The energy at Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion is unlike any other experience in the world. Seriously, it’s a beautiful thing. For every single person who contributed to the fantasticalness (yes, I just made that word up) of that awesome weekend, we owe a sincere and loving “thank you.”
I love standing in the middle of the crowd at the festival and catching a stranger’s eye when a set is really starting to heat up. In that moment, whatever may separate you from that person in real life, everything but the music and your oneness with that energy completely disappears. The connection is instant, electric, and binding. Bristol Rhythm is filled with those moments. If we could harness that level of bliss and positivity, I’m convinced we could change the world.
With that, I want to share with you our Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion 2019 festival re-cap video, produced by Loch & Key Productions. They did a stellar job (once again) of capturing that positive spirit and the joy of our event with amazing music and visuals. We look forward to reclaiming the energy next year, one week earlier than usual! Mark your calendars for 10 days of Rhythm & Racing 2020 September 10–19 and pick up that Super Ticket! For $150 you’ll get to enjoy all the music at Bristol Rhythm (September 11–13), all three days of racing at the world’s fastest half-mile, Bristol Motor Speedway (September 17–19), and all the surrounding events happening over 10 days in the Tri-Cities!
In the meantime, keep supporting live music and buying music and merch from the artists you love!
Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion is not only a festival filled with great music, good friends, tasty food, fun events and activities, and unique shopping opportunities from downtown merchants and vendors – it is also a festival that is working hard to be green!
The environment is one of the top concerns and issues for many people around the world, and Bristol Rhythm is always looking for ways to protect our downtown environment and do our part to minimize the effect we are having on Mother Earth. But unlike most music festivals, being green is a bit more of a challenge for us since we host our event in a downtown filled with shops, businesses, residents, restaurants, and bars. Being in the middle of a field – like FloydFest, MerleFest, or Bonnaroo, for instance – gives festival organizers a bit more control over their green environment!
Still, since our festival’s Green Team first came together several years ago, we’ve accomplished a lot on the green front, including huge recycling efforts, implementing various green initiatives, and taking part in green advocacy and education opportunities within the community. Here are just a few – along with ways that you can be a GREEN HERO with us!
Meet the Green Team!
First things first – you need to get to know our very own hometown green heroes, the Bristol Rhythm Green Team! The Green Team Committee, made up of dedicated and passionate volunteers, meets every month before Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion to discuss and plan the green initiatives we want to introduce to the event. We also join in a variety of advocacy events throughout the year such as Sustain Abingdon’s Earth Day event and Keep Bristol Beautiful’s clean-up days, and we share expertise and resources with others in our community and downtown who want to be greener.
At the festival, the Green Team committee members, along with a large volunteer corps, pick up recycling (paper, plastic, and aluminum) from the designated recycle stations throughout the festival weekend, help our vendors and merchants to recycle cardboard and dispose of cooking oil and waste water responsibly, and set out a variety of green guidelines for the festival food and craft vendors, such as using compostable food storage and flatware, supplying recyclable drinkware, and using recyclable plastic bags or paper bags.
We are lucky to have such a great – and fun – committee, and we are really grateful to all the volunteers who sign up to join us on the Bristol Rhythm Green Team each year. We set ourselves apart from the other festival volunteers with our quirky volunteer t-shirts, supported and printed by KS Promotions. Each year we get festivalgoers asking us where they can buy one of our cool shirts – the only way to get one is to volunteer with us; we still have shifts available for Bristol Rhythm 2019 so go online and join us!
REDUCE and REUSE: Reusable stainless steel cups in the draft beer
gardens!
This year, instead of plastic cups in the Bristol Rhythm beer gardens, you will need to purchase a stainless steel cup to use during the festival – these cups are only $5! And then don’t forget to hold onto this cup and then reuse it for all your beer garden drinks throughout the festival weekend. We’ll provide a rinsing station at each draft beer garden so you can swill out your cup if needed, but remember not to use too much water! This year we will only allow use of our stainless steel cups in the festival beer gardens, but we plan to open up to festivarians using stainless cups from other festivals in the future.
It is common these days for music festivals and other community events to only offer reusable cups where they sell beverages (check out Bonnaroo’s sustainability efforts – an inspiration!), and this new initiative will cut down considerably on BRRR’s plastic waste, especially important as plastic recycling gets more and more difficult. Even better: the cups are a great collectible souvenir! We are grateful to Keen Promotions for their support of this new initiative.
Last year, with the help of Bank of Marion and the City of Bristol, Tennessee, we added two water stations to the event footprint where festivalgoers can fill reusable water bottles – or your new stainless steel BRRR cup this year! These water refill stations present another great opportunity to reduce the number of plastic water bottles sold over festival weekend. The stations can be found near the corner of 5th and State Streets, and near the Country Music Mural Stage.
I have a million tote bags (no exaggeration!), and I love every single one of them. I use them all the time – for my grocery and other shopping; for extra packing bags when on a trip; for carrying snacks on car journeys, or just to the office (I ALWAYS need snacks!); for storage; as a way to wrap birthday and Christmas presents; and as a substitute handbag. Plastic bags are everywhere, and they are a HUGE environmental problem globally. So do your part, and bring your own reusable bags to carry home all your festival treasures and bargains. A folded-up bag in your pocket, purse, or backpack takes up no room and adds no weight – just do it!
RECYCLE: Know what you can recycle and do so responsibly!
I’ve recycled for years, often getting the actual trash pick-up at my home down to half a trash bag or less each week. And over the years of the festival, the Green Team has literally recycled TONS of plastic, paper, cardboard, glass, and aluminum. However, there have been a lot of stories in the local and national news lately about the many challenges to recycling – especially what is and is not recyclable on the plastic front – and we’ve certainly seen the effects of those issues here in the Tri-Cities.
Every year, the Green Team picks up cardboard from the downtown merchants and the food and craft vendors for recycling. And we also set out labeled recycle stations for paper, aluminum, and plastic throughout the Bristol Rhythm footprint for festivalgoers. This year, unfortunately, only plastic types #1 and #2 can be recycled so please look out for these symbols before placing a plastic item in one of our stations – the numbers can usually be found on the bottom of the item. Any contamination by other plastic type numbers will mean ALL the plastic goes straight to the landfill instead – and we definitely want to avoid that!
This year the festival’s Atmosphere Committee is adding one more thing to all of the art, signage, and décor that they create each year to make Bristol Rhythm extra special – and beautiful! This side project is called Plastic Island, a reused materials art piece that will be on display in the old fountain basin in front of WCYB (the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard side of the building) and which is meant to help raise awareness about environmental challenges and the green cause. Using discarded plastic – both unrecyclable and recyclable – the committee is creating a whole host of sea creatures, island features, ocean waves, and more to highlight the danger of plastics in our oceans – inspired, if that is the right word, by the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Sadly, the plastic they collected is just the tip of the iceberg, which barely reflects the amount of plastic produced and used globally. Be sure and check out Plastic Island when you are enjoying the festival and remember the damage done from thrown-out plastic as you find ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle in your own life!
Not only is the Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion Green Team supported by various businesses, but we also get a lot of in-kind support from our community partners – Revolution Curbside Recycling, Keep Bristol Beautiful, and Wise Recycling this year, several others over previous years. We couldn’t do the work we do each festival without that support and help. But most of all, we couldn’t be green at Bristol Rhythm without you – so be a GREEN HERO!
Location, location, location! That’s one of the reasons Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion is one of the most fun and unique festivals on the planet. Historic Downtown Bristol, VA-TN is a gem, and Bristol Rhythm partially exists to showcase its charm. Downtown has undergone a complete transformation over the past decade or so, with tons of locally owned breweries, restaurants, shops, galleries, high-end loft spaces, and businesses moving in and creating a vibrant energy. Investors have lovingly restored so many aging and crumbling properties, and the success of our festival helps keep businesses thriving.
