Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion
This festival is unique in that it is a city festival with outdoor food vendors and both outdoor and indoor stages. The festival is centered on the main downtown street called State Street. State Street is uniquely located exactly on the Tennessee Virginia state line. One side of State Street is in Virginia and the other side is in Tennessee. One of the large venues straddles State Street. Bands often joke with the crowd trying to determine which state they were standing in as they moved around the stage.
Another major venue is the Country Mural Stage. This is where a gigantic mural is painted on the side of a large older building. The mural depicts many of the pioneers of the Country Music Business in a natural setting. Some of the people pictured include A.P and Maybelle Carter, and Jimmy Rogers. The mural is facing a very nice municipal park on the Tennessee side, which is where the stage is located.
The Rhythm & Roots festival is produced by local people with help from the two Bristol city governments. Typically more than 20,000 attend the festival each year. There is no camping at this festival. We always stay at a local motel for this festival. This year we only paid $40 per person for the chance to see over 140 bands in a weekend. Probably half of the bands that perform are national touring acts or outstanding regional bands. After all, Bristol is the birthplace of the country music business. This is where Jimmy Rogers, the Carter Family, Tennessee Ernie Ford and others were recorded by Ralph Peer for RCA marking the first time that Appalachian country music was ever recorded. This event is now called the ‘1927 Bristol Sessions.’
With multiple main stages and shows in every restaurant and bar on State Street, choosing what to see is as difficult in Bristol as it always is at Merlefest. Also, because of the way acts are scheduled, we often end up seeing acts that we did not anticipate and then enjoy them immensely.
Southwest Virginia, East Tennessee, and western Carolina are areas with a lot of talented local musicians, many of whom become national touring acts. Also, East Tennessee State University has a degree program in Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music Studies. This program has spawned some renowned musicians already with pickers like Adam Steffey from the Boxcars, Tim Stafford from Blue Highway, Barry Bales from Union Station, Hunter Berry from Rhonda Vincent’s band, and Megan McCormick and Angela Oudean from Bearfoot. Other performers with regional roots who often play at Bristol include Doyle Lawson, Blue Highway, Dan Tyminski, Sam Quinn and Jill Andrews from the everybodyfields, Carolina Chocolate Drops, and Dale Ann Bradley.
The largest crowd we ever saw at Bristol was to see Old Crow Medicine Show. When they played ‘Wagon Wheel,’ the crowd went wild as they sang, “going down to Johnson City, Tennessee!” The crowd was probably the most engaged of any show I ever saw there. A couple of my favorite shows were Shawn Camp (this guy is incredible), Steep Canyon Rangers, and Mike Marshall’s Power Trio. There were many more too.
My wife doesn’t appreciate that there are virtually no jamming opportunities at Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion. Since the festival is located on the main street of the city(s), there is no room for jamming because of the crowds moving about and the large number of vendors that line the street. Another problem attending this festival is moving down State Street. At times it is so crowded that you can hardly move. The venues have remained okay as far as size of the crowd goes. This year, the festival added live streaming video and audio provided through WETS, part of the ETSU. Each year the festival adds a little bit. The quality of the entertainment makes this an interesting and enjoyable destination festival.
