The Birthplace of Country Music

Monthly Country Jam
2023-03-11 14:00 - 17:00, 2023-04-08 14:00 - 17:00, 2023-05-13 14:00 - 17:00, 2023-06-10 14:00 - 17:00, 2023-07-08 14:00 - 17:00, 2023-08-12 14:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | 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.

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.

Monthly Bluegrass Jam
2023-03-25 14:00 - 17:00, 2023-04-22 14:00 - 17:00, 2023-05-27 14:00 - 17:00, 2023-06-24 14:00 - 17:00, 2023-07-22 14:00 - 17:00, 2023-08-26 14:00 - 17:00, 2023-09-23 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.

1927 Concert Series featuring Boy Named Banjo
2023-06-23 18:00 - 21:00 | VA
Date: Friday, June 23
Time: 6:00 p.m. ET
Location: Birthplace of Country Music
Tickets: $100
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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. The concert begins at 7 p.m. Post-performance, guests will have the opportunity to mingle with the band 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 Boy Named Banjo
In a time when the popular choice is to chase the double yellow line down the road to country radio, Boy Named Banjo thrives on its fringes. The Nashville-raised five-piece is a fusion of contemporary country, Americana and folk-rock stacked on a foundation of bluegrass.
“We’re trying to find our own niche within popular country music today,” says Sam McCullough (drums). “But not straight down the middle.”
The band, which has been together in some iteration since members were in high school, is comprised of Barton Davies (banjo), Ford Garrard (bass/standing bass), Sam McCullough (drums) Willard Logan (mandolin, acoustic/electric guitar) and William Reames (acoustic guitar/harmonica). William and Willard played in a middle school garage rock band together, but it wasn’t until William met Barton in high school English class that Boy Named Banjo started to take shape.
Barton had just started playing banjo when he heard William listening to bluegrass music. He suggested they jam together, which led to them asking Willard to join them. The guys started playing music on the streets of downtown Nashville, which is where the name “Boy Named Banjo” was created, outside of the famed Robert’s Western World. While playing, a man walked by and yelled to Barton “Play that banjo boy!” Later that night William came up with the name Boy Named Banjo, which has stuck ever since.
Not only did the band continue to steadily release music independently, releasing two albums and an EP, the band developed its one-of-a-kind live show over the years until it attracted Mercury Records Nashville’s attention in 2019. Boy Named Banjo had just launched their most extensive headlining tour to date when the pandemic commanded them to drive the 36 hours from Portland, Oregon, back to Nashville and put their lives on hold for the next 18 months. They became the first act that Universal Music Group Nashville signed via Zoom about two weeks later.
Boy Named Banjo released their debut EP, Circles, in summer of 2021. The collection includes seven tracks co-written by members of the band including the compassionate “Go Out Dancing,” which the band says takes on a much larger meaning post pandemic thinking “if it really was ending” what would we do? They used the time to write songs and hone in on their sound with writer/producer Oscar Charles (Carly Pearce, Charlie Worsham, Elvie Shane). With a catalogue of songs to choose from, and recent time spent in the studio, the guys are deciding what to run with next.
The band is currently out on the road playing some of country music’s largest festivals including Dierks Bentley’s Seven Peaks, Country Jam, and they recently made their CMA Fest debut playing at the Ascend Amphitheatre Nighttime Concert. They head out on the road this fall as direct support to multi-PLATINUM singer/songwriter, Kip Moore on his Fire on Wheels Tour.
For more information on Boy Named Banjo, visit their website here.

SOLD OUT! 1927 Concert Series featuring The Waybacks
2023-08-06 18:00 - 21:00 | VA
The 1927 Concert Series featuring The Waybacks sold out during pre-sale. 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.
Date: Sunday, August 6, 2023
Time: 6:00 p.m. ET
Location: Performance Theatre, Birthplace of Country Music Museum
Tickets: $100
Exclusive 1927 Society member ticket pre-sale begins June 29. Tickets go on sale to the public July 6.
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, catering and drinks included with ticket. The concert begins at 7 p.m. Post-performance, guests will have the opportunity to mingle with the band after the show.

