Today we’re continuing westward after our adventures in charming Abingdon Virginia towards the city that straddles two states Bristol TN. As a singer-songwriter, Bristol has long been a pilgrimage destination for me as it is the ‘Birthplace of Country Music,’ because it was here in 1927, that record producer Ralph Peer of Victor Records in New York began recording local Appalachian music.
The roots of country music are deeply woven into the fabric of Appalachia, its unique sound emerging from a vibrant blend of influences. From the African banjo to the mandolin, fiddle, guitar, and beyond, these instruments intertwined with Old World folk songs from Ireland and England, as well as African spirituals, to forge a uniquely American genre – a musical reflection of America’s melting pot.
While Bristol didn’t create country, it was the first place it was recorded and promoted to the public, ushering in a worldwide passion for this genre. We’ll dive more into the history of country music later in this post with a visit to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.
In addition to it’s musical history, Bristol has Revolutionary Roots as it was settled and surveyed by Revolutionary War Hero General Evan Shelby. General Shelby moved to the area in 1765. Bristol was once on the site of a Cherokee village called Big Camp Meet, which Shelby renamed Sapling Grove. At one time vast herds of buffalo roamed the area. The region began to be settled by Scottish and Irish pioneers in the 1770s. In 1774, Shelby erected a fort on a hill overlooking what is now downtown Bristol. This fort was a popular stop for travelers like Daniel Boone and George Rogers Clark and hundreds of pioneers’ moving into present-day Tennessee and Kentucky.
Bristol played an important role in The Revolutionary War, with the fort used as a planning stage for Overmountain Men before heading onto fight the British in the pivotal Battle of King’s Mountain (NC/SC border). This victory set in motion a chain of events that ultimately led to Cornwallis’s defeat at Yorktown. Learn more about Bristol’s history here.
My Journey to Bristol:
I stopped by Bristol for one night in April 2025 enroute to a recording session in Nashville. It felt a bit surreal to tread on the hallowed ground where country legends like Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family were discovered during The Bristol Sessions in 1927.
What I loved about Bristol is its unique mountain character. The town fully embraces its mountain roots, but has always been an industrial center too. What makes Bristol really unique is the fact that as you drive downtown on State Street, half of the downtown is Virginia and the other half is in Tennessee. Each side details their state affiliation with a flag. While I love both Virginia and Tennessee dearly, I have to say that Virginia needs to step up their game. The Tennessee Tri-Star was loud and big throughout the Tennessee side of downtown. I guess Virginia doesn’t feel it needs to brag. How cool is it to straddle a state line while shopping at funky local shops and enjoying a meal in between state lines.
The downtown has been revitalized to bring back the historical character with local shops selling everything from stylish fashions, mountain outdoor gear, hardware and more. Downtown Bristol has tons of great restaurants and bars and places to listen to live music.
Music continues to be in the DNA of Bristol and many country, gospel and bluegrass artists still record here. In partnership with the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, Bristol hosts several prominent Americana Roots and Bluegrass festivals each year including my personal favorite Bristol Rhythm and Roots. Previous headliners have included all star performers like Molly Tulle and Golden Highway, Jim Lauderdale and so many more.
Bristol is also home to the historic Paramount Theater where you can enjoy top Broadway shows, musical and comedy acts throughout the year.
Another spot for music outside of town is the Hard Rock Cafe and Casino. I’m honestly not a big casino person and typically steer clear of casinos, but I have to admit when I drove by it looked very nice and would be a fun place to visit especially if you are looking for good food and great live music.
For those who prefer to rev their engines, Bristol is home to the famous Bristol Motor Speedway where you can watch Nascar races. The speedway is massive and a popular attraction in the area.
For my journey, I found a nice Quality Inn just outside of the main city core on the Virginia side. The staff was so friendly and the rooms were clean. Plus the price was right.
If you are wanting a more tailored local experience, I checked out a few other hotels while in the area and was impressed with
- The Sessions Hotel: spread across several historic buildings including the 1915 Bristol Grocery Building, 1920s Jobbers Candy Factor and 1922 Simply Grand Granary Mill, this boutique hotel is authentic Bristol. Guests can enjoy rooms that still have the character from the original buildings, while dining onsite and enjoying live music. Book your stay here
- The Bristol Hotel: Voted the #11 Hotel by Travel and Leisure in the U.S. in 2024, The Bristol Hotel invites you to travel back to the heart of the 1920s when country music was birthed down the street. The 1925 hotel building exudes character of the past without compromising modern amenities. The hotel’s rooftop bar offers spectacular views of the surrounding Appalachian Mountains. You can enjoy handcrafted southern specialties in the onsite restaurant while enjoying live music. Book your stay here
And as always I love Hampton Inn as it includes breakfast and the rooms are always clean.
The Heart of Country Music
No trip to Bristol is complete without a visit to The Birthplace of Country Music Museum, which tells the story of the historic Bristol Sessions as well as the long term impact on country music from Bristol to Nashville and beyond.
