Great Places to Hear Old-Time Music

The Blue Ridge is the last place in the world you'd actually feel blue, at least if you have read "Blue Ridge Music Trails." This guidebook by Fred Fussell covers 160 venues & events that feature bluegrass and string band music, ballad singing, fiddling, shape-note singing, gospel music, clogging, and other traditional forms of music and dance.

The western, mountainous parts of Virginia and North Carolina are full of old-time music. The 6th annual Music Issue of the Oxford American magazine [see related story in this edition of Vibrations: "Oxford American Closes Again"] recently singled out "Five Great Places" from Fussell's list.

The top of the list is the Allegheny Jubilee, which takes place at the Old Spartan Theatre in Sparta, North Carolina. Every Friday night, four dollars can buy a night of flat-foot and square dance with the Whitetop Mountain Band, hosted by Earnest and Agnes Joines.

Other venues on the Oxford American short list include

• The Mill Mountain Coffee Shop (Thursday evenings, Roanoke VA)
• The Saturday Morning Merry-Go-Round (Cinema Theatre, downtown Mt. Airy, NC)
• Franklin Street Dairy Queen (Thursday mornings, Rocky Mount, VA)
• The Marshall railroad depot (Friday nights, Marshall, NC)

Read more about Fussell's "traveler's guide to live traditional music and dance along the Blue Ridge" of Virginia and North Carolina at his publisher's site, including a Table of Contents that lists everything, county by county

Visit the accompanying site, complete with a map of the region, heritage and radio resources, and more. The site is maintained by Ferrum College. Visit their Blue Ridge Institute and Museum

Visit the Oxford American and browse their annual Music Issues