About The Waybacks
They draw freely from the old school and the old world, but The Waybacks are no
throwback. They are as uninhibited and unpredictable as the eclectic San
Francisco Bay Area that claims them, and for over 15 years their experiments
have always proven sharp-witted and musically dazzling. They’re living proof that
in music, evolution and intelligent design are entirely compatible.
The band has been praised by the Chicago Tribune for its “near-ideal balance of
irreverence, chops, discipline, and originality.” The folk and roots underpinnings
that have long been a Waybacks hallmark are still there, but after years of
playing a huge range of venues and festivals, The Waybacks contuine to evolve.
“The whole spirit of improvisation – that’s always been the cornerstone of this
band for me,” says singer, songwriter and guitarist James Nash. “Through all the
stylistic changes and regardless of the instruments we’re playing, to me the fun of
this band has always been that in some ways I can do whatever I feel like doing
at any moment.”
That improvisational spirit meets the band’s dazzling turn-on-a dime skills at their
annual Hillside Album Hour performances at MerleFest, which for the past 15
years have become a highlight of the festival.
A four-piece with a full arsenal of acoustic and electric instruments, configured
around the hot guitar of James Nash and the fiddle virtuosity of Warren Hood and
driven by the rhythm section of bassist Joe Kyle Jr. and drummer Chuck
Hamilton, the band filters genre through its own sensibilities and ends up
transcending it altogether, conjuring up musical landscapes that defy boundaries
and find common ground. Add in those spirited flights of improvisation and a
healthy dose of jaw-dropping chops and what emerges in the end is decidedly
Waybacks. A trip well worth taking.
“These guys can play like bandits.” ~ Ray Waddell, Billboard
“The musical maelstrom known as The Waybacks blew in from San Francisco, sending up such a startling tornado of aggressively performed, high-spirited melodies as to remove all air from the
room. Their inspirational combination of influences — not to mention their recklessly brazen breakneck pace — exposed the band as virtuosos sharing a singular mind-set.” ~ Buzz McClain, The Washington Post
“ … geniuses … whose playing stacks up to anything you’ll find.” ~ Brad Kava, San Jose Mercury News
For more information on The Waybacks, visit their website at Waybacks.com.

5th Annual Bristol Sessions Super Raffle
2023-09-10 12:00 - 16:00 | VA
What: Birthplace Sessions Super Raffle
When: Sunday, September 10, 2023 from 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Where: Birthplace of Country Music Museum

The Birthplace of Country Music (BCM) will hold its fifth annual Bristol Sessions Super Raffle as a fundraiser to benefit the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. The Super Raffle drawings will take place on Sunday, September 10, 2023, from 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. The Super Raffle is an opportunity for patrons to support the Museum while creating an opportunity to win one of 49 great prizes.
A winner will be drawn every five (5) minutes and prizes include vehicles, a vacation, jewelry, a motorcycle, and much more – plus LOTS OF CASH! Only 5,000 tickets are available for purchase, and ticket buyers do not have to be present to win.
The goal of the Raffle is to benefit the Museum.
Winners will be announced during the live event at the Museum. Winners will also be notified via phone or mail. Additionally, winners will be listed on the Bristol Sessions Super Raffle Website and Facebook event page on the day of the Raffle.
Raffle tickets are for sale for $100 each and include two ticket numbers on each ticket. BCM is offering an incentive to ticket purchasers who buy multiple tickets. The “Buy 10 Get 1 Free” offer gives the buyer a free ticket with the purchase of 10 tickets. The “Buy 10 get 1 free” option must be purchased by a single buyer, and those 11 tickets must all be in one individual’s name, or in no more than two names designated by the buyer (if, as example, a male Buyer wants to put 5 in his name, and 6 in his wife’s name).

