BRISTOL, Va. - In August 1971, Twin City leaders announced plans to establish an annual music festival and downtown museum paying homage to the 1927 Bristol Sessions recordings that ignited the flames of commercial country music.
Announced amid the pageantry of a downtown celebration featuring Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, Maybelle Carter, the Statler Brothers and Carl Perkins, the occasion featured the unveiling of a 7-foot marble marker commemorating the significance of those recordings.
It was the Twin City’s first formal recognition of its heritage.
Forty years later, final details are coming together for the 11th annual Rhythm & Roots Reunion - a popular downtown music festival that fulfills a portion of that decades-old promise.
A block off State Street, at the corner of Cumberland and Moore, the dream of a downtown facility remains as yet unrealized. As members of local nonprofit the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance work toward that goal, the group’s former museum remains open daily under the auspices of another nonprofit group with a similar mission.
Now in its fourth location inside the Bristol Mall, the Mountain Music Museum’s exhibits lovingly chart the journey country and bluegrass music has taken through and from the mountains of East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. It is operated by the Appalachian Cultural Music Association, a group headed by former BCMA officials Tim White, James Bryant and Rita Forrester, who left the alliance midway through the past decade because they disagreed with plans to develop the $10.5 million cultural heritage center.
“I want them to be successful,” White said of the alliance project. “I don’t look at it as a rivalry, even though a lot of us left that organization in 2005 and 2006. Personally, I never agreed with the way they’re approaching this. In my opinion, they took their eye off the prize, which it’s all about the music. I think it’s very ambitious what they’re trying to do and I hope they do it. But in the meantime, we have continued - through the ACMA - to do everything that our mission statement says and we’re open seven days a week.”
In part, that mission is to “promote bluegrass, old time, gospel, classic country and Appalachian-style music and provide education.”
Beyond operating the museum, the nonprofit association’s volunteer members also host weekly live music performances at the mall; staff the weekly performances at the Carter Fold in Maces Springs, Va.; work at the monthly “Song of the Mountains” TV show taping in Marion; and fund two music scholarships for East Tennessee State University’s bluegrass and country music program.
“We’ve not gotten real ambitious trying to raise millions of dollars, but we’re getting millions of dollars worth of work done because we have a group of people who have a heartfelt passion for what we’re doing,” White said.
About 30 of its 120 members logged most of 4,800 volunteer hours last year, association board President John Necessary said.
White said: “I’m amazed the people in this organization have continued to do this and don’t expect anything but a thank you. We’ve been good stewards of the money that we have raised. I’m real proud of what we’ve accomplished and continue to accomplish. I think our organization has had a good impact on our local community, our regional community and even people who come here from foreign countries. They tell us these heartwarming stories about how glad they are that we’re here.”
There is no admission fee to walk through the 6,000-square-foot museum, which has attracted an average of 3,000 people each of the past six years, Necessary said.
Funding comes from a small gift shop that sells CDs, T-shirts, books and other items, through donations at their weekly “Pickin’ Porch” shows and other gifts.
Bryant, who operates a printing business, continues to help underwrite any unmet expenses. It is a shoestring operation that has also relied heavily on in-kind gifts to create displays showcasing the records, costumes, musical instruments and other artifacts of Bristol Sessions performers the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, the Stonemans, Twin City native Ernie Ford and many who’ve followed in their wake.
Association officials are satisfied with their museum, but are seeking ways to promote it.
“I’d like to see us have more of an advertising budget. We’ve got something to sell; I’d just like to see us be able to advertise it more,” White said. “I think our museum is second to none. I’ve seen millions of dollars worth of museums in different areas of the country and ours won’t take a back seat to anyone. It was all put together with volunteer effort and giving and in-kind contributions. If you had money you could always spiff things up a little bit, but I’d just like to have an advertising budget to bring more people into this region, which is going to benefit the region. We’ve got something people want to come see and hear.”
The first step in that direction occurred earlier this month, when The Crooked Road, Virginia’s state-funded regional music tourism program formally recognized the museum as an affiliated venue. That recognition means the museum will join the Pickin’ Porch and Song of the Mountains in being included in The Crooked Road’s extensive publicity, promotional materials and its website.
“The ACMA Mountain Music Museum is a gem of a place, where visitors can get a real sense of the tremendous impact this region’s musicians have had on American music,” Crooked Road Executive Director Jack Hinshelwood said. “The museum is a great asset for travelers along The Crooked Road because it can be enjoyed any time a visitor wants to stop by.”
Association plans also include outreach to tour bus operators and travel organizations, offering advertising display space to businesses at its weekly Pickin’ Porch shows and developing a video that offers a virtual tour of the museum and tells the story of the region’s musical heritage, White said.
Necessary, who began as a volunteer, said he is struck by the musical impact.
“The other week we had people here from Europe. We asked them what brought them here and they said, ‘the music.’ They searched us out, found us and came to listen,” Necessary said.
It is a song White knows all too well.
“We’ve got something really special here,” White said. “I really think sometimes we in this region take this music for granted.”
(276) 645-2532
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement