As evening falls in Floyd, Virginia, the sun still lingering above the horizon, a sense of excitement begins to pulse along Locust Street. It’s Friday night, and like every weekend for more than 40 years, this charming town nestled in the foothills of Southwest Virginia prepares to come alive with the sounds of bluegrass and old-time folk music – two of the foundational genres that gave rise to modern country. Banjo and mandolin players slowly gather at the Floyd Country Store, ready to launch into fiery jam sessions in front of a lively, eclectic crowd of curious tourists, locals and children clad in flannel shirts and oversized cowboy hats.
An ever-growing crowd gathers inside the shop. Dinnertime is approaching, and the store’s owner, Heather Krantz, invites me to try a bowl of pinto bean soup – a traditional and comforting dish from the region – served with cornbread. But it’s not the local soup, as tempting as it is, that has earned the Floyd Country Store its fame far beyond the rolling peaks of Southwest Virginia. What truly sets the place apart is its legendary Friday Night Jamboree, a captivating weekly event that draws crowds from near and far. When the former owner, Freeman Cockram, first started playing in the humble backroom, he could hardly have imagined that, decades later, people would be travelling from as far as Australia to experience the music and magic of this gathering. Over the years, the event has grown
and evolved, but its soul – a celebration of traditional Appalachian music – remains the same.
The “Watching Owls”
The Floyd Country Store is one of the main attractions along the Crooked Road, which winds its way through the Blue Ridge and Cumberland Mountains on Route 58. Launched just 20 years ago, the 535-kilometre route connects some of the most significant landmarks in the history of country music. No fewer than 60 points of interest are marked on the Crooked Road map, stretching from Bristol to Rocky Mount.
“In the early ’80s, Freeman and his band used to gather here to rehearse,” Krantz recalls. Since they kept the doors open, locals started stopping by the shop, originally known as Cockram’s General Store, to watch them play. Back then, it was much smaller, and you had to bring your own chair if you wanted to sit. The Floyd Country Store has expanded significantly, now featuring both a dining area and a full-fledged performance space with a stage and a dance floor. And no one needs to bring their own chair anymore.
Locals dine at the Floyd Country Store. Photo: Courtesy of FLoyd Country Store
The regulars have reserved front-row seats, with their names carefully lettered on the backs of their chairs. These loyal patrons have become the true guardians of down-home country music. Krantz refers to them as the “watching owls” of the Friday Night Jamboree. “This is a community event that couldn’t exist without these folks,” she emphasizes. “They are really the caretakers of the jamboree, so we try our best to take care of them.”
Every Friday, the Floyd Country Store follows the same ritual. The jamboree kicks off at 6:30 p.m. with an hour of gospel music to honour the memory of Cockram, who was a man of faith. Then comes the moment to slip into your clogging shoes and give flatfoot dancing – the traditional Appalachian style – a try. A vibrant septuagenarian named Louise (I never learned her last name) is a familiar face at the jamboree, and she extends her hand and invites me to join the dance. As the Slate Mountain Ramblers, a beloved local band, pour their energy into the music on stage, the tempo picks up. The rhythm driven by banjos and fiddles accelerates, and I find myself gasping for air. It turns out that flatfoot dancing is far more physically demanding than I expected – especially for someone who hasn’t exactly been keeping up their fitness routine.
A Friday night jam session at the Floyd Country Store. ); Photo: Virginia Tourism Corporation
The dancers play a role just as vital as the musicians. They don’t just follow the tempo set by the instruments – they become a part of it, using the metal plates fixed to the soles of their clogging shoes to stamp their feet on the wooden floor, creating a beat that’s as loud as it is captivating. The musicians and dancers really rely on each other. Louise tells me they share a complementary bond that keeps the rhythm alive. Usually, there are two fast dances followed by a slower one. “The bands know they have to mix it up, or people get too tired to keep going,” she explains.
But it’s not time to call it a night just yet. The party is in full swing, and before long, the seasoned regulars are joined on the floor by younger dancers eager to take the lead. Students from nearby Virginia Tech mingle with the crowd, warmly welcomed in a beautiful moment of unity. In Southwest Virginia, traditions have been passed down for generations. Events like the Friday Night Jamboree not only inspire new generations but also keep alive the legacy left by early European settlers. Pioneers arrived in the Appalachian Mountains at the turn of the 18th century, their stringed instruments in hand, bringing with them the roots of a musical tradition.
A Musical Big Bang
Following the lively celebrations of the night before, Tyler Hughes, the executive director of the Crooked Road – a non-profit that manages Virginia’s heritage music trail and supports local musicians and economic development through cultural tourism – offers to take me on a trip to Bristol. Straddling the border between Virginia and Tennessee, this Southern railroad town is renowned for its NASCAR races. Bristol also proudly claims to be the birthplace of country music. It was here, 480 kilometres from Nashville, that a “musical big bang” occurred in the summer of 1927, when Ralph Peer, a producer from Victor Talking Machine Company, arrived by train from New York to discover new talent. He was acting on the advice of one of his artists, Ernest “Pop” Stoneman, a former Appalachian carpenter.
