The Birthplace of Country Music Alliance (BCMA) is an organization dedicated to preserving and telling that story.

One new way of telling the story is a planned Cultural Heritage Center in downtown Bristol. In 2004 the BCMA came into possession of a 24,000 square foot historic structure at 520 Cumberland Street. Since that time, plans have been moving forward for restoration and renovation of the building.

The new facility will include temporary and permanent exhibits that trace the history, cultural influences, and development of country music through a sequence of audio-visual experiences which will allow visitors the opportunity to listen to the melodies and encounter the rich musical tradition first hand. The facility will also include space for educational initiatives through educational programming for all ages, live musical performances, lecture and film series, and other outreach activities.

Desiring to get area musicians more involved in the center, the BCMA has put together an Artistic Council comprised of artists and industry persons, for the purpose of supporting the center and its events, as well as serving in an advisory capacity.

Among the musicians involved are Tim Stafford and Ralph Stanley. I had a chance to visit briefly with Tim regarding the Artistic Council.

I’m honored to be part of the Artistic Council of the BCMA’s new Cultural Heritage Center. I’ve been involved with BCMA since its organizational meetings in the early 1990s and fully support its goal with the Cultural Heritage Center: bringing a destination/museum to the Tri-Cities so this region’s important place in the history of bluegrass and country music can be preserved and presented to the world.

I think Doyle is going to be involved too. It’s an Artistic Council made up of music folks with ties to the region and the Center, including Patty Loveless, Roni Stoneman, Bill Clifton, Ralph, Doyle, me, Larry Groce and Andy Ridenour of Mountain Stage, Dale Jett (grandson of A.P. Carter), Kevin Lamb of Peer International, Mick Buck of the Country Music Hall of Fame, Brad Paul of Rounder, Jeff Place of Smithsonian Folkways, Rick Rose of Barter Theater, Leah Ross of Bristol’s Rhyhm and Roots Reunion, Mike Seeger, and Jimmy Neil Smith of the International Storytelling Center.

We’ll attend meetings, events and announcements, all the things Advisory Councils do. Largely ceremonial, but there for support.

The president of the BCMA is Fred McClellan who gives credit to Dr. Stanley for his own involvement with the organization.

Tim and Ralph have been actively involved since our creation in 1994. Tim served as a member of the board of directors in the early formative years. Ralph attended the organizational meetings and encouraged our formation and efforts. He has since given performance to every milestone and major accomplishment we have had since. Personally, I credit him for my involvement in this music because of promotional work we have done together since 1982.

I asked Fred to share the genesis of the idea for the Cultural Center.

After we returned from Washington DC in July of 2003, where we were the lead organization in Appalachia: Heritage and Harmony as part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival participating with Scotland and Mali, we held a strategic planning session. The highest priority was set to be the creation of a physical presence in downtown Bristol that would serve as a destination point celebrating the history of our music and culture, while encouraging this living tradition to be passed on to future generations.

A project of this size is not inexpensive. The cost of renovation and exhibits is expected to total between $9-12 million. The University of Virginia recently conducted an economic impact study to gauge the center’s potential impact on jobs and economy in the area. According to the study’s findings, the center is expected to attract over 75,000 visitors annually and have an economic impact of over $43 million in its first five years. More importantly, the center will continue to preserve and educate about rich musical and cultural heritage of this region of Appalachia.

Visit the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance online and see all that they are doing toward this goal.

These Bristol Sessions marked the first recordings of The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers, and introduced a business model that paid artists not for the sessions, but as a percentage based on sales. The folks at The Birthplace of Country Music Alliance (BCMA) in Bristol, formed to preserve and promote this important musical milestone, like to refer to the Bristol Sessions as “the big bang of country music,” the single event that lit the big fire.

To commemorate 2007 as the 80th anniversary of the Bristol Sessions, the BCMA has planned a year long awareness drive to help educate people all over the world who love Appalachian and traditional country music about their region’s important contribution to the music’s roots. They are also trying to raise funds for a new museum and cultural center to be built in downtown Bristol. The site will house their administrative offices as well, and be the center for their educational activities and live music programming.

As an inducement to music lovers who might be willing to offer a donation, they have some special offerings in place.

To celebrate the 80th Anniversary of this historic event, the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance will give away monthly prizes to individuals who make a donation of $19.27 or greater to the organization. In addition to the monthly drawings, each donor will receive one entry for a grand prize of 2 tickets to the Food City 250 and Sharpie 500 and lodging. February’s monthly drawing for 2 tickets to a 2007 Masters Practice Round. Through contributions the organization is able to carry out its mission to "To tell the story of the musical and cultural heritage of the region, its role in the birth and development of country music, and its influence on music around the world" through the preservation, education, and continuation of our region’s musical heritage and those cultural traditions which sustain that living legacy.

You can find more details about the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance, and how you can assist their efforts, on the BCMA web site.

This theme was stressed in the press release issued by the Mountain Stage folks:

It will be 79 years ago on July 25 in a warehouse on State Street that the first recording kicked off what would be 12 days of sessions. These historic Bristol Sessions included local and regional musicians like the now legendary Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers plus perhaps the first inter-racial recording with African American El Watson and his partner Charles Johnson. The Bristol Sessions also became a crucial step in the beginning of what was to become RCA Victor Records.

Mountain Stage will be working with the local community putting together programs that reflect where country music has come from, its influences and some of the directions it is taking.

Two live stage shows will be taped July 22-23 at The Paramount Center in Bristol, and each is expected to generate one radio show, and two for television. The first show (7/22) has a folk music theme, with guests Darrell Scott and Ramblin” Jack Elliott, while the other features bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley and Tim O’Brien. Roni Stoneman will also appear on the July 22 show, and Yonder Mountain String band on the 23rd.

Mountain Stage is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, and is normally recorded before a live audience in Charleston. The show is carried on more than 100 radio stations in the US, and is distributed by PRI. Support for the Bristol event is provided in part by the Crooked Road: Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail and the Virginia Tourism Corporation.

The radio programs recorded in Bristol are expected to run in September of 2006.

We have posted once before about The Crooked Trail, a tourist and promotional effort, funded by both private and governmental sources. They describe the Road as:

…a driving route through the Appalachian Mountains from the western slopes of the Blue Ridge to the Coalfields region of the state. The trail connects major heritage music venues in the Appalachian region such as the Blue Ridge Music Center, Birthplace of Country Music Alliance, and the Carter Family Fold.

You can read the article online.