Category: Music & Songs

For our “Pick 5” blog series, we ask members of the Radio Bristol team to pick five songs within a given theme – from heartsongs to murder ballads and everything in between! Once they pick their “5,” they get the chance to tell us more about why they chose those songs. With a diverse staff of knowledgeable DJs, we’re sure to get some interesting song choices, which might introduce you to some new music, all easily accessible by tuning into Radio Bristol! This month’s “Pick 5” focuses on nature songs in honor of April’s Earth Day, chosen by Stu Vincent.

April marks 50 years of Earth Day (April 22), and as a newcomer to WBCM, I was honoured to be asked to write a blog article in celebration of this anniversary. By way of introduction if you have not listened in to my show Hillbilly Boogie, my playlist is always varied and often contains a little “surprise.” I think that you will find that this is also reflected in my choice of five pieces of music for Earth Day!

When thinking about this post, there were so many songs and pieces of music that I would associate with Earth Day. And so I decided that I might take you through an imaginary day (no, no Pat Metheny in this blog article, though he was nearly included!), sharing with you some of the music that might actually be playing on my headphones or might just run through my mind at different times of the day.

“First Light,” Brian Eno

I am often awake very early in the morning; though sometimes I wish that it were not so, one of the advantages is that I can go out with my camera while most people are still asleep and watch the daybreak. I have seen the sun rise over still-smoking fires at festivals and over hills as I have travelled on overnight coaches while all (but the driver) slept fitfully, but to be out in the open with my camera and my thoughts is the perfect way of starting a day. For me, watching the sun rise is an opportunity to think about what might be done, how to approach a problem, or just to clear the mind in readiness for whatever the new day might bring – and one piece of music typifies this for me: Brian Eno’s “First Light.”

“The Lark Ascending,” Vaughn Williams

One of my fondest memories from when I was a child was wandering off into the fields by myself. Before my family moved to Wales, I lived in a tiny hamlet and my father worked on one of the two farms there. While there were two other boys my age in the hamlet, I would sometimes just wander off – maybe because they had been taken shopping with their mother, maybe we had had a fight…it doesn’t matter. I would walk into the fields and lay on my back and watch the clouds drift by and listen to the birdsong. Such a simple thing to do, but something that youngsters now might not have the opportunity to do; those living in built-up areas (as I do now) might never know that pleasure – no traffic noise, no distractions from phones, just drifting clouds and birds singing, calling and feeding. Recalling those days now, one piece of music immediately comes to mind: Vaughan Williams’ “The Lark Ascending.”

“River Stay ‘Way from My Door,”

After my family moved to Wales, one of my greatest pleasures was to play the second-hand records that my father brought back from auctions – probably bought for just (then) a few shillings. Perhaps this is where Hillbilly Boogie came from! I would go through the box and there might be some ragtime by Winifred Atwell, opera – I remember trying to listen to Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas…my ears needed a few more years before I appreciated that!, I remember Indonesian music recorded in Covent Garden, and I remember Paul Robeson.

It was not until years later that I learned more about Robeson (including from an older work colleague who showed me a picture of her sitting on his knee). One song that made a huge impression on me then – and is applicable now for this Earth Day selection – was “River Stay ‘Way from My Door.” I was in school in Wales when the Aberfan disaster occurred, a tragic event not dissimilar to the Buffalo Creek flood (the latter being described in song by Corey Lee McQuade). While, as a very young child, I watched the clouds floating by, all too soon I was made aware of the incredible power of Nature, and how despite it being so dramatic and beautiful, it can also be dangerous, particularly when warnings are not heeded or dangers ignored.

“SW9 9SL,” Four Tet

Now…I hope that you’re still with me, as here is (perhaps) the biggest surprise. While I predominantly listen to acoustic music, I also enjoy listening to EDM – particularly trance and especially when I am concentrating on a task.