Tickets can be purchased online or at one of the following locations:

Birthplace of Country Music Museum (Bristol, VA)
Progressive Tractor (18044 Lee Hwy. Abingdon, VA)
The Travel Shop (339 W. Main Street, Abingdon, VA)
Bristol Honda (2130 Volunteer Pkwy, Bristol, TN)
Stateline Motorpsorts (2115 West State St., Bristol, TN)
Wallace Suburu of Bristol (320 Volunteer Pkwy, Bristol, TN)
Toyota of Bristol (3045 W State St., Bristol, TN)
Cranberry Lane (623 State St, Bristol, VA 24201)
Online at BristolSessionsSuperRaffle.org

Tickets for the Raffle will be on sale until September 10 or when 5000 tickets are sold.
If tickets are still available, they will be sold at the Museum and online until 11:59 PM on Saturday, September 9, 2023. Tickets may not be sold by other ticket sellers after 11:59 on September 6, 2023.
The Raffle drawing will be held on Sunday September 10, 2023, and the drawing will take place at the Museum at 101 Country Music Way, just outside Festival gates.
For a complete list of rules, frequently asked questions, a list of all the prizes, and to purchase tickets, please visit the tabs on this website.
To learn more about the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, visit BirthplaceofCountryMusic.org.

RAFFLE WEBSITE

Monthly Country Jam
2023-10-14 14:00 - 17:00, 2023-11-11 14:00 - 17:00, 2023-12-09 14:00 - 17:00, 2024-01-13 14:00 - 17:00, 2024-02-10 14:00 - 17:00, 2024-03-09 14:00 - 17:00, 2024-04-13 14:00 - 17:00 | Birthplace of Country Music Museum, 101 Country Music Way, Bristol, VA, 24201, United States
Dates: Monthly every 2nd Saturday
Time: 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET
Location: Learning Center, Birthplace of Country Music Museum
Cost: FREE EVENT
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!
Country 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 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.
For more information call 423-573-1927.

Screening: All Wigged Out: The Musical
2023-10-29 14:30 - 16:00 | Bristol Regional Medical Center, 1 Medical Park Boulevard, Bristol, TN, 37620, United States
Date: Sunday, October 29, 2023
Time: 2:30 p.m. Eastern
Location: Walnut Willow Spruce Classroom, Bristol Regional Medical Center, 1 Medical Park Boulevard, Bristol, TN 37620 (From the hospital’s main entrance, go down the stairs behind the check-in/information desk. This will put you at the cafeteria. Go to the right, and through the first set of double doors to the left.)
Cost: FREE and open to the public; donations are encouraged and all money raised at the screening will go to the Cancer Center Foundation – Patient Assistance Fund
Attendees are encouraged to RSVP due to space: RSVP HERE
Join the Birthplace of Country Music and Ballad Health for a screening of All Wigged Out: The Musical on Sunday, October 29, 2:30pm in the Walnut Willow Spruce Classroom. This heartwarming musical comedy takes us through Marcy Marxer’s many stages of discovery and diagnosis of breast cancer and neuropathy tempered by her wacky sense of humor and ability to make the personal universal. Grammy-winning singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Marcy, along with her musical and life partner Cathy Fink, have shared All Wigged Out with audiences nationwide, helping us to navigate the cancer maze while showcasing the power of hope, love, and advocacy.
The screening of the stage show of All Wigged Out will be followed by a Q&A with Marcy and Cathy, along with a representative from one of Ballad Health’s cancer centers.
The film is 58 minutes long.
“ALL WIGGED OUT is heartwarming, touching, hilarious and SO relatable! A true ‘must see’ for us all.“ ~ Doreen Bickel, American Nurses Association
This program is complementary programming to go along with the museum’s current special exhibit, I’ve Endured: Women in Old-Time Music, on display through December 31, 2023. Special thanks are due to the East Tennessee Foundation Art Fund for programming support, along with sponsors Robert and Rene Rodgers in memory of Joyce Rodgers.
About Marcy Marxer and Cathy Fink
Two-time Grammy Award winners, Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer are master musicians with a career spanning over 35 years. Their superb harmonies are backed by instrumental virtuosity on the guitar, five-string banjo, ukulele, mandolin, cello-banjo, and many other instruments. An eclectic folk festival on their own terms, their repertoire ranges from classic country to western swing, gypsy jazz to bluegrass, and old-time string band to contemporary folk including some original gems. Their versatility defies a brief description, perhaps “well rounded Americana” does it best.
Cathy & Marcy have performed at hundreds of bluegrass and folk festivals and taught at close to 100 music camps. The Washington Area Music Association has recognized the duo with over 60 WAMMIE Awards for folk, bluegrass and children’s music. They have performed with Pete Seeger, Theodore Bikel, Tom Paxton, Patsy Montana, Riders in the Sky and a wide range of musical luminaries.
They are happily known as “social music conductors” ready to start a jam session, a community sing or to cre- ate a music camp helping others learn to play and sing. Past students include Kaki King and Rhiannon Giddens. Through their long relationship with the Music Center at Strathmore they collaborated with positive hip-hop artist Christylez Bacon. They continue to mentor up-and-coming artists on navigating the professional music world.
They have entertained the Queen of Thailand, been keynote singers for the AFL-CIO, performed at hundreds of folk festivals, and appeared on the “Today Show” and National Public Radio. They have advocated in Washington for unions, health care for children, and the rights and livelihoods of artists.
As curators, performers and hosts, Cathy & Marcy produce A Tribute To Hank Williams at The Birchmere Music Hall, 2019 was their 23rd annual concert. Their annual weeklong Ukulele & Guitar Summit at The Music Center at Strathmore went into its 11th year in 2019.
Cathy & Marcy have earned two GRAMMY® Awards for their recordings “cELLAbration: a Tribute to Ella Jenkins” and for “Bon Appétit!”. Their CDs “Postcards” and “Banjo Talkin’” were both GRAMMY® nominated in the Best Traditional Folk Album category.
Cathy & Marcy have toured worldwide from Japan to New Zealand, Vancouver to New York and everywhere in between. Shows include The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum (OH), Smithsonian Institution and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. American Voices Abroad chose Cathy & Marcy with fiddler Barbara Lamb to perform in China, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu for the U.S. Department of State.

