Join us Tuesday, August 12 at 7pm in person or online for a fascinating discussion on the importance and vitality of community-based music in small-town America.
Folklorist Emily Hilliard talks about the future-focused and collaborative approach to cultural work she explores in her book, Making our Future: Visionary Folklore and Everyday Culture in Appalachia.
Join us on Tuesday, September 9 for a Speaker Session with Emily Hilliard. In this Speaker Session, folklorist Emily Hillard talks about the future-focused and collaborative approach to cultural work she explores in her book, Making our Future: Visionary Folklore and Everyday Culture in Appalachia.
With the breakthrough 2007 single, "Country Girl," from her self-titled debut country album, Rissi Palmer made history as the first Black female country artist to ascend the Billboard Hot Country Singles Charts since Dona Mason in 1987. Palmer highlights Black women pioneers who walked and endured so Black women could enter the space of country music with ease. There is no cost to join this virtual Speaker Session via Zoom, but pre-registration is required.
THE EVENT IS POSTPONED AND WILL BE RESCHEDULED AT A LATER DATE. Join us on Tuesday, December 9 for a Speaker Session with Nicholas Edward Williams. Roots Music History: Live! is a multimedia presentation on local East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia music history presented by the producer and host of the music history podcast American Songcatcher heard on Radio Bristol, WNCW and wherever you get our podcasts, Nicholas Edward Williams. The experience includes historical audio, video, imagery, and a short concert of early songs recorded or documented in East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.
Join us on Tuesday, January 20 for a Speaker Session with Tina McDaniel and William Isom II for a presentation on local African-American History. This event honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday with a moderated conversation hosted by the Birthplace of Country Music Museum featuring local Bristolian Tina McDaniel and William Isom II of Black in Appalachia. The discussion will highlight projects, oral story collections, and marker installations—along with fascinating and largely unknown nuggets that reveal the depth, resilience, and cultural impact of Bristol’s African American community.
Join us on Tuesday, February 10 for a Speaker Session with Lisa Sorrell and The Malpass Brothers for a discussion about the inspiration and innovation behind bootmaking and the creativity that artists express through their songs and stage wear, including boots. This Speaker Sessions is complementary programming for our current special exhibit Boot Scootin' History: The Craft & Stories of Cowboy Boots on display through April 6.
Get your team together and join the Birthplace of Country Music Museum and the Bristol Hotel on Friday, March 6, 6:00-8:00pm for a Boot Scootin' Trivia Night! We'll gather at Lumac Rooftop Bar for several rounds of cowpoke-adjacent trivia.
Join us on Tuesday, March 10 for a Speaker Session with Malcom Smith on the Clawhammer Banjo Masters of Southwest Virginia. SW Virginia has been and continues to be a hotbed of clawhammer banjo playing and old time music. Over the past year, a group of researchers and musicians have put together a new website featuring more than 50 Masters of the folk art, that includes biographies, tunes and anecdotes about the development of the style in the Blue Ridge and beyond. Hear these Masters come to life as Dr. Malcolm Smith, who spearheaded the project along with banjoist Mac Traynham and fiddler and web designer, Jason Phillips, shares stories, music and highlights from this new resource.
Join us on Tuesday, April 14, for a unique experience! It’s always fun to experience something new and different…or old and archaic…depending on your bent. This program delivers both. We’re gonna do something old and archaic, which will probably be something new and different. We’re gonna record some lucky person(s) onto a “wax” cylinder with 100+ year old equipment, and we’re gonna do it WITHOUT electricity and wires! This is a great opportunity to learn more about how early recordings were made and see the work in action.