Peer placed an ad inviting local musicians to perform their best songs in an old hat factory that had been converted into a recording studio for the occasion. The legendary Jimmie Rodgers, along with the members of the Carter Family, were among those who took part in these Bristol sessions, which produced about 60 recordings in just 10 days. In 2014, the Birthplace of Country Music Museum opened its doors in Bristol to tell the story of how these artists – many of whom had never set foot in a studio – sparked a true musical revolution. The museum traces the origins of this landmark event, which Johnny Cash famously called “the single most important event in the history of country music.”
Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, 1970. Photo: Archive Photos/Getty Images
The museum displays numerous period instruments, including an original guitar once owned by “The Father of Country Music,” the aformentioned Jimmie Rodgers. Exhibits also highlight how the Bristol sessions influenced American music. Did you know, for example, that Nirvana’s hit Where Did You Sleep Last Night? owes much to The Longest Train I Ever Saw by the Tenneva Ramblers, recorded in Bristol in 1927? As artists from all types of musical backgrounds – like Beyoncé with her last album, Cowboy Carter – explore the sounds of country music, the museum provides a unique opportunity to revisit the genesis of a genre that has never been as popular as it is today. Back in the days of the Bristol sessions, the word “country” had not yet been applied. Instead, the genre was referred to as hillbilly music, a label commonly used for the people of the Appalachian region that often evokes both pride in their rich folk traditions and derogatory stereotypes of poverty and backwardness. It wasn’t until the national syndication of Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry live-music broadcast in the late 1930s that the term “country” became firmly established in the American musical landscape.
Bristol, Va., self-proclaimed home of country music. Photo: Virginia Tourism Corporation
A country mile
Along the Crooked Road, the traditions inherited from the pioneers of the genre remain deeply cherished. Around 240 kilometres east of Bristol is Galax, the world capital of old-time music, a form of American folk music that was popular in the Southern Appalachian region before the early 1930s, and was a precursor to bluegrass. With both African and European roots, old-time music was the soundtrack of daily life, played on fiddles, banjos and guitars, in homes and community gatherings, long before the rise of radio and recorded music. In Galax, there is a true reverence for stringed instruments, and Barr’s Fiddle Shop is renowned for its violins, banjos, mandolins and handmade guitars, all crafted using traditional methods. It’s not uncommon for audience members at the Rex Theater to leave if performers dare to use electric instruments – reminiscent of the controversy Bob Dylan caused when he plugged in his Fender electric guitar at the Newport Folk Festival 60 years ago.
Guitars line the walls at Barr’s Fiddle Shop in Galax, Va., a local staple known for their handcrafted instruments. Photo: Malik Cocherel
In these hills, where moonshine once flowed freely during Prohibition, age-old traditions are still honoured. The region’s rugged terrain and isolation made it a hotspot for illicit distilleries, as locals, including notorious bootlegger James Walter “Peg” Hatcher, turned to bootlegging alcohol to survive. Today, at Rocky Mount, a small town located at the far end of the Crooked Road, the Twin Creeks Distillery continues this legacy, producing whiskey from locally grown grains and fruits using the same distillation methods once employed by Hatcher. A few kilometres down the road at Ferrum College, the Blue Ridge Institute & Museum not only preserves the region’s heritage but also brings it to life through an active farm that recreates the kind of Appalachian homestead found in the early 19th century.
The Rex Theater in Galax, Va., where electronic instruments are still frowned upon. Photo: Virginia Tourism Corporation
“This is where we host the Blue Ridge Folklife Festival,” says Bethany Worley, the director of the Institute, as she gestures toward the vibrant green pastures surrounding the farm. For more than 50 years, this event has taken place in late October, bringing together bluegrass and old-time musicians, moonshine makers, woodcarvers, quilters and other traditional artisans from the Blue Ridge Mountains. “We recently invited a group of schoolchildren to dress in period clothes and spend a few days on the farm, experiencing life as it was in the 1800s,” Worley continues. “We were a bit concerned they’d start asking for screens after a few hours, but to our surprise, they absolutely loved it!”
Whether you travel from east to west or the other way around, the Crooked Road offers a truly immersive experience. “It’s not just about coming and listening to the music. It’s about being part of the music,” Hughes tells me as I approach the final miles of my road trip. As the bucolic landscape of the Appalachians unfolds before me, I find myself reflecting on the children and teenagers I’ve encountered along the way, violins in hand or banjos slung over their shoulders. Were some of them a future Heather Krantz or perhaps even a Dolly Parton? One thing is certain, the Crooked Road has many vibrant years ahead, as a new generation of cultural stewards is ready to carry its traditions forward – a goal that was central to its creation two decades ago.