I am not fond of cities – while I love to visit for concerts or exhibitions, I would rather be out of cities wherever possible. Perhaps this is a reaction to having worked in London for so many years, I don’t know…but when I do go into London, I will generally walk everywhere as I know my way around fairly well and I always leave time to wander, a great chance to watch everyone in their hurrying and scurrying as I just take my time.

Of course, cities are important and busy places and, consequently, the people living and working in cities often maintain a very different rhythm to my own. I will confess that after a concert, I will usually hail a taxi to take me back to the train station for my homeward journey. I will sit in the back of a cab, watching the frenzied life of London, watching the impatience of the drivers and pedestrians, the late-night shops, and the Underground stations with their constant flow of people ascending and descending. And at such times, Four Tet’s “SW9 9SL” will come to mind. (SW9 9SL is the post codeZip Code for the Brixton Academy, a famous music venue.)

“Hills of Home,” Trisha Gene Brady

And now, time for home…

As mentioned before, I am not fond of cities and, while I live in a large town, I am fortunate enough to have a small but peaceful garden and to have neighbours who care and are respectful.

If I were to imagine my ideal place on Earth, it would be in the mountains. It would be where the pace of life was slower. It would be where the wisdom of people who have lived on the land for generations is respected and carried forward to the next generation. It would be where the music that I love the most is sung, played, and heard such as the beautiful “Hills of Home” by Trisha Gene Brady.

Wherever you live, I hope you will have your own “Hills of Home”… Be safe, be well. And be kind to the Earth!

For our “Pick 5” blog series, we ask members of the Radio Bristol team to pick five songs within a given theme – from heartsongs to murder ballads and everything in between! Once they pick their “5,” they get the chance to tell us more about why they chose those songs. With a diverse staff of knowledgeable DJs, we’re sure to get some interesting song choices, which might introduce you to some new music, all easily accessible by tuning into Radio Bristol! This month’s “Pick 5” focuses on coal-mining songs and is from Rich Kirby, host of Radio Bristol’s Old Kentucky Bound airing Thursdays at 2:00pm!

The coal mining era is coming to an end in southwest Virginia, eastern Kentucky, and southern West Virginia. Coal has had its share of booms and busts over the decades, but this time it looks like the elevator is going to go to the basement and stay there. What with cheap natural gas, cheap solar and wind power, and our awareness of the climate crisis, coal plants are shutting down, and no new ones are being built. Coal will still be used for steelmaking, but that’s only a small share of the market.

But what a ride it’s been! Coal has sustained mountain communities for well over a century with good-paying jobs and an important place in the national economy. However, as with so many things, these benefits have come at a price. For instance, 100,000 miners have died on the job since 1900, and Black Lung Disease and other occupational ailments have helped make coalfield communities some of our least healthy. Strip mining has left hundreds of mountains scarred. And despite the coal jobs, income is low, and this area consistently ranks at or near the bottom of quality-of-life measures.

As you would expect when such an intense way of life meets a culture with a strong musical tradition, there is a ton of coal-mining music – more, I believe, than from any other industry. Mining songs shine a light on the many ups and downs of the mining life. Here’s just a small sampling (and despite the “Pick 5” title, I couldn’t pick just five, so you get a bonus song for six!):

“Which Side Are You On,” written and sung by Florence Reece

The Great Depression hit coalfield communities hard. Desperate companies cut wages to the bone, then cut more, to the point where miners were facing actual starvation. Desperate miners tried to unionize, an action which companies met with armed repression – especially in Harlan County, Kentucky, where coal completely controlled the county government. Harlan miner Sam Reece, an organizer for the National Miners Union, worked in hiding with a price on his head. One night his wife Florence had had enough. “When the thugs were raiding our house off and on, and Sam was run off, I felt like I just had to do something to help. The little children, they’d have little legs and a big stomach. Some of the men staggered when they walked, they were so hungry… We didn’t even have any paper, so when I wanted to write ‘Which Side Are You On?’ I just jerked the calendar off the wall and sat down and wrote the words down on the back.”

