The Birthplace of Country Music

DBVI "Out of Sight" Experience
2022-10-12 12:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | VA
Date: Wednesday, October 12, 2022
Time: 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Location: Birthplace of Country Music Museum
FREE EVENT!
The Virginia Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired brings it’s “Out of Sight” Experience to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum to celebrate National Disability Employment Awareness Month and White Cane Day. Drop in anytime during the day, or make it a point to hear DBVI success stories during a special presentation at 2:30 p.m. in the performance theater. There will be free activities and drawings for door prizes.
Visit DBVI on Facebook for more information.

Radio Bristol's Farm and Fun Time
2022-10-13 19:00 - 20:30 | VA
Date: Thursday, October 13, 2022
Time: 7:00 p.m. EDT (Doors open at 6:30 p.m.; audience asked to be seated by 6:55 p.m.)
Location: Performance Theater at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum
Tickets: $35
SOLD OUT!
Join us in the intimate performance theater at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum for WBCM Radio Bristol’s Farm and Fun Time live variety show with special guests Sunny Sweeney and Ferd.
Hosted by Kris Truelsen and his house band Bill and the Belles, Farm and Fun Time is a re-imagining of the classic WCYB Radio program of the same name that aired in the 1940s and 1950s. Radio Bristol’s Farm and Fun broadcasts live before a studio audience and recorded for television syndication on PBS stations across the South. It can be accessed on 100.1 FM in the Bristol area, or online at ListenRadioBristol.org and on Radio Bristol’s free mobile app. Viewers may also tune in to watch through Radio Bristol’s Facebook page.

About Sunny Sweeney
Sunny Sweeney, a genre-bending, songwriting spitfire who has spent equal time in the rich musical traditions of Texas and Tennessee, returns with Married Alone, the celebrated singer-songwriter’s fifth studio album and the follow-up to 2017’s critically acclaimed Trophy. Co-produced by beloved Texas musician and larger-than-life personality Paul Cauthen and the Texas Gentlemen’s multi-hyphenate Beau Bedford, Married Alone is Sweeney’s finest work yet, bringing together confessional songwriting, image-rich narratives and no shortage of sonic surprises for a loosely conceptual album about loss and healing.

About FERD
Ferd is a man and a band creating a fresh and vibrant interpretation of American music. Ferd is set to release their first album, Feelin’ Like the Wind, in 2022. The album is a musical journey into the toils of joy we all find while stumbling our way to forgiveness.
Ferd Moyse the man was raised in the Mississippi Delta. Born in the land of the Blues, he was exposed to music from the beginning. Sometimes his parents might take him to parties where the likes of Sam Chatman may have been playing, but when he was old enough to be left alone, his job was staying home flipping cassette tapes for his father’s weekly ritual of recording a Mississippi Public Radio show called, “Grass Roots.” The 3-hour show was young Ferd’s introduction into bluegrass and old time music.
At the same time, music was all over the Delta and he would see things from Son Thomas playing at his church or John Hartford at an old high school auditorium. Ferd began playing guitar at an early age and began performing with various blues bands around Mississippi. A chance encounter with a Doc and Merle Watson CD turned his attention to acoustic music and into Appalachia. He moved to western North Carolina and crossed paths with the fiddle, eventually becoming fiddler and singer with the Virginia based Hackensaw Boys.The band was turning heads making original music with a punk-rock spirit. With the Hackensaw Boys, Ferd traveled nationally and internationally playing every festival and club stage they could find, creating an unpretentious version of our folk music. They eventually released albums for Netwerk and Free Dirt Record labels and even working with grammy-winning producer Larry Campbell. Ferd is also know all over by his work with the New York based bard, Morgan O’kane. Together, Ferd and O’kane have traveled extensively busking and playing stages from Brazil to Belfast.

