A! Magazine for the Arts Archive

Bristol's new Birthplace of Country Music Museum

When you walk into the colorful, light-filled, modern Birthplace of Country Music Museum in downtown Bristol, Va., you see a collaboration of architects and designers that flows as seamlessly as the harmony of the musicians whose story it tells.

In This Issue

• Museum architect eager to share credit When touring the Birthplace of Country Music Museum with Peyton Boyd, principal architect for the museum, he is always quick to point out the contributions that others made.
• Arts for Youth Spotlight: Nick McReynolds Nick Reynolds freely admits what makes most people cringe – his mom possesses embarrassing childhood videos.
• Emmylou Harris headlines at Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion celebrates Bristol's roots as the Birthplace of Country Music Sept. 19-21.
• Hayslett wins Orthophonic Joy Music Contest The Birthplace of Country Music surprised a student on the campus of Mountain Empire Community College in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, when, in an auditorium filled with people, they announced the winner of the Orthophonic Joy Music Contest was seated among t
• Professor's poetry published in new book Dr. Felicia Mitchell, professor at Emory & Henry College, has recently had her latest book of poetry, "Waltzing with Horses," published.
• Ben Walls photographs on exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution Bristol native and fine art photographer Benjamin Walls sends two more works for display at the Smithsonian Institution
• Deadlines for October 2014 Print Edition Advertising and press releases deadlines are early for A! Magazine for the Arts.

A! Extra

• Rhythm & Roots came to a close Sunday with fun, food and goodbyes They walked the line. For a third straight day on Sunday, thousands of music fans from eight to 80 migrated between the 400 and 800 blocks of State Street — following the brass marker-lined pathway of the street's center or veering onto Lee Street or Pied
• Bidgood, Lange receive RDC grant to prepare film for East Tennessee PBS screening East Tennessee State University faculty members Dr. Lee Bidgood and Shara Lange produced their documentary "Banjo Romantika: American Bluegrass and the Czech Imagination" with the aid of a grant from the university's Research Development Committee.
• Bristol dance team earns national win Growing up in the mountains along the Tennessee-Virginia border, young Kristi Robbins liked to do a little dancing.
• International Storytelling Center announces partnership with Google The International Storytelling Center has launched a digital partnership with Google's Cultural Institute, a free online exhibition that explores the stories behind history's most important cultural moments.
• Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys promise "a good time show' Cue Bill Haley and the Comets' "Rock Around the Clock." Send in Dick Clark and "American Bandstand." California's Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys would fit like pomade on a perfect ducktail. Bop along to Big Sandy on Sept. 18 during Barter's Tent Jams in
• 14th annual Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion coming this weekend Advance ticket sales are outpacing last year's, another diverse array of all-star musical talent has been lined up and the stage is nearly set for another Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion.
• REVIEW: 'Driving Miss Daisy' at Barter is 'quietly wonderful The movie was, I am told, pretty okay. The Barter Mainstage Production four years ago was good, but this season's production of "Driving Miss Daisy" at Barter's Stage II is quietly wonderful.
• Anonymous donor pledges $100K to ETSU Arts Initiative An anonymous donor with strong ties to East Tennessee State University has pledged $100,000 to the ETSU Arts Initiative.
• He's a Bristol native ... but his heart's in the Smokies SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. — With careful brushstrokes, Robert A. Tino captures the beauty of the Great Smoky Mountains. Tino has become well-known across East Tennessee for his paintings of wildlife as well as depictions of Jesus Christ.
• Uncle Kracker's route through music brings him to Abingdon Matthew Shafer pumped gas in his father's gas station as a kid in Detroit. Then he met Robert Ritchie. Shafer became Uncle Kracker, Ritchie became Kid Rock and life's been a gas, gas, gas ever since. Mostly.
• Touch of Hollywood coming to region Expect a touch of Hollywood to come to Northeast Tennessee over the next few days.
• Georgia Warren: Witness to country music history Thirty minutes helped define 98 years in the life of Georgia Warren.
• NPAC celebrating its 10th anniversary season The Niswonger Performing Arts Center in historic downtown Greeneville, Tennessee, is underway with its 10th Anniversary season.
• ETSU's Dr. Jesse Graves wins Fellowship of Southern Writers award Dr. Jesse Graves, associate professor in East Tennessee State University's department of literature and language, is the recipient of the Fellowship of Southern Writers 2015 James Still Award for Writing about the Appalachian South.
• New Bristol Cultural Heritage sculpture unveiled BRISTOL, Va. – Imagine driving down Piedmont Avenue and spotting a stainless steel sculpture the size of three full-grown giraffes in front of Bristol Public Library.