Here are some of the top events around Southwest and Southside for the coming week. Check out our new events calendar. Got an event? You can add it there for free. Want to keep up with what’s happening? Sign up here for our free weekly events newsletter.
Jan. 18 and beyond: ‘A Cardboard History of Blue Ridge Music’ in Bristol
A new exhibit, “A Cardboard History of Blue Ridge Music,” has opened at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol.
The exhibit highlights the history of old-time, bluegrass and country music through displays of vintage concert posters and ephemera that give visitors a window into the careers and impact of musicians such as Roy Acuff, Kitty Wells, Flatt & Scruggs and the Monroe Brothers.
The exhibit will be on display through July 21.
The display features rare, original concert announcements, vintage show cards and related objects dating back to as early as 1939.
The connection between many of these artists to early radio and barn-dance shows is also explored.
The exhibit is included in the price of regular museum admission to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, or visitors may tour the special exhibit only at a reduced cost.
For more information visit BirthplaceOfCountryMusic.org.
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Jan. 19: Chamber music concert in Wytheville
Violinist Kevin Matheson, cellist Julia Goudimova and pianist Judy Clark will perform a free chamber music concert at 7 p.m. Friday at Wytheville Presbyterian Church, 285 Church St.
The program opens with Gabriel Faure’s Piano Trio in D Minor, Opus 120, and also feature include Antonin Dvorak’s Piano Trio No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 26.
Admission is free, but donations will be accepted to support the Wytheville Concert Series and the Wytheville Community College Food Bank.
For more information, visit www.ClassicStringsDuo.com.
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Jan. 20: Bluegrass jamboree in Wytheville
Wytheville Community College hosts its free monthly Bluegrass and Old-Time Jamboree on Saturday.
The January jamboree features Jerry Steinberg &His Dixie Blue Grass Boys and the New Ballard’s Branch. It will be held in the William F. Snyder Auditorium on the WCC campus, 1000 E. Main St.
Jerry Steinberg & His Dixie Blue Grass Boys will perform at 7 p.m., and the New Ballard’s Branch Bogtrotters will take the stage at 8 p.m. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.
The event is free and open to the public. Donations will be accepted to help defray the travel expenses of the bands.
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Jan. 22: Angela Davis at Randolph College
Randolph College’s annual celebration honoring Martin Luther King Jr. will feature a conversation with Angela Davis.
The event, which will be held at 5 p.m. Jan. 22 in Smith Hall Theatre, is free and open to the public.
Through her activism and scholarship over many decades, Davis has been deeply involved in movements for social justice around the world. She is the author of 11 books, including “Abolition.Feminism.Now,” co-authored with Gina Dent, Erica Meiners and Beth Richie, and a new edition of her “Autobiography,” which was released in 2022.
Having helped to popularize the notion of a “prison industrial complex,” she now urges her audiences to think seriously about the future possibility of a world without carceral systems and to help forge a 21st century abolitionist movement.
Wornie Reed, a professor of sociology and Africana studies at Virginia Tech and the director of its Race and Social Policy Research Center, will lead the conversation with Davis, followed by a Q&A with the audience.
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Jan. 24 and 26: Martin Luther King Jr. celebrations at University of Lynchburg
The University of Lynchburg’s Office of Equity and Inclusion will host two public events in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
At 6 p.m. Jan. 24, activist and author Penny Blue will present “King Did More Than Dream.” The event will held in Hall Campus Center’s Memorial Ballroom. Admission is free, but attendees are asked to register online.
A native of Rocky Mount, Blue was raised on a tobacco farm in nearby Union Hall. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Howard University and has an MBA from Duke. She is the author of “A Time to Protest: Leadership Lessons from My Father Who Survived the Segregated South for 99 Years.”
During Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, she was a grassroots community organizer and a local, state and national presidential delegate. In 2019, she served as southwest program director for the Virginia League of Conservation Voters in Richmond.
As a two-term member of the school board in Franklin County, Blue led efforts to have the Confederate battle flag added to the school system’s dress code rules as a hate symbol.
At 4 p.m. Jan. 26, the University will host its annual Unity March. The event begins at Snidow Chapel and ends at the Garren Victory Bell. There is no cost to participate.