About Bill and the Belles
Bill and the Belles is a Johnson City, TN-based band known for combining a stringband format with their signature harmonies, candid songwriting, and pop sensibilities. Their delightfully deadpan new album, Happy Again, is full of life, humor, and tongue-in-cheek explorations of love and loss. Bill and the Belles is Kris Truelsen on guitar, fiddler Kalia Yeagle, banjo/banjo-uke player Aidan VanSuetendael, and bassist Andrew Small. The group has a knack for saying sad things with a bit of an ironic smirk, and anyone who’s been to one of their shows can attest that you leave feeling lighter and refreshed. This is a band that revels in the in-between: deeply engaged with the stringband tradition and eager to stretch those influences to a contemporary setting. A timeless place where Jimmie Rodgers and Phil Spector can overlap, and a driving fiddle and banjo tune makes way for a sentimental parlor song. And while Bill and the Belles’ latest chapter offers a bigger, moodier, and more decade-ambiguous sound, they maintain their status as the most refreshing stringband around. Visit the band’s website at BillandtheBelles.com for touring and more information.

1927 Concert Series featuring Western Centuries
2022-10-14 18:00 - 21:00 | VA
The Birthplace of Country Music presents the 1927 Concert Series, an intimate concert experience, featuring Seattle-based roots band Western Centuries at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.
Date: Friday, October 14, 2022
Time: 6:00 p.m. EDT
Location: Birthplace of Country Music
Tickets: $100
Click Here to Purchase Tickets
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 (ages 21+ with valid ID) before the show, food and drinks included with ticket. Post-performance, guests will have the opportunity to mingle with the artist(s) after the show.
Members of the Birthplace of Country Music’s 1927 Society are given access to exclusive ticket pre-sales to the 1927 Society 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 Western Centuries
In an age when independence is idolized and every person seems to be seeking their own lone wolf career path, Seattle-based roots band Western Centuries believes that the way forward is better together. Collaboration, inspiration and mutual admiration are what Cahalen Morrison, Ethan Lawton, and Jim Miller cite as the heart of their project. Western Centuries celebrates their third album as a “band’s band” with the release of “Call the Captain,” (a tongue-in-cheek reference to the band’s lack of hierarchy), on Free Dirt Records. Unsurprisingly for such an egalitarian outfit, the collection offers harsh criticism of dogmatic belief systems, all while leading by example with a unique, genre-defying sound.
“Western Centuries comprises a terrific blend of what we love at WNCW: good ole’ rock-n-roll, a healthy dose of honky-tonk twang, and some great songwriting courtesy of Cahalen Morrison, Jim Miller, and Ethan Lawton.” —Martin Anderson, Music Director & Morning Host, WNCW-FM, Spindale, NC
Visit the band’s website at WesternCenturies.com.

Monthly Bluegrass Jam
2022-10-22 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 is hosting 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 listening are also welcome!
Bluegrass Jams will be held on the fourth Saturday of each month from 2:00 p.m.-5:00 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.

Square Dance at the Museum is BACK!
2022-11-04 19:00 - 21:00 | Birthplace of Country Music Museum, 101 Country Music Way, Bristol, VA, 24201, United States
UPDATE: EVENT SOLD OUT!
Time to “do-si-do”! You’re invited to a square dance at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum!
Date: Friday, November 4, 2022
Time: 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Location: Birthplace of Country Music Museum
Tickets: Free, but please RSVP HERE
After a two-year break, Square Dancing at the Museum is back! Join us for an evening of old-fashioned square dancing with caller Tyler Hughes, who will lead the evening with live music to get your feet moving. No partner or experience necessary – just a desire to have a great night out!
This square dance is free and open to the public, though donations will be greatly appreciated!
Get your dancing shoes on and spread the word! For more information, email info@birthplaceofcountrymusic.org or call 423-573-1927.

* The square dance will be held in the museum’s Special Exhibits Gallery, and we ask participants to wear sturdy, comfortable shoes (no heels please!) to protect the wooden floor.

