Videos
Program Hosts
Amy Campbell created the Tennessee Farm Table Radio Show & Podcast in August of 2014. Amy is a Knoxville native, a former PR Representative for the City of Knoxville with the Knoxville Farmers’ Market, a founding board member of the Maryville Farmers’ Market, Market Manager for the Maryville Farmers’ Market in it’s 1st year, and is an avid gardener and seed saver and fine artist. Amy holds a BFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design, and an MFA in Graphic Design from UTK. Amy is a former professor of Art from Maryville College, she is heavily invested in her community, has served on numerous boards, and seeks to help others make community connections. Amy has volunteered with WDVX Radio since 1996 (before, during, and after the camper). She and her husband enjoy a rural lifestyle along with 1 cat and 2 donkeys. They enjoy growing a little bit of food, flowers, and mow enormous amounts of grass on 6 acres in Blount County, Tennessee.
Join host Bailey George every Wednesday from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST for the Honky Tonk Hit Parade featuring the best in classic country, hillbilly boppers and honky tonk rarities!
Baltimore-based clawhammer banjoist Brad Kolodner represents the next generation of Old-Time musicians pushing the boundaries of the tradition into uncharted territory. Awarded the 2016 IBMA Momentum Award for Industry Involvement, Kolodner is helping to lead the charge as a performer, teacher, radio host, jam leader, community builder and ambassador for Old-Time and Bluegrass music. He regularly performs across the country in a duo with his father Ken Kolodner, a world renowned hammered dulcimer player and with the acoustic roots quartet Charm City Junction.
Brett Davis is a Bristol, Virginia native and a proponent of all forms of live music. In his spare time, Brett enjoys spending time in the great outdoors with his wife and young son and playing bluegrass music with his friends. As the Operations and Logistics Manager for Birthplace of Country Music, Brett is responsible for logistics, security, emergency response, and coordinating numerous other elements of the annual Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion music festival. He also oversees the security and maintenance of the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. Prior to working at BCM, Brett served as a Rhythm & Roots Reunion volunteer for many years.
For more than thirty years, Cindy Baucom has pursued her passion for bluegrass music as an award winning broadcaster, producer, promoter, singer, musician, writer, photographer and MC. Her national radio show, “Knee-Deep In Bluegrass”, went into syndication in 2003 with distribution by the John Boy & Billy Radio Network. Cindy uses her knowledge of the music and enthusiasm to entertain and educate the listeners of her show. Her radio career started at age 17 at her hometown station, WKSK in West Jefferson, NC. Her radio work continued regionally over the next fifteen years at WKBC, North Wilkesboro, NC and WFMX, Statesville, NC, preparing her for her ultimate broadcasting goal of national syndication.
She credits her early love for bluegrass 100% to her father who played banjo, fiddle, guitar and mandolin and built stringed instruments. As a teenager she performed in a band with her dad and went on to work in other regional bands, singing and playing bass and guitar. She feels fortunate to have been presented the opportunities to promote the music she has loved all her life.
While being blessed with many accomplishments, Cindy is most proud of her family – children, Houston, Molly and Hunter, grandson, Kayden and husband, Terry. She thanks her mother and brothers for tolerating her bluegrass obsession when she was relentlessly thumping bass to albums late into the night; carrying around a cassette recorder insisting on an interview; having jam sessions in the den; and begging to attend the next festival or show. She dedicates her work in bluegrass to the loving memory of her dad, Jim Brooks, who taught her that music is less about notes and lyrics and more about the bond it creates among those we share it with.
For more information on Cindy and the show, check out her website at kneedeepinbluegrass.com
Hailing from the state of Missouri, C. J. Lewandowski grew up under the wing of many first-generation Missouri bluegrass artists. He’s been a lover of traditional music from the start, and from a young age, he has played with the likes of The Men of The Week, Jim Orchard & The Ozark Bluegrass Boys, David Davis & The Warrior River Boys, The Karl Shiflett & Big Country Show, Jame King, and The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys.
Dr. Lee Bidgood’s research and performing is focused on bluegrass, old-time, sacred, and early music. While at UNC-Chapel Hill, he was mandolinist with the Steep Canyon Rangers, and these days he plays fiddle, viola, and viola da gamba with all kinds of groups. With a PhD in music from the University of Virginia, his work explores string music from new angles; in addition to teaching courses in music history, ethnomusicology, and Appalachian Studies at ETSU, he leads a mandolin orchestra. He has written a book on his research Czech Bluegrass: Notes from the Heart of Europe (Illinois, 2017) and coproduced the documentary film Banjo Romantika (2015) with Shara Lange.
Originally from the Pines of North Carolina and currently based in Bristol, Virginia, Ella Patrick performs as Momma Molasses and has toured throughout the southeast as a breakout D.I.Y. musician. Her radio show Folk Yeah! can be heard on Radio Bristol on Mondays at 2pm.