Her powerful song went on to become an anthem of the labor movement, sung on countless picket lines and recorded by everyone from Pete Seeger to Natalie Merchant.

“’31 Depression Blues,” written and sung by Ed Sturgill

The Union – specifically the United Mine Workers of America – brought miners and their communities out of the pits of despair and into the middle class. Ed Sturgill managed to get all that history into two minutes and forty-two seconds. From the days of scrip (company money) and miners paid by the ton (with the company doing the weighing) to FDR’s New Deal and the UMW Welfare and Retirement Fund to a plea to miners to stick with the union – it’s all here in this one song.

Ed Sturgill was from either Harlan or Wise County – I’ve heard both. His banjo style tells us he was likely a good buddy of Dock Boggs.

“Coal Miners Boogie,” sung by George Davis

Listen to a lot of mining songs, and you can get the idea it’s all strikes and disasters, and indeed there have been plenty of both. But a lot of old miners like to remember the camaraderie of men whose lives were in each others’ hands, and the freewheeling excitement of coal towns on Saturday night. George Davis, “the Singing Miner,” did daily radio shows in Hazard and Pikeville, Kentucky. His songs capture a lot of this strong, cheerful spirit.

“West Virginia Mine Disaster,” written and sung by Jean Ritchie

I once sang this at an open mic in Portland, Oregon. Afterwards a young woman came up in the throes of great emotion. Seems her grandfather had been a West Virginia coal miner who had died recently of Black Lung Disease. She told me she’d been holding all her feelings inside until suddenly Jean’s piece gave her permission to grieve. Such is the power of a great song.

“Dyin’ to Make a Livin’,” written by W. V. Hill, sung by Foddershock

Living in the hills of Dickenson County, Virginia – Clinchfield Coal Company’s historic center – W. V. Hill knows firsthand the toll that mining can take on a human body, and the drugs that give the promise of being able to go on another day. This song was part of the Grammy-nominated Music of Coal collection that appeared in 2007.

“Black Dust Fever,” sung by the Wildwood Valley Boys

Black Lung Disease should have been wiped out by health and safety laws that require adequate ventilation in the mines, but shoddy enforcement has kept that goal out of reach. After years of decline, Black Lung is again on the rise. I’ve been unable to find who wrote this song, or where the Indiana-based Wildwood Valley Boys got it. I can’t imagine a pithier way of expressing the existential dilemma of coal communities than the chorus:

      “The black dust has taken my last dying breath / But the mines kept my family from starving to death.”

Things are weird in the holler…teen sweat and anxiety mixed with gasoline fumes and a fear of being found out.

Always a fear…

The Cramps with their short five-song gem Gravest Hits was the soundtrack to this time for me. Gravest Hits, a compilation tape and record that came out in 1979, included their first two 45 rpm singles plus a bonus track of swamp rockabilly madness…the gravest of all!

So, in the late 1980s I was a young teen who had been playing music since I was nine years old, and that was all country songs from country’s early days to the poppy 1980s style that was coming out of NashVegas at the time. It was not feeding my pubescent soul. Then along came the Ford Country Squire that belonged to the Swiney boys’ dad, with a warblin’ noise coming out of the tape deck. Reverb garglin’ mess, it was…the tape, not the Ford! I was intrigued and hooked immediately.

I had to have this sound in my heart…. I had to have it in my hands…. I was to be one with it…. I was it, and it was me.

The car sped off down a gravel road leading into the mountains while Lux Interior belched out:

“I’m a human fly

I spell [it] F-L-Y!

I Go BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ

And it’s just becuzz.”

I too felt unhuman and something to be swatted out of existence…

The Swiney boys laughed and thought this tape was just funny, but to me it was serious business. I must find out more about this bunch of miscreants!