A BCM Christmas with Riders in the Sky
2022-12-02 18:00 - 21:00 | VA
Tickets now on sale to the public!
Date: Friday, December 2, 2022
Time 6:00 p.m. EST
Location: Performance Theater, Birthplace of Country Music Museum
Tickets: $100
BUY TICKETS
Join us for a very special BCM Christmas special with Riders in the Sky, which includes dinner and a cash bar, hosted by WBCM Radio Bristol.
Click here to learn more about the benefits of becoming a member of our 1927 Society so that you may receive exclusive, first-access to concert tickets and more.
About Riders in the Sky

40 years ago there were no laptops, no cellular phones, no Google, no downloads, no Skype, no Tweets, no Apple, no Microsoft, no texting, no electric cars, no Uber. A different world. But there were three young men with drive and wit who wanted to keep a special music alive. They believed in preserving the heritage of Western Music and presenting it to a new generation. They believed in entertaining, and they did so… entertaining themselves as well as the audience! And they believed in creating original Western Music to continue the tradition, not just seal it in amber as a museum piece.
The quartet has slowed up very little and the numbers begin to add up: an astonishing 7,200+ appearances, 35 years on the Grand Ole Opry, 40 records albums (well, now CDs,) and tours of all 50 states and all over the world.
Honors accumulated as well. In addition to the two GRAMMY Awards, Riders received numerous awards from the Western Music Association, including the highest: membership in the Western Music Hall of Fame; numerous Wrangler awards from the Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Museum; awards from the Academy of Western Artists; enshrinement in the Walkway of Western Stars, and more. What began as a celebration of classic Western Music and an evening of hilarity has become a career, and that career has become a legend, one which, 40 years on, shows no signs of stopping or even slowing down much.
Ranger Doug, Too Slim, Woody Paul and Joey the Cowpolka King… 44 years on, “The Cowboy Way.”

Bluegrass Jam
2022-12-03 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 is hosting 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 listening are also welcome!
Bluegrass Jams will be held on Saturday Dec. 3 from 2:00 p.m.-5:00 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.

Farm and Fun Time featuring Darrell Scott, John Long
2022-12-08 19:00 - 21:00 | VA
Be part of the live studio audience for WBCM Radio Bristol’s variety show hosted by Kris Truelsen and his house band Bill and the Belles.
Date: Thursday, December 8, 2022
Time: 7:00 p.m. EST (Doors open at 6:30 p.m., audience is asked to be seated by 6:55 p.m.)
Location: Performance Theater, Birthplace of Country Music Museum
Tickets: $40
BUY TICKETS
Join us in the intimate performance theater at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum for WBCM Radio Bristol’s Farm and Fun Time live variety show with special guests Darrell Scott and John Long.
Hosted by Kris Truelsen and his house band Bill and the Belles, Farm and Fun Time is a re-imagining of the classic WCYB Radio program of the same name that aired in the 1940s and 1950s. Radio Bristol’s Farm and Fun Time broadcasts live before a studio audience and recorded for television syndication on Blue Ridge PBS, East Tennessee PBS, and PBS North Carolina. It can be accessed on 100.1 FM in the Bristol area, or online at ListenRadioBristol.org and on Radio Bristol’s free mobile app. Viewers may also tune in to watch through Radio Bristol’s Facebook page.
About Darrell Scott

Darrell Scott “mines and cultivates the everyday moment, taking the rote, menial, mundane, and allowing it to be surreal, ever poignant, and candidly honest, lilting, blooming, and resonating. The words he fosters allow us to make sense of the world, what is at stake here, and our place in it. And ultimately, Darrell knows the sole truth of life is that love is all that matters, that we don’t always get it right, but that’s the instinctive and requisite circuitous allure of things, why we forever chase it, and why it is held sacred.
2017 and 2018 Darrell opened for and performing with the Zac Brown Band, these days find him roaming his Tennessee wilderness acreage hiking along the small river, playing music, or sharing each day with the woman he loves, also an artist in her own right. He often leads songwriting workshops to help people tell their own truths with their stories, and is as busy as always writing, producing, performing, and just plain fully immersing himself at the hips in life.
​If one really opens their eyes and sees how incomparably varied in surreal depth and breadth the musical territory he is both delving into and setting the high water mark with, it leaves the rest in a bewildered wash of gravel road dust and fading taillights. For good luck finding that two-legged soul who walks around among us who can keep up with him─ain’t gonna happen.”
~ Nathaniel Riverhorse Nakadate
About John Long

