9 Essential Stops on VA’s Crooked Road Music Heritage Trail
Southwest Virginia’s Crooked Road Music Heritage Trail is an easy road trip from a handful of Southern states. For music lovers and history buffs alike, this trail inspires a seriously epic road trip. These are nine stops along the trail that should be on your route!
Southwest Virginia’s Crooked Road Music Heritage Trail traverses 330 miles, 19 counties, and four cities — and it’s easily accessible! The profound music history of Blue Ridge Appalachia is an easy road trip within traveling distance of Atlanta, Charleston, Nashville, and even Cincinnati. There are plenty of historic venues to explore, ranging from the Birthplace of Country Music (where the first country music was recorded) to a Dairy Queen in Rocky Mount, VA, where you can enjoy unforgettable bluegrass jam sessions. Here are some suggestions for where to go and what to discover!
SB Tip: You can learn about some of the major venues here, but check out the Crooked Road interactive map, which details more than 60 affiliated venues, festivals, wayside exhibits, music jams, parks, and dynamic concert venues like the Jettie Baker Center. At the Henderson School of Appalachian Arts, you can even make your own fiddle or guitar, which might inspire you to contribute to the region’s rich lineage.
The Southwest Virginia Cultural Center & Marketplace | Abingdon, VA
In the Southwest Virginia Cultural Center lobby is a hand-carved wooden map made from 19 pieces of hand-carved heritage wood — one component from each of the region’s 19 counties. Stop here first to gather brochures, maps, and route recommendations. Not only is the cultural center a hub for the Crooked Road trail, “an organization that recognizes and supports places where traditional acoustic string music is performed,” the artisan marketplace will “strike a chord” with your appreciation for creativity in all forms.
Work by more than 180 artisans from the ‘Round the Mountain: Southwest Virginia’s Artisan Network is on display in the artisan marketplace here, which showcases art and craft in myriad forms: clay, fiber, glass, metal, weaving, basketry, jewelry, painting and drawing, mixed media and woodwork pieces. The center is also a place to listen to and purchase bluegrass and gospel music and to linger in interpretative exhibits about how roots music emerged and grew.
The Birthplace of Country Music | Bristol, VA, and TN
Travel west from Abingdon to Bristol, a city on the Virginia-Tennessee border designated by Congress as the Birthplace of Country Music in 1998. Bristol is the site of the 1927 Bristol Sessions, the first recordings that brought country music to a broad audience and prompted its commercial popularity. These sessions showcased 19 regional performers, including Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family, and were captured by a new-at-the-time Western Electric Microphone.
Through the end of 2023, you can experience I’ve Endured: Women in Old-Time Music, an exhibit that highlights women who’ve created music history, examines how gender has shaped their experiences, and compares it to the contemporary era. Permanent exhibits immerse visitors in the 1927 Bristol Sessions, and rotating exhibits showcase regional music, art, and history. Radio Bristol broadcasts recordings and live sessions from the museum, and you can listen from your desktop or phone anytime through a live stream or mobile app.
Carter Family Fold | Hiltons, VA
Upon recording during the 1927 Bristol Sessions, the Carter Family (Alvin Pleasant “A.P.” Carter, his wife Sara Carter, and her sister-in-law, Maybelle Carter) began a profound musical legacy, rooting country music in the American consciousness. Janette Carter, A.P.’s daughter, founded the Carter Family Fold in 1974. It’s located on the original Carter Family homestead, with The Carter Family Memorial Music Center on the site of A.P. Carter’s former general store at the base of Clinch Mountain. The Carter Family Fold is an 800-seat live music venue with Saturday night concerts, and the museum opens an hour before each show.
