Downtown Bristol Blog

April is Earth Month and the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) is collaborating with The Walt Disney Company, including Disney Citizenship, Disney/ABC Television Group, and ESPN, to revitalize parks across the U.S. for a third year. The city that receives the most nominations will receive a $20,000 grant to improve a local park.
Local parks make Bristol a better place to live, shaping so many of our lives. Parks are essential to our city’s health and wellbeing. They provide safe places to be active and enjoy nature; they also help preserve the environment and bring people together. That is why from April 1 to April 30 Bristol, Tennessee residents will have the opportunity to nominate our city to receive $20,000 in grant funding to make improvements at a local park.
By visiting NRPA.org/BeInspired, park supporters can nominate our city. At the end of April, the city with the most nominations will receive the grant funding. New this year, everyone who nominates a city will be entered into a drawing for a tablet outfitted for the outdoors.
“We are so eager to get the word out that Bristol is in the running for this grant. We have so many people who visit our parks each year and feel so strongly about them that I believe they will actively participate in the program,” said Terry Napier, Director of Parks and Recreation.
NRPA Director of Conservation, Lori Robertson said, “Supporting local parks is essential to the health and vitality of communities everywhere. That’s why we are proud to collaborate with The Walt Disney Company to help fund critical park improvement projects for communities in need. We encourage everyone to join us in giving back to the places that shape so much of our lives by voting in this year’s Meet Me at the Park campaign.”
This Earth Month, Bristol can show what parks mean to our community by nominating our great city. Encourage your friends and family to nominate our city by taking a selfie in your favorite park and using the hashtags #MeetMeAtThePark, #Parkies, and #BeInspired on social posts.
For more information, and to nominate your city, visit NRPA.org/BeInspired.

L.C. King has updated their chore coat collection with two new color options: classic black and a modern two-tone with Hickory Stripe and Brown Duck accents.
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Downtown Bristol Events
April 20 | Studio Brew

About Shake it Like a Caveman
Shake it like a caveman is no stranger to the highway. He’s a one man band dance party, thrusting somewhere between poolside film scores and early American work songs. Sonic and Visual dynamite that makes you move that thang.
April 21 | Paramount Center for the Arts

In 1974, Rolling Stone ran a cover story on Tanya Tucker with the headline that said "You're Gonna Hear From Me." Truer words have never been spoken. For four decades, her sultry voice and vivacious stage presence has helped to make her one of the most admired and respected female vocalists in the Country Music genre.
And, the best is yet to come for this future Country Music Hall of Fame member. With a new album forthcoming, the power house vocalist is set to remind listeners just why artists such as Miranda Lambert and Gretchen Wilson consider her to be one of their biggest influences. She's lived a life full of love and heartbreak, and bounced back no matter the odds. In the crazy world of the music business, Tanya Tucker defines the word "legend," but also "survivor."
Opening Act:

April 21 | Studio Brew

About If Birds Could Fly
Three kids from the mountains of Southwest Virginia that love to make music.
April 22 | Wellness Yoga of Bristol

Capture the Energy of Transformation and the Rejuvenation of Spring in this Detoxing Flow class. You will use oils that assist the bodies ability to cleanse emotional and physical toxins. Consider it a "Spring Cleaning" for the body, mind and spirit. Get rid of the old and create space for the new.
Cost: $20
A 30 minute Q A will be held after class for anyone interested learning more about essential oils and their benefits.
To reserve your space call us at (276) 644-3086.
April 22 | Birthplace of Country Music Museum

