Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Carolina

For most people, hiking around the stunning Blue Ridge Mountains is a convenient way to exercise and see the region in all its spectacular magnificence while enjoying the natural wonders of Western North Carolina. The most popular of footpaths, the Appalachian Trail is constantly visited by hikers and outdoor enthusiasts from all over the world and traversed by thousands every day.

Yet there’s another type of trail that has to do with music, and not many are aware that it exists. The Blue Ridge Music Trail in North Carolina is a musical guide established by the North Carolina Arts Council that is aimed at guiding visitors and residents alike to the region’s most authentic and traditional music. Its emphasis is on the musical heritage that is still celebrated in both the mountains and foothills of North Carolina. 

The Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Carolina began as an initiative to benefit both the purveyors of traditional mountain music and dance as well as those who seek it out. The trail is more of an updated guide, both in print and online. Partnered with the area’s tourism agencies, arts councils, musicians, venue owners, event organizers, and community activists, the North Carolina Arts Council and the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Partnership provide dates, locations, and descriptions of events taking place throughout Western North Carolina. The guide allows for visitors to search for happenings in a variety of settings and styles, from front porch jam sessions, to church-organized music festivals, to proper theater and auditorium-arranged performances. It is a fantastic way to take the road less traveled and venture into parts of Western North Carolina where musicians and dancers welcome those that are interested taking in genuine cultural experiences. 

There’s plenty of interesting, and even unusual locales, like the jam sessions that take place at the Drexel, N.C., barber shop on Saturday afternoons or at the T.M. Rickman General Store outside of Franklin, N.C., in the historic Cowee community. If you’re looking for a little down-home BBQ and some good tunes, then head over to Sim’s BBQ in Granite Falls, N.C., where you’ll hear some great bluegrass and old-timey music and maybe some lively mountain dancing. There’s always a good time happening at the Stompin’ Ground in Maggie Valley on most Friday and Saturday evenings or you can check out the appropriately named Barn venue in Jerry Wilson’s front yard in Eden, N.C. 

The Blue Ridge Music Trail also highlights more formal venues, such as The Earle Theater in Mount Airy, the Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center in Robbinsville or the Blue Ridge Music Center in Galax, Va. There are many venues from which to choose, and part of the fun part is sitting down and planning your road trip. 

There’s much to gain from this enterprise, both the region’s residents and musicians are encouraged to promote a creative environment that embraces the traditions that have remained the fabric of most communities in Western North Carolina. The project is also an ingenious way to expose young people to the customs that have been handed down from generation to generation; hopefully it will become the catalyst that invites creativity and interest among potential players. To sustain the rich traditions of the region, there must be opportunities to listen, to join in, and for visitors to take something of these traditions back home. 

Q&A with Tom Godleski

Bandleader for bluegrass/old-timey band Buncombe Turnpike

Smoky Mountain Living: The Blue Ridge Music Trails is an excellent way to find traditional and authentic musical experience in this region. How you do you see this benefiting both tourists as well as local residents? 

Tom Godleski:  You are correct; the Blue Ridge Music Trails is an excellent way to find mountain music. Their website is very thorough, and concise. I was born and raised in Asheville, and there are venues on there that I didn’t even know about. I just think being able to go to the website, and look at all the venues is great. Most of the venues are within a few hours of Asheville. Another thing I like about the venue list is that there are not only concert venues on there, but informal jam sessions too. In other words, The Feed and Seed Jam Session in Fletcher is listed right up there with The Mountain Song Festival in Brevard. So, anyone can find any and all aspects of our music from jams to concerts. The Blue Ridge Music Trails is all about preserving the music. The Blue Ridge Music Trails is beneficial to anyone that is interested in the music. 

SML: Not everyone can find authentic Appalachian music unless they venture off the main roads. What rewards would travelers expect to find if they went on an adventurous diversion and took the road less traveled? 

Godleski: I think that WNC is one of the most beautiful places on earth, so one of the rewards of traveling would be of course to find the music, but another is that you would get to see and experience the beautiful scenery in the WNC region. Some of these venues are tucked away and could be hard to find. 

