Today, interest is peaking again. "O Brother, Where Art Thou," a film by Joel and Ethan Coen, is a tribute to mountain-style music. As the movie soundtrack hovers near No. 1 on Billboard album charts, country star Dolly Parton is seeing success with bluegrass projects, while in Nashville it’s considered "in" to sing along with the ghostly tenor of recording artist Ralph Stanley.

Music traditions run especially deep in the Old Dominion. The Carter Family — Sara, A.P. and Mother Maybelle — got their start in Hiltons and became one of the most influential groups in country music history. Grand Ole Opry star Roy Clark, co-host of the former Hee-Haw show, hails from Meherrin. The Stanley Brothers and Jim and Jesse McReynolds were raised in the jagged country near Coeburn.

The earthy music that once blossomed on front porches hasn’t always thrived in the state at large, though. It’s biggest nemesis? "Rock ‘n’ roll," Ralph Stanley, 74, says from his home in McClure, nestled among green hills that hide the scars of coal mines. "It hurt us some, the rock ‘n’ roll did. It just about put a lot of bands out of business. It took the young folks."

Ralph Stanley Photo courtesy Richmond Times-Dispatch

But not for good. Bluegrass music festivals, which got their start in Virginia in the 1960s, brought back the excitement in one bright, sunny package. The granddaddy of them all is the Galax Old Fiddlers’ Convention. A small competition when it started 66 years ago, it has grown to a sprawling, week-long event from Aug. 6 to 11 that draws more than 40,000 people a year. Indeed, festivals are still Stanley’s bread and butter. He plays from March to November, holding his own festival in late May in memory of Carter, his brother and musical partner, who died in 1966.

Besides festivals, smaller venues, such as country stores and warehouses, keep the music going on a weekly basis. A guide to those places, called the Blue Ridge Music Trail, should be online by summer’s end. Meanwhile, the Internet, books, posters and word of mouth will lead listeners to all kinds of larger events, such as the August festival at Carter Fold, near what was once A.P. Carter’s grocery store filled with Carter Family mementos from a lock of Sara’s hair to the clothes Mother Maybelle’s daughter, June, and son-in-law, Johnny Cash, wore when they sang at the White House.

The romance of Virginia’s bluegrass draws some from afar permanently. One is Dan Tyminski, a member of the popular Alison Krauss and Union Station, and actor George Clooney’s singing voice in "O Brother." Tyminski, 34, moved from New England to the Old Dominion more than a decade ago to join Ferrum’s Lonesome River Band. But even before that, he was aware of Virginia music — and mountain music. "It’s such an organic music compared to what’s out there today," Tyminski says. "It’s an old style and very pure and people are still just loving it and buying it."

Return to Virginia Business - June 2001