I started looking for the name The Cramps in every music publication I could get my hands and eyes on, all the while blaring my recent copy of the Swineys’ Cramps tape. The band showed up in Rolling Stone and in some books on rock-and-roll that I checked out at the library. There was also the name of the record’s producer, which showed up in all kinds of magazines and books – the late great Alex Chilton!!!! He was responsible for making this record sound so creepy, and oozy as an infected sore…

Alex Chilton, the man-child who sang the soulful sound of Memphis, Tennessee’s own The Box Tops in the 1960s! And as with The Box Tops, The Cramps recorded Gravest Hits at Ardent Studios in Memphis. More reverb! I’m begging you – REVERB! Even though the band was NYC-based, they chose another Memphis studio (Phillips Recording) with Chilton again at the helm for the 1980s follow-up, full-length LP Songs the Lord Taught Us.

The years have passed by, and yet this five-song EP still oozes its way into every music endeavor I write and record… Thank you, and Godspeed, Alex Chilton…rest easy, Lux Interior.

• “Human Fly”
• “The Way I Walk”
• “Domino”
• “Surfin’ Bird”
• “Lonesome Town”

The Cramps – Gravest Hits

We all live in a world of mystery & deceit…

Christmas Day is over, and all of the traditional Christmas songs have also gone away – for the past month (and sometimes into November), you couldn’t go to any public place with a sound system without hearing these yuletide tunes on repeat. I’ve never been one for traditional Christmas music; I blame my parents for playing Josh Groban’s Christmas album Noel over and over during the holiday season when I was younger. However, it is still officially Christmas, the 12 days of Christmas, in fact. And so, I’ve gathered a list of some alternative Christmas songs that I’ve grown to love and appreciate over the years to carry us through to the end of the season on January 6.

“Hard Candy Christmas,” Dolly Parton

This Dolly Parton classic wasn’t conceived as a Christmas tune. Originally written by Carol Hall for the musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, “Hard Candy Christmas” became a bona fide Christmas song once Dolly put it on her collaborative album with Kenny Rogers, Once Upon A Christmas, and after she performed the song on Bob Hope’s Christmas special in 1988. I love this song because it starts off so sad. And then there’s so much possibility and hope for the future with every ‘maybe’ Dolly croons – life and the holiday season may be hard, but we have the opportunity to make of it what we will. Dolly lets us know that it will all be fine.

“I Just Wanted to Say,” My Morning Jacket

My Morning Jacket, one of those quintessential early aughts indie bands, released a Christmas EP entitled My Morning Jacket Does Xmas Fiasco Style in 2000, which was very early in their career. And, with artists like Nick Cave listed in the composer credits the EP is anything but a fiasco. My favorite song of the bunch is “I Just Wanted to Say.” The song has a sad indie sound with some alt-country guitar twang, but it’s actually a very endearing and sweet song lyrically – Jim James just wants to be a little part of your cheer.

“River,” Joni Mitchell

“River” is another song that was not meant to become a part of the Christmas song canon, instead being merely written with the temporal setting of the Christmas season. The song borrows melodies from classic Christmas songs that give it that Christmas feel, but the melancholic and nostalgic lines and winter imagery by the Queen of sad and thoughtful lyrics are what really make this a spectacular Christmas song for me.

“Christmas in Harlem,” Kanye West, CyHi da Prynce, Teyana Taylor

Anyone who knows me knows I love and am fascinated by Kanye West, and I try to find any excuse to talk about him. And so, of course, his Christmas song would be on my list! “Christmas in Harlem” was released in 2010 as a part of his GOOD Fridays free music giveaway series. Like most of the other songs on this list, the lyrics speak to the sadder side of Christmas like not being able to be with family and the disillusionment with the consumerist culture surrounding the season.

“It’s Christmas! Let’s Be Glad!,” Sufjan Stevens

This is definitely the happiest track from my list! The song comes from a box set of five different Christmas and Christmas-related EPs the singer Sufjan Stevens released between 2001 and 2006. Sufjan is known for his haunting lyrics and unique banjo playing, and what this Christmas song lacks in haunting lyrics, it more than makes up for in unique and wonderful banjo sounds! I picked this song out of the long track list just because I thought you all deserved at least one genuinely happy sounding Christmas song – and who doesn’t love a banjo-filled Christmas?

