The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina form the heart of a traditional music-making legacy found nowhere else in America.

Performers from the region, such as Doc Watson, the Carter Family, Ralph Stanley, Etta Baker and Wayne Henderson have taken their music to audiences across the country and around the world. Traditional mountain music is an integral component of everyday community life and all sorts of festivities throughout the Blue Ridge. Fiddle bands play at small-town festivals, singers perform shape-note hymns and dine together, and residents of small communities gather at a host of local venues to enjoy traditional music played by their friends and next-door neighbors.

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