Bristol
The 1927 sessions happened on this exact street. Country music was born on the state line, and Bristol never let you forget it.
Bristol, Virginia, sits in the Appalachian highlands at the state line with Tennessee. Here, Little Creek and Beaver Creek flow south, converging just across the border, defining a natural junction. This location, a stopping point for game, then for Native Americans, became a strategic passage west into the interior of the developing nation.
Evan Shelby arrived in the area around 1765, settling with his family by 1766 at a place called Big Camp Meet, later renamed Sapling Grove. By 1774, Shelby built a fort overlooking what is now downtown Bristol. This fort served as a trading post, way station, and stockade, providing supplies and safety for pioneers. Daniel Boone and George Rogers Clark passed through this "Gateway to the West." The area remained a frontier outpost, a center for the North Holston Settlement, with Evan Shelby and his son Isaac playing roles in the American Revolution. Isaac Shelby and William Campbell led troops from Sapling Grove in 1780 to the Battle of Kings Mountain.
By the mid-19th century, with the arrival of railroads anticipated, James King sold acreage to his son-in-law, Joseph R. Anderson. In 1852, Anderson laid out the original town of Bristol, straddling the state line, while Samuel Goodson founded an adjacent town named Goodsonville on the Virginia side. Both Bristol, Tennessee, and Goodson, Virginia, incorporated in 1856, the year the first passenger train arrived. The Virginia side, initially Goodson, then officially took the name Bristol, Virginia, in 1890.
The city’s strategic position shaped it as a regional center of commerce. In 1927, record producer Ralph Peer of Victor Records began recording local musicians in Bristol, seeking to capture the traditional "folk" music of the region. These recordings, known as the Bristol Sessions, produced the Carter Family, who received $50 for each song recorded. This moment earned Bristol its recognition as the "Birthplace of Country Music," a designation formalized by US Congress in 1998, with the Birthplace of Country Music Museum now honoring this legacy.
Bristol’s history also includes "Black Bottom," a thriving Black business district from the late 19th century until its dismantling by urban renewal in the 1960s. This self-sustaining community provided a range of services for both local Black residents and travelers. Today, this history is being restored through public humanities projects. The city continues to operate an advanced broadband network, and its fire department, established in 1894, has evolved into a fully paid force providing regional Haz-Mat responses.