Harrison Hunt is a mastering engineer and connoisseur of a wide spectrum of music. He earned a Bachelor’s in the recording industry program at Middle Tennessee State University, and currently works at Well Made Music here in Bristol. Harrison also performs in three bands: The Screech Boys, Ghost Gore and Purulency. His radio show Lasting FX can be heard on Radio Bristol on Wednesdays at 6pm.
Clint Holley developed his love of vinyl records at an early age by tagging along with his parents to flea markets and garage sales in the mid 1980s with a bit of babysitting money in his pocket and a lot of curiosity. This early passion coupled with an entrepreneurial spirit led to Clint forming Well Made Music, a vinyl mastering studio in 2010 and The Earnest Tube, a direct to vinyl recording studio in Bristol, Va in 2016. Never one compelled by boundaries, his collection ranges from traditional American music to modern releases pressed to record.
Placated with a portable record player and a stack of Jimmie Rodgers records at age three, early country music has been the soundtrack of Ivy’s life. She took up banjo, traveled the country with the Roan Mountain Hilltoppers and South Carolina Broadcasters, accidentally got a job in radio, and now spends her days hunting for old records and archiving the music she loves.
Jared Bentley is a singer-songwriter from Southwest Virginia and East Tennessee who loves to write and perform and despises the term “troubadour.” He currently works for Six Rivers Media and has spent the last quarter century or so playing in bands throughout the region and writing songs that he enjoys (so I guess you could say he’s selfish, more than anything). His music has been referred to as “mountain soul,” and that seems about as apt as any other label that’s been thrown his way over the years, especially since he has an affinity for all things soulful and true, at least when music is the subject. Take a little time and listen to “The Pocket” if you get a chance – Jared would surely appreciate it.
Jeff Place is the Curator and Senior Archivist for the Smithsonian Folklife Archives and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. He has produced and/or written liner notes for over 60 albums and box sets, garnering six Grammy nominations (two wins) and many Independent Music Awards. His projects have primarily been of traditional American music including Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly, amongst others, along with the 1997 reissue of the Anthology of American Folk Music. Along with CBS Radio’s national news anchor Sam Litzinger, Place has combed the Smithsonian archives and taken advantage of the presence of interesting visitors to present songs and stories from the Smithsonian vaults.
Josh Littleton is the Radio Bristol General Manager. Josh has been involved with the Birthplace of Country Music organization for the past eight years and has assisted the organization in a variety of different roles. Josh sat on the radio advisory board when planning for a new radio station first started in 2013, and now handles the station’s operational, engineering and technical responsibilities. As an experienced audio and video engineer, Josh has managed and consulted on many audio-visual projects big and small.
Hailed as “Bristol TN/VA’s own troubadour” and a “songwriter’s songwriter,” East Tennessee musician J. P. Parsons has performed over a thousand shows during his 20-plus-year career. His unique blend of folk, bluegrass, and country music, along with his memorable tenor voice, make his songs immediately familiar to listeners’ ears. Since his 2012 debut solo album Appalachian Travels and 2014’s follow-up Until This Day Is Done, which includes his full band The American Bandwagon, Parsons has been received as a regional songwriting sensation throughout the southeast pleasing crowds from large festivals to the tiniest bars and listening rooms.
Lawrence Inscho has traveled throughout the United States his whole life and has emceed stages at Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion for over a decade. Tune in every Wednesday morning at 10am during “On the Sunnyside” for the Inscho Effect, and hear Lawrence blend music genres from his personal collection and life experiences.
Additionally, Lawrence’s father, Bill Inscho, was a well know photographer with work and photo credits displayed throughout institutions across the US. Learn more about William Lawrence Inscho Sr. and read this recent blog post by clicking here.
By day Lonnie Salyer is a procurement professional at a Fortune 500 specialty chemical company, but in his spare time he is an avid local 45rpm and 78rpm record sleuth and aficionado. “Big Lon” has leveraged an appreciation for history and a keen interest in local music into a passionate hobby – check out his collection and artist interviews on Facebook at Big Lon’s Crateful Dig. Lonnie holds a BS in Finance from the University of Tennessee and an MBA from East Tennessee State University. He lives in Kingsport, Tennessee, with his lovely wife, author and public speaker Aundrea Y. Wilcox. His son Cody Salyer is a senior in high school.
Luke Church is a 40-year radio veteran. A native of SW VA, his childhood was filled with music, including his mother’s collection of Carter Family 78s. Most recently he produced weekly public radio music shows featuring folk, bluegrass, roots and Americana. Luke is also an award winning journalist, having earned Associated Press Broadcaster Association honors and Edward R. Murrow Awards.
