Farm and Fun Time

Date: Thursday, July 8, 2021

Time: 7:00 p.m. EDT 

Location: Performance Theater at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum

Tickets: $35

Sorry, tickets for this event are now sold out!

Radio Bristol’s ever-popular Farm and Fun Time live variety show returns in July with musical guests Scythian and Melissa Carper. The show will also stream live on Radio Bristol’s Facebook page and YouTube channel for free!

Farm and Fun Time, the historic radio program broadcasting from Downtown Bristol, was a staple for listeners across the Southeast during the 1940s and 1950s on the former WCYB Radio. Radio Bristol breathes new life into the classic program with a fun, energetic show broadcasting live from the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. Hosted by Radio Bristol producer and house band-leader Kris Truelsen, Farm & Fun Time is an event the whole family can enjoy live in the studio or when gathered around their screens or radios.

About Scythian

Washington D.C.-based Scythian (sith-ee-yin) began over 12 years ago as a bunch of college buddies playing Celtic music in the streets and has grown to be a headliner on the U.S. Celtic festival circuit and a leading name among Bluegrass and Americana festivals. Scythian’s brand of high-energy folk music found a resonance that led The Washington Post to state: “Scythian’s enthusiasm is contagious, and shows seem to end with everyone dancing, jumping around or hoisting glasses.” For over 12 years the group has found success as an independent band, playing over 1,300 shows across the United States, Europe, Canada and as far away as Australia.

Founded by brothers Alexander and Danylo Fedoryka, who are first-generation sons of Ukrainian immigrants, Scythian has a passion for the “old time, good time music” of many cultures. The brothers were inspired by a tale told by their 92-year-old grandmother of a roving fiddler who came into her farming village every six months or so. Once he was spotted, messengers were sent to all the outlying fields and mills and worked ceased; everyone gathered in the barn where they danced all night and danced their cares away. This spirit is what has motivated Scythian from its inception and their success as an independent band is due largely to their finding a resonance of soul amongst kindred spirits that span all ages and races.

About Melissa Carper

As a child, Melissa Carper would lay her head underneath the family record player as she listened to Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, and other greats from her parents’ collection. After a childhood spent in her family’s country band, Carper attended the University of Nebraska on a music scholarship, spending much of her time in the library devouring every Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Nat King Cole album she could find. Around this time, Carper’s father gifted her a full collection of Jimmie Rodgers’ recordings, which was a pivotal moment in finding her unique style of songcraft.

After two years of college, wanderlust spirited her away in an inherited 1980 Dodge Maxi-Van, to the historic little town of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where she saw street performers for the very first time. Busking seemed a very free and appealing endeavor, so Carper diligently learned all the old country songs she loved as a child. As she belted out the lyrics to “Ramblin’ Man” on the Eureka Springs street corners, life began to imitate art; Carper relocated to music hubs like New Orleans, New York City, Austin, and eventually Nashville, oftentimes busking to make ends meet until gigs would come along. In each hub, she immersed herself in the regions’ musical styles and added them to her arsenal of influences.

Along the way, she founded award-winning bands like power trio The Carper Family, the perfect outlet for her unique skills and style. The band brought her original work to life in a simple yet dynamic fashion that also served her inspirations – country, bluegrass, western swing, and old-style jazz, playing festivals and shows across the globe, and on shows like A Prairie Home Companion. Carper also holds a spot in award-winning Arkansas foursome Sad Daddy, and founded roots duo Buffalo Gals with Sad Daddy bandmate Rebecca Patek.