Music of Virginia

The origin of music from within the state is very diverse, including cities such as Richmond, college towns such as Charlottesville and Fredericksburg, and the rural areas of Southwestern Virginia along "The Crooked Road”.

In 1816 Ananias Davisson of Rockingham County published a shape note tunebook containing folk melodies collected during his travels, entitled Kentucky Harmony.

At a time when the musicians in the North were turning to Europe and ridiculing the composers of the First New England School, Davisson's focus on grassroots regional music was widely imitated in the South.

Hip hop and rhythm and blues acts like Missy Elliott, Timbaland, The Neptunes, Clipse, Chad Hugo, Nottz, Young Dez and Bink hail from the commonwealth.

Wolf Trap features a large outdoor amphitheatre, the 7,000 seat Filene Center, as well as a smaller indoor venue called The Barns.

[1] 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.

Phase 2 (the former Cattle Annie's, but significantly remodeling in 2010) is a popular, large club venue in Lynchburg with a reputation for attracting prominent performers.

The mockingbird in downtown Staunton hosted a 168-seat newly renovated grass roots and acoustic music hall, but closed early in 2013.

[citation needed] In the late 1960s and the 1970s, the Alexandria Roller Rink hosted many festival style concerts, among which, bands like Yes, Jethro Tull, and many others appeared.

The festival began in 2002 and features camping and a wide range of music from bluegrass, rock, reggae, folk, zydeco, African, and Appalachian.

It is held each June and has featured national acts like Taj Mahal, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Buckwheat Zydeco, and Eric Lindell.

It has featured national acts like MewithoutYou, Q and Not U, Fugazi, The Faint, Archers of Loaf, Dismemberment Plan, Sufjan Stevens, Prefuse 73, Mates of State, The Wrens, Converge, Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, Of Montreal, Norma Jean, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Superchunk, Elliott Smith, An Albatross, Coheed and Cambria, Avail, and Engine Down.

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.

[1] 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.

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.

Carter and his family journeyed from Maces Spring, Virginia, to Bristol to audition for Ralph Peer, who was seeking new talent for the relatively embryonic recording industry.

GWAR grew out of Death Piggy, a hardcore punk band that followed in the footsteps of local scene leaders White Cross, Beex, and The Prevaricators.

The Richmond punk scene grew, including: Inquisition, Fun Size, Knucklehed, Uphill Down, Four Walls Falling, The Social Dropouts, Ann Beretta, Sixer, River City High, BraceWar, Smoke or Fire (originally from Boston), Strike Anywhere,and many underground bands.

Among music venues existing during the Richmond '80s, Benny's, a bar near the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University, served as an anchor for the punk scene despite its small size.

[14] Richmond also has an active metal scene that includes, in addition to GWAR, Lamb of God, Alabama Thunderpussy, Municipal Waste.

Richmond still harbors an extremely strong hardcore scene, emerging from the shadows of the mid-1980s Four Walls Falling, Fed Up, Set Straight, Step Above, Count Me Out and Dead Serious.

More recently a resurgence of old school hardcore punk has risen from Richmond with such bands as Direct Control, Government Warning, Wasted Time, etc.

[citation needed] Ray Barbieri (Agnostic Front, Warzone) and John Joseph McGeown (Cro-Mags) became punks while serving in Norfolk after a judge's order.

Patsy Cline, Wayne Newton, Ella Fitzgerald, The Carter Family, Roy Clark, Bruce Hornsby, Pearl Baily and Ralph Stanley were the founding inductees.