimes as busy as life gets, writers don’t get to write new material between meetings. We don’t pressure anyone to write, and we don’t criticize anyone. We treat each other with respect. We don’t discuss politics, use profanity, or write antagonistic lyrics.

The focus is not on the beauty of the voice or skill of the instrumentation, but the clearness of the pronunciation and the effect of the song. We work on making sure the audience can hear every word. We are not professional musicians but we are creators of musical stories and that is the beauty of it. The sessions are open to anyone visiting the museum. Genres are not specified. Songs can be instrumental, folk, country, bluegrass, Americana, blues, humorous, jazz, R&B, electronic, and even pop, to name a few. Writers are allowed to bring CDs for sale and to accept tips after performances.
For more information about the Songwriters Showcase and Songwriters Circle programs, visit the Events page at BirthplaceOfCountryMusic.org. For more information on Songwriters of Highlands Appalachia, HighlandsAppalachia.org.
