Howdy,
Birthplace of Country Music Museum opening in Bristol
By ANGELA K. BROWN
Associated Press Writer
BRISTOL, Va. (AP) — Her lifelong bout with polio has taken its toll on her
fingers, which are so bent she can barely grasp the fiddle to tuck it under
her chin.
It’s been nearly seven decades since Myrtle “Kitty” Stout Taylor made her
small mark in country music, playing “Sourwood Mountain” and “Turkey in the
Straw” to beat 50 old-timers in a regional fiddle contest.
But as the 83-year-old gently glides the bow across the strings, the sound
is just as melodious as it was in 1932.
“I love the fiddle. I dream about it,” she said last week, her eyes dancing.
Mrs. Taylor is among a handful of “living legends” who will be featured in
the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, which opens Tuesday.
The museum celebrates the famous — the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers and
Bristol native Tennessee Ernie Ford — as well as the not-so-famous people
from the southern Appalachians who played a part in shaping country music.
“Mrs. Taylor is notable because she’s from our region,” said Tim White,
co-founder and president of the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance. “Even
though she’s not a household name, she’s important to the community and
valuable to the music.”
White and others believe country music got its start in Bristol, which
straddles Virginia and Tennessee, when the Carter Family, Rodgers and
various mountain musicians gathered in a makeshift studio in the
Taylor-Christian Hat Co. building for recording sessions in 1927.
For years, local residents unsuccessfully sought official recognition of the
city’s place in country music history. They succeeded last year when
Congress designated Bristol the “Birthplace of Country Music.”
Even with the designation, there was little in the city indicating its link
to country music’s roots. Ford’s small boyhood home isn’t highly publicized
and the building where the famous recordings were made was demolished in the
1940s.
White and other alliance members decided a museum was needed. They solicited
donations and looked for a location. They were given a 2,500-square-foot
area in the Bristol Mall.
Organizers acknowledge the setting doesn’t exactly fit the museum’s
historical theme, but they hope the location will help attract visitors. The
opening was set to coincide with concerts featuring country and bluegrass
artists on the first and second weekends in March.
Alliance members were scrambling to fill the walls and display cases last
week but said everything will be ready for Tuesday’s 7 p.m. debut, which
will feature Grand Ole Opry bluegrass stars Jim and Jesse McReynolds.
Museum visitors will be able to see bluegrass great Ralph Stanley’s green
and gold sport coat, the late Carter Stanley’s Stetson hat and Sara Carter’s
guitar. There are handmade violins, mandolins, dulcimers and other
instruments from the collection of Joe Morrell, a former radio station owner
and musician.
Morrell also is lending songbooks sold by artists who performed on Farm and
Fun Time, the Bristol radio show popular in the 1940s and 1950s.
On the walls are enlarged photographs of country music pioneers such as Mac
Wiseman, Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Curly King and the Tennessee
Hilltoppers. The museum has so many items from Ford that it ran out of room,
so the display will be changed periodically.
Alliance member Wade Clark said many items are on loan from the musicians’
families.
“Most of them contacted us when they heard we were opening a museum, and
they started digging through their attics,” Clark said. “This is the first
time much of it will be on display.”
Visitors also will be able to hear live music from the “pickin’ porch.”
Bluegrass bands will play in one corner of the museum, which is a replica of
the front of A.P. Carter’s store where folks would gather to play their
instruments.
It’s important to remember a time when playing country music was simple,
said James Bryant, an alliance member.
“We’ll be the Williamsburg, the place that keeps tradition alive,” he said.
White, who plays the banjo, said he hopes the museum will draw people to
Bristol and give them an appreciation of the early days of country music.
Mrs. Taylor has the same wish and has been waiting a long time to see it
realized.
“I’ll be there Tuesday if I have to ride a mule,” she said, laughing. “I can
’t wait.”
