The Mountain Music Museum

For centuries, the hills and "hollers" of the middle Appalachian Mountain region have rang out with Old-Time and Bluegrass Music and the Irish and African rhythms that helped shape them. Appalachian music is even older than our country itself, yet even today its beautiful melodies and energetic sounds can be heard all across the region and around the world.

Much of the history and heritage of the Mountain Music that we love so much is firmly rooted right here in Bristol, TN-VA and the mountains surrounding it. A century ago, times were hard and entertainment options were few, so many families would sing and play music as a form of family entertainment. Sometimes it would just be a banjo or fiddle with the family members singing along while other times it would be several instruments playing in harmony. Children learned to sing and "pick" at a very early age, and many of them became quite good at it. Word of the region's unique music soon spread far and wide.

In 1927, Ralph Peer of the Victor Talking Machine Company (later RCA) came to Bristol on a mission to record some of the wonderful music that the Appalachian Mountains were so famous for. He set up a makeshift studio in a downtown Bristol building and spent the next two weeks recording The Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, and the Stonemans. That event is now known as the "Big Bang of Country Music" and is widely regarded as the beginning of Country Music as we know it today. In fact, Congress has officially designated Bristol "The Birthplace of Country Music".

The Mountain Music Museum in the Bristol Mall showcases hundreds of precious artifacts from the Birthplace Of Country Music region's proud musical history. There are photos and biographies of musical giants like The Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Johnny and June Carter Cash and many, many more. There are also quite a few vintage musical instruments that were used to make the wonderful Mountain Music that we love so much. You can even pick up the perfect gift for the music lover in your family in the Mountain Music Museum Gift Shop!

The Mountain Music Museum is located on the lower level of the Bristol Mall (just off exit 1 of I-81). It is operated by the Appalachian Cultural Music Association and underwritten by Bryant Label Company.

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