Revival of legendary country music radio show celebrates 10 years

Why does the city of Bristol call itself the birthplace of country music?

Country music’s roots are found in songs performed since the nation’s birth and beyond at homes in Appalachia and in the deep South, including blues, old-time and bluegrass, work songs, ballads and more.

Bristol’s role in that history became the stuff of legend in 1927. The city was where the early 20th-century recording industry discovered that a lot of records could be sold nationally, featuring the music of mountaineers and rural Southern troubadours. That year, producer Ralph Peer came to Bristol and made the first recordings of now-legendary artists, including the Carter family and Ernest Stoneman of Virginia, Mississippi railroad man Jimmie Rodgers and more.

Nineteen years later, another country music milestone came to life in Bristol. WCYB Radio, with a signal that carried 100 miles beyond the city into five states, launched “Farm and Fun Time” in 1946, featuring live performances by old-time and bluegrass musicians, along with news and farm reports. Lasting into the 1950s, “Farm and Fun Time” became a hugely popular program introducing the region to performers including Mac Wiseman, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, Ralph and Carter Stanley, Jim and Jesse McReynolds, Bobby Osborne and Jimmy Martin. 

Now, “Farm and Fun Time” is alive again on Radio Bristol, a component of the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.

The show’s 21st-century edition is celebrating a decade of live music broadcasts from the museum’s Radio Bristol studio. The 10th anniversary events include the release of “10 Years of Radio Bristol’s Farm and Fun Time,” a 12-song vinyl collection.

Radio Bristol operates as a low-wattage broadcast station at 100.1 FM in the Bristol area, but its content is streamed online at ListenRadioBristol.org, and “Farm and Fun Time” has grown into a nationally syndicated TV series available on more than 140 PBS stations. 

Radio Bristol General Manager Josh Littleton has been nominated for a regional Emmy award for audio recording, mixing and design. Winners will be announced June 21.

Like its predecessor, the new “Farm and Fun Time” emphasizes highlighting regional musicians and up-and-coming artists, says Radio Bristol Program Director Kris Truelson.

Truelson, a Colorado native, is a true believer. His own musical career eventually brought him to Johnson City, Tennessee, and East Tennessee State University’s bluegrass and old-time music program. There, he earned a degree in Appalachian studies.

Truelson began an internship at the museum, writing content for exhibits, then got involved in the creation of Radio Bristol. More than $140,000 was raised toward launching the station in August 2015.

The station offers more than 30 programs that can’t be found elsewhere, Truelson noted.

“Farm and Fun Time” was revived to provide a platform for local and regional artists, Truelson explained. More than 200 artists have performed there over a decade, showcasing the region’s musical diversity with old-time, bluegrass, country, blues, folk and other genres on display.

Until a couple of years ago, Truelson’s band, Bill and the Belles, served as the hosting house band for the show.

Some artists have come to “Farm and Fun Time” with a degree of name recognition, while others have performed early in their careers, Truelson said. Sierra Ferrell, for example, was just starting out when she appeared on the show and has gone on to be a Grammy winner. Palmyra, a Virginia folk/bluegrass trio, is another example of a rising artist whose early local appearance helped propel them to greater fame.

The War and Treaty, a Grammy-nominated roots duo, will appear June 19 in a special “Farm and Fun Time” live show at Bristol’s Paramount Theater to celebrate Juneteenth. 

All the artists appearing on “Farm and Fun Time” are generating music within the broad umbrella of the country sound, Truelson said. 

“We’re just hitting our stride” as a brand gaining national recognition, he said.