Bristol, Tenn.-Va. (April 7, 2021) – The Birthplace of Country Music Museum has once again teamed up with Music Maker Relief Foundation to host a new special exhibit entitled Our Living Past: Platinum Portraits of Southern Music Makers, scheduled to open on Sunday, April 18 in the museum’s Special Exhibits Gallery.
Our Living Past is a collection of 25 framed photographs made with wet-plate collodion photography and printed with a platinum/palladium process that was invented in the 1850s. Subjects of the photographs include roots artists Derek Trucks, John Dee Holeman, Algia Mae Hinton, Captain Luke, Martha Spencer, and more. The photographs are the work of Music Maker co-founder Timothy Duffy, who has immortalized Southern musicians and the world in which they live for the past 35 years. A selection of folk art pieces made by Music Maker musicians is also part of the exhibit. For more information about Our Living Past: Platinum Portraits of Southern Music Makers, visit the Events page at BirthplaceOfCountryMusic.org. The special exhibit runs through September 30; other programming related to the exhibit will soon be announced
Families with young children are invited to gather around their screens for the museum’s free Virtual Story Time on Friday, April 16 for the book My Great Aunt Arizona by Gloria Houston and illustrated by Susan Condie Lamb; read with permission from Harper Collins. Virtual Story Time premieres a new book focused on musical or Appalachian tales on the first and third Fridays of the month as part of Museum at Home, a collection of online educational resources on the museum’s website at BirthplaceOfCountryMusic.org/virtual-story-time/.
The Radio Bristol Book Club will discuss Lyn Ford’s Affrilachian Tales: Folktales from the African-American Appalachian Tradition on the air at WBCM Radio Bristol on Thursday, April 22 starting at the new time of 12:00 noon. An interviw with the author will follow the book discussion. The monthly program is an ongoing partnership between the museum and the Bristol Public Library and explores books inspired by the Southern Appalachian region. The show can be accessed at 100.1 FM in the Bristol area, online at ListenRadioBristol.org, and through the station’s free mobile app. Readers are encouraged to email comments and questions to info@birthplaceofcountrymusic.org with the subject line “Radio Bristol Book Club Comments” so they may be addressed on the air.
Last week the Birthplace of Country Music (BCM) announced the full lineup for its 20th anniversary Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion music festival, slated for September 10-12 of this year. Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit, Tanya Tucker, Blackberry Smoke, Dr. Dog, Yola, The SteelDrivers, Rhonda Vincent, Hayes Carll, and many, many more are scheduled to perform. Weekend passes are on sale now at BristolRhythm.com with a convenient payment plan option. The deadline for food and craft vendor applications to be turned in has been extended to April 30.
BCM is the parent nonprofit organization of the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion, and WBCM Radio Bristol. For more information about everything BCM has to offer, visit BirthplaceOfCountryMusic.org.