Music of Virginia

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Music of the United States
Local music
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Virginia's musical contribution to American culture has been diverse, and includes Piedmont blues musicians and later rock and roll bands, many centered at such college towns as Blacksburg, Charlottesville (home of Dave Matthews Band) and Richmond.

One of Virginia's most famous musical contributions is the country singer Patsy Cline. Several towns claim her as their own, including Gore and Winchester. Winchester is home to several Patsy Cline attractions, including a driving tour published by the local Chamber of Commerce, and the Kurtz Cultural Center/Old Town Visitor's Center, which shows various Cline memorabilia [1].

Contents

[edit] Famous music artists from Virginia

[edit] Music venues and institutions

For larger concerts and events, Virginia has the Nissan Pavilion in Bristow (marketed as D.C. for most tours), the Verizon Wireless Aphitheatre in Virginia Beach, and the Richmond Coliseum. Vienna is home to the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, the only National Park for the arts in the United States. Wolf Trap features a large outdoor amphitheatre, the 7,000 seat Filene Center, as well as a smaller indoor venue called The Barns. The Old Dominion Opry is another major venue, located near Colonial Williamsburg, a popular tourist attraction [2].

Virginia's other prominent music venues include The Birchmere in Alexandria, a local country and bluegrass club where Mary Chapin Carpenter performed early in her career. The Landmark Theater in Richmond and the Harrison Opera House in Norfolk both host the Virginia Opera. Cattle Annie's is a popular venue in Lynchburg, with a reputation for attracting prominent performers in a more intimate atmosphere.

Richmond has been home to Twisters (now closed) which was an influential small music venue for many punk, rock, and hardcore acts. Alleykatz in Richmond continues to have regular shows and Toad's Place, newly opened, will accommodate for mid-size bands in Richmond.

The Hampton Roads area also has several more intimate venues. The most prominent of them would be the Norva Theatre, which is a small club-style venue for smaller to mid-size acts.

[edit] Music festivals

The Wolf Trap is home to several renowned music festivals, including the Louisiana Swamp Romp, the Washington Irish Folk Festival and Ricky Skagg's Pickin' Party, a bluegrass festival. Winchester is home to the Celebrating Patsy festival for Virginia's country legend Patsy Cline; Winchester is also home to the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival, which includes a major bluegrass concert [3].

The area around the Virginia and Kentucky border, especially the town of Norton, rural folk, country and bluegrass remains a vital regional tradition. Norton is home to the Virginia Kentucky Opry and a historic music venue called the Country Cabin, while local festivals include the Doc Boggs Festival (in Wise), the Wayne C. Henderson Music Festival (in the Grayson Highlands State Park) and the Ralph Stanley Bluegrass Festival [4].

In 2005, 2006, and 2007 Richmond is hosting the National Folk Festival that features Virginia-area regional folk music as well as folk musicians from around the world. Many previous NFF sites have continued to conduct a regional folk festival when the NFF moves to the next site.

[edit] Blue Ridge mountain music

The southwestern portion of Virginia is, along with western North Carolina, part of the Blue Ridge area, home to a distinctive style of old-time music sometimes called mountain music, which is a vibrant tradition most famously celebrated through an annual series of festivals. Galax is a small town that is home to the Old Fiddlers' Convention, held since 1935; it is the largest and oldest festival of old-time Appalachian music in the country. The Convention has given Galax the nickname the "Capital of Old-Time Mountain Music" [5]. The Convention attracts upwards of 20,000 visitors to witness many of the most renowned American folk, country and bluegrass performers, as well as regional stars. Galax and the surrounding area has long been a rich part of American, and Virginian music, and is known for an intricate fiddling style and instrumental and vocal traditions; music collectors like Peter Seeger and Alan Lomax visited Galax and recorded the region's music [6].

