Category: Festival

As we settle into the winter months, our cozy pjs become more and more appealing. The skies darken earlier, beckoning us to retreat to our homes where the warmth of comfort foods fill our bellies and the urge to snuggle into our couches with a blanket, a favorite TV show or a good book often overrides the decision to go out and see live music. I get it. I am also guilty. This time of year I welcome hibernation, especially after the busy holidays, but as the Birthplace of Country Music is in the midst of booking music for our annual Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion festival in September I want to encourage everyone to take part in their local music economy this winter. Our venues and bands need you.

Many local venues rely on door cover to pay artists to come and perform. When people stay home, some venues decide not to offer live music at all. This shuts down a source of income for artists, venues, and bar and wait staff who rely on tips to supplement their income. When you support live music in the Tri-Cities, especially this time of year, you’re supporting local businesses and artists – businesses where we discover talent for Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion. In turn, fans that support live music locally are also more likely to buy tickets to our nonprofit festival. It’s great for our local music economy, and we generate an enthusiasm for our music scene that drives visitors from outside the community as well.

Several years ago, Bristol Rhythm was once criticized in a national publication for being “painfully regional” in our booking choices. Though most of the article was favorable, that single phrase still sticks in my craw. Those of us in the scene know just how much talent thrives in our midst. Most independent artists work just as hard as their more popular peers, and you may be surprised to learn how many musicians from this region tour nationally and internationally. Indie artists also don’t need big label support and a team of marketers and radio buyers on the payroll to be good—or even great—so when I look at our lineup each year and see the number of regional and local artists on the bill, my chest swells with pride. We have the unique opportunity at our festival to showcase the enormous talent that dwells here. It’s one of the things that makes Bristol Rhythm unique. We don’t want our lineup to look like everyone else’s. Trends come and go. It’s important to us that our festival remains true to our mission of promoting Bristol’s rich music heritage—that includes booking artists who are most influenced by that heritage—artists whom live, record, and perform right here in our area.

So, on behalf of all our local venue owners, bar and wait staff, and local musicians here in our region and beyond, I urge you to make room on your calendars to take in a show in your neighborhood this week, invite a few friends, and give back to the people who make it their job to entertain us and make us happy. Don’t just go see local bands, buy their music, rock their merch, and tell your friends about them. Love live local music by supporting it, especially now, when business is slow and they need you the most!

Here is an awesome Spotify playlist comprised of some of a few of Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion’s most killer local acts. Enjoy!

In order for the Birthplace of Country Music (BCM) to pass on the history and traditions of our region’s music heritage to future generations, it’s crucial that we engage our region’s youth in our educational and cultural programming in a variety of ways. One way we cultivate good Bristol vibes is through partnerships. A fine example is our creative relationship with the faculty and students of King University’s Department of Digital Media Art & Design (KingDMAD) at Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion.

It really began in 2010 when we first reached out to Virginia Intermont College (VI). We were in desperate need of good event photography at Bristol Rhythm, and the school had a reputation for turning out fine photographers. It was a great partnership that lasted until the institution (sadly) closed its doors in 2014. Two of the college’s most beloved and talented professors, Neil Staples and Jay Phyfer, graciously organized a crew of former students to come back to shoot the festival after the school had closed. BCM continues to call on Neil, Jay, and many of those VI photog alumni when we need good photography at the festival and smaller events.

In 2012 the festival’s needs expanded to include more social media content, and a new curriculum at King University opened the door for us to work with their students. Chris Stewart was the innovative head of the department at that time. When he left to become Marketing Director at L. C. King Manufacturing Co., Joe Strickland took the reins, along with Lee Jones—both stellar educators and photographers in their own right.

King DMAD students have had the opportunity to work with video production companies and marketing agencies during Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion, and it’s a relationship that we hope will continue to flourish. But most of all, it’s our sincerest hope that all of the students we work with gain real-world experience that will help shape their future as they fall in love with our festival and with Bristol.

Written by rising senior Caleb Beverly, this DMAD blog post on the King University website gives a glimpse into the Bristol Rhythm experience from a student’s perspective:

Students Return to Bristol Rhythm and Roots Festival

King students returned to the Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion festival this year. King DMAD students worked together with professors Joe Strickland and Lee Jones, producing over 15,000 photographs. The students were tasked with capturing images of specific bands and covering the festival atmosphere. Over the weekend, photographs from King volunteers were included in the official nightly recaps of the festival.

Students were grateful for the chance to get hands-on with event coverage. They appreciated the unique challenges of working with different conditions throughout each day. Covering the festival forces students to be resourceful and to apply what they have learned in the classroom in a professional work environment.

This year, professional video group Loch & Key Productions provided another great opportunity, allowing King students to work directly with the video team. Throughout the weekend, select students took shifts with Loch & Key, experiencing promotional video production firsthand. Andy Feliu, a co-owner of Loch & Key, said:

“We’re big believers that the best way to learn in our field is to get your hands dirty so we were excited to bring on a few King University students to join our team. With this being our fourth year covering the festival, we’ve got a solid grasp of the audience and what makes Bristol special. Compared to any other festival we cover, Rhythm & Roots has by far the most stages, has the most variety when it comes to the actual festival goer, and the lineup itself spans a broad range of musical genres. These elements, along with just a great atmosphere overall, make BRRR a perfect opportunity for students to learn about video production in the context of live performance and event coverage.”

Kim Davis, Director of Marketing for the Birthplace of Country Music, had this to say of King students’ involvement:

“Working with King University’s Digital Media Art & Design program has been very important to Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion, as the students are a vital part of the photography strategy. Each year the talent of the students and our partnership gets stronger, and working with King University is always a great experience. We are thankful for the students’ excitement and participation in the festival.”

Though I choose to protect the identities of the severely misguided, I have been told – on more than one occasion – that female headliners don’t sell tickets (imagine me rolling my eyes so hard they nearly fall out of their sockets). Really?! I don’t think Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood or Queen Dolly would agree. Adele, Madonna, J-Lo, and Beyoncé may also have something to say about that.

The gender gap in the music industry is widely known and bitterly criticized, and music festivals are now facing the same scrutiny. I recently ran across Book More Women on Twitter and Instagram. Book More Women takes lineup posters of big music festivals, digitally edits out all the bands that don’t have women in them, and re-posts the results to show what festivals look like without men. The results are pretty shocking. It’s so bad that some major festivals wouldn’t have a lineup at all if male acts were left out of the equation. According to Book More Women: “In 2017, only 26% of acts playing US music festivals featured at least 1 woman or non-binary musician.” Wow. Just. Wow.

I am proud to report that out of the 144 acts that performed at Bristol Rhythm 2018, 60% of them were bands led by women or acts that included female musicians. We’ve seen great success with headliners like Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, and The Indigo Girls in the past, and I personally hope to see more females of that stature in the upper tier of our lineup every year.

In addition, Bristol Rhythm offered more diversity in the lineup this year than we have likely ever seen before – something I think our music committee should, and will, continue to work on. After all, there are scores of incredible artists out there – and we have 20 stages just waiting to be filled.

It’s sad to me that we live in a world where categories and labels seem to divide and define us. Good music is good music, no matter who’s making it. I often wonder, why do we feel the need to classify our music, ourselves and others? Music generally brings people together, right?

Philosophy aside, I’ve created a Spotify playlist of some of the amazing ladies who graced our stages at Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion 2018. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!