Delta blues man John Long is a native of St. Louis, but his love of the blues took hold in Chicago. He moved to Denver in the mid-1970s and soon became known as “Colorado’s own Bluesman,” and has had the opportunity to open shows for many and varied names in the blues, and also folk music artists, many of whom he also got the chance to play with. A few of these included, along with Homesick, Muddy Waters, John Hammond, B.B. King, Snooky Pryor, John Lee Hooker, the Fabulous Thunderbirds (Stevie Ray & brother Jimmy), Odetta, Big Mama Thornton, George Thorogood, Phoebe Snow, Steve Goodman, John Prine, and Big Walter Horton. Long has played internationally, in Europe, Canada, Austria and Germany, as well as coast to coast in the United States.
About Bill and the Belles

Bill and the Belles is a Johnson City, TN-based band known for combining a stringband format with their signature harmonies, candid songwriting, and pop sensibilities. Their delightfully deadpan new album, Happy Again, is full of life, humor, and tongue-in-cheek explorations of love and loss. Bill and the Belles is Kris Truelsen on guitar, fiddler Kalia Yeagle, banjo/banjo-uke player Aidan VanSuetendael, and bassist Andrew Small. The group has a knack for saying sad things with a bit of an ironic smirk, and anyone who’s been to one of their shows can attest that you leave feeling lighter and refreshed. This is a band that revels in the in-between: deeply engaged with the stringband tradition and eager to stretch those influences to a contemporary setting. A timeless place where Jimmie Rodgers and Phil Spector can overlap, and a driving fiddle and banjo tune makes way for a sentimental parlor song. And while Bill and the Belles’ latest chapter offers a bigger, moodier, and more decade-ambiguous sound, they maintain their status as the most refreshing stringband around.

Farm and Fun Time featuring The Deslondes, Erika Lewis
2023-01-12 19:00 - 21:00 | VA
Be part of the live studio audience for WBCM Radio Bristol’s variety show hosted by Kris Truelsen and his house band Bill and the Belles.
Date: January 12, 2023
Time: 7:00 p.m. EST (Doors open at 6:30 p.m., audience is asked to be seated by 6:55 p.m.)
Location: Performance Theater, Birthplace of Country Music Museum
Tickets: $40
BUY TICKETS
Join us in the intimate performance theater at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum for WBCM Radio Bristol’s Farm and Fun Time live variety show with special guests The Deslondes and Erika Lewis.
Hosted by Kris Truelsen and his house band Bill and the Belles, Farm and Fun Time is a re-imagining of the classic WCYB Radio program of the same name that aired in the 1940s and 1950s. Radio Bristol’s Farm and Fun Time broadcasts live before a studio audience and recorded for television syndication on Blue Ridge PBS, East Tennessee PBS, and PBS North Carolina. It can be accessed on 100.1 FM in the Bristol area, or online at ListenRadioBristol.org and on Radio Bristol’s free mobile app. Viewers may also tune in to watch through Radio Bristol’s Facebook page.
About The Deslondes

The Deslondes revealed their self-titled debut to widespread tastemaker applause during 2015. However, they really hit their stride on “Hurry Home” in 2017. Right out of the gate, Noisey proclaimed, “The Deslondes have found a comfortable sound to create art in, and it serves them well,” while Rolling Stone noted, “The Deslondes’ take on country relies on gritty, grimy mix of early rock ‘n’ roll and lo-fi R&B.” In addition to praise from American Songwriter, Paste, The Boot, and more, the record closed out on the year on Uncut‘s “Favorite Albums of 2017.” The band’s latest record, “other side,” might just be its brightest yet.

