2020-01-03 07:47:11
KENTUCKY’s deep music roots
Music may well be the Bluegrass State’s finest, and endless resource. Generations have witnessed the prolific musical talent that emerges from her hollers and hills, her cities and towns, unbound by genre.
The People
Kentucky’s music heritage is so esteemed that it comfortably bestows superlatives upon both artist and landscape. We are the “Birthplace of Bluegrass,” and Rosine’s Bill Monroe is its “Father.” Jean Ritchie is the “Mother of Folk” and Sam Bush a lead founder of so-called “Newgrass”. The “King of Honky Tonk” was Letcher County’s Gary Stewart, and John Jacob Niles the “Dean of American Balladeers.”
A stretch of road on U.S. 23 along the Big Sandy River in Eastern Kentucky is the birthplace of so many country greats – Loretta Lynn, Tyler Childers, Chris Stapleton, Dwight Yoakum and countless others – that it’s actually called “Country Music Highway.”
Kentucky’s musical journey travels many roads, and includes trails blazed by artists who helped shape the sounds of jazz, swing and opera. One might say our people know their way around a song.
The Places
Kentucky’s music and its musicians present a veritable siren song to both the purist and the seeker, the pupil and the professional. The state’s music history is housed in places like Owensboro’s Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum celebrating that genre’s rich story, while the U.S. 23 Country Music Highway Museum in Paintsville chronicles the icons of another genre. Renfro Valley’s Kentucky Music Hall of Fame gives a stately nod to successful Kentuckians from all walks of the music industry.
If you’re looking to sit back in a behind-the-scenes venue where the locals go to hear emerging talent – or maybe spend a few days catching some of the hottest acts in the country headline a not-tobe- missed music festival – Kentucky shines on stage.
We invite you to pull up a chair in an off-the-beaten-path venue where artists like Tyler Childers performed before he was playing sold-out shows. Where emerging artists like Sean Whiting of Paintsville or Fallsburg’s Laid Back Country Picker might strum a song or two. Places that deliver a music experience that exudes both local authenticity and talent.
The Festivals
Kentucky likes its music festival lineups like it likes its bourbon – top shelf. Louisville’s Forecastle Festival has a lineage of artists that has included Jack White, Sam Smith, Wilco, The Avett Brothers and Beck. Meanwhile, Somerset’s Master Musicians Festival has seen big-name headliners like John Prine, Counting Crows and Willie Nelson. Along the Ohio River in Owensboro, Alison Krauss, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Punch Brothers and Rhonda Vincent and the Rage have graced the stage at the annual ROMP Festival. Catch a trio of diverse Danny Wimmer Presents festivals in Louisville: Bourbon & Beyond featuring dozens of big-name musical acts, Hometown Rising showcasing country artists and Louder than Life drawing hard rock and heavy metal fans.
As Kentucky writer Jason Howard says in his book A Few Honest Words: The Kentucky Roots of Popular Music, “In music industry circles, musicians from Kentucky have long been acknowledged to possess an enviable pedigree – a lineage as prized as the bloodlines of the state’s famous Thoroughbreds.”
Indeed, we know what to do with a lyrical narrative here in Kentucky. We say that not so much as a point of pride, but rather a fact. If you like good music, then welcome friend. You’ve come to the right place. Our songs are our story.
Listen to the music!
kentuckytourism.com/ky-things-to-do/music
BORN IN THE BLUEGRASS
Talent runs deep in Kentucky, producing some of the finest musicians to grace a stage – regardless of region or genre.
We’ve raised jazz greats like Helen Humes, Lionel Hampton and Rosemary Clooney, and early country luminaries like Lily May Ledford & The Coon Creek Girls, Bill Monroe, The Everly Brothers, Tom T. Hall and Skeeter Davis.
Along the Country Music Highway (U.S. 23), you’ll wind along where Loretta Lynn, Tyler Childers, Chris Stapleton, Billy Ray Cyrus, The Judds, Ricky Skaggs, Dwight Yoakum and Keith Whitley called home.
Other roads lead to the hometowns of Sturgill Simpson, Sam Bush, Patty Loveless, Joan Osborne, Ben Sollee, J.D. Crowe, Adrian Belew, The Osborne Brothers and Jean Ritchie. On the band front, Nappy Roots, Cage the Elephant and Kentucky Headhunters are some of the born-and-bred groups we boast.
YOU CAN HEAR IT WHERE?
Trust the locals who steer you to an old church, gas station or cabin in the woods for good music.
Praise be to the sounds at Newport’s Southgate House Revival and Lexington’s The Burl is an insider hot spot. Music and BBQ are smokin’ hot along the Kentucky River at Proud Mary BBQ, and Sky Bridge Station is a cozy cabin in Pine Ridge where more than hikers stop in for gear and great music.
That fancy gas station that catches your eye along U.S. 23 in Louisa is The Kentucky Paveillon at Falls Creek, a veritable museum of country music finery. So fill‘er up and see who’s singing in the courtyard!
Satisfying food and music are served at Georgetown’s Slainte Public House and Irvine’s The Steam Engine Pizza Pub.
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Sound Travels
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