Speaker Sessions: Brandon Story on Gospel According to Bristol

Date: Tuesday, August 13, 2024

Time: 7:00 p.m. ET

Location: Birthplace of Country Music Museum (in-person); YouTube (virtual)

Cost: Free and open to the public

RSVP HERE

Join us at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum on Tuesday, August 13, 7:00 p.m. for our monthly Speaker Sessions with Brandon Story on “Gospel According to Bristol.” Of the 76 sides recorded in Bristol in 1927, 31 were were gospel songs. This variety of solo, quartet, string-band, and full-choir gospel music allows us to sample the sacred music of the central Appalachian region in the 1920s. Brandon’s talk will focus on the recordings of Alfred Karnes, Ernest Phipps, The Alcoa and Stamps Quartets, and the Tennessee Mountaineers and consider how worship traditions and beliefs influenced song selections and performance styles.

Please note: For those attending virtually via YouTube, the live stream will originate on the Radio Bristol YouTube channel after 6:50pm EST.  If you load the channel page before 6:50pm, and the live stream does not automatically appear, please refresh the page after 6:50pm.

About Brandon Story

Brandon Story teaches English at King University. His research focuses on the ways Appalachia intersects with Modernism. His chapter “The Gospel According to Bristol: The Life, Music, and Ministry of Ernest Phipps” appeared in Charles Wolfe and Ted Olson’s collection The Bristol Sessions: Writings About the Big Bang of Country Music. As a musician, he has performed with The Reeltime Travelers, The Brother Boys, and with his wife and fellow English teacher, Mariel Story. He has also written a post on Ernest Phipps for the BCM blog.

Image (right): The Stamps Quartet