Where History was Recorded
The year is 1927 and unbeknown to most, the world of music is going to change forever. The people of Bristol, a city shared between Virginia and Tennessee, are still unaware that history is being recorded.
Ralph Peer was a record producer and currently touring the area with a mobile recording studio, when he stopped in Bristol in the summer of 1927. What he, with the help of local artists recorded during that time became what is now widely known as the “Bristol Sessions”, and it laid the foundation for country music’s big break.
It was precisely these recordings that made the country music genre, which until then had been a rather regionally isolated phenomenon, accessible to a larger audience. Today, the city of Nashville – 250 miles away – is one of the most important hubs for emerging and established country music artists.
In 1998, the US Congress also recognized in an official resolution that Bristol was officially designated the birthplace of country music.
An interactive museum has been created to commemorate these legendary Bristol Sessions. The Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol, VA, displays numerous artifacts and commemorates the pioneers of the South’s most impactful cultural export.
What to Expect at the Museum
The museum’s various interactive exhibits allow you to delve deeper into the history of the 1927 Bristol Sessions. In addition to various photographs and artifacts, there are also numerous interactive touchscreen exhibits waiting for you.
In addition to the permanent exhibitions, the Special Exhibits Gallery shows constantly changing exhibitions, which are put together by in-house curators or other institutions. But music is not the only theme that gets addressed: culture, history and art are also topics of discussion.
