Bristol Sessions Festival

Bristol Sessions Festival Presented by the City of Bristol, Tennessee. One year. 12 nights of songwriters and stories.

The countdown to the centennial celebration of the 1927 Bristol Sessions in May 2027.

Bristol native Ava White brings a deep connection with the community to her work. A graduate of Tennessee High School, A...
08/21/2026

Bristol native Ava White brings a deep connection with the community to her work. A graduate of Tennessee High School, Ava went on to study Marketing at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga before returning to the community she knows and loves. Today, as manager of the State Street Farmer’s Market, Ava helps connect Bristol with the farmers, growers and local foods of our region. These same landscapes and traditions of Appalachia also find their way into her art, reflecting a sense of place and an appreciation for the things that make this region home.

Join us tonight at the Bristol Listening Room and experience her work for yourself.

We can’t wait to see you there.

Two days. The room is almost ready.A look back at Night 3 and a night that brought these songs to life. Now, we’re getti...
08/19/2026

Two days. The room is almost ready.

A look back at Night 3 and a night that brought these songs to life. Now, we’re getting ready to do it again. Night 4 of the Road to 100, built around the mountain songs that first crossed into record in 1927.

August 21 | Bristol Listening Room | 100 seats.

bristolsessionsfestival.com

Night 4 of the Road to 100 is almost here.This month, we’re turning to the mountain songs, ballads, and traditions that ...
08/18/2026

Night 4 of the Road to 100 is almost here.

This month, we’re turning to the mountain songs, ballads, and traditions that helped shape the sound of country music. Join us August 21 for an evening celebrating the music and stories rooted in Appalachia.

Featuring Alex Leach and his band, with Tim White as opener and MC.

August 21 | Bristol Listening Room
Road to 100 | Night 4
Tickets at bristolsessionsfestival.com

08/18/2026

Alex Leach is bringing friends together for a night of bluegrass and old time mountain music this Friday at the Bristol Listening Room. We can’t wait to see you all there!

One week until Night 4 of the Road to 100.This month, we’re celebrating the mountain songs and traditions that helped sh...
08/15/2026

One week until Night 4 of the Road to 100.

This month, we’re celebrating the mountain songs and traditions that helped shape country music. Join us August 21 at the Bristol Listening Room for an amazing evening featuring Alex Leach and his band, with Tim White opening the night and serving as MC.

August 21 | 7:30 PM
Downtown Bristol, TN
Tickets at bristolsessionsfestival.com

Blind Alfred Reed stepped up to the microphone in Bristol on July 28, 1927, bringing his powerful voice and fiddle to th...
08/13/2026

Blind Alfred Reed stepped up to the microphone in Bristol on July 28, 1927, bringing his powerful voice and fiddle to the recordings that would help define the sound of Appalachian music. Alfred Karnes followed the next day with his own stripped-back sound. Simple, direct, and deeply rooted, these recordings still carry their power nearly a century later.

Night 4 of the Road to 100 makes room for that tradition. August 21. Tickets at bristolsessionsfestival.com.

Photo: Courtesy of Goldenseal Magazine

Pretty Polly is one of the oldest and best-known murder ballads in American folk music. It grew out of an English ballad...
08/12/2026

Pretty Polly is one of the oldest and best-known murder ballads in American folk music. It grew out of an English ballad about a ship's carpenter, circulating and evolving for centuries before B.F. Shelton recorded his version in Bristol on July 29, 1927. Pretty Polly is exactly the kind of mountain ballad Night 4 of the Road to 100 is built to honor. August 21.

Tickets at bristolsessionsfestival.com.

Photo credit: B.F. Shelton, Charles K. Wolfe Collection, from The Bristol Sessions (2005)

Night 4 of the Road to 100 adds a name who has been shaping this story since before most of us were paying attention: Ti...
08/06/2026

Night 4 of the Road to 100 adds a name who has been shaping this story since before most of us were paying attention: Tim White.

White is a musician, recording artist, radio personality, and music preservationist who has spent decades working to keep Appalachian music alive, not just remembered. He helped found the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance in Bristol back in 1994, the organization that grew into the museum telling the story of the 1927 Bristol Sessions every day. In 1986, he painted the 30-by-100-foot mural on State Street that still stands as one of the most recognized tributes to those sessions anywhere in the world.

White spent years as Executive Coordinator of Song of the Mountains and has shared stages and studios with Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, Alison Krauss, Jim & Jesse McReynolds, and more. He performs today with his band, Troublesome Hollow, and hosts a syndicated bluegrass radio program heard on more than 70 stations across the eastern United States.

Few people alive have done more to keep this region's music history in front of new audiences. Night 4 is lucky to have him.

August 21, 2026 | 7:30pm | $27 The Bristol Listening Room | L.C. King Building | Bristol, TN Tickets at bristolsessionsfestival.com. Only 100 seats.

Night 4 of the Road to 100 has its first name on the bill: Alex Leach.A multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and bl...
08/04/2026

Night 4 of the Road to 100 has its first name on the bill: Alex Leach.

A multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and bluegrass DJ for 27 years, Leach is East Tennessee's own, and his sound doesn't sit still. He carries an old soul and a deep respect for his Appalachian roots, but he keeps pushing every song he writes and records into new territory.

"Genre and style are just words," Leach says. "But music itself and humanity's creativity behind it is what feelings actually sound like, and my vision is to create what I am feeling and share it with the world."

That's exactly the kind of night you'd expect at Bristol Sessions Nights.

August 21, 2026 | 7:30pm | $27
The Bristol Listening Room | L.C. King Building | Bristol, TN
Tickets at bristolsessionsfestival.com. Only 100 seats.

On July 25, 1927, Ernest Stoneman was the first performer to step up to Ralph Peer's microphone in Bristol. He recorded ...
07/30/2026

On July 25, 1927, Ernest Stoneman was the first performer to step up to Ralph Peer's microphone in Bristol. He recorded everything from sentimental ballads and mountain songs to gospel favorites like "Sweeping Through the Gates" and "I Am Resolved." His session marked the beginning of everything that followed that summer, including the landmark recordings of the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers.

Night 4 of the Road to 100 puts mountain voices like these back at the center. August 21.

Tickets at bristolsessionsfestival.com

Photo credits: Glenn Robison

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