Bristol born and raised, I love my hometown. I am so proud of the fine progress made downtown, and I’m so grateful to business owners who open their doors to our festival. We want to see them all succeed, and its part of BCM’s mission to be of economic benefit to the region. They provide so much light and love to what we do, so I wanted to highlight a few of those businesses here through a virtual mini-tour of our stages and venues.
Careful thought goes into the placement of our Bristol Rhythm main stages so that hey highlight important landmarks and buildings. Some indoor stages are located in venues already equipped for live performance. One thing is for certain, every stage has its own magic and distinct atmosphere. Thank you, Bristol, for providing the perfect backdrop for everything we do!
The State Street Stage, haloed by the luminescent 100-year-old Bristol Sign, was once located one block up on State Street – closer to the Paramount. As audiences grew, the stage was pushed back to accommodate more people. I love this view looking down a sea of people toward the sign. It’s also a great stage for photo opps!
The Piedmont Stage has also seen some transition over the years. It’s first location was in front of Burger Bar facing Stateline Bar & Grille. It was later pushed back to the corner of Goode and Piedmont. We think it has now found a final resting place! It’s located near our beloved Bristol Public Library, which underwent renovations in the 1990s. The beautiful metal sculpture archway on the corner was created for the library by internationally known fantasy artist Charles Vess, who has also designed three festival posters for Bristol Rhythm over the years.
For the most part, the Country Music Mural Stage is dedicated to bluegrass and traditional country music. The City of Bristol, Tennessee built a stage in front of the Country Music Mural many years ago to house live music year-round. For the first few years, we utilized that stage at Bristol Rhythm. The photo opportunities were great, but the bands weren’t elevated enough to give fans a good view, and it was difficult to load equipment in and out through the crowds. The solution of an added stage here also gives festival goers more shaded seating on the original stage, plus there’s better access for the artists and sound techs with the new stage. Designed by Tim White, a local musician and producer/host of Song of the Mountains, the Country Music Mural is an important landmark in Historic Downtown Bristol.
Nothing beats an evening set of music at Cumberland Square Park! The City of Bristol, Virginia constructed this massive permanent stage for live music events year-round, and we love it! Families attending the festival flock to this stage for the shade it provides, and it isn’t unusual to see someone tying up a hammock between the trees! The park also serves as a memorial to our service men and women. The impressive sculptures depicting each branch of our Armed Forces and an eternal flame stand proudly below a genuine AH-1 Cobra helicopter that once flew in Vietnam.
Paramount Bristol is the crown jewel of Historic Downtown. Originally opened in 1931, this gorgeous art deco gem went through some hard times in the late 1960s and 1970s as Bristol’s downtown fell into decline. Sadly, the theater closed its doors in 1979. It was saved by the nonprofit Paramount Foundation and reopened in 1991. Today it is a thriving performing arts center and a beautiful venue for live music! We are so fortunate to have such an amazing venue during Bristol Rhythm; it’s the ultimate listening room experience!
The Cameo is back! Established as a vaudeville theater in 1925, The Cameo Theatre ranks among the 15 oldest in the state of Virginia. A long-awaited restoration of this 550-seat beauty has been made by owner Brent Buchanan, and he plans to host a mix of live entertainment and films. The sound in this space for live music is lush, and it has an amazing balcony space for taking in shows. Not a bad seat in the house!
Hidden in a small parking lot between two buildings, the Near Moore Stage is named such because, well, it’s near Moore Street! Cozy, with just the right amount of shade and ambiance, it is formerly known as the Eatz on Moore Street Stage because it was once located on the tiny street in front of Eatz on Moore Street restaurant. Hands-down the best soul food in the Tri-Cities, I highly recommend Mark and Lisa Canty’s barbecue or catfish plated with collards, mac’n’cheese, and sweet cornbread – and don’t forget their homemade banana pudding! You can grab it to go and picnic at the stage or enjoy the music from an outdoor table top at Eatz. There is nothing quite like Near Moore at twilight!
