By no accident, Southern Appalachia is known for its rich musical heritage. When the Scotch-Irish left Ulster for America there was little room for worldly possessions aboard wooden sailing vessels. When they crossed the mountains into what is now East Tennessee they were limited as to what they could carry in their hands, on their backs, or on the backs of a beast of burden as there were no wagon roads. However, they were able to carry within their hearts and minds songs that told of life in the old country and out at sea as they were a seafaring people.

When Ralph Peer of the Victor Talking Machine Company left New York City in 1927, for the Mountain South looking for musical talent, he came to the right place when he set up shop at Bristol. Originally marketed as Hillbilly Music, the U.S. Congress rightfully designated Bristol as the Birthplace of Country Music in 1998.

Predating the migration of our forbearers to the New World the moniker Hillbilly was earned by the Ulster Scots who supported William Prince of Orange in 1690, at the Battle of the Boyne, in which he defeated the English Monarch King James II. Reflected on the jerseys of University of Tennessee athletes years later, orange became the favorite color of the Ulster Scots. To this day, the Orangemen continue to parade in Ulster.

The Original Carter Family was among the talent discovered by Peer at the event known to history as the Bristol Recordings. All three members of the trio made important individual contributions to country music. Alvin wrote many of the songs they performed as well as assembled what has been lauded as the most important catalog of music in the history of the world. Incredibly talented with string instruments, Maybelle was the first prominent female instrumentalist in country music. Sara's voice, arguably the best every recorded in the history of country music, can still be heard, occasionally on country radio. Her unmistakable vocals continue to sound as fresh and strong today, as if she were performing them live over the airways. Their place in history is secured as the First Family of Country Music.

The 1920s also saw the dawning of live radio shows such as the WSM Grand Ole Opry broadcast from Nashville that somewhat similar to the Bristol Recordings presented opportunities for the discovery of musical talent most of which would have likely remained in obscurity a few years earlier. In more recent times, the Cas Walker Farm and Home Hour, broadcast live on local television offered a window of opportunity for previously undiscovered talent such as Dolly Parton and the Everly Brothers, but eventually it became increasingly difficult to launch a career in country music without securing the attention of recording company executives somewhere along Nashville’s Music Row. Nationally televised talent shows such as American Idol and America’s Got Talent were somewhat of a throwback to a time when relatively unknown figures such as Roy Acuff and Chet Atkins could launch a music career on live radio, but the internet has democratized the process beyond what Lowell Blanchard, who hosted the WNOX Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round on Knoxville’s South Gay Street, could have ever imagined.

Just last week two McMinn County teenagers, the Shaw twins Hunter and Heath, showed up in the newsfeed of my Facebook account. The caption beneath the post read “Since our amazing Grandmother passed away this week we decided we would sing this one for her! We love and miss you memaw”. Over the past week, Hunter’s post was viewed over two million times. I expect that by the time the LaFollette Press hits the streets this week, they will have had over ten million views. Only he who is omniscient know what the future holds for the Shaw twins or any of our youth. Ours is the responsibility to support and encourage Appalachian youth as they endeavor to follow in whatever positive direction that their own unique talents and interest may take them. Thus far, with a video that has likely swept the globe, the Shaw twins have already made a contribution to Southern Appalachia’s rich musical heritage.