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Side trips
Old-time music at Mabry Mill
Where: Mabry Mill, Blue Ridge Parkway milepost 176
When: Sundays, 2-5 p.m.
What: For years, the Laurel Fork Travelers have enchanted visitors with their old-time fiddle music at the mill. The mill is the most photographed spot on the parkway, so crowds are usually enormous on weekends. The good thing is that everything is free (except for meals at the restaurant, of course, but the lines are really long there). Plenty of outdoor adventure awaits nearby, including tough hiking in Rock Castle Gorge, camping at Rocky Knob and numerous other trails and picnic spots. Stop by the Rocky Knob visitors center to pick up some old-time music CDs for your leisurely ride on the parkway.
Contact: Rocky Knob visitors center, (276) 745-9662.
County Sales
Floyd, Va.
Dave Freeman loved bluegrass and old-time mountain music growing up in — of all places — New York.
He started County Records in 1965 and moved to Floyd in 1974 to be closer to the epicenter of mountain music. Today, his distribution business, County Sales, claims to carry the world’s largest selection of CDs, boxed sets, videocassettes, books and other items related to traditional music. The shop is discreetly located on the bottom floor of a building one block from Locust Street in "Talley's Alley."
County Sales also offers vintage recordings for sale online each week at countysales.com and through an occasional newsletter. Visitors are welcome to stop by the Floyd shop, although it's more of a mini-warehouse than a record store.
On the dial ...
WGFC (1030, AM)
From sunup until sundown, Floyd Countians get a day's allowance of gospel music from WGFC. The station plays nothing but spiritual music, including healthy doses of bluegrass gospel.
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