Great singers and songwriters were showcased at November’s Farm and Fun Time! Thanks to our sponsor Eastman Credit Union, Radio Bristol was able to bring the program not only to those in the audience or tuned in to WBCM-LP, but to viewers far and wide via Facebook Live. Be sure to like WBCM – Radio Bristol on Facebook to tune in every month!

Starting the show with their familiar harmonies, Bill and the Belles kicked off the evening with a rousing set that included the classic “I Get the Blues When It Rains.” Our “Heirloom Recipe” segment was presented by none other than Kinney Rorrer, acclaimed old-time music scholar and the great-nephew of both Posey Rorrer and Charlie Poole. Kinney recalled a favorite dessert his mother made: banana pudding. Kinney’s mother learned to make the dessert from her grandmother, who prepared it as part of the meals she would sell to mill workers. Kinney believed that banana pudding of that quality could never be found again when his mother passed away, but he was delighted to find his neighbor, a transplanted South Carolinian, could make it just like his mother did. To commemorate this sweet southern staple, Bill and the Belles composed an ode dedicated to pudding. And everyone was ready for a big serving afterwards!

Up first on the show was McKay & Leigh. Composed of veteran songwriters and performers Noel McKay and Brennen Leigh, the duo performed covers of classic duets and original compositions, dazzling the Farm and Fun Time audience with their wordplay. Two of Leigh’s original compositions “John Deere Model H” and “Analog” were among the most outstanding songs of the evening, as they convey the longing for days gone by that seems to be a common thread among country music musicians and fans alike. The message of “Analog” is timely in our current age of technology, which sometimes overwhelms the more human side of things and serves as a reminder that we should just put the phone down and enjoy life again.

For this month’s “Farm Report,” we did something a little bit different, visiting Taylor Malone in Johnson City, Tennessee. Though not technically a farmer, Taylor forages for food across the Tri-Cities and finds wild and tasty foods where you’d least expect them.  Check out this video of our visit with Taylor at the Mountain Home Food Forest:

Following the “Farm Report,” Kinney Rorrer joined host band Bill and the Belles for a rendition of Charlie Poole’s “Goodbye, Booze.” Kinney grew up hearing stories about Charlie Poole and Posey Rorrer’s larger-than-life exploits, and he works to tell these stories and share their music in his own band The New North Carolina Ramblers. Our last musical guest of the evening was Smithsonian Folkways recording artists Lula Wiles. A trio made up of Isa Burke, Eleanor Buckland, and Mali Obomsawin, Lula Wiles draws heavily from their early experiences playing folk music in New England and the social consciousness that is associated with that tradition. Playing songs with thought-invoking messages, Lula Wiles presented songs off their record and finished up with the Dolly Parton classic “The Pain of Loving You.”

Thanks to everyone who came out and made this a wonderful evening of fun and music! There are still a few tickets left for December’s Farm and Fun Time Christmas Ball on Friday, December 13. Be a part of our live audience and celebrate the holiday season with High Fidelity, The McLain Family Band, and host band Bill and the Belles!

As the holiday season approaches, you’ve surely had your nose to the grindstone and have been taking all your endeavors seriously for the past 11 or so months. Do you feel like perhaps you’ve been taking things a little too seriously? If you feel burnout encroaching and your work ethic slipping, you should consider celebrating Loosen Up, Lighten Up Day!

Celebrated annually on November 14, Loosen Up, Lighten Up Day reminds us that we shouldn’t let the stress of everyday life get us down – in other words, don’t sweat the small stuff! Stress is a killer, and when you take a second look at many of the things that cause you aggravation in your day-to-day life, perhaps you can find some humor and laugh it off. Now that you know about Loosen Up, Lighten Up Day, I hope you’ll do what you need to take care of yourself for the day and better prepare yourself to roll with life’s inevitable difficulties. To get you in the spirit, here are some classic songs about taking it easy!