The Blue Ridge Opry
2023-11-18 19:00 - 21:00 | VA
Date: Saturday, November 18, 2023
Time: 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. ET
Location: Southwest Virginia Cultural Center & Marketplace, 1 Heartwood Circle, Abingdon, VA 24210
Tickets: $20+ tax/fee
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The Blue Ridge Opry is a nostalgic country music variety show inspired by the early days of the Grand Ole Opry and the heyday of classic country stars like Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Uncle Dave Macon, The Carter Family, and more. The program is hosted and produced by singer and multi-instrumentalist Kelley Breiding and features a variety of musical guest stars, comedy, and dancers from the Blue Ridge Mountains.
The Blue Ridge Opry performance on November 18 will feature regional women in old-time music, as both a celebration and partnership with the Birthplace of Country Music Museum’s I’ve Endured: Women in Old Time Music exhibit. Along with the regular cast of singers, musicians, and dancers, special guests include Emily Spencer, Debbie Bramer, Bayla Davis, Cary Fridley, Ashlee Watkins & Andrew Small. This event is in partnership with the Southwest Virginia Cultural Center & Marketplace.
This program is complementary programming to go along with the museum’s current special exhibit, I’ve Endured: Women in Old-Time Music, on display through December 31, 2023. Special thanks are due to the East Tennessee Foundation Art Fund for programming support.

2024 Tennessee Songwriters Week Qualifying Round at the Museum
2024-01-27 13:00 - 16:00 | VA
*NOTE: THE DEADLINE FOR SONGWRITER ENTRY IN BRISTOL QUALIFYING ROUND HAS NOW PASSED. PLEASE CHECK DEADLINES IN OTHER PARTICIPATING VENUES AROUND THE REGION IF YOU STILL WISH TO ENTER .
The Birthplace of Country Music is hosting a qualifying round for Tennessee Songwriters Week in 2024! Registration for songwriters begins Dec. 15. Deadline to enter is Friday, January 12, 2024.
Date: Saturday, January 27, 2024
Time: 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. ET
Location: Birthplace of Country Music Museum
Tickets: $10 (For spectators only; no registration fee required for songwriter entries.)

