Blue Ridge Music Trails

The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and Virginia are the heart of a region where traditional music and dance are celebrated as nowhere else in America. This book is a comprehensive traveler's guide to discovering the many places where this unique music-making legacy thrives. The book leads readers to more than 160 venues and events filled with bluegrass and string band music, ballad singing, fiddling, shape-note singing, gospel music, clogging, and other traditional forms of music and dance. Vivid descriptions bring the mountain music scene to life in all its diversity. Nearly 150 color photographs are partnered with the moving words of musicians themselves, allowing readers a glimpse into the hearts and minds of the bearers of this enduring folk legacy. Concise driving directions and up-to-date maps accompany the entries for the events covered, which range from small, local jam sessions to well-known festivals that draw thousands of fans. An engaging and essential resource for music lovers, this guide invites everyone to experience a great American musical tradition. The Blue Ridge Music Trails are a project of the Blue Ridge Heritage Initiative and its partners, the North Carolina Arts Council, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the Blue Ridge Institute and Museum of Ferrum College, the North Carolina Folklife Institute, and the Blue Ridge Parkway Division of the National Park Service.