Country Cabin II | Norton, VA
The Country Cabin is a nationally registered historic landmark — a chestnut log cabin built in 1937 as a community space by musician, recording artist, songwriter, and singer Katherine O’Neill Peters Sturgill in collaboration with the Works Progress Administration. Country Cabin II is a live music venue showcasing bluegrass, country, and old-time music. It’s also a place to shake a leg through clogging and line dancing events and to explore other cultural programming focusing on Appalachian history and culture. The annual Dock Boggs Memorial Festival is in September, honoring banjoist Moran Lea “Dock” Boggs and Sturgill.
The Ralph Stanley Museum | Clintwood, VA
Dr. Ralph Stanley was an acclaimed bluegrass musician and banjo player, an International Music Hall of Honor and Grand Ole Opry inductee, and a Grammy Award-winner (for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? in 2002). He learned to play clawhammer-style banjo during his teen years and formed The Clinch Mountain Boys with his brother after World War II.
The Clinch Mountain Boys were first signed by Columbia Records as the Stanley Brothers and performed under that name until 1966, when Carter Stanley passed away. Ralph Stanley eventually began performing again and revived the Clinch Mountain Boys with other collaborators, including a young Ricky Skaggs. The Ralph Stanley Museum and Traditional Mountain Music Center delve into his life, career, and legacy with exhibits on regional music history and a wealth of memorabilia.
The Blue Ridge Music Center | Galax, VA
The Blue Ridge Music Center is an outdoor concert venue and interpretative center located at milepost 213 on the Blue Ridge Parkway. From May through October, museum entry is free, and Saturday evening music events feature bluegrass, old-time, folk, Americana, country blues, and gospel. Other events include a daily Midday Mountain Music series featuring local musicians and Milepost Music, a free Sunday -afternoon concert series at various stops along the Parkway, such as Humpback Rocks and Roanoke Mountain Picnic area.
The museum also features an interactive exhibit called The Roots of American Music. While there, gather information about year-round events, concerts, and arts and music programming.
Rex Theater + The Old Fiddler’s Convention | Galax, VA
The Rex Theater hosts and streams a Friday evening live radio show, Blue Ridge Backroads Live, featuring stage performances from bluegrass and old-time bands. The program is broadcast across five states (and can be heard worldwide online) via Classic Country 98.1. The theater opened in 1940 and is now owned by the city of Galax as a venue for local, regional, and national music acts. Every August at Felts Park Campground, you can enjoy the Old Fiddler’s Convention, where you can listen to music and watch folk and flat-foot dance competitions.
Floyd Country Store | Floyd, VA
The Floyd Country Store (offering everything from ice cream at The Soda Fountain to nostalgic confections to hardware and supplies) began in the 1980s as a gathering place to share Southern Appalachian music and dance. You can even grab a bite at the cozy lunch counter! A Sunday evening front porch guitar jam and Friday Night Jamboree are both wonderful, welcoming venues. The store is also the home base for The Handmade Music School, devoted to teaching old-time, bluegrass, and traditional music and dance.
Blue Ridge Institute & Museum at Ferrum College | Ferrum, VA
The Blue Ridge Institute & Museum was formed in 1973 at Ferrum College to document, interpret, and present folk heritage in the Blue Ridge region. The programming is extensive and includes festivals, concerts, and several exhibitions. You should also plan to attend Monday night jams and the Folklife Music Festival in October, currently in its 50th year.
Current on-site exhibitions focus on topics like Southwest Virginia’s plein air painters and earthenware potters along the Great Road in Virginia and Tennessee, regional travel, and even the history of spirits. For some facts about the local flavor, check out the current exhibition Moonshine: Blue Ridge Style. The affiliated Blue Ridge Farm Museum re-creates a 19th-century Virginia-German farmstead with costumed interpreters and group tours.
Happy trails!
All photography courtesy of Southwest Virginia Cultural Center & Marketplace.
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Amy Beth Wright
Amy Beth is an essayist and freelance travel writer, with an emphasis on art, architecture, food, spirits, and public lands. She also contributes to Wine Enthusiast and Fodors Travel, and teaches writing to undergraduates at Purchase College in New York. Visit amybethwrites.com to read more of her work.