Join us at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum for an evening of music and discussion by four of ourregion’s finest young musicians: Amythyst Kiah, the duo of Tyler Hughes & Sam Gleaves, and Joy Blair.Inspired by the rich traditions of the Appalachias, these artists areboldly charting their own paths in the present music and social landscapes.
Click here to purchase tickets.
About Amythyst Kiah
A professed Southern Gothic, alt-country blues singer/songwriter based in Johnson City, TN, Amythyst Kiah’s commanding stage presence is only matched by her raw and powerful vocals—a deeply moving, hypnotic sound that stirs echoes of a distant, restless past.
Accoutered interchangeably with banjo, acoustic guitar, or a full band (known as Her Chest of Glass), Amythyst’s toolbox is augmented by her scholarship of African-American roots music. Her eclectic influences span decades, drawing heavily on old time music (Mississippi Sheiks, Son House, Jimmie Rodgers, Olla Belle Reed, Carter Family), inspired by strong R&B and country music vocalists from the ’50s-’70s (Big Mama Thornton, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Mahalia Jackson, Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn) and influenced by contemporary artists with powerful vocal integrity (Adele, Florence and the Machine, Megan Jean and the KFB, Janelle Monae).
Recent tours in Scotland and the U.K. have seen Amythyst performing for audiences at the Americana Music Association UK Showcase, the Southern Fried Festival, Cambridge Folk Festival, the Edinburgh Jazz Festival, and SummerTyne Americana Festival. She is a crowd favorite at Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion in the U.S., has performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, and the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival. Provocative and coolly fierce, Amythyst Kiah’s ability to cross the boundaries of blues and old-time through reinterpretation is groundbreaking and simply unforgettable.
AboutTyler Hughes & Sam Gleaves
Tyler Hughes & Sam Gleaves are an old-time country music duo, performing songs old and new with close harmony singing and accompaniment on clawhammer banjo, guitar, fiddle and autoharp.
Tyler and Sam’s programs feature fiddle and banjo hoedowns, close mountain harmonies, stories of all kinds, Carter Family-inspired autoharp and guitar, country gospel songs, lonesome ballads & flatfoot dancing.
In 2015, Tyler and Sam performed on West Virginia Public Radio’s Mountain Stage, Lexington, Kentucky’s Red Barn Radio, broadcast on Kentucky Educational Television, and at many other venues throughout the Appalachian region.
About Joy Blair
Joy Blair is a singer/songwriter from East Tennessee deeply inspired by country music and the Appalachian Mountain region she calls home. Her honest and uniquely crafted lyrics weave rural imagery with themes of love, family, loss, and life in emotive and compelling songwriting.
As a student of East Tennessee State University’s Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music program, she performed with Old Time and Bluegrass bands at The Down Home, in Johnson City, Tennessee, The Paramount Theatre in Bristol, Tennessee, The Pickin’ Porch in Bristol, TN/VA, and other venues from Johnson City to Atlanta, Georgia.
Since graduating from ETSU in May 2014, Joy has delved even deeper into songwriting and roots music. She has performed at the new Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol, TN/VA with The Palace Pickers, at The Down Home in Johnson City, TN with Kalia Yeagle and Greg Fields, and Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion.
April 22 | Paramount Center for the Arts

Ricky Skaggs has racked up dozens of number one hits including "Crying My Heart Out Over You," "Country Boy," "Cajun Moon" and "Uncle Pen." He has also won 14 Grammys, eight IBMA, eight CMA and two Dove awards plus is credited by Chet Atkins for single handedly saving country music. Skaggs got his start performing with the legendary Flatt & Scruggs and then played with Ralph Stanley, J.D. Crowe & The New South and Emmylou Harris' Hot Band. He's collaborated with musicians of other genres including Barry Gibb and Bruce Hornsby. A member of the Grand Ole Opry, expect Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder to perform familiar favorites and time honored classics.
April 22 | Bristol Station Brews & Taproom

The New Conspirators will be bringing their honky tonk stylings to one of the finest brewery establishments in the southeast!
Bristol Station Brews & Taproom is proud to have The New Conspirators at the Brewery Saturday, April 22, from 8:00 — 10:00 PM. Come out to Bristol Station for some good tunes and, of course, some good beer! No cover!
April 27 | Bristol Train Station

The 2017 Tribute to Women banquet and silent auction will be held at the historic Bristol Train Station located at 101 Martin Luther King Blvd., Bristol, Va., at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 27. Tickets can be purchased online at www.ywcabristol.org. Funds from this event support the mission of YWCA Bristol including efforts to increase the economic empowerment of women and families, promote women's health and safety, and to support racial justice and civil rights.
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