“Rushing Around,” Roy Acuff

This song should be the official theme song of Loosen Up, Lighten Up Day! While we may think that living life in a hurry is a modern woe, Roy Acuff warned of living life in a hurry in the 1950s. Acuff warns listeners of the hazards of carelessness brought on by being in a hurry and poses the question: “How old will you be at 63, from rushing around today?” It almost seems ironic that a song proclaiming “they didn’t used to rush around back in Grandpa’s day” was written in what is now “back in Grandpa’s day,” but its message of slowing down for your own sake still holds true.

“It’s My Lazy Day,” Bob Wills

Here’s a classic from Bob Wills, the “King of Western Swing,” about the joys of taking it easy. While many would consider going fishing a perfect way to spend a leisurely day, the narrator of this song is taking his day so lightly that he doesn’t even want to make the trip to his favorite fishing spot or do much of anything. Sung by Tommy Duncan, one of Wills’ Texas Playboys, the lilting delivery amplifies the message of the song, and the laid-back performance by this normally red hot band makes you feel like they’re all loosened and lightened up.

“Work Don’t Bother Me,” Kid Smith

Walter “Kid” Smith is a tragically overlooked figure in early country music. Born in Virginia, Smith began working in a cotton mill, but soon became a professional boxer. Upon moving to Spray, North Carolina, he fell in with the clique of musicians who surrounded the legendary Charlie Poole. Perhaps one thing that diminished Smith’s impact on the music was that he did not consistently record under the same name, often using a pseudonym or a band name such as The Carolina Buddies or The Virginia Dandies. Here Smith proclaims just how easy it is to take it easy when you avoid life’s biggest stressor: work!

“Just Can’t Live That Fast Anymore,” Lefty Frizzell

While sometimes we need to loosen up and lighten up because we work too hard, honky tonk hero Lefty Frizzell tells us all about the opposite problem. Reflective of Frizzell’s own rough and rowdy lifestyle, this song warns of what can happen when you loosen up TOO MUCH for TOO LONG. While it’s important to let loose and live a little, don’t let Loosen Up, Lighten Up Day get out of hand!

“I Ain’t Going to Work Tomorrow,” Flatt and Scruggs

Didn’t know about Loosen Up, Lighten Up Day until you read this blog post? Planning on celebrating a day late now that you know about it? Well, here’s a song for you! This classic ballad was originally recorded by The Carter Family, but here’s a rip-roaring bluegrass rendition from the dynamic duo Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, along with all the Foggy Mountain Boys!

“Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world, and I’ll stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.”

~ Steve Earle

I moved to Bristol, Tennessee, in early January 2010. Moving might be too glorifying of a word, meaning I had $30, a guitar, and a bag of clothes. I was re-moving myself from a failed relationship while finishing a batch of songs, some of which would appear on my debut release Appalachian Travels – hence the name of my radio show on Radio Bristol. (Thanks, Bill Edwards!)

My long-time friend and fellow tunesmith Allun Cormier and I shared a three-story chalet style house at end of Glen Road. The two houses there were owned by the original operator of The Hitchin’ Post, a now-defuct Bristol honky tonk, and they had been the stopping-place of the bands traveling through town in the 1970s and 1980s. One could literally sense the energy the minute you walked through the door.

One afternoon in February, I recorded a song I had just finished on my phone and sent it to Allun – it was called “The Marrying Song.” He immediately replied: “That sounds like a Townes Van Zandt song.” Now, as a child I remember Wille Nelson and Merle Haggard’s cut of “Pancho & Lefty,” a tune written by Townes and released in 1972. However, this was as deep as my knowledge of Townes went. I had heard the name numerous times, but never went down the rabbit hole to learn more. Boy, but what a rabbit hole to find!

