The mountains made the music. The music can carry the region.
In 2024, the Northeast Tennessee Music Census asked 1,213 of the region's music people what they needed. This page is what the data said, and what AMC is doing about it.
The census told us exactly what was missing.
Not talent, and not stages. What the data demanded was connection and a voice. AMC is the response: one free community that connects all four states and advocates for its artists, venues, and supporters at the hyperlocal level.
51%
named a place to connect and collaborate as their greatest need
50%
of venues and presenters want an advocate inside government
42%
of venue operators face regulatory confusion nobody helps them navigate
The census measured a $75.9 million music economy built almost entirely by working creatives: 78.5% artists, 11% venues and presenters. Most of the region's 1,590 annual shows happen on stages seating fewer than 100 people, and only 37% of headline slots go to local talent. That is a floor, not a ceiling, and it is why AMC puts creatives, venues, and the people who support them first.
$75.9M
in annual regional music economic output
503
full time equivalent jobs supported
1,590
live shows hosted across the region every year
This is what getting counted looked like. Watch the region show up for the 2024 census kickoff at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol, Virginia.
Video courtesy of the Tennessee Entertainment Commission.
Arts and culture add $74.5 billion in value and nearly 445,000 jobs across Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky, per the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, and arts audiences spend $38.46 with local merchants beyond every ticket. Every corner of AMC's footprint is setting visitor records.
$927.2M
Northeast Tennessee visitor spending, 2024
$1.3B
Southwest Virginia tourism economy, 2023
$1.4B
spent along the Blue Ridge Parkway, 2023
$1.1B
Eastern Kentucky tourism spending, 2024
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (2023) · Arts and Economic Prosperity 6 · state and regional tourism offices · 2024 Northeast Tennessee Music Census
The music born in these mountains shaped the American experience, and it still does. Across four states there are too many stops to mention. (Send us more to add!)
01 / A living music history
The Big Bang of country music happened here.
In the summer of 1927, producer Ralph Peer set up a temporary recording studio on the upper floors of the Taylor-Christian Hat Company building in Bristol. Over two weeks, those historic sessions yielded 76 released tracks, launching the careers of Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family. Johnny Cash later called the Bristol Sessions the single most important event in country music history.
1927
the Bristol Sessions, country music's founding recordings
500+
Tennessee Music Pathways marker sites across all 95 counties
330 mi
of the Crooked Road, Virginia's Heritage Music Trail, running through the region
02 / The pipeline already exists
ETSU teaches a kind of music education you can't get anywhere else.
In 1982, ETSU began teaching bluegrass. That grew into the world's first baccalaureate degree in bluegrass, old time, country, and roots music, still the oldest and largest program of its kind anywhere.
1982
founded at ETSU, still the oldest and largest program of its kind in the world
1st
baccalaureate degree of its kind anywhere in the world
26
Grammys won by the program's students, faculty, and alumni
03 / Proof this already works
Kingsport's high schoolers already compete like professionals.
The Dobyns-Bennett High School Marching Band is a three time Bands of America national champion that has marched in the Macy's, Rose, and Presidential Inaugural parades. Every performer is a Kingsport kid.
04 / Same city, a different sound
Symphony of the Mountains has called Kingsport home since 1946.
Symphony of the Mountains has called Kingsport home since 1946. Today its seventy plus professional musicians serve two states, and its education programs reach about 6,000 schoolchildren a year.
05 / A parade seen by 31 million
In 2014, this band nearly didn't exist. In 2024, it marched in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
The ETSU Marching Bucs were chosen from more than 100 applicants for one of just ten spots in the 98th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the first Tennessee college band to march in it in over sixty years.
2014
the year director Joe Moore rebuilt a program that had nearly ceased to exist
360+
performers, the largest marching band in ETSU history
31.3M
viewers watching the 2024 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade broadcast
06 / Proof from the Kentucky side
A 1,400 seat holler in Kentucky sells out before the lineup is announced.
The Civilian Conservation Corps carved Laurel Cove Amphitheater into Pine Mountain at Kentucky's first state park. In 2019, Bell County tourism leaders built a festival around it.
1,400
seats, roughly, in the amphitheater the CCC carved from the mountainside
2019
the year Bell County tourism and Main Street Pineville launched the festival
2026
sold out before a single artist on the lineup was announced
Its stage has lifted the Red Clay Strays, Sierra Ferrell, Wyatt Flores, and our own region's 49 Winchester.
07 / The road built from jam sessions
Virginia strung 330 miles of mountain music into one road.
The Crooked Road links more than 60 venues across Southwest Virginia, from the Carter Family Fold to the Floyd Country Store. Twenty years in, it is proof that mountain music can anchor a rural tourism economy.
330 mi
across 19 counties and four independent cities of Southwest Virginia
60+
venues and affiliated festivals connected by the trail
$9.2M
in total regional economic impact, per a Virginia Tech study, including $6.4M in direct annual tourism spending
08 / Hiltons, Virginia
A promise made to A.P. Carter still plays every Saturday night.
Janette Carter founded the Carter Family Fold in 1974 at the family homestead in Poor Valley to keep her parents' music alive. Fifty years on, the 800 seat hall still fills for acoustic shows every weekend, and Johnny Cash chose its stage for his final performance in 2003.
