Sounds like the Blue Ridge

Take a drive to Galax, Va., to plunk, strum and get in touch with inner twang

GALAX, Va. -- Joe Wilson walks down picturesque Main Street, with Barbara Holum and me in tow. He sidesteps the antique stores and gift boutiques to reach the doorway of 105.

The neon window sign reads "Barr's Fiddle Shop," and violins inside hang neck-first from a long, high rack, like musical chickens prime for plucking. It is clear from the clutter of guitars, Dobros and other instruments that Barr's is an old-fashioned store where music is taken seriously. And when serious shoppers stop to test-twang instruments, an impromptu jam can result.

No surprise: Galax is home to the Old Fiddler's Convention, a late-summer draw that began in 1935.

But like N.C. 89, the ribbon through Bottom and Low Gap to this mountain town, Galax offers unexpected and illuminating twists.

Tom Barr and his son Steve own this shop, and Barr Senior is nationally known for the violins and banjos he crafts by hand. Steve is an old-time/bluegrass virtuoso on both instruments. Banjos here go for a serious $899 and up -- a Strelling carries a $2,499 tag.

Barr-made instruments? Not here. "Those start upward of two grand, but would fly off the shelves," Wilson says. Tom Barr makes them elsewhere, usually presold to an aspiring owner -- after an interview.

Wilson is the author of "A Guide to the Crooked Road: Virginia's Heritage Music Trail" -- a Galax essential. After a career that careened from writing Madison Avenue jingles to managing country legend Marty ("El Paso") Robbins, these days Wilson helps steer the Blue Ridge Music Center, just outside Galax on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Its purpose: Preserving the music of the mountains. Wilson knows his stuff.

Holum, a weekend visitor from the Washington area, is taken with the Barrs' inventory, notably the violins -- commodities from Japan. But Wilson goes through a passage to a practice room. His research indicates this side chamber was a barbershop in 1924, and there, over haircuts, a stray conversation sparked today's country and bluegrass industry.

Who would've guessed? It is a Galax moment.

A tale of mountain music

The Blue Ridge Music Center tells the story of mountain music through its most famous practitioners, including Pop Stoneman, from the Galax area; the prolific Carter family, from farther west in Maces Spring, Va.; and N.C. fiddler Tommy Jarrell, from the Round Peak area just a ridge or two over from Galax.

The main highway through Galax -- U.S. 58/221 -- was the westbound road to the Cumberland Gap in colonial times. Tidewater immigrants owned violins; slaves brought banjos; others toted dulcimers. Enough instruments and music stayed in the area to create what Wilson calls a "blender" effect. This corner of Virginia stayed isolated and rural until after the Civil War, when big-time logging arrived. Mill towns such as Fries (pronounced "Freeze") arose, where laborers were paid in company script.

In Galax, 12 miles away, some guys in Alderman's Barbershop -- including the barber, who also fiddled -- figured they could play mountain music better than Whitter and headed to Manhattan. They called their band the Hill Billies and dressed like yokels. And when the Hill Billies found success in stage, radio and film, other mill musicians packed their instruments, bought outlandish costumes, and went looking for contracts.

That original fiddle-banjo-guitar sound is now called "old time" and comes in an array of styles. Bluegrass, the most famous derivative, is a post-World War II version tweaked to match recording technology.

Where to get started

A weekend in Galax has to begin downtown at the city-owned Rex Theater, a onetime movie palace that stages free, live Friday night concerts. The Rex seats about 450. Doors open at 5:30; just walk in. Most Fridays, the show is broadcast live on WBRT-FM (98.1).