The 6th Street Stage is among the newest at Bristol Rhythm, located on the “Tennessee side” on the narrow, one-way street for which it is named. Located near Mountain Empire Comics and Top Hat Magic, this is what I like to call the “anything goes” stage – meaning any type of band could be playing on this stage at any time. Stadium seating has been added, and Lisa Martin’s Bank Street café provides a lovely beverage garden stage-side. Her chicken salad croissants and crab cakes are also amazing! Sinful Chicago-style deep dish pizza is served across the way at The Angry Italian by Certified Executive Chef Keith Yonker; we recommend calling it in early as prep time takes around 45 minutes. Worth the wait!
Also a newer stage, the 7th Street Stage has morphed quite a bit over the past few years. We’ve now merged it with the Dance Tent to create a fun atmosphere where bands and fans are protected from the elements while they groove. Its located beside the century-old L.C. King Manufacturing Co., family-owned in Bristol for four generations. We highly recommend browsing the racks for some authentic Pointer Brand clothing. It’s become the unofficial outfitter of festival musicians, as they flock to its showroom every year in search of cool duds.
Out back at O’Mainnin’s Pub & Grill you’ll find a little creek side oasis complete with Tiki hut and an eclectic mix of music. I love the dive-bar vibe at O’Mainnin’s – and I mean that as a high compliment! It’s the after-hours hangout for local restaurant industry folk and night-cappers, and owner Dave Manning and his staff are some of the finest people you’ll ever meet. Bonus: they have a jukebox!
The Machiavelli’s Outdoor Tent is an extension of the 5th Street restaurant of the same name. This tent is always hoppin’ and it’s just steps away from the Paramount, Theatre Bristol, and State Street Stages. I call it the “distraction” stage because I always get sucked in to whatever amazing performance is going on there when passing by. Fun fact: the first year St. Paul & the Broken Bones played the festival, they performed under this tent.
In addition to the outdoor tent, Machiavelli’s hosts an intimate indoor stage. Amazing restaurant owners Dave and Val Jun, along with their kind staff, man the taps and fire the tastiest brick oven pizzas ever! Our offices are right across the street and we can’t resist the Italian nachos! Sometimes we ask for Italian nacho toppings on a pizza – SO. GOOD! – and we’re big fans of the Margherita pizza and Mediterranean pasta. Machiavelli’s is one of those places that makes you feel right at home. So grateful for good neighbors!
Theatre Bristol has been an institution in our community since 1965 when it was established as a children’s theater. The intimate space seats 100 people, perfect for an intimate performance, and larger performances are often moved to the Paramount next door. Generations of Bristolians have grown up with Theatre Bristol, and Theatre Bristol continues to educate children in the wonders of live theater year-round. This space has been witness to hundreds of great performances over the years; it’s very dear to our hearts!
Stateline Bar & Grille has been an anchor to State Street since 2002. The building’s restoration was among the first restaurant projects happening on State Street during a pivotal time of investment, and owners Annette Estes and Amy Booher helped set the bar high for other restaurateurs coming in with their business acumen and work ethic. It’s a terrific place to sit down and enjoy a great meal while taking in live music during the festival! The woodwork inside is craftsmanship at its finest. The gorgeous bar, mirrors and all, were purchased by Fred Bartlett for his Rockefeller’s Oyster Bar at this location in the 1990s. He bought it from a downtown bank that was closing. Workers literally rolled the bar down State Street from its former location.
Borderline Billiards is owned by WPBA billiards champion Janet Atwell, and lots of love has gone into this venue over the years. On regular business days, the pool tables are open to friendly competition, but during the festival they are covered so patrons can enjoy the music. For the past couple of years, Borderline has run a beverage garden behind the building and beside the 7th Street Stage/Dance Tent. A classy alternative to the stereotypical “pool hall,” Borderline is a family establishment with 9′ Brunswick Gold Crown tables where one can order from the menu, throw darts, or play ping pong. A fantastic and fun addition to Downtown Bristol!