Did you know that The Birthplace of Country Music Museum operates an amazing radio station right in the museum. You can listen to the best in Americana, Country, Bluegrass and Roots 24/7 online. Many popular musicians stop by the station to perform on air and discuss country music.
I spent two hours in the museum really diving into the exhibits, which beautifully and simply describe the history of The Bristol Sessions and the birth of one of the most popular genres in music today.
By 1927, two of the recording companies of the time, Columbia and Okeh, had successfully released hillbilly records, while another record label, the Victor Talking Machine Company (later renamed RCA Victor) was seeking to tap more deeply into this new market. Victor hired producer Ralph Peer in 1926; along with other early producers, Peer conducted location recording sessions throughout the south in the 1920s. All of these sessions produced interesting and sometimes historically important records, yet today only one such session is widely known: the 1927 Bristol Sessions, conducted in Bristol.
Peer identified Bristol – a small city near several Appalachian areas known for distinctive music traditions as an ideal place to make recordings. Prior to the sessions, Peer had worked with Ernest V. Stoneman, from the region who had traveled to New York to record a few hillbilly songs. Stoneman suggested Bristol as a good place to record and bring in new talent.
On Friday, July 22, Peer and two Victor recording engineers, Edward Eckhardt and Fred Lynch, set up a temporary studio building at 408 State Street
To attract talent, Peer advertised the sessions in regional papers, including The Bristol News Bulletin.
While Stoneman, an established professional musician already had several hillbilly hits to his credit and brought several family members and friends on the Sessions recordings, much of the talent was new to Peer including what would become the first family of Country Music – The Carter Family.
From July In the following days, a variety of performers arrived in Bristol for the Sessions. Some of these performers, such as The Johnson brothers and Henry Whittier had prior connections to Peer while others heard about the sessions in the Bristol News Bulletin
Each act received $50 for each song they recorded (around $1200 today).
It’s interesting that this area continues to be a hubbub of traditional music, as well as a leader in emerging country sounds like New Grass in Bluegrass and also Americana. Bristol is one of the stops on Virginia’s Crooked Road Trail, which meanders through Virginia’s musical heritage throughout Appalachia. North Carolina continues to be a popular gathering place for musicians especially in Asheville and the surrounding areas.
One thing that made The Bristol Sessions possible was the advent of new recording technology including better microphones.
In the years before The Bristol Sessions, the production of a 78 rpm record involved transferring a music performance to a master disc by means of an acoustic horn. This caused two major issues: first, the resulting recorded music was compromised by the limited dynamic range and secondly, the balanced sound on recordings depended heavily upon the precise placement of performing musicians in front of the horn. Can you imagine having to stand in perfect position while performing in front of a large horn? It made capturing the sounds from multiple singers and musicians with different instruments a real challenge.
Fortunately right before the Bristol Sessions a revolutionary change occurred in microphone technology developed by Bell Laboratories and Western Electric – an electric microphone that soon replaced the acoustic recording process. These new records had a much more nuanced and balanced sound and were much better for marketing music to the buying public.
At the same time, the easy portability and reliability of the electric microphone – along with the related recording equipment – made it possible for record producers to bring their “studios” out of New York City and other large cities to locations that were in the midst of the musical traditions they wanted to record. Therefore, they were able to acquire music for their hillbilly catalogs that might not have been discovered or accessible if the artists had needed to travel to them.
The most influential recordings to come out of the 1927 Bristol Sessions were by The Carter Family from Southwest Virginia: A. P., his wife Sara, and Sara’s cousin Maybelle (only 18 at the time). They recorded six songs on August 1 and 2 – “Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow,” “Little Log Cabin By The Sea,” “The Poor Orphan Child,” “The Storms Are On The Ocean,” “Single Girl, Married Girl,” and ”The Wandering Boy.” These recordings set the stage for the Carters to become the most important singing group in country music history – their sound, songs, and musicianship were foundational to the music we hear today, and their influence has been far-reaching. Joe and Janette (A. P. and Sara’s children) and June, Anita, and Helen (Maybelle’s children with her husband Ezra) – along with their descendants – have continued to bring The Carter Family’s musical traditions and sounds to future generations. Jimmie Rodgers was another famous and hugely important “discovery” at the Bristol Sessions. While Rodgers came to Bristol as part of a group, the Jimmie Rodgers Entertainers, he ended up recording as a solo act with two songs – “The Soldier’s Sweetheart” and “Sleep Baby Sleep.” Even though these recordings were not commercially successful when they were released in October 1927, Peer saw something special in Rodgers’ and in his singing style, and so he invited him to record further at the Victor studios in Camden, New Jersey, in late November 1927. One of the songs recorded then, “T for Texas (Blue Yodel),” immediately made him a national star upon its release. Rodgers soon became known as “America’s Blue Yodeler,” and later as “the father of country music (source)
What I like about this section of the exhibit, it brings the historical timeline to life with photographs and audio clips of performers discussing their memories of the Bristol Sessions. You can also learn about the recording process and listen to clips of the various musicians that recorded in the 1927 sessions.