Though the Galax Old Fiddlers' Convention is a major focal point for the Blue Ridge's vibrant folk music scene, the region is home to a major music festival season, which is inaugurated by the late March Fairview Ruritan Club Fiddlers' Convention, which hosts a major regional competition in several categories. Ferrum College in Ferrum, Virginia, is home to the annual Blue Ridge Folklife Festival, which has been held every October since 1973. The White Top Mountain-Mount Rogers area is home to a number of major regional festivals as well, with music a major part of the White Top Mountain Molasses Festival, the White Top Mountain Maple Festival and the White Top Mountain Ramp Festival, the latter focusing on the ramp variety of wild onion that is commonly eaten in the area. The Carter Family Music Center, in the Carter Family hometown of Hiltons, hosts an annual folk music festival as well as weekly concerts. Local mountain music festivals in Virginia abound in small towns like Fries, Wytheville, Troutdale, Vesta, Stuart, Bassett, Baywood and Elk Creek, as well as at the Grayson Highlands State Park near Mouth of Wilson[7].

[edit] Country music

Virginia's contributions to country music include the legendary singer Patsy Cline, pioneering performers The Carter Family and Staunton's Statler Brothers, who were one of the most popular country acts in the country in the 1970s and 80s.

[edit] Hardcore punk and Heavy Metal

Further information: hardcore punk

The city of Richmond has long had one of the more active punk rock scenes on the East Coast. The city is perhaps best known for shock-punk-metal band GWAR, known for wild on-stage antics. GWAR grew out of Death Piggy, a hardcore punk band that followed in the footsteps of local scene leaders White Cross, Beex, and The Provaricators. However Richmond punk became big with Avail. The Richmond punk scene grew, including Ann Beretta, Sixer, River City High, Smoke or Fire (originally from Boston), Strike Anywhere,and many underground bands. Richmond punk is often mistakenly considered to be an offshoot of the D.C. scene, however Richmond punk bands have developed a unique sound, often influenced by country, folk, and southern rock (particularly prelevent in Avail, Sixer, and Ann Beretta, and to a lesser degree in Strike Anywhere). This is most likely due to the fact that Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy during most of the Civil War, is arguably the oldest and most lively punk scene in the South. Richmond punk has a close relationship with punk from Gainsville, Florida, particularly between Avail and the now-disbanded Hot Water Music. Other hardcore bands from Richmond included Graven Image and Honor Role [8]. Richmond also has an active metal scene that includes, in addition to GWAR, Lamb of God, Alabama Thunderpussy, This Time It's War, Municipal Waste, and the recently deceased metalcore band To Walk Once More. (arguably as much a part of the punk scene as the metal scene). The metal scene is closely related the city's punk rockers, and, like the punks, there is a Southern influence in the music of Lamb of God and particularly in Alabama Thunderpussy. Richmond still harbors an extremely strong hardcore scene, emerging from the shadows Four Walls Falling, Count Me Out and Dead Serious and recently including acts such as Down To Nothing, Bracewar, Permanent, Swamp Thing, Impulse, Cast Aside and Ten-33 which have all found widespread national underground success. More recently a resurgence of old school hardcore punk has risen from Richmond. Bands like Government Warning and Direct Control have become nationally acclaimed in the underground hardcore punk scene. Richmond also has a small post-hardcore scene with bands such as Wow Owls, Ultra Dolphins, TAEA, and Full Nelson.

Norfolk was known, during hardcore's heyday, for violent clashes between punks and local military personnel from the Navy base. Ray Barbieri (Agnostic Front, Warzone) and John Joseph McGeown (Cro-Mags) became punks while serving in Norfolk due to a judge's order.

[edit] References

  • Blush, Steven (2001). American Hardcore: A Tribal History. Feral House. ISBN 0-92291-571-7. 
  • Byron, Janet (1996). Country Music Lover's Guide to the U.S.A., 1st ed., New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-14300-1. 
  • Fussell, Fred C. (2003). Blue Ridge Music Trails: Finding a Place in the Circle. North Carolina Folklife Institute. ISBN 0-807-85459-X. 

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Byron, pgs. 310 - 321
  2. ^ Byron, pgs. 310 - 321
  3. ^ Byron, pgs. 310 - 321
  4. ^ Byron, pgs. 310 - 321
  5. ^ Byron, pgs. 310 - 321
  6. ^ Fussell, pgs. 59 - 62
  7. ^ Fussell
  8. ^ Blush
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