Yes. That is a Corvette mounted to the ceiling above the band. Quaker Steak & Lube is one of the few chain restaurants located downtown, and this franchise is owned by locals Jeff Tickle, Blair Jones, and J. J. Gillenwater of the Bristol-based real estate investment firm The Albatross Group. The automotive-inspired theme restaurant offers a decor of vintage cars and garage memorabilia, and hosts bike nights throughout the year. The hot wings are their specialty, fuel to get you revved up between or during sets.
Only a smidgen off the beaten path, but well worth a brisk walk past Cumberland Square Park, Master Brewer Erich Allen’s Studio Brew was among the first craft breweries to locate downtown, opening the tap for a wave of others to follow. Artisans of the trade, Studio Brew renovated a historic train freight warehouse built in 1909 on Moore Street where they brew, bottle, seal, and ship their recipes. Studio Brew has expanded distribution throughout Tennessee, Virginia, and soon into South Carolina. Their tapas and brew pairings are only matched by the classy, but warm, establishment where you can peer into the brewing room while sampling a flight of robust and tasty recipes.
Shanghai Chinese Restaurant has been family owned and operated by Xian Chen and his wife Ying since 1996. The Chens and their three young children have worked hard to create the friendliest space possible for their yummy dishes, and through the years Shanghai has been voted the best Chinese restaurant in Bristol. An expansion was made in recent years to accommodate their loyal and new customers, and we highly recommend the buffet! You’ll find it a calming atmosphere to take in an acoustic act or singer-songwriter while noshing on dumplings and rice during Bristol Rhythm.
The newest addition to our little downtown family, Bloom Cafe & Listening Room is a cozy coffee shop where live music and art converge amongst vintage furnishings and espresso-based drinks. Open seven days a week, Bloom hosts fun trivia nights and offers the community a chill place to meet up with friends or write the great American novel. I highly recommend stopping here for breakfast!
Though technically not a stage at Bristol Rhythm, the “acoustically perfect” Performance Theater at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum hosts a number of Radio Bristol Sessions the community can attend without a festival ticket. These programs are broadcast live on the air in the Bristol area at 100.1 FM and online at ListenRadioBristol.org. Lineups for these pop-up programs are announced closer to festy; be sure and watch social media for updates! The Indigo Girls performed a Session when they performed in 2017! With only 100 seats available, you’ll want to line up early for these intimate shows!
As the school year winds down and we head into the longer and hotter days of summer, it’s time to start thinking about festivals – Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion, of course, and all the other festivals on your lineup.
Every year when festival season hits, you see them: festivalgoers who should have known better. Don’t be “that guy.” Or girl. In order to have an amazing festival experience, one must be prepared. To be in it for the long haul, you gotta prep, conserve your energy, and map out a plan loose enough to let you be spontaneous. Enthusiasts who travel to a lot of music festivals may have this down-pat, but we figure the casual festivalgoer may need a primer. Whether you’re traveling alone, with family, or with your crew, we think these tips will help prepare you for a long and festive weekend of great music and merriment when you come to Bristol Rhythm in September!
The why is simple: research. Before the schedule is released, the entire lineup is available on the mobile app. Use this tool to read about the bands, listen to their music, and watch their videos. There may be a number of bands you have never heard of, but would totally fall in love with if you took the time to check them out. If you wait until you get to the festival to hear what the buzz is about, you may miss out. FOMO is a thing! Once the festival’s over and everyone’s talking about those acts you didn’t get the chance to see, there’s no going back. Get the app here!
Purchase a good pair of walking shoes and break them in.