About Erika Lewis

Known for her lengthy tenure touring and busking with beloved New Orleans jazz band Tuba Skinny, prolific songwriter and singer Erika Lewis has been churning out American originals all her own for the past several years. From classic country to cosmic Americana to dreamy indie folk, Lewis continues to dip her toes more deeply into an every expanding pool of roots music styles. Her new record, “A Walk Around the Sun,” was produced by John James Tourville of The Deslondes and is a testament to Lewis’ songwriting prowess and exceptional vocal ability.

About Bill and the Belles

Bill and the Belles is a Johnson City, TN-based band known for combining a stringband format with their signature harmonies, candid songwriting, and pop sensibilities. Their delightfully deadpan new album, Happy Again, is full of life, humor, and tongue-in-cheek explorations of love and loss. Bill and the Belles is Kris Truelsen on guitar, fiddler Kalia Yeagle, banjo/banjo-uke player Aidan VanSuetendael, and bassist Andrew Small. The group has a knack for saying sad things with a bit of an ironic smirk, and anyone who’s been to one of their shows can attest that you leave feeling lighter and refreshed. This is a band that revels in the in-between: deeply engaged with the stringband tradition and eager to stretch those influences to a contemporary setting. A timeless place where Jimmie Rodgers and Phil Spector can overlap, and a driving fiddle and banjo tune makes way for a sentimental parlor song. And while Bill and the Belles’ latest chapter offers a bigger, moodier, and more decade-ambiguous sound, they maintain their status as the most refreshing stringband around.

Monthly Country Jam
2023-01-14 14:00 - 17:00, 2023-02-11 14:00 - 17:00, 2023-03-11 14:00 - 17:00, 2023-04-08 14:00 - 17:00, 2023-05-13 14:00 - 17:00 | Birthplace of Country Music Museum, 101 Country Music Way, Bristol, VA, 24201, United States
The Birthplace of Country Music Museum hosts a monthly gathering of local musicians for a country jam session focusing on country, old-time and blues music. 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 free and open to the public. All ages and skill levels are welcome. Those just interested in attending as a spectator are also welcome at no charge.
Jams will be held on the second Saturday of each month from 2:00 p.m.-5:00 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.

Film Screening -- Seizing Justice: The Greensboro Four
2023-01-17 11:00 - 12:00, 2023-01-17 15:00 - 16:00 | Birthplace of Country Music Museum, 101 Country Music Way, Bristol, VA, 24201, United States
Date: Tuesday, January 17, 2023
Time: 11:00 AM; 3:00 PM
Cost: Free and open to the public
Length: 47 minutes
Join us on Tuesday, January 17, at 11:00 AM or 3:00 PM for a FREE screening of the Smithsonian Channel documentary Seizing Justice: The Greensboro Four. Learn how four African American college students began a nonviolent sit-in at a Woolsworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and started a revolution.
This programming is part of Bristol’s MLK Jr. Day events for 2023. The Smithsonian Channel documentary is provided free to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum as a Smithsonian Affiliate.

Film Screening - Black Wings
2023-01-18 11:00 - 12:00, 2023-01-18 15:00 - 16:00 | VA
Date: Wednesday, January 18, 2023
Time: 11:00 AM; 3:00 PM
Cost: Free and open to the public
Length: 51 minutes
Join us on Wednesday, January 18, at 11:00 AM or 3:00 PM for a FREE screening of the Smithsonian Channel documentary Black Wings. For early aviators, conquering the forces of gravity was a daunting challenge. But Black aviators had an additional challenge – conquering the forces of racism. Meet the men and women who took to the skies throughout the 20th century, proving to a segregated nation that skin color doesn’t determine skill level. From biplanes to commercial jets, from barnstormers to wartime fighters, meet the path-breaking pilots who opened the skies for all – and contributed in countless ways to the development of aviation.
This programming is part of Bristol’s MLK Jr. Day events for 2023. The Smithsonian Channel documentary is provided free to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum as a Smithsonian Affiliate.