Marshall Ballew is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, instructor, and music historian whose Appalachian roots laid the groundwork for his lifelong love of music in all its various forms and ages. Surrounded in his youth in the North Carolina mountains by the sounds of folk, old-time, and bluegrass, he took up the guitar at age 14 and began a stringman’s journey that would lead to the study of the banjo, fiddle, Dobro, Hawaiian guitar, tiple, oud, saz, and bouzouki. Through the years, he has played with a variety of groups including Radiation Blues Banned, The Timber Rattlers, Happenstance, The Nefarious Dread – I Knights, and the Marshall Ballew Band. As president of the Smokey Mountain Music Association, a nonprofit based in western North Carolina, he helped establish a Junior Appalachian Music (JAM) program at a local charter school to teach young people the roots music of their region on a variety of stringed instruments. He has performed at venues all over the southern United States and a number of festivals – including Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion, Piccolo Spoleto, the Lake Eden Arts Festival, Arts & Minds Fest at Fur Peace Ranch, the Carolina Downhome Blues Festival, the Lowcountry Blues Festival, Greening up the Mountains, and the National Slide Guitar Festival.
Martha Spencer grew up in a musical family in Whitetop Mountain, Virginia. At an early age, she began flatfoot dancing and singing, and learned to play several instruments (guitar, banjo, fiddle, bass, mandolin, and dulcimer. She plays in several groups – with her family, the Whitetop Mountain Band, with Larry Sigmon in Unique Sound of the Mountains, in duo group the Whitetop Mountaineers and trio group Spencer Branch, and in the Old Time Country Roadshow, as well as writing and recording on her own. She has toured across the United States and abroad many times. She is also active in passing on the music to youth in the area, working with JAM and the Albert Hash Memorial Stringband. She also has worked with several projects including Mountain Music Magazine, Backroads of America show, and Country Songbird Collective.
Paul Brown is a music maniac who loves radio and journalism as much as notes. He’s played banjo since he was ten, and he learned banjo and fiddle from a lot of the great old-timers of the southern mountains. He’s won prizes for his music and cheers for his field recordings, his producing and his world news journalism at NPR. He started his radio career at WPAQ in Mount Airy, North Carolina. Today he shares his loves with us in one fun, fascinating, informative show: Across the Blue Ridge.
I joined the Birthplace of Country Music in 2012 as a member of the content team working on the exhibit script and design for the museum’s permanent exhibits. I then came on as a permanent member of staff in 2014, just before the Birthplace of Country Music Museum opened in August 2014. As Head Curator, I focus on our permanent and special exhibits, am responsible for coordinating and creating content and interpretation for the BCM blog and for the museum’s social media presence on Facebook, and oversee the museum’s public and educational programming.
I am lucky to work with such a great organization, which gives me the chance to be creative and the opportunity to learn every day. I really enjoy sharing our story with visitors, both on-site and online, and look forward to the chance to dig even deeper into the region’s musical heritage through this blog.
When I’m not at work, I enjoy long walks with my dog Pip, especially in all the beautiful places found in and around the Appalachian Mountains.
Rich Kirby has been soaked in mountain music for longer than he cares to mention. It began in the lap of his grandmother Addie Graham, an outstanding Kentucky traditional singer. That started a lifelong involvement with the music—learning, performing, collecting, recording and teaching. He was one of the founders of June Appal Recordings at Appalshop in Whitesburg, Kentucky, and recently retired after 25 years at Appalshop’s radio station WMMT, where he still does a weekly old-time music program. He lives in Dungannon, Virginia, across the hill from the homeplace of Fiddlin’ Cowan Powers.
Roy Andrade is a musician, teacher, and producer who has focused his career on southern old-time music. He was the banjo player for the popular string band Reeltime Travelers and has played with a number of other groups over the years. His years of fieldwork have led to the release of several recordings, including the Doc Watson Family box set – Milestones (released 2013) – which he produced. Roy is currently an associate professor in Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Country Music Studies at East Tennessee State University, one of the few schools of higher education that offers a bachelor’s degree in traditional American music.
Ryan Bernard has played traditional music since he was a young man, learning the guitar from his father and the fiddle and banjo later on his own. While obtaining a Master’s degree in Appalachian Studies at East Tennessee State University, Ryan played in the old-time band in the ETSU Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Country Music program. He has played in several stringbands in the region, most recently The Sulphur Springs String Dippers. His research focus during his time at ETSU was the early commercial recordings of traditional, southern Appalachian music in the 1920s and 1930s. In 2010 he finished his Master’s degree in Library Science and has worked at King University since then as an assistant professor and librarian. Ryan was part of curatorial team that designed the exhibits for the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol.
Scotty Almany is the Digital Resources Manager & Catalog Associate for the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.