BUY SPECTATOR TICKETS
REGISTRATION FOR SONGWRITERS CLOSED JAN. 12
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 2024 Tennessee Songwriters Week! A number of venues in the region and across the state, including the Birthplace of Country Music Museum 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!
Three (3) 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 Thursday, February 22. Two alternates will also be chosen in case one of the top 3 are unable to fulfill the commitment. 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 on Saturday, January 27, 2024 at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, but we will be accepting a waitlist after the 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 12, 2024.
**NOTE: Once you have filled out the application, you will not be notified immediately of your submission status. We will send emails out the first week in January letting songwriters know their submissions have been received.
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.
Timeline of events for Tennessee Songwriters Week:
December 15: Songwriter registration opens
January 12: Deadline for Bristol qualifying round entry
January 29 – February 11: Qualifying Rounds statewide
February 18 – 24: Showcase Events statewide
March 24: Finale at The Bluebird Cafe
Made possible by The Tennessee Dept. of Tourist Development, The Bluebird Cafe, Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) and Taylor Guitars; committed to making sure songwriters can share their original work on stage with other writers.

SOLD OUT - 1927 Concert Series featuring Hiss Golden Messenger
2024-02-02 18:00 - 21:00 | VA
The Birthplace of Country Music proudly presents an intimate 1927 Concert Series experience featuring live music by Hiss Golden Messenger.
Date: Friday, February 2, 2024
Time: 6:00 p.m. ET
Location: Birthplace of Country Music Museum
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The 1927 Society Concert Series is an intimate concert experience with some of the hottest roots music artists performing today. Guests are asked to arrive at 6 p.m. ET to enjoy heavy hors d’oeuvres and open bar (ages 21+ with valid ID) before the show, which begins at 7 p.m. The audience will have the opportunity to mingle with the band after the concert, and everything is included in the ticket price.
Members of the Birthplace of Country Music’s 1927 Society gain exclusive access to online ticket presales for each 1927 Concert as a perk of membership. To learn more about all the benefits of membership and to join, click here.
About Hiss Golden Messenger

It’s spring of 2023 in the North Carolina Piedmont and songwriter and singer M.C. Taylor — leader of the band Hiss Golden Messenger — is feeling alive. Joyful. Eternal, he might say. For the GRAMMY nominated musician, whose albums have traced an internal path through adulthood, fatherhood, spirituality, and depression for well over a decade, this is something new.
“The tunes on ‘Jump for Joy’ were composed in free moments throughout 2022, a year during which Hiss was on the road more or less constantly,” explains Taylor. “And perhaps because the post-pandemic energy out in the world felt so chaotic and uncertain, I found myself thinking a lot about the role that music has played in my life and how exactly I ended up in the rarefied position of leading a band and crew all over the globe through dingy graffiti-scrawled green rooms, venerated music halls, dust-blown roadside motels. Sometimes playing in front of 5,000;
sometimes 200. Sleeping sitting up. Laughing until my stomach hurts. Not being able to fall asleep at 3 a.m. in some anonymous bed because my mind is spinning with anxiety or depression or adrenaline, or because my ears are still ringing. Robbing Peter to pay Paul, then robbing Paul to pay Peter back. Over and over again. It’s an outlaw life but one, I’m coming to realize, that makes me happy.”
The songs that make up “Jump for Joy”—the sharpest and most autobiographical that Taylor has written under the Hiss name—read as a sort of epistolary, postcards between the present-day
songwriter and his alias Michael Crow, a teenaged dreamer very much like Taylor himself, who trips his way through the 14 tunes that make up the record. In this way, “Jump for Joy” is a meditation on a life lived with art, and the ways that our hopes and dreams and decisions bump up against—and, with a little bit of luck, occasionally merge with—real life.
“Creating this character became the way that I could explore these vulnerable, tender moments that were so decisive in my life, even if I didn’t know it at the time,” explains Taylor. He continues:
“Through Michael Crow, I was able to get inside these places that exist so deep in my sense memory: Me at 16, knowing intuitively that there had to be something out there for me, something mysterious and divine that wasn’t full of fucked-up, confusing pain; me with my hardcore band, age 18, wandering the vast expanses of Texas beneath a big, fat tangerine moon, scrounging change to fill the gas tank, trying to make a soundcheck for a show that never happened. There’s me at 30, having kids, writing songs as though they were gravestone epitaphs, not yet understanding that nothing is so permanent and serious and that I needed to be gentler with my spirit. There’s me at 35, still chasing the thing because I’ve touched it once or twice and I know it’s the only way for me to feel whole and real and useful, but in the rear-view mirror, I can see everyone who gave up in search of something easier and not so heartbreaking.”
Produced by Taylor and engineered by longtime Hiss compatriot Scott Hirsch over two weeks in the late fall of 2022 at the fabled Sonic Ranch studio in Tornillo, Texas, just a short walk from the Mexican border, “Jump for Joy” dances with joyful, spontaneous energy that feels like a fresh chapter in the Hiss Golden Messenger oeuvre. Taylor is accompanied throughout the album by his crack live band: guitarist Chris Boerner, bassist Alex Bingham, keyboardist Sam Fribush, and drummer Nick Falk, a collection of musicians that have helped make Hiss Golden Messenger’s live performances legendary affairs.
“Jump for Joy,” perhaps more than any other Hiss record heretofore, is an elegant and nuanced melding of everything that makes Taylor and company’s work unique and beloved, colored with an outward-facing elation and sense of openness that elevates the album into something truly timeless and special.
“I knew that I needed this record to be full of joy because if we’re standing at some kind of finish line of human civilization—and I’m not saying that we are, but some days it sure feels that
way—then I want to go out dancing,” laughs the songwriter. “That’s what I wanted “Jump for Joy” to feel like: Dancing at the end times.”

