Gov. Mark Warner said he hopes the Virginia Heritage Music Trail will be the "defining hook" to draw tourists to Southwest Virginia.



By Ralph Berrier Jr.
Roanoke Times
Ralph.Berrier@roanoke.com

CLINTWOOD - Mountain music fans are invited to drive a crooked road to Ralph Stanley's hometown.

On their way, they can soak up bluegrass sounds at the Floyd Country Store, dance a flatfoot at the Old Fiddlers Convention in Galax and enjoy a Saturday night concert at the Carter Fold in Hiltons. They're more than welcome to spend some money on their trip, too.

The Virginia Heritage Music Trail became reality Wednesday, as Gov. Mark Warner, bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley and a host of dignitaries and politicians celebrated Southwest Virginia's musical traditions during a ceremony on the steps of the soon-to-open Ralph Stanley Museum. They were celebrating the passage of House Bill 909, which designates parts of U.S. 221, 58 and 23, and Virginia 83 and 40 as a virtual corridor of mountain music.

The winding trail - which runs from Franklin County to Dickenson County and threads together nine Virginia counties, 10 towns and three cities - is suitably nicknamed "The Crooked Road." Officials hope the trail will bring bands of music-loving and free-spending tourists to hear banjos ring and fiddles wail in the hills of Virginia.

In fact, the word "tourism" was heard more often than "bluegrass" during the morning celebration. Del. Clarence "Bud" Phillips, D-Dickenson County, the bill's sponsor, said he wanted to see Southwest Virginia grab a share of the $12 billion spent annually on tourism in this country. Warner said he wants Southwest Virginia to triple its tourism revenues within four years.

"This trail has unlimited potential," Warner said shortly after a ceremonial bill-signing before a rain-soaked crowd of about 100. "If we can bring bluegrass fans and fans of traditional country music to Southwest Virginia, then we can persuade them to stay a week and experience everything - our parks, outdoor recreation, culture and crafts. Southwest Virginia has needed that defining hook, and this trail can be that hook."

Stanley, who began playing bluegrass music 58 years ago with his brother, Carter, and who still lives in Dickenson County, agreed that music lovers will want to head to the hills to hear authentic mountain music.

"I've been to Europe, to England, Ireland and Scotland," he said during the ceremony, "and a lot of [bluegrass fans] wants to come. They say they're coming."

Stanley sang a verse of his Grammy-winning song "Oh Death" from the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack, an album that helped raise bluegrass and old-time music's profile three years ago.

After the speeches, the Salem-based Bluegrass Brothers performed "The Old Crooked Trail," a bluegrass song penned just for the event by noted songwriters and occasional Southwest Virginians Tom T. Hall and wife, Dixie.

Nearly $2.2 million has been earmarked for planning and marketing the trail, with more than $1.3 million of that coming from the state's Department of Housing and Community Development. Localities along the route kicked in $73,000.

The Virginia Department of Transportation will mark sites along the trail with interpretative signs featuring the Crooked Road logo. Brochures, travel guides and audio tours soon will be available to guide visitors along the Crooked Road. The trail begins at Ferrum College's Blue Ridge Institute, which houses a museum and music archives, and passes through Floyd (home of the Friday Night Jamboree that brings hundreds of folks to town every week) and Galax (site of the world-renowned Old Fiddlers Convention and Rex Theater), past the Blue Ridge Music Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance Museum in Bristol, then on to the Carter Fold in Hiltons (where heirs of the great Carter Family still tend their country music legacy) and Stanley's museum.

In addition to the major attractions, tourists will be directed to smaller musical concerts, fiddlers conventions and jam sessions along the route.

"I think it's a good start," said Bobby Patterson, a Carroll County musician and a member of the steering committee that helped plan the route. "In order to keep the tourists occupied, we have to have more going on than just the big concerts and festivals. We need to encourage people to hold small events and keep the momentum going."

For now, many bluegrass and mountain-music enthusiasts are just happy that a valuable part of Appalachian culture is being recognized and appreciated.

"I love this project," said Tina Liza Jones, a respected Floyd County singer and instrumentalist who attended the ceremony. "I always felt sorry for people who didn't know that we have all this great music. Now they'll know