Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion Music Festival

The award-winning Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion music festival celebrates 19 years in Historic Downtown Bristol, VA-TN, home to the 1927 Bristol Sessions, September 20-22, 2019!

Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion music festival is an electrifying music experience that features the very best roots music. Held annually the third weekend in September in historic downtown Bristol TN/VA, the three-day music is amped to the beat of Appalachia’s past, present, and future. The Festival digs down deep into the roots of the traditional Appalachian sound and lifts its branches to new heights. It all happens in the heart of the Birthplace of Country Music.

It's an annual celebration of Bristol, VA-TN's rich history as the place where the 1927 Bristol Sessions recordings created the "big bang" of country music; they were the recordings that brought early country music to the mainstream and were the first recordings of The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers.

The influence of the 1927 Bristol Sessions can still be heard in the soundtrack of today. It's the roots and far-reaching branches of those seminal recordings that fuels the lineup of each Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion.

Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion takes place in Historic Downtown Bristol, VA-TN on State Street and the surrounding area. Located on the Virginia and Tennessee border with 20 outdoor stages and indoor venues and more than 120 acts of live music, Bristol Rhythm takes visitors on a journey through Appalachia's musical past, present, and future.

Past performers at Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion include Dwight Yoakam, The Avett Brothers, Dr. Ralph Stanley, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Doc Watson, Old Crow Medicine Show, Moon Taxi, Steve Earle & The Dukes, Patty Loveless, Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn, Corey Harris, Colin Hay, and many, many more.