Bristol Rhythm Green Team Plogging Event to Celebrate Earth Day 2024
2024-04-20 09:00 - 12:30 | VA
Celebrate Mother Earth with the Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion‘s Green Team plogging event!

Date: Saturday, April 20, 2024
Time: 9:00 a.m. EDT
Location: Machiavelli’s Restaurant (8 5th Street, Bristol, TN)
Cost: Free to participate (beverages and food not included)
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
Plogging is a community and environmentally focused way to exercise where you pick up trash as you walk/run. This event gives us the opportunity to call attention to the importance of recycling, disposing of trash responsibly and not littering, and keeping our Historic Downtown clean.
What to expect:
Meet us at Machiavelli’s at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 20. Participants will have two walk/run routes to choose from, each starting in Historic Downtown Bristol, and then branching out to nearby neighborhoods in Tennessee and Virginia.
HOKA will provide several shoes to demo during the event, and Mountain Sports, Ltd. will be set up inside the restaurant with HOKA shoes to purchase. The Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion Green Team will be there to talk about volunteer opportunities at Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion music festival coming up September 13-15 in Historic Downtown Bristol.
Machiavelli’s will have pizza-by-the-slice and drinks to purchase so you can hang out while enjoying some food and time with friends after helping make Bristol a greener place to live!
Stick around after the plogging session for a raffle, when you’ll have the chance to win some cool prizes, including a pair of HOKA shoes and two passes to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum! And the person who brings back the most trash (by weight) will win a weekend pass to Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion!!!
Itinerary:
9:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
Arrive at Machiavelli’s to get your route maps for plogging and grab a pair of HOKA shoes to test out during the plog! Demo shoe sizes are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis, so please arrive early to secure your size.
9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
5K plog, walk or run. Pick up trash along your route.
11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Raffle and prizes awarded
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Pizza and drinks available for purchase.
Image: The Green Team’s first plogging event in 2022: Plogging volunteers pose with the trash pick-up results (left); winners of the BRRR wristband grand prize for the most trash gathered. This first event resulted in almost 150 pounds of trash picked up over one hour!

Community Square Dance: A Partnership with Bristol Ballet
2024-04-20 18:30 - 21:00 | Bristol Ballet, 330 Buford Street, Bristol, VA, 24201, United States
Date: Saturday, April 20, 2024
Time: 6:30 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 20. Caller Tyler Hughes will lead a short introduction to dance steps at 6:30pm, followed by a full square dance with a lively string band at 7:00pm.
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!
