In the summer of 1927, nineteen bands gathered for a recording session in Bristol, on the Tennessee-Virginia border, including some of the most influential names in American music—the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Ernest Stoneman and more. Organized by Ralph Peer for Victor records to capitalize on the popularity of “hillbilly” music, the Bristol sessions were a key moment in country music’s evolution. The musicians played a variety of styles largely endemic to the Appalachian region. Rather than attempting to record purely traditional sounds, however, Peer sought a combination of musical elements, an amalgam that would form the backbone of modern country music. The reverberations of the Bristol sessions are still felt today, yet their influence is widely misunderstood, and popular accounts of the event are more legend than history. These 19 essays offer an examination and reevaluation of the Bristol sessions—from their germination, to the actual sessions, to their place in history and their continuing influence. The first section discusses technological advances that resulted in the unmatched quality of the Bristol recordings. The second section chronicles the people and musical acts involved in the event. The third section gives first-hand accounts of the Bristol sessions, while the fourth presents musicological studies of two of the prominent acts. The final section details subsequent recording sessions in Bristol and nearby Johnson City, and explores the lasting local musical legacy.
A poet, cultural historian, editor, and musician, Ted Olson teaches in the Department of Appalachian Studies and in the Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Country Music Program at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee. From 1999-2004 he served as Director of ETSU's Appalachian, Scottish, and Irish Studies program, and in 2008 he was Fulbright Senior Scholar in American Studies at the University of Barcelona and the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain.
The author or editor of 15 books, Olson has published poems, creative nonfiction pieces, articles, essays, encyclopedia entries, reviews, and oral histories in literary and scholarly anthologies and periodicals. A webpage about his poetry can be found at http://windpub.com/books/breathingindarkness.htm . Two of Olson's books received the Appalachian Book of the Year Award from the Appalachian Writers Association.
Olson is presently the Editor of the Journal of Appalachian Studies, a publication sponsored by the Appalachian Studies Association. He also writes a monthly poetry column for Rapid River, an arts and culture magazine based in Asheville, North Carolina, and he serves as Book Series Editor for the Charles K. Wolfe American Music Series (University of Tennessee Press).
Olson has produced and compiled several documentary recordings of traditional Appalachian music, and he has written liner notes for various CDs of American vernacular music. In 2010 Olson received the International Bluegrass Music Association's Best Liner Notes for a Recorded Project Award, and in 2012 he was nominated for two Grammy Awards for his work on the 5-CD box set The Bristol Sessions, 1927-1928: The Big Bang of Country Music (Bear Family Records, 2011).