I was heavily getting into Texas songwriters Guy Clark, Robert Earl Keen, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and the like. In press interviews, all of these amazing songwriters kept referencing Townes as one of their biggest influences, Clark more than any of them. Allun brought home a copy of the 2004 documentary Be Here to Love Me, giving me great insight into the tragic life of the late, great Townes Van Zandt. I, myself, was deep in the bottle and could relate in more ways than one.

I started with the import compilation Legend – The Very Best of Townes Van Zandt, which I picked up at our local record store, Sessions 27. I kept it on repeat for a couple of weeks, allowing the material to fully saturate every molecule of my being. Minimal production, poetic lyrics, sparse guitar, all of it hit me in the right way. I immediately understood what all these great songwriters were talking about. Townes was the real deal. I soon picked up a copy of Live at The Old Quarter, Houston, Texas, wanting to hear Townes in his natural environment – a live setting with only him, his songs, and his guitar. Townes performs flawlessly, exploring his catalogue while showcasing his own influences – Merle Travis, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and Rev. Gary Davis’s arrangement of “Cocaine Blues.”

From squeaky bar stools to audience chatter, I could hear The Old Quarter and Townes’s performance breathe – listen in, and so can you.

Farm and Fun Time got back to its bluegrass roots at October’s show! Thanks to our sponsor Eastman Credit Union, Radio Bristol was able to bring Farm and Fun Time to not only those in the audience or tuned in to WBCM-LP, but to viewers far and wide via Facebook Live. Be sure to like WBCM – Radio Bristol on Facebook to tune in every month!

Host band Bill and the Belles kicked the show off in grand style with their lighthearted take on classic American sounds, humming our troubles away. This month’s “Heirloom Recipe” segment was presented by Johnson City restaurateur Nathan Brand. After the success of his pop-up restaurant The Orchard Mason, Nathan opened Timber! at the location of the old Acoustic Coffee House in Johnson City. Nathan seeks to bring fresh takes on local foods, and for October’s Farm and Fun Time he shared the story of his popular dish, smoked trout dip. Nathan recalled his first experience catching and eating trout in Northern Idaho, and nearly 20 years later, he still remembers this happy memory when creating the trout dip that is now a favorite at Timber! To tell the audience what it was all about, Bill and the Belles proclaimed the love for this fishy spread with a new jingle “Nothing Smokes Like Trout.”   

Our first musical guest of the evening was Jeff Scroggins and Colorado. Led by two-time National Banjo Champion Jeff Scroggins and noted singer and guitarist Greg Blake, the band has brought their distinctive style of bluegrass to audiences across the globe. For their first visit to Bristol, they started the show off with a rousing rendition of Don Reno and Bill Harrell’s “Big Train,” underlining that the band is steeped in the traditions of bluegrass’s inventors while not being afraid to take it in their own direction. With impeccable vocals and outstanding instrumental prowess, it’s easy to see why they were able to win over our appreciative Farm and Fun Time audience. We hope to see Jeff Scroggins and Colorado back in Bristol soon!

For this month’s “Radio Bristol Farm Report,” we visited Phillip Ottinger at Buffalo Trail Orchard in Greene County, Tennessee. Ottinger is the fifth generation of the same family to work on the property, and though it was originally a tobacco and cattle farm, Ottinger has turned it into a successful orchard. Here’s a video from our visit:

Our last guest of the evening was Chatham County Line. Hailing from Chatham County, North Carolina, as their name suggests, Chatham County Line has developed quite a following over the past two decades, with seven studio albums under their belt. Based strongly in the sounds of bluegrass, Chatham County Line has developed a performance style all their own that is somehow mellow and high energy all at the same time. Performing mostly original songs with one Beck cover thrown in for good measure, it is easy to see how these guys enthrall audiences everywhere they go. We’re looking forward to their upcoming release on Yep Roc records.

Thanks to everyone who came out and shared in this wonderful evening of music! Tickets are on sale for November’s show, but they’re going fast. We hope to see you there!