Floyd, Virginia: Celebrating the Past, Preserving the Future

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Floyd is part of The Crooked Road, a tour of Virginia’s heritage musical destinations. 
Floyd is part of The Crooked Road, a tour of Virginia’s heritage musical destinations. 
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Community is strong in Floyd, where opportunities to gather abound.
Community is strong in Floyd, where opportunities to gather abound.
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The popular Friday Night Jamboree at the Floyd Country Store: great fun for all ages. 
The popular Friday Night Jamboree at the Floyd Country Store: great fun for all ages. 

American folk music exists everywhere, but what we tend to think of as traditional American folk was born in the southern Blue Ridge Mountains and the Piedmont region. Various old-time fiddle and banjo styles practiced there — after they were recorded — influenced virtually all of American popular music. Floyd, Va., lies in the heart of the region, and it’s a place profoundly influenced by this musical tradition.

In Floyd, the music scene converges at the Floyd Country Store, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2010. Both informal jams and stage concerts are common at the Country Store, and it holds a popular Friday Night Jamboree. The Country Store is also a traditional country store, selling everything from candy to Carhartt clothing.

The town is also home to the County Sales record store, which was formed in the mid-60s during the folk revival, and still serves as a primary outlet for traditional American music, both old and new. In 2003, state tourism promoters started The Crooked Road, a tour of musical communities, including Floyd, on the Blue Ridge.

The living legacy of Floyd’s music brings tourists and musicians to town, but the region has a strong, alternative community that dates back to at least the early 1970s.

“Land prices were cheap, and that was advertised in an early volume of MOTHER EARTH NEWS,” says Fred First, a local author, photographer and columnist for The Floyd Press. “The first wave found that the locals treated newcomers relatively well, and that brought an influx of the ‘alter-natives,’ as some call them now.” According to First, some of these back-to-the-landers were potters, who planted the seeds for what is now a vibrant arts community.

  • Published on Dec 23, 2010
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