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The Crooked Road: Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail turns 20 this year with celebrations continuing across southwest Virginia.
Photo Above: The Whitetop Mountain Band appears at several Crooked Road events this summer.
“This is kind of the ultimate year for traditional Appalachian music and country music fans,” says Tyler Hughes, the executive director of The Crooked Road.
The Crooked Road runs from Franklin County west to Dickenson County, with 10 major venues along the way.
“The Crooked Road encapsulates and showcases so much of the foundations of American country music,” says Hughes.
Established in 2004, the road’s roots stem from a chance meeting between Todd Christensen, a state community developer, and the late Joe Wilson, a music historian, at a conference in Asheville, North Carolina, in 2002. In those days, Christensen was charged with opening the Ralph Stanley Museum in Clintwood while Wilson had just masterminded the design of the Blue Ridge Parkway’s Blue Ridge Music Center near Galax.
Drawing a connecting line, these men conceived a music trail—with further stops at the Galax Fiddlers Convention and the famous Carter Fold of Hiltons.
“Having Joe Wilson, who was an expert of folklore and music, made me very optimistic,” Christensen says.
Today, the Crooked Road delivers a diverse drive dotted by such mountain music mainstays as the Floyd Country Store, Country Cabin, Blue Ridge Institute and Museum and Bristol’s Birthplace of Country Music Museum.
“The Birthplace has been the entity to showcase the music and the impact that it’s had on the world,” Hughes says.
Selected upcoming 20th anniversary events:
July 12 – Moss Arts Center at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg
July 13 – Lyric Theater, St. Paul
Aug. 1 – Crooked Road Jam at the
Southwest Virginia Cultural Center and Marketplace, Abingdon
Aug. 2 – Crooked Road 20th Anniversary, Rex Theater, Galax
Aug. 3 – 50-year Anniversary of the Carter Fold, Hiltons
Aug. 5-11 – Galax Fiddlers Convention, Galax
Aug. 28 – Downtown Celebration, Floyd
Sept. 13-15, Rhythm ’n’ Roots Reunion, Bristol
Oct. 5 – Crooked Road Anniversary at Russell Theater, Lebanon
Oct. 10 – Crooked Road Anniversary at Southwest Virginia Cultural Center and Marketplace, Abingdon
Oct. 17 – Crooked Road Anniversary at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, Bristol
Oct. 18-20 – Home Craft Days, Big Stone Gap
Oct. 26 – Blue Ridge Folklife Festival, Ferrum College
More info: thecrookedroadva.com
The story above first appeared in our July / August 2024 issue.