Girls, I know you look fierce in those fine festival frocks with your cowboys boots and strappy sandals. If you are among the few who can dance all night in heels and still keep going, I commend you! But most of you know you’re setting yourself up for misery or worse – bunions! Believe me, hardcore festivarians know that there is no judgment below the ankles. You can still slay in that fabulous sundress with a sensible pair of shoes. My personal choice of footwear? Keens. I lovingly refer to them as “mandals” because they seem kinda clunky, but they come in fun colors and have saved my feet at every festival for the past ten years. Don’t confine yourself to a chair, wear good shoes and dance like no one’s watching!
Luckily, Bristol Rhythm is an urban festival so there are a number of indoor venues or beverage tents to duck under if you need some shade. However, one good 45-minute set at the Piedmont Stage, and you’ve likely already gotten more sun than you had intended. Before you leave the house, go ahead and lather yourself up – kids especially! – then reapply occasionally throughout the day. You’ll thank yourself for it later!
Ditch the purse and don’t trust the pockets in your cargo shorts.
The items that are most often turned in to lost-and-found during Bristol Rhythm are keys, credit cards, sunglasses, and eyeglasses. These essentials aren’t secure in your pockets, and big purses just aren’t practical for a music festival. Last year I dusted off my old fanny pack – ahem, hip bag – from the 1980s, and it was the best decision I ever made. I felt so light! So free! I wasn’t constantly adjusting straps or digging into the depths of my purse! It was such a revelation that I talked our marketing director into ordering custom Bristol Rhythm-branded fanny packs for the festival this year. I can’t wait!
I can’t stress this enough. Having a water bottle with you at all times during the day is the best way to keep from getting parched and sleepy. Saturday at Bristol Rhythm is a long day. If you feel your energy draining, ask yourself: When is the last time I drank a glass of water? If it’s been an hour or longer, you definitely need to drink up! That goes especially for kids! And last year, we introduced two water refill stations to the festival so that makes staying hydrated even easier. You can use the mobile app’s map function for their locations.
If you’re like me and enjoy a tasty adult beverage every now and again, then by all means treat yourself! It’s a festival! Just know when to say when. Alcohol is dehydrating, so there’s that, and nobody likes a sloppy drunk. If you pace yourself, you won’t miss any good music, embarrass yourself or your friends, throw up on a stranger’s shoes, or get tossed out of the festival and end up in jail. You’ll have a better festival experience sans hangover!
I have worked many-a-festival, and it happens to me every year. I get so involved in working or getting to the next stage that I forget to eat. Do yourself a favor: carve out a specific time in your schedule to hit a restaurant or vendor, and then sit down and have a proper meal. Bring snacks if you need to, but at least take the time to nourish yourself with a hearty meal at least once each day of the event. As I mentioned earlier, it’s a marathon, not a sprint – and it will seriously help soak up any alcohol in your system.
State Street gets pretty crowded, and it can be difficult to get through the crowds if you’re in a hurry. Consider alternate routes on Shelby Street and Farm & Fun Time Alley if you have to get from one end of State Street to another quickly.
Every year we work hard to improve the efficiency of the shuttle system. Wait times have been seriously reduced, and the buses come with more regularity than in previous years. If you are from out of town, the shuttles are a great resource to get you to and from the festival grounds without worrying about where to park.
Kindness and courteousness are the most common traits you’ll find in people who attend Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion. We’re very proud to say that arrests, accidents, lost kids, disorderly behavior, etc. are extremely rare, but that doesn’t mean those things won’t happen. We pride ourselves on being a family event; we want everyone to feel happy and welcome and safe when they walk through those gates. Please take care of each other; look out for the very young, the elderly, the disabled, and anyone you feel may be in need of help. We have plenty of law enforcement and emergency services to turn to just in case.
I don’t have words to properly express how much I love Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion. Every year I find new bands to fall in love with, reunite with old friends, and make new ones. I have watched the careers of so many musicians blossom over the years and get really excited for their success. Historic Downtown Bristol is simply magical during the event, so it’s important to me that everyone who walks through the gates has the festival experience of a lifetime! I hope these tips help enhance that experience for you, and that you have a blast!
