Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion (Stage Sites, Downtown Bristol)

Every September, Historic Downtown Bristol — the street where the Tennessee-Virginia state line runs down the middle of the asphalt — turns into something the 1927 Bristol Sessions would recognize: a reunion of the music that started here. Organized since 2001 by the Birthplace of Country Music, a nonprofit, the three-day festival spreads across outdoor main stages, a dance tent, and smaller indoor sets inside local bars and shops. In 2010, the tenth reunion drew 45,000 people. The reason to go is the same reason Ralph Stanley, Doc Watson, and the Avett Brothers showed up: this is where country music was born.