I have a friend who is a retired dentist and a banjo player. His name is Robert Holmes. Dr. Holmes told me about the time he traveled through the mountains in a neighboring county looking for a jam session that was at a residence there. This was back in the sixties. Dr. Holmes was driving a huge Pontiac Safari Station Wagon. He was dressed in Levis, a nice shirt, a cowboy hat, a denim jacket, and of course he was wearing cowboy boots. He got lost, and stopped at a country store to ask directions. There were two mountain guys in front of the store. Dr. Holmes got out of the car and the two men looked him up and down. Dr. Holmes told them what he was doing and told them the name of the folks who were hosting the jam. He asked them for directions. 

They didn’t answer him at first, but asked him a bunch of questions like where he was from, and what he did for a living. He told them he was from Asheville, and that he was a dentist. The two men were friendly but, after a few minutes, they still had not given Dr. Holmes directions. When he mentioned that he was learning to play the banjo, they finally told him where the jam was. Then later, they came to the jam, and winked at Dr. Holmes when they came in.   

This story is an exception. The folks that host jam sessions are welcoming and happy to have people there. The more the merrier. Also at the jams, there is usually some kind of food. I’ve been to jams where there were anything from pretzels to pizza, fried chicken to lasagna, and there will always be some sweet tea. You can’t let the pickers and the visitors go hungry. I think maybe one of the biggest benefits of finding the music that is tucked away is the friendships and fellowships that will come out of the experience. You can make lifelong friends from going to find the music. 

SML: You play traditional music in your band Buncombe Turnpike. How long have you been doing so, and what makes this particular style so important to our region’s heritage? 

Godleski:  I began playing mountain music about 24 years ago. I grew up with it, but I got a late start at actually playing.  My mother used to take me to the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival when I was a child, and the first live music concert that I can remember going to is when she took me to see Doc Watson. I guess that is when I started loving the music. I have always sung, but never played an instrument. 

A good friend and a great musician, James Hembree, loaned me an electric bass and gave me lessons. After a while, my wife bought me an upright bass. I am really fortunate to have the band because all the members of Buncombe Turnpike want to do original music. We do of course play traditionals too, but we play mostly originals. Many of our songs are based on true stories and are from WNC. I think traditional mountain music is so important because it preserves the stories and culture here. There are so many folks moving to the region that may not know about the history and culture—music is a great way to tell it.

SML: There’s a wide variety of venues listed on the Blue Ridge Music Trail, have you and your band found that playing in one setting is better than another? 

Godleski: Well, the seated theater gigs are always the most rewarding. That’s where the folks have paid admission and are there to hear the music. They are the serious music lovers. They listen to the songs word for word; they clap during the song, after a lead instrument break. We have played other events, such as conventions, and sometimes the band is just background music. We do get paid for these, but they are not as fulfilling as playing for true music lovers. We do play in church from time to time, and those shows are always good to do. The church members are very grateful that we are there. Going to jam sessions is a great thing as well. There are always different pickers there, and you can learn new songs or learn something about playing your instrument.

SML: Any of the venues listed on the guide bring back any memories? 

Godleski: When I saw the list of venues on the Blue Ridge Music Trails website, I had to smile. We have played some of them. We played Mountain Heritage day at WCU last year, and have played it many times in previous years. It is a great experience. It is held on the campus at WCU. There are mountain crafts, food, all kinds of traditional mountain events, and even Cherokee stickball demonstrations, and there is plenty of bluegrass and mountain music too. We played the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival in Asheville. It is such a great time. It is kind of like a homecoming for musicians from the area. The Feed and Seed in Fletcher is a great place to play as well. This past February, Buncombe Turnpike played there. We have a song about a soldier named Kenny Hess who was killed in Iraq in 2006. When we played the song at The Feed and Seed, the audience clapped for Kenny during the song.  

After the set, a little elderly lady named Mrs. Waycaster came to me and told me how much she loved the song about Kenny. She then told me that her son was killed in Vietnam. “He was 22, and just had 30 days left before he was discharged” she said. I gave Mrs. Waycaster a CD. That was a pretty special memory.