The Blue Ridge Music Center

Plans for the Blue Ridge Music Center began over a decade ago when the city of Galax, VA, long known for its link to traditional and old-time music, gave one thousand acres of land to the Blue Ridge Parkway for the purpose of building a music center devoted to the preservation and interpretation of regional music.  The first phase of the project consists of an outdoor amphitheater, an instrument builders' shop, restrooms, and parking facilities. 

On a blustery October day in 2001, the National Park Service and the National Council for the Traditional Arts officially dedicated and opened the first phase of the Blue Ridge Music Center at the base of Fishers Peak near the North Carolina / Virginia state line.  Traditional string band and bluegrass music were the highlight of the day as an impressive lineup of regional bands warmed up the crowd for the keynote performance by Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys.

Throughout the past two summers, performances by national and regional bands have filled the arena each weekend.  Doc Watson, Ricky Skaggs, Del McCoury and others have taken the stage of the Blue Ridge Music Center.  In the fall of 2003, groundbreaking took place on the interpretive facility that will eventually tell the full story of the music of these mountains.

Early in the spring of 2004, a new concert schedule will be published by the National Council for the Traditional Arts at http://www.ncta.net.