Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion Keeps The Music Alive in Country’s Birthplace

There’s a few places you can go in this world to remind you that country music is not just “music.” It is a form of artistic expression and a historical continuum so inextricably interwoven with the fabric of rural American life that to disentangling it would risk the very unraveling of society itself.

One of these places that presents a living history of country music is Bristol, TN/VA, where the state line of Tennessee and Virginia bisect the city, and where Ralph Peer set up his portable recording machine in a hat shop in 1927 that would capture what would go on to become the most important recordings in country music and American history.

The Birthplace of Country Music Museum in downtown Bristol is worth visiting all by itself. So is the mural that adorns the side of a building in downtown commemorating the Bristol Sessions, and other culturally significant spots throughout town, like the Burger Bar where some claim (and others refute), that Hank Williams ate his very last meal.

But for any music fan, the best time to visit the Birthplace of Country Music is during the annual Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion every September. This is when they block off State Street running down the middle of downtown and straddling the state lines, erect multiple stages, and vendors set up shop on the main drag and side streets. Instead of traipsing back and forth through an open field like many festivals make you endure, you feel like you’re entering a musical village, and one that you never want to leave.

Very similar to how The Bristol Sessions gave rise to country music becoming a popularized art form enjoyed the world over, Bristol Rhythm and Roots has also become an important proving ground for talent since being founded in 2001. You talk to the right folks, and they’ll recall how Billy Strings once showed up there to busk on the street. They’ll reminisce how Tyler Childers and Colter Wall began their ascent there, and how Sturgill Simpson played there and well before the rest of the world woke up to his talents.

2021 and 2022 saw Sierra Ferrell perform at the festival before her meteoric rise, and all of this speaks nothing to the legends of bluegrass and country who have taken the stage in Bristol over the years. Here nearly 100 years after The Bristol Sessions, the city remains an incubator for country and roots music talent.

This was underscored Saturday night when 49 Winchester from nearby Castlewood, Virginia took the stage on State Street. Before their set, Israel O’Quinn of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s House of Delegates officially recognized the band with a proclamation. 49 Winchester specifically cites the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion as the place where their meteoric rise commenced.

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When 49 Winchester sang the Saving Country Music 2022 Single of the Year “Russell County Line,” (which geographically rests just north of Bristol), you could feel the chill bumps raise all over the audience. 49 Winchester is their band, from their home, who has gone on to national recognition. Just like many who came before, 49 Winchester might be too big to play Bristol in a few years. But it will always be where it all began.

Discovery is a vital part to the Bristol Rhythm and Roots experience. Though the big names like The Wallflowers, Ashley McBryde, and The Red Clay Strays were the major draws, the Bristol faithful aren’t there just for the headliners. There are a few remarkable things about the Bristol festival experience. One is that you won’t attend any show with a poor turnout, especially on Friday and Saturday. Even the most unknown and up-and-coming performers play to sizable audiences. This isn’t always the case at other festivals, including big ones.

For Saving Country Music’s part, the biggest discovery of the weekend was Vaden Landers. If cool old stuff is your poison, tap a vein and inject Vaden Landers right straight in. He’s got that pre-war/post-war country music sound down pat, and was perfect for the streets of Bristol. Landers has been featured on Saving Country Music previously, but this was the first opportunity to experience it live. It was everything you wanted it to be.

Attending Bristol Rhythm and Roots is like taking a stroll through a historic downtown, and every once in a while you come to a stage with some cool music on it. With 12 stages in total, you can always find something you will enjoy, even if you have to miss something else to see it.

One of the few if only qualms about the fest is the fact that folks can bring in chairs, and set them up basically wherever they want. Though you certainly want to give people a place to sit, the very front of stages feels like it should always be reserved from the most dedicated and animated fans, along with dancers.

When Silverada took the Piedmont stage Saturday afternoon, one of the big stories of their set became how their dedicated fans called “The Mockingbirds” showed up in full force to support, including a big burly dude standing right in from of all the chair sitters cheering them on the whole time. Another group to the side of the stage out neon sticks during the band’s song “You Look Good in Neon.”

Silverada left a big impression in the Birthplace of Country Music, as did another band that mixes country and rock called Hippies & Cowboys. Bristol likes to start their legacy with artists out young. That is why they also booked a couple of instrumental prodigies in 2024. Mandolin player Wyatt Ellis has been one of the most buzzed about artists in bluegrass over the last couple of years. He showed up with his stellar band of fellow young musicians, and they were graced by the presence of Jim Lauderdale for a song.

The talent of Wyatt Ellis is undeniable. But it still feels like it’s early in his career, he’s still getting his stage presence about him, and what he’ll bring to bluegrass that is unique is still to be defined. A unique spin on bluegrass is what Molly Tuttle has developed over the last few years. Molly and her band Golden Highway took the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion down the proverbial rabbit hole Saturday night, showcasing their psychedelic spin on bluegrass via the hidden messages in Alice in Wonderland while previewing their new EP Into The Wild out September 20th.

There were also some cool collaborations during the Molly Tuttle set, namely Molly’s brother and fellow lights-out guitar player Sullivan “Sully” Tuttle singing and playing with her, as well as surging mandolin player AJ Lee. All three used to play together growing up in the Tuttle family band, and now Sully is in the band AJ Lee and Blue Summit which many consider as the future of bluegrass.

Speaking of the future of music, another clear standout was 18-year-old guitar prodigy Grace Bowers. Though she’s decidedly more blues and rock than country, she’s based in Nashville, and has been collaborating with country artists all around town, including Dolly Parton and Lainey Wilson, and is being produced by John Osborne of Brothers Osborne. Grace has the grit and power to be a major force in blues music for many years.

Though country and bluegrass are the foundations of the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion, they have also struck out more to other genres in recent years. A few folks could be heard wondering why The Wallflowers, or other rock-oriented bands like The Jared Stout Band or Tulsa’s Wilderado were performing. But what nobody questioned was the talent Bristol Rhythm and Roots put on the stages.

Bristol is all about doling out opportunities. Whether it was Silverada playing the event for the first time, or traditional revivalist Jesse Daniel who make the trek from Texas, it’s a huge bragging opportunity to say that you’ve played in country music’s Birthplace, and at Bristol Rhythm and Roots specifically.

It all goes to a good cause, which is the preservation of the Birthplace of Country Music in Bristol. Though the original building where Ralph Peer held his 1927 Bristol Sessions has long been torn down, the museum is housed in another historic building right around the corner, and is a partner of the Smithsonian Institution. Raffles were held on Sunday for folks wanting to support the museum financially, with someone winning a Toyota Tacoma as a grand prize.

Many regard “country music” simply as a genre designation or a commercial industry. It most certainly is these things as well. But it’s also a culture, a dialect, a historical institution, and a way of life for many people. In Bristol, you need no convincing of these high-minded concepts. You simply need to walk the streets, and feel the ghosts of The Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Ernest Stoneman, and Leslie Riddle walking with you. This is what Bristol offers.

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All photos by Kyle “Trigger” Coroneos. For more photos and media from Bristol Rhythm and Roots, follow Saving Country Music on Instagram. Apologies to artists not covered here. With 12 stages, you just can’t catch everything.

© 2024 Saving Country Music