News Category: Special Projects

The Birthplace of Country Music proudly hosts Terry Baucom’s Dukes of Drive as part of The Crooked Road’s Mountains of Music Homecoming!

One night, two shows! That’s right, you’ll have two opportunities to see the band on Monday, June 11, 2018; the first show is at 7:00 p.m. and the second performance is 9:00 p.m.

Monroe, North Carolina native Terry Baucom has enjoyed a career in music that started in 1970 with Charlie Moore and continued over the years as a founding member of ground breaking bands like Boone Creek (with Ricky Skaggs and Jerry Douglas), Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, IIIrd Tyme Out, and more. Winner of the 2013 IBMA Recorded Event of the Year for the single “What’ll I Do,” Baucom and his Dukes of Drive are a must-see.

Tickets to the event are $20 for adults and $10 for children ages 12 and under, click here to purchase.

Mountains of Music Homecoming takes place June 8-16 at a number of concert venues along The Crooked Road: Virginia’s Music Heritage Trail. For a full roster of performances, click here.

The Birthplace of Country Music (BCM) has announced that Eastman Credit Union (ECU) has invested in Radio Bristol’s Farm & Fun Time to increase the show’s live video streaming capabilities with a generous donation of $15,000. This commitment from ECU was vital in securing state of the art equipment that will ensure good video quality for streaming. ECU, a long-term community partner with Radio Bristol, became the title sponsor in August of 2016 by committing $100,000 over five years to the program.

“The Farm & Fun Time show is doing a fantastic job of preserving our region’s rich music heritage in a way that also promotes economic growth. We’re anxious to see how live video streaming will enhance viewership and garner national and international interest,” said Olan O. Jones, CEO and President of Eastman Credit Union.

Tickets to be part of the studio audience for Farm and Fun Time events consistently sell out, as is true for the November and December editions of the program. With the help of ECU the shows will stream live from Radio Bristol’s Facebook page. November’s Farm and Fun Time featuring John McEuen and The Brother Boys live video stream received a total of 2,255 views so far; the video is still up on the page an available for viewing.

“Community partnerships are essential to the success of our organization. They help us deliver quality programming of which our region can be proud,” said Leah Ross, BCM Executive Director. “We are very grateful to Eastman Credit Union for their continued support of the Birthplace of Country Music.”

“Eastman Credit Union’s generosity and vision has been vital in making Farm & Fun Time a success,” said Radio Bristol Producer and program host Kris Truelsen.”Radio Bristol is very excited for the new capabilities we we will have to bring this incredible show to a larger audience. We look forward to Farm & Fun Time becoming a nationally recognized program largely due to the support of Eastman Credit Union.”

The Farm and Fun Time Christmas Ball with special guests The Secret Sisters and Jill Andrews takes place on Saturday, December 2 at 7:00 p.m. and will stream live video on Radio Bristol’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/WBCMRadioBristol.

Radio Bristol’s Farm and Fun Time is a revival of the former WCYB radio program which aired from downtown Bristol in the 1940s and 1950s. Farm and Fun Time features a variety of segments including jingles written
and performed by house band Bill and the Belles, a farm feport, an heirloom recipe segment, and nationally touring artists.

Tickets to be part of the studio audience for the January and February Farm and Fun Time events are on sale now at BirthplaceOfCountryMusic.org/events. Special guests Flatt Lonesome and Uncle Shuffelo & His Haint Hollow Hootenanny will appear on Farm and Fun Time January 11, 2018. Willie Watson and Larry Sigmon & Martha Spencer will join the show’s lineup February 8, 2018.

Radio Bristol’s Farm and Fun Time radio show is recorded before a live audience and is broadcast live as well as via webcast. Radio Bristol can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on 100.1 FM in the Bristol area, online at ListenRadioBristol.org, and through the station’s free mobile app.

For more information on concerts and programming, click here.

An Evening of Song and Story with Jack Beck, Wendy Welch Kicks Off Series

The Arts Alliance Mountain Empire (AAME) Public Speaker Series, in cooperation with the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, will host two events coming to the museum in November and December. The first in the series, An Evening of Song and Story with Jack Beck and Wendy Welch, takes place on Tuesday, November 7 at 7:00 p.m. in the Performance Theater at the museum.

Scots balladeer Jack Beck (a native of Dunfermline in Scotland) is an honorary life member of the Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland and was external examiner in Scots Song for the Degree programme in Scots Music Performance at the prestigious Royal Conservatoire in Glasgow.

Wendy Beck is a storyteller who founded the American Folklore Society’s Storytelling Section and was the former branch secretary of the Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland. Her best-selling memoir The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap: A Memoir of Friendship, Community, and the Uncommon Pleasure of a Good Book is now in its fourth printing.

A recent venture for Jack and Wendy is an “infotainment” called “Stranger in This Country” in which Jack and Wendy examine Scots and American versions of the same songs and ballads. This has been performed both in Scotland—twice at the Celtic Connections Festival—and in the United States from South Carolina to New York and all points in between.