09 / Bristol, Tennessee/Virginia
Birthplace of Country Music
In 1998, Congress named Bristol, Tennessee/Virginia the Birthplace of Country Music, the only U.S. city with that federal designation. Its downtown museum was built to draw 75,000 visitors a year.
10 / Western North Carolina
Blue Ridge Music Trails
The Blue Ridge National Heritage Area hosts more than 150 traditional music events a year across 18 North Carolina counties. A survey of just 26 of them found $20.7 million in economic impact.
11 / Statewide Tennessee
Tennessee Music Pathways
Launched in 2018, this driving trail spans all 95 Tennessee counties and seven genres, with more than 500 marker sites identified statewide.
12 / Eastern Kentucky
Country Music Highway
U.S. Route 23 through Eastern Kentucky is the Country Music Highway, birthplace of Loretta Lynn, Chris Stapleton, Ricky Skaggs, and Tyler Childers, and home to more hit country artists per capita than anywhere else in the country.
13 / Tennessee/Virginia
Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion
Founded in 2001, this festival fills more than 20 stages across downtown Bristol and has drawn 50,000 visitors in a single year, worth $16 million in regional impact from one weekend.
14 / Thank you
Powered by community partners across the region.
These community partners recognized the importance of the 2024 Northeast Tennessee Music Census and helped make it happen.
City of Johnson City / Freedom Hall Civic Center●Well Made Music●Create Appalachia●Tennessee Hills●ETSU CBAT●Tri-Cities Airport Authority●Appalachian Highlanders Pipes and Drums●Birthplace of Country Music●Creative Energy●Plan A Films●Dobyns-Bennett Band●Volume Interactive●Downtown Kingsport Association●My New Favorites●Symphony of the Mountains●Theatre Bristol●Tennessee Economic and Community Development●Visit Johnson City●Believe in Bristol●Visit Mountain City●Tennessee Entertainment Commission●Mountain Empire Children's Choral Academy●Explore Bristol●Sound Music Cities●First Tennessee Development District●East Tennessee State University●Tennessee Department of Tourist Development●Kaifa Events●Visit Kingsport●Niswonger Performing Arts Center●Northeast Tennessee Tourism●Paramount Center for the Arts●Northeast State Community College●Tennessee Tourism●Maurices Music●Meadowview Marriott●Tennessee High School●Clayton Potter Music●JAM of Upper East Tennessee●Elizabethton Carter County Tourism●Johnson City Chamber of Commerce●Johnson County Center for the Arts●ETSU Bluegrass, Old-Time and Roots Music Studies●Post Bop Revival Jazz●Holston Valley Broadcasting Corporation●Rosser and Rosser Luthiers and Woodworking●Jonesborough●4thirteen●City of Bristol, Tennessee●Brian Rieck Music Studio●Main Street Elizabethton●Greene County Partnership●Damon Heath●FoundersForge●City of Bristol, Virginia●DW Productions●Town of Unicoi●Town of Bulls Gap●ETSU Music Department●Boxdrop●Fiddling Leona and JP●City of Johnson City / Freedom Hall Civic Center●Well Made Music●Create Appalachia●Tennessee Hills●ETSU CBAT●Tri-Cities Airport Authority●Appalachian Highlanders Pipes and Drums●Birthplace of Country Music●Creative Energy●Plan A Films●Dobyns-Bennett Band●Volume Interactive●Downtown Kingsport Association●My New Favorites●Symphony of the Mountains●Theatre Bristol●Tennessee Economic and Community Development●Visit Johnson City●Believe in Bristol●Visit Mountain City●Tennessee Entertainment Commission●Mountain Empire Children's Choral Academy●Explore Bristol●Sound Music Cities●First Tennessee Development District●East Tennessee State University●Tennessee Department of Tourist Development●Kaifa Events●Visit Kingsport●Niswonger Performing Arts Center●Northeast Tennessee Tourism●Paramount Center for the Arts●Northeast State Community College●Tennessee Tourism●Maurices Music●Meadowview Marriott●Tennessee High School●Clayton Potter Music●JAM of Upper East Tennessee●Elizabethton Carter County Tourism●Johnson City Chamber of Commerce●Johnson County Center for the Arts●ETSU Bluegrass, Old-Time and Roots Music Studies●Post Bop Revival Jazz●Holston Valley Broadcasting Corporation●Rosser and Rosser Luthiers and Woodworking●Jonesborough●4thirteen●City of Bristol, Tennessee●Brian Rieck Music Studio●Main Street Elizabethton●Greene County Partnership●Damon Heath●FoundersForge●City of Bristol, Virginia●DW Productions●Town of Unicoi●Town of Bulls Gap●ETSU Music Department●Boxdrop●Fiddling Leona and JP●
15 / Training the workforce, not just the talent
A talent pipeline needs a business pipeline behind it.
86% of the region's creatives taught themselves the trade, and the business side of the ecosystem is thin at just 10.5% of census respondents. AMC is calling on colleges, trade schools, and industry partners across all four states to help close that gap.