Film Screening and Discussion - The Green Book Guide to Freedom
2023-01-19 18:30 - 20:00 | Birthplace of Country Music Museum, 101 Country Music Way, Bristol, VA, 24201, United States
Date: Thursday, January 19, 2023
Time: 6:30 PM
Cost: Free and open to the public
Length: 51 minutes
RSVP to attend HERE
Join us on Thursday, January 19, at 6:30 PM for a FREE screening of the Smithsonian Channel documentary The Green Book Guide to Freedom. By the turn of the 20th century, the motor age was dawning all across the United States. African-Americans embraced the automobile and the promise of the open road, but they faced a world of danger driving to unfamiliar locales. In the 1930s, a black postal carrier from Harlem named Victor Green published a book that was part travel guide and part survival guide. This is the story of The Negro Motorist Green Book, a travel guide to navigate the sometimes treacherous highways of a segregated nation. See how it became a roadmap to some of the most significant people, successful businesses, and important milestones of the Civil Rights Movement.
After the film, local community members Tina McDaniel, Jewell Bell, Lawrence Bell, and Vivian Releford will share stories and insights into their experiences traveling and how the Green Book was a part of those journeys.
For the safety of participants, masks are encouraged at this event.
This programming is part of Bristol’s MLK Jr. Day events for 2023. The Smithsonian Channel documentary is provided free to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum as a Smithsonian Affiliate.

Film Screening - Black in Space: Breaking the Color Barrier
2023-01-21 11:00 - 12:00, 2023-01-21 15:00 - 16:00 | Birthplace of Country Music Museum, 101 Country Music Way, Bristol, VA, 24201, United States
Date: Saturday, January 21, 2023
Time: 11:00 AM; 3:00 PM
Cost: Free and open to the public
Length: 51 minutes
Join us on Saturday, January 21, at 11:00 AM or 3:00 PM for a FREE screening of the Smithsonian Channel documentary Black in Space: Breaking the Color Barrier. America’s experiences during the Civil Rights Movement and the Space Race are well documented. However, few know about the moment these two worlds collided, when the White House and NASA scrambled to put the first Black astronaut into orbit. This is the untold story of the decades-long battle between the U.S. and the Soviet Union to be the first superpower to bring diversity to the skies, told by the Black astronauts and their families who were part of this little known chapter of the Cold War.
This programming is part of Bristol’s MLK Jr. Day events for 2023. The Smithsonian Channel documentary is provided free to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum as a Smithsonian Affiliate.

SOLD OUT! 1927 Concert Series featuring Paul Thorn
2023-01-21 18:00 - 21:00 | VA
SORRY! Tickets to the 1927 Concert Series featuring Paul Thorn are now SOLD OUT.
Date: Saturday, January 21, 2023
Time: 6:00 p.m. EDT
Location: Birthplace of Country Music
Tickets: $100
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 (ages 21+ with valid ID) before the show, food and drinks included with ticket. Post-performance, guests will have the opportunity to mingle with the artist(s) after the show.
Members of the Birthplace of Country Music’s 1927 Society are given access to exclusive ticket pre-sales to the 1927 Society 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 Paul Thorn
Some years ago Paul Thorn performed on an outdoor stage at a street festival in the heart of a small Mississippi town. Suddenly, in mid song, Thorn stopped playing and looked down at the upturned, sugar-splattered face of a fan on the front row. “I sure would like me a funnel cake,” Thorn announced. The crowd exploded with laughter. By the end of the next song, someone in the audience had responded, and soon Thorn was happily munching on the doughy confection.
And that, dear people, is one more shining example of how Paul Thorn is able to breathe in the air around him, everyday and commonplace, and exhale something original and often side-splitting funny. It’s a kind of genius, and it’s there plain to see, in his music, his art and through his performances, which not only showcase his chops as a singer-songwriter, but as a pitch-perfect improv comic.
His audiences love it. And they come back for more because no two Paul Thorn performances are alike. For further confirmation of this, check out Thorn’s YouTube videos, though I warn you. You will find yourself a long time in this rabbit hole.
We live in a world where the terms “artist” and “genius” have been rendered meaningless through overuse. To use either in describing Thorn, though, is not overreach. Pick up any of his dozen or so CDs. The evidence is plain to see. Just listen.
Visit the Paul’s website: PaulThorn.com

Monthly Bluegrass Jam
2023-01-28 14:00 - 17:00, 2023-02-25 14:00 - 17:00, 2023-03-25 14:00 - 17:00, 2023-04-22 14:00 - 17:00, 2023-05-27 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 2:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m., serving as a great warm-up for Saturday night gigs. Musicians are asked to bring their own instruments. Beginner-focused hour from 2:00-3:00.
The sessions will be held in the Learning Center at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.
For more information call 423-573-1927.

2023 Tennessee Songwriters Week Qualifying Round at the Museum
2023-02-04 13:00 - 16:00 | VA
The Birthplace of Country Music is hosting a qualifying round for the 2023 Tennessee Songwriters Week. Registration for songwriter participation at this Qualifying Round location is now closed.
Date: Saturday, February 4, 2023
Time: 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Location: Birthplace of Country Music Museum
Tickets: $10 (For spectators only; songwriters enter below, no registration fee required)

BUY SPECTATOR TICKETS HERE
REGISTRATION FOR SONGWRITERS NOW CLOSED
Aspiring singer-songwriters dream of the opportunity to perform at Nashville’s Bluebird Cafe, and for a few lucky artists, that opportunity will arrive during 2023 Tennessee Songwriters Week! A number of venues, including the Birthplace of Country Music in Downtown Bristol, Virginia-Tennessee, will host qualifying rounds for singer-songwriters to compete for a place in the spotlight at this historic proving ground for artists – and spectators are invited to watch the competition!
Four (4) songwriters will be chosen from the Bristol competition to move forward and compete during Tennessee Songwriters Week Showcase at The Down Home in Johnson City, Tennessee on Feb. 22. One songwriter will move forward from each Showcase event across the state of Tennessee to perform at Bluebird Cafe in March.
Up to 20 contestants will be considered for the Qualifying Round at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum on Saturday, February 4, 2023, but we will be accepting a waitlist after the first 20 spots are filled. There is no registration fee. Any legal resident of the Unites States, including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are eligible.
The deadline to register for Bristol qualifying round is Friday, January 13, 2023.
To enter, songwriters must submit their contact information, song lyrics for the song they plan to perform, and a YouTube link to a video of the song they will perform during the competition. Songwriters will be judged based on their overall performance, originality and connection to the audience. Songs deemed inappropriate or inflammatory will not be considered. Songwriters are only permitted to register with one venue during qualifying rounds. Internet access is required to enter, with no purchase necessary.
Tennessee Songwriters Week Official Rules.
For more information on qualifying rounds across the state of Tennessee, click here.
For 2023 Tennessee Songwriters Week FAQs, click here.
Timeline of events for Tennessee Songwriters Week:
December 15: Songwriter registration opens
January 13: Deadline for Bristol qualifying round entry
January 29 – February 11: Qualifying Rounds statewide
February 19 – 25: Showcase Events statewide
March ?: Finale at The Bluebird Cafe

Square Dance at the Museum
2023-02-04 18:30 - 21:00 | Birthplace of Country Music Museum, 101 Country Music Way, Bristol, VA, 24201, United States
Time to “do-si-do”! You’re invited to a square dance at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum!
Date: Saturday, February 4, 2023
Time: 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Location: Birthplace of Country Music Museum
Tickets: Free, but please RSVP HERE
Join us for the first Square Dance at the Museum in 2023! An evening of old-fashioned square dancing with caller Tyler Hughes and live string band music is sure to get your feet moving. No partner or experience necessary – just a desire to have a great night out!
This square dance is free and open to the public, though donations at the door are greatly appreciated and help the museum to offer free and low-cost programming to our community.

6:30pm – Half-hour of instruction on basic square dance steps
7:00–9:00pm – Do-si-do and promenade in our lively square dance

Get your dancing shoes on and spread the word! For more information, email info@birthplaceofcountrymusic.org or call 423-573-1927.

* The square dance will be held in the museum’s Special Exhibits Gallery, and we ask participants to wear sturdy, comfortable shoes (no heels please!) to protect the wooden floor.

I've Endured: Women in Old-Time Music Special Exhibit
2023-03-23 - 2023-12-31 | VA
March 23 – December 31, 2023
Location: Special Exhibits Gallery, Birthplace of Country Music Museum
“Congratulations to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum for honoring the women of old-time music with their own exhibit. These women were from the hills and hollers of the rural south, who helped plant musical seeds for all of us. My momma could have been in that exhibit, since she taught us kids old ballads and immigrant songs, gave us a love for music, and access to banjos, fiddles, and a wash-tub bass. It’s great to see the seeds growing, from Mother Maybelle Carter all the way to my fellow-Tennessean Amythyst Kiah.” ~ Dolly Parton
Visit the “I’ve Endured: Women in Old-Time Music” website.
The Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Historic Downtown Bristol honors the hidden heroines, activists, and commercial success stories of women who have impacted the roots and branches of old-time music in a new special exhibit, “I’ve Endured: Women in Old-Time Music,” on display March 23 – December 31, 2023. Created by a women-led content team, this will be the first exhibition curated by the museum that will eventually travel to other institutions.
A commercial career in music may never have occurred to many women tending large families and domestic responsibilities. Women were frequently tied to the home. Others were discouraged or even forbidden by their husbands to keep their music going at home or to play in public. Some women were influenced by their church leaders to stay away from dancing and the music that surrounded it. In many cases women had fewer opportunities than men to make a viable career from their music. Nonetheless, several found ways to work within these challenges – and move beyond them – in order to pass on old-time music, and the related genres of country and bluegrass, as performing musicians or in other roles in music.
“I’ve Endured: Women in Old-Time Music” spotlights commercial success stories and iconic musicians like Mother Maybelle and Sara Carter, Ola Belle Reed, Elizabeth Cotten, Lily May Ledford, Hazel Dickens, Etta Baker, and Alice Gerrard. It also includes women who have impacted the genre in other ways, such as Audrey Hash Ham, Florence Reece, Helen White, Anne Romaine, and Bernice Johnson Reagon. By showcasing today’s torchbearers and innovators, the exhibit also illuminates the ways that women are carrying the old-time genre forward and the work still to be done to open it up to other underrepresented communities. Women like Rhiannon Giddens, Martha Spencer, Carla Gover, Suzy Thompson, and Amythyst Kiah are but a few examples of students of old-time who are blazing new trails. The content development team interviewed dozens of contemporary female old-time musicians and industry professionals as part of the exhibit.
Special Thanks
This exhibit has been funded in part by grants from Virginia Humanities, the Massengill-DeFriece Foundation, and the IBMA Foundation, along with local women-led business sponsorship from Friends of Southwest Virginia, The Crooked Road, Artemis Consulting Services, LLC, Bristol Ballet, Suzi Griffin (Studio 6), Kim Sproles (KS Promotions), and Kayla Stevenson (Matte Nail Bar). East Tennessee Foundation Arts Fund provided grant funding for related public programming, and the Virginia Tourism Corporation provided grant funding for the exhibit’s website.