The second event in the series—featuring excerpts from The Book of Mamaw by Eugene Wolf—will take place on Tuesday, December 5. Eugene Wolf has been performing since he was two years old, when he won his first talent contest at the Capitol Theatre in Greeneville, Tennessee. Wolf studied music and theater at the University of Tennessee and worked for The Road Company, a professional acting ensemble in Johnson City, Tennessee, which was the first group of American artists to visit Bashkiria, Russia in 1994.

Many will recognize Wolf as one half of The Brother Boys, a critically acclaimed duo he and Ed Snodderly formed over 30 years ago. The Brother Boys are featured on the album On Top of Old Smoky: New Old-time Smoky Mountain Music alongside Dolly Parton. On November 9 at 7:00 p.m. the duo will perform on the bill with Nitty Gritty Dirt Band founder John McEuen to a sold-out crowd at Radio Bristol’s Farm and Fun Time live variety show. Listeners may tune into the program on 100.1 FM in the Bristol area or stream the event live online at ListenRadioBristol.org or through Radio Bristol’s free mobile app.

For two decades Wolf has been a member of the Acting Company of Barter Theatre where he originated the role of A. P. Carter in the play Keep On the Sunny Side. In 2013 he traveled again to Russia to collaborate with Russian musicians on American spirituals and recorded a CD, Where We’ll Never Grow Old. Wolf has adapted his years of songs, photographs, and musings into a heartfelt, hilarious, one-man show paying homage to the person who has influenced his life the most, his Mamaw.

The public speaker series events at the museum on November 7 and December 5 are free and open to the public; doors open at 6:30 p.m. For more information on the Arts Alliance Mountain Empire Public Speaker Series visit aamearts.org. For more information about events coming up at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, click here.

The Birthplace of Country Music is proud to present the return of Grammy Award-winning artist and powerhouse vocalist Mike Farris to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum for an intimate Friends of 1927 Concert experience on September 7.

“Mike Farris is an unforgettable performer,” said Leah Ross, Executive Director of the Birthplace of Country Music. “This is the second Friends of 1927 Concert he will have done, and the last sold out. I urge everyone interested in attending to order their tickets. There’s nothing like seeing him in an intimate setting.”

Among the greatest voices of our time, Mike Farris was the first artist to receive a Grammy Award for Best Roots Gospel Album for his release Shine for All the People in 2015. Mike’s spirited, soul-gospel fusion and goosebump-inducing live performances are evocative, spiritual, and thoroughly entertaining. Among his accomplishments, Farris achieved an Americana Music Award for New/Emerging Artist in 2008, followed by a Dove Award in 2010. His live performances at Bonnarro, SXSW, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, and Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion drew rave reviews. Revered artists like Rodney Crowell, Buddy Miller, Patty Griffin, and Marty Stuart have been struck by his incomparable voice. He was also among those invited to honor Aretha Franklin at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 16th Annual American Music Masters Concert, a true testament to his immense gifts.

Friends of 1927 Concerts are intimate performances where fans have the opportunity to interact with artists in a relaxed setting. Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres are included in the ticket price. Concert doors open for cocktail hour at 6:30 p.m. and the concert begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are on sale now to the public for $80 per person, Bristol, Virginia admission tax and fees included.

PURCHASE TICKETS

Congratulations to BCM Marketing Director Kim Davis and Charlene Tipton Baker, our Marketing Specialist in Communications, on achieving their Tourism Marketing Professional certification from the Southeast Tourism Society (STS) upon graduation from STS Marketing College.

STS is dedicated to improving the economic vitality of the Southeast by uniting all segments of the travel and tourism industry, promoting tourism within their member states, fostering cooperation, sharing resources, and providing continuing education.

For one week each year, STS Marketing College hosts tourism professionals at the University of North Georgia where students participate in a curriculum of courses designed to teach marketing techniques from all facets of the tourism industry. STS Marketing College is a 3-year program.

Now you can buy a GIFT-A-TAG voucher for the purchase of any of Tennessee’s Specialty License Plates. There are over 100 to choose from! Vouchers are $35 and you can purchase as many as you want.

Tennessee Specialty License Plates support over 100 different organizations and charities including colleges and universities, branches of the military, nonprofits, and other topics.

Each GIFT-A-TAG is good for the purchase of a Specialty License Plate, the renewal of a Specialty License Plate or the personalization of any license plate.

Visit www.tngiftcenter.com/giftatag/ to browse the selections and learn more.

The Arts Alliance Mountain Empire has partnered with the Birthplace of Country Music Museum and the William King Museum of Art to present its 2016-2017 Speaker Series. Five speakers will present six talks around the common theme: “Art in Appalachia, Appalachia in the World.” A number of events will be held over the course of the series including a film screening of “Banjo Romantika: American Bluegrass Music & The Czech Imagination” at the museum on Tuesday, February 7 at 7:00 p.m.

Filmmaker and ETSU professor Shara Lange will lead the discussion of the documentary “Banjo Romantika” which broadcast on PBS across 40 states in the country. Czechs first heard bluegrass during World War II when the Armed Forces Network broadcast American music for soldiers. The music represented freedom to dissatisfied Czechs living in a communist state. Inspired by classic American bluegrass sounds, an assortment of musicians from across the formerly communist Czech Republic have melded the past, the political, and the present into lively musical tradition entirely its own.

Click here to view the entire listing of AAME’s Speaker Series events.