The sessions recorded 76 songs, many were gospel mixed with folk and hillbilly roots music, which formed a country sound. Some songs were originals and others were popular regional folk songs performed in a unique country style.
The music in these sessions produced success for most of the performers, but in particular two new superstars emerged, including The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers.
Peer returned to Bristol in 1928 to do additional recordings, given the success of the 1927 Bristol Sessions.
Jimmie Rodgers‘ later hit ‘Blue Yodel’ sold over 1 million records. He toured the U.S. before sadly succumbing to tuberculosis in 1933.
Ernest Stoneman’s music career struggled during the Great Depression, but he began touring again with his family in the 1940s.
Each of these recordings built a musical foundation that inspired generations of country musicians and singer-songwriters.
The next portion of the exhibit details the historical origins of intertwined layers of what makes country, country from the African spirituals and early gospel music, to traditions of Scots-Irish pioneers and beyond.
Within the exhibits you can view original instruments used by The Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers and many more.
The final portion of the museum discusses the evolution of country music through today. I loved learning about how local Bristol actor, singer and comedian Tennessee Ernie Ford got his start. Growing up I loved to watch I Love Lucy reruns (I still do) and one of my favorite episodes is when Lucy and the gang drive through Tennessee and meet Tennessee Ernie Ford.
By the 1950s Country had gone from Bristol to Nashville to the National Stage with movies and print media further cementing the country’s status as a popular American genre.
Why I love Country Music:
I’m a music junkie who listens to everything from Bach to Johnny Cash to Genesis to the Temptations.
What is awesome about both the genres of Country and Rhythm and Blues – they are formed like a quilt of many colors that all provide a rhythm and sound that creates perfect harmony. Country is very instrumental and rhythmic but is also agile in taking unique chord arrangements and stylings to make each song have its own twang or tweet. For me what sets the country apart is the storytelling. These are songs of heartache, sorrow, love and joy. While they are different genres I find a lot of similarities in Country and R&B and the soulfulness and rhythm experimentation they create. I also think Country as a genre set the stage for rock and roll. A lot of the early rockabilly came from a country rock vibe, which later influenced artists like The Byrds to The Eagles and Jackson Browne.
*Quick Tip – After touring the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol, make sure not to miss The Country Hall of Fame Museum in Nashville (four hours west of Bristol) which is an amazing museum to learn more about country music from its start in Bristol to present day hits by the likes of Chris Stapleton to Taylor Swift.
After completing my tour at The Birthplace of Country Music Museum, I grabbed a bite to eat at a nearby coffee shop called Blackbird.
What an amazing coffee shop and bakery. The bakery display was lined with freshly made donuts, croissants and other specialties that make your mouth water. I have celiac disease (gluten-free) and was excited to try their gluten free Creme Brule. Can’t wait to return to Blackbird during my next stop in Bristol.
In addition to its toe-tapping music scene, Bristol has lots of great outdoor recreation and easy access to the greater tourism region as well, like The Great Smokies, Knoxville (around 2 hours), western Virginia and eastern Kentucky sites.
If you are an outdoor lover like me and want to explore the beautiful mountain beauty around Bristol, I recommend checking out the following area parks:
South Holston Lake: Discover serenity in this mountain lake area, with hundreds of miles of lake shoreline for boating, water skiing, and fly-fishing this is a water lover’s paradise. The park is near The Appalachian Trail and surrounded by The Cherokee National Forest, making it a perfect spot for hiking and enjoying mountain scenery. Website
Warrior’s Path State Park: Named for the Great Cherokee War and Trading Path, this park is steeped in history and ample opportunities for recreation. Outdoor enthusiasts can go hiking and enjoy water access on the shores of the Patrick Henry Reservoir on The Holston River. Website
The park is home to premier boating and fishing activity, hiking trails, an internationally-renowned mountain bike trail system (which is a designated National Recreational Trail), an award-winning nature education program and a nationally recognized golf course.
Bays Mountain Park and Aquarium in Kingsport TN: Explore nature and learn about astronomy at this family friendly park and state of the art planetarium. Website
For more resources to plan your Bristol Adventure click here
Next time on American Nomad Traveler we’re continuing our journey west through Northeastern Tennessee’s Hill Country to the historic town of Greeneville TN, home to President Andrew Johnson.
Music for Bristol Adventure
Don’t forget to subscribe for the latest posts
Check out our new vlog on YouTube, American Nomad Traveler Podcast is available on Apple and Spotify
Interested in partnering with American Nomad or have an idea for a post, feel free to reach out below:
2 thoughts on “